Job Responsibilities
My job responsibilites include maintaining, modifying and
developing database computer program to integrate and simply the
manual process to benefit the office automation effort. However,
my primary responsiblity is to manage the local areas network
(LAN) and the wide area network (WAN) in order to reduce or
eliminate downtime for my users. This is accomplished through
proper segmenting equipment with proper ethernet/fiber modules
in the switches of the data closet and in the desktop and server
PCs. Topology and selection of network design equipment is very
is important for the efficient performance of the LAN to avoid
bottlenecks or slowdowns. Utilizing software on the server to
manage the LAN. The Firewall must be managed daily and spam
monitoring and domains must be entered in the server to
blacklist and whitelist sites which may have a negative effect
on my users. Virus definitions must be udatated along with
Windows Updates for security and rollouts are accomplished via
SMS Server. My position as Mis Manager also includes the writing
of Requirement Analsysis Reports to upper level management in
order to procure hardware and software and keep up with upgrades
of current technologies all within a budget. I also supervise a
small staff of field techs and networking analsysts. User
profiles must be added and updated daily.
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Job Requirements
In my view, experience is the rates extreemly high must both
education along with experience is the key. A good career path
in college would be to apply to the school for business
administration and once you get your feet wet, you can slowly
start taking computer couses and finally switch over to Computer
Science as your major. In this manner, it will be easier for you
get accepted and excel college. Even you you don't have a degree
in Computer Science many firms will still hire you as LAN
Manager or technical network analsyst but you must at least have
some type of certification such as Microsoft certifed network
engineer. Although this certification will cost approx $5,000
you can proceed at your leisure and talk some other computer
tech courses such as A+ certification etc. one course at a time.
In my opinion, you should obtain a college degree and not
necessarily in computer science if you can't easily accomplish
this. The next best is BS in Business Administration in College
and then supplement with certification in computers such as
Microsft MSCE. When I started I went to a school in Clearwater,
Florida called TECHDATA and it consisted of about 4 courses and
it was hands-on and I received a certification as NOVELL
Engineer. The service and support classes are great since you'll
receive hands-on experience building a computer network from
scratch. Sometimes it helps to have a background in Electronics
also, but that's a whole other field of study. Good luck....
The workload is heavy but at LaSalle College the grading was
fair.
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Uppers
The best parts about my job is that I enjoy setting my own work schedule. As
long as my users are generally happen and the network is running ok, I have the
freedom to move forward in any area of IT that I desire. It is wide open to me.
Today I might want to do some research and development or do some purchasing, or
attend a seminar and this is all possible if the LAN/WAN is functioning properly.
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Downers
The worst parts of my job is that since an MIS Manager has a big
responsibility, he/she must always be close-by to the network
and cannot really go on vacation much or at all because the buck
stops with the MIS Manager. Its very difficult to keep all the
users' happy if not impossible and many of my users carry
important managerial rank within our Division. Because of this,
they must be satisfied or problems can escalate very quickly. An
MIS Manager is more like a public relations person but this
takes-away for the real pleasure of working with the technical
aspects of IT Technology which we all love and enjoy. Its very
hard for a technical manager to communicate briefly and effectly
to non-technical or non-technical concerned users. They don't
want detail, they want quick results and don't look at things
globally in the way that an IT person would look at the overall
network.
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Lifestyle
Well, the workhours are tough, an MIS Manager or Network Adminstrator must be
available around the clock and many times I would come in or go back to work
about 8:00pm and work to 1:00pm because there are tasks that you want to perform
when no users or few are around such as running management programs from a
server. You want to create as little disruption as possible. The tough hours go
with the job but its not that tough because the benefits of doing something you
really love or like make it worthwhile. You receive a lot of respect as a network
adminstrator and upper level management gives you a lot of freedom in return for
you decicions.
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Compensation
Compensation is great with Broward County Government. Although
the base salary is really no more than private enterprise, the
benefits make it all worthwhile and you are working in public
service. There is a great pension plan, accumulating annual and
sick leave hour benefits which can be cashed in if not used.
Broward County or Government is the way to go especially in a
resort town such as Fort Lauderdale where you can enjoy the
tropical area which is generaly lower paid since and better
compensation in government since governments are not native to
the economy.
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Advice to Jobseekers
I would say that they have great prospects to secure a network
analyst position. They can even apply in any of the Divisions'
as an account clerk or account since all the best computer
people seemed to start out in the business/accounting office
where they work since recruiting in generally from the money
areas into the IT areas. This is how I started, as an Account
Clerk.
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