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When should you employ a Sys Admin

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by leehellcat

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I am the IT geek for a small firm in the UK. We employ 25 desktop users, have 3 laptop users, 2 remote sites in the UK, and 1 in the US, with plans for 1 further site in Europe, and also the US before the end of next year. We are looking at enablinga further 14 users to have remote access, using either a tablet PC or something similar. We run 6 Windows 2000 Servers, 1 Windows NT4 Server. We are running 2 servers as a cluster running IIS for our sorporate Intranet, we have Exchange 2000 as our Email Server, and are looking to Implement Biztalk Server within the next 3 months.
I am currently expected to support/maintain this little outfit in addition to the job I was employed to do. Therefore spend several hours every night extra working either in the office or from home maintaining and supporting this. I am also expected to support the office in Cambridge, MA as well. How can one person really support all this on top of another job.

At what point in a companies IT Infrastructure growth should we employ a dedicated Sys Admin ?

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by jellimonsta

Your story is a popular lament with many an admin these days. I personally support 200 PC users, 15 servers, Inter and Intranet design for a multi domain site with 30 remote users so I feel your pain. The answer to your question is not really an easy one. You mentioned you are performing the Sys Admin functions on top of the functions you were initially hired to do. You also stated yourself as the resident Tech Weenie. Therefore what were your initial functions upon employment? If you were hired as PC Tech, I would take on the Network functions in a heart beat. If you were hired for some other position in the company it could be a different story.
While the number of remote sites and users does complicate things slightly, I imagine you are still within the realm of a single support structure. Therefore if your position is still very much focused in the IT side of the business you may have an easier time drawing blood from a stone than getting a Sys Admin position created full time. Especially in todays soft market.
Good luck all the same!

by leehellcat

The job role that I was originally employed for is nothing to do with IT. I was employed as an Airfreight Clerk, and have recently been promoted to Operations Supervisor, for Airfreight and Road Freight. To me these roles are both full time roles, and not really comapitble with sharing my time.

I figure that we are getting to a point where we at least need a dedicated IT guy, even if it's not a Sys Admin. Personally I am going through the process of getting an MCSE, I have already got an MCP, so hopefully it is just a matter of time (and money).

by jellimonsta

It really sounds like you have a choice. You are working towards your MCSE so obviously IT is a passion (or at least interest) of yours. Your primary position is not really IT related at all. I guess you should really ask yourself which position youwould prefer full time given the choice. Also, which position you feel would open more doors down the road and help to support yourself and your family.
Being as your original job function is not IT related your company probably should have a dedicated IT employee. But being as you have you have been performing those functions for some time you have a good case to take that position if you chose.
Good luck in your choice!

by leehellcat

Thanks, you pretty much confirmed what I thought. I think that I have the edge on anybody coming from the outside, because I have worked with the system for the last 3 years, and know it better than I know my home PC.

Also, IT is a passion, for some reason (can't quite work out why) I really enjoy it, even in the early hours of the morning, battling with a problem several thousand miles away on the other end of a PC Anywhere session.

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