Any IT Guys/Girls Here?

I've turned down very lucrative contracts because the business was adamant about what they wanted and it was not only a bad idea, it was a terrible idea. I refuse to work with a client that thinks they know more than the person they're hiring to do the work for them.
 
DRE said:
I told them they should do it themselves and that they can do all of that stuff themselves. My main thing will be to create a lil folder on her main desktop that will have the instructions on how to do everything.
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I want to make it clear that I'm not trying to hate on you @DRE. I don't want you thinking anyone here is.

I think it's very cool that you want to get involved into the technological field of IT Tech. And I think its awesome that you've been able to help them design their website and start out helping this new company get going.

And yes, every rookie starts out small and even with proper schooling, has a few questions & maybe doubts linger until you get real world experience. And it's a forever changing field that requires new learning all the time.

So I do understand your enthusiasm. And I respect your interest and desire to "jump on it".

But you have to learn to walk before you can run. And the problem here is if you fall, you take others down with you.
 
DRE said:
The more y'all say 'don't do it', the more I want to do it. Please stop. I'm hard-headed.
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You're also at risk of destroying someone's business, and getting in a hell of a lot of trouble at the same time. Seriously, I dont mean to sound rude and do wish you all the best, but you're in way over your head here.
 
No need to explain your advice guys it's ok. I'm not offended by anything. It's just that for some people, telling them they can't do something or shouldn't do something, when they show interest in doing it, usually has the opposite effect. It's called stubbornness. It's an extremely strong trait in some folks. After I get off work I'm going to study all the software and hardware you all listed and google info about it and make my decision from there.
 
DRE said:
I know for a fact some of you learned php only because other coders told you you couldn't do something or it can't be done.
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True. I think that is part of human nature.

Some of the best things I know in life are because someone else said...
  • You can not do it
  • You should not do it
  • Do not try
  • You are not allowed
  • It is impossible
But anytime you decide to push that envelope... You have to ask a lot of questions. Such as how will it affect you, but also how will it affect others. Sometimes it's not always about the me, myself, and I.
 
DRE said:
I was offered an IT job but have never done this before although I am experienced in some IT aspects.

It's a new company so they are starting from scratch.

Basically I need to come up with both the software and hardware needed for:

3 offices, reception and conference room

4 desktops. 1 big printer tied to them all

Phone system comes with extension

Internet access.

They also want me to make them a website with their emails with that site's domain name and a form that customers can fill out. That I'm sure I can do in Wordpress.
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Easy, I had to make a "enterprise sized" yet very poorly funded charity work with 60 donated PC's (some were windows 95) with £0 IT budget.. so a 4 pc setup is cake.


A solid reliable Router, Firewall and Modem, CISCO if your happy to configure it, otherwise HP is best for the end user with their web-gui based management. Always left on, so network and itnernet availability is decentralised from a single pc being on.

Network attached printer or, more ideally, photocopier (ask if they ever imagine they will need or use a photocopier, if the answer is yes, then route all the printing through it, price per page for B+W will be lower than any printer you can buy, probably quicker on print jobs and if on a service contract, all issues with it go via the service company and not you.

4 PC's go to dell, you wont beat the price for the spec anywhere else.

Software, OS will come with the systems, so you'll need office for 4 pc's and antivirus (I reccommend ESET). I also reccomend downloading and using Spybots imunise feature to add an additional layer of protection.

File sharing, enable dropbox LAN sync, pretty idiot proof file sharing like this. (trust me, idiot proofing is what your going to spend most your time doing).

Otherwise, that pretty much covers it.
 
DRE said:
I know for a fact some of you learned php only because other coders told you you couldn't do something or it can't be done.
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I learned PHP and made plenty of mistakes along the way. But I didn't try to build the infrastructure for some one's site until I knew what I was doing. If you were the only person that depended on the IT you did (ie, you had data loss at your business), its a lot different then someone else's lively hood. That's all most of us are saying.
 
I'm sorta stuck at a job where I know what I can do and how far I can take it. My boss doesn't understand technology as much as she should and ANY suggestions get me a wide eyed expression. Sometimes I get a lot of laughter. Moving forward on the web and with technology is not something they want to do but I get badgered about low sales or customers who want better things.

It's miserable at times but I endure. If you can endure blame for things you try to change but are refused, then maybe you can do what she needs. If you can't, then decline.

I'm still looking for a job with the same amount of pay and freedom but I haven't found it yet, so I'm staying here. It's not that bad, but I do hate getting the finger pointing when things go south.
 
I setup satellite offices for the liquor company I worked for in Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, San Diego (2 locations), Chicago again (they moved), and Ft. Lauderdale.

Each one was for 5 to 12 people.

I could get things delivered in advance but would basically have a weekend to get them up.

I never used a server, there would be no one there to maintain it. I would go for a nice sized NAS and setup a shared office directory for people to share local files, and a backup directory for users to backup to that was private to each.

Today I would keep the NAS for local sharing but use something like Carbonite for their backups.

Get a big networkable b&w laser printer as the work horse for the office- if they need color they can go to Kinkos. If there is money in the budget then go color laser. Stay away from inkjets at all costs.

It was simple and it worked.

We had symantec corporate edition at the time.

I'd also setup a flat screen HD TV with VGA in in each conference room, rather than projectors. Everyone had laptops so they could just bring theirs in and plug in.
 
Thank you @Slavik and @BirdOPrey5 for your non-server suggestions. Really goes a long way. I'll be looking all of this stuff in about an hour. *googles NAS setup sees this*

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Adam Howard said:
If you have to ask how to be an IT or how do the job right .... You're not one.
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That is so what I was thinking... well said. There is a huge difference being an IT versus being a little knowledgable about computing and basic networking. Running servers to deliver mail, file server, so forth, is beyond a little knowledgable IMHO, and often requires actual IT qualifications, not a want to be IT from connecting some home PC's to work together from a NAS or such.
 
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