7 Reasons Why Being an IT Administrator Rocks!

Are you thinking of becoming an IT administrator? Or perhaps are you looking for arguments to make you feel better about your career choice? Well I’ve thought about the career path “IT administrator” a little and came up with the following reasons why I think it’s a great choice for young enthusiastic IT savvy people who wish to enter now, but also for experienced people who would like to switch careers.

The following are the reasons why IT admins have a great career outlook for the future:

1. Computers and applications are becoming more powerful every day.

Think about it, every job on earth will soon require computer skills, one way or the other. New applications are developed and existing apps are continuously improved. Even old dinosaurs like Microsoft Office and Windows itself reinvent themselves. Even within small companies you need an IT guy to keep track of everything and set things up.  Who has the time to figure all this out? No one…except the IT admin, it’s his/her job!

2. IT infrastructure is becoming bigger and more complex

Gone are the days when a computer was purchased for one single task, such as accounting. Nowadays it doesn’t matter whether it’s a server or a workstation: it’s going to be loaded with all kinds of apps and services. Servers now host virtual machines with even more servers on the same hardware. Networks need to be load tested and planned correctly. Servers need to be allocated to groups of users and whenever things stop working or a new person joins the team, the IT admin is the one in charge

3. IT is becoming the heart of many organizations. And many businesses don’t realize it yet.

Not every manager and business owner is aware of how much they depend on IT and computers in general. When things break down, business processes stop. Think of a factory assembly line suddenly stopping. Once I witnessed how a single virus (I believe it was the sasser worm) had shut down over 30,000 PCs. My laptop wasn’t affected because I was cautious enough to update Windows regularly. But also I was a consultant on a visit with access to the network and full control over my device. The 30,000 users couldn’t update Windows themselves even if they wanted. Their IT department wouldn’t give anyone admin rights to do so.

Once the sasser worm found its way into the network, the entire corporation halted. It was a disaster and lasted an entire day. Imagine how much money was wasted that day. It could have been prevented….by the IT admin!

Now this probably scares the newbies but hey, with responsibility come rewards…at least in theory. Anyways, some organizations realize how much downtime costs or would cost and fund IT support departments adequately. But then again there are those who won’t listen to their admins and underfund the IT operation entirely, not realizing the gamble they are getting into.

Soon enough a lot more business owners will understand their business’ dependence on IT and hire more admins for sure. It usually only takes one major disaster in a company.

4. IT equipment is increasingly becoming short-lived

Do you think IT is moving too fast sometimes? I think to so, too. And most people don’t have the time, energy, and skills to follow each new hype on the market. Most of the time ignoring those trends isn’t going to hurt much. But the IT admin is there to read up on those things and make suggestions to the executives. There are always new things coming up that may make everyone’s life easier. New ways to save money or make money are always welcome by ‘the boss’….usually 🙂

5. IT equipment and software are becoming too complex to operate

Do you get a cockpit sensation when you install new software or unwrap a new device you recently bought? Yeah, these days even a microwave oven connects to the internet to check meat prices and the weather in Beirut so it’s not surprising the average user is totally confused. The IT admin is there to learn things first and then “translate” the mess to plain English so that everyone understands it. Also the IT admin would want to skip all the details no one cares about. I wish I had a microwave oven from the past…you know the ones without the fancy display from the good old simple days.

6. IT equipment may be more unreliable now than it used to be

Think of hard drives! Those used to last and last. Nowadays you are happy if you get two years out of them. You don’t believe me? When was the last time you ran a backup????

7. Data loss is deadly to an organization

No one cares about backing up data…until the day strikes when you lose it all. Imagine the mess. The boss pulling out her last hair. It’s not just IT businesses that need to protect their data. These days every small business has plenty of files that took thousands of dollars in labor to generate. Losing all that stuff can easily break the business beyond repair.

The IT admins are the key people to prevent all this from happening. Be a hero! Back it all up. They will thank you when their hard drive goes up in smoke.

This Will Definitely Interest You

Since you are an IT administrator (or planning to become one), check out what can be done using Hyper V backup. Protect your virtual servers and virtual machines on Hyper-V and other platforms using the technologies described in that post.

Where to Find Good Job Openings

Naturally, as a talented IT administrator you should work at the right company. Apart from Dice we also recommend Jobble as a job board because it combines good job postings from all over the place. Another good practice is to contact the companies directly.