Back in 2013 when I started home labbing and playing around with enterprise hardware I never thought that it would lead to new passions, new friendships and a career that I’ve had for 10 years. Today I work as an Operations Director at a Managed Service Provider (MSP) and we manage somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 servers and workstations.
My lessons#
Don’t lie#
You would think this would be a pretty common thing, right? People lie more than I ever thought. Maybe it’s just the Air Force in me but I still live by the core values (some more than others), one being Integrity First. I don’t see value in lying and honestly once you lie how can you be trusted? This is a deal killer for me in every situation.
You won’t know everything#
I’m still guilty of this, but you won’t know everything and sometimes you do need to rely on others to solve problems.
Don’t silo information#
I know a lot of times it feels like your “giving away your secrets” but in reality it helps when you get too busy and need help, otherwise when you’re busy and have someone helping you then you’re more bogged down by them asking you questions.
Imposter Syndrome#
It’s real and I don’t think it ever goes away. I’m always doing new tasks or things that I’ve not done before and question if I can do it (honestly this happens in a lot of aspects of my life).
Take time off#
I still struggle with this as most of the time I feel guilty if I take time off, but it is important for your health (both mentally and physically). Even if you get twice as backed up when you get back, it’s worth it (so they say 😆).
Wrap-up#
This is just a small list of things I’ve seen over the past few months that I feel like I wanted to share, I could share hundreds of more opinions if asked.
