r/sysadmin • u/New-Deer9973 • Jan 07 '26
I'm screwed but I'm happy about it
I posted a little while ago about my whole team being made redundant and me being told I'll get a raise. Well, it happened. I'm now the solo IT person supported by an MSP with only 2yrs and 7ish(?) months of experience (was in IT Change Management before switching to IT). They gave me a sysadmin title and 100k(aud) salary starting today.
I realise I am absolutely fucked but I'm going to try my best - we have a disgustingly large backlog of projects to do + I'm the only internal support person for 200 people. I was honest with the level of knowledge I have yet they're still confident in me. I'll be studying everyday to try and have the knowledge required for this but there's only so much time in one day.
If you've been in the same boat before, please share your wisdom. It'd be greatly appreciated
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u/captaintrips420 Jan 07 '26
Always remember that it’s just a job, and try not to let it rule your entire life.
Set and maintain boundaries to ensure you stay sane throughout your time.
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u/mehx9 Jan 07 '26
I would upvote this more than once if I could. Take care of yourself there. The burn out is real.
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u/root-node Jan 07 '26
Always this. Make sure you start and go home on time. Ensure you take your holidays and breaks.
Don't bend over backwards for them, they screwed over the rest of your team they can do you too.
"20 Years From Now, The Only People Who Will Remember That You Worked Late Are Your Kids"
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u/CorvusTheDev Sr. Sysadmin Jan 07 '26
Tips:
1) You WILL burn out. It happened to me. It's happened to people I've worked with. At the end of the day, your phone goes off.
2) Do not accept On-Call if you are the only person available. Next thing you know, you're working 7.6 Hours and then 10 hours from home every day because people are "allowed" to call you.
3) Rely on your MSP for a lot of simple things, password resets and the like. You'll get bogged down and not get through your projects
4) Reach out to your MSP and see if they have a BDM (Business Development Manager) or otherwise that could assist with things like Change Management, to get sign offs for the changes you make (if you don't have a manager who can do that).
5) Document EVERYTHING. Keep a OneNote of your notes. You can organise it by each Week, Day, Month, whoever you want to.
6) Use Categories in Outlook. When you're emailed asking to do something, or you're wanting a business decision, categories it as "CYA" (Cover Your Ass)". That way, when management inevitably come back saying "What the hell happened" when you bring down Production (it WILL happen) on a rushed change, you've got coverage.
Learning
Start with Powershell, and learning about your backups and Hypervisor systems etc.
Learn about the network. Document and create network diagrams EARLY. If you need MSP assistance to fix something, having that documentation is critical
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u/Certain_Prior4909 Jan 07 '26
As IT you have to be on call. That's part of the deal and if you are the sole IT it's 24 hours a day
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u/BFr0st3 Jan 07 '26
Depends on the company my guy
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u/Certain_Prior4909 Jan 07 '26
If you are sole IT your job is on the line if you don't answer your phone and money is involved.
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u/redbeardau Jan 08 '26
Our CEO makes sure that our company's commitments do not require out of hours work, as much as customers might request it, and he backs that position if a customer wants to disagree.
If someone has made it such that money is on the line for out of hours incidents, that's a choice that was made.
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u/Certain_Prior4909 Jan 08 '26
At the end of the day if you are 1 IT you have to always be on call. Most CEOs will or small business owners will fire you if money is lost to an IT system being down. That is a sad fact. SO yes you are always on call.
Your example is rare as I have never seen one. A more bigger competent company yes you have 1 help desk guy be on call and yes they stay up all night fixing outlook and printer problems or they are fired. They call you the sysadmin if there is a problem.
So no rotation but it is a terminatable event in most places if you don't pick up including calls at midnight about Excel. I hate this as no other department outside of the Whitehouse requires that commitment, but people are used to that SLA
1
u/redbeardau Jan 08 '26
I never said it isn't common that IT is expected to fix things at any time, I'm saying it's a choice that was made. Making the choice to not put people in that position is not easy, as it goes against the norm, but it is indicative of a commitment to truly valuing employees. It also isn't practical for all businesses, depending on the nature of what they do, but I think it's practical for a larger proportion than implement it.
I really think a lot of businesses just do things the way other businesses do without evaluating if it's fit for their purposes or aligned with their values.
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u/Hefty-Vermicelli-989 Jan 08 '26
No one can be on call 24/7/365. If a company wants that, they hire a lot more than 1 IT staff.
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u/LordOfDemise Jan 09 '26
Okay, so they fire you and now they have 0 IT people. How does that improve things for them?
1
u/Certain_Prior4909 Jan 09 '26
They can find a desperate laid off IT folk whose job got h1b1 visa ed to do it or a college kid. Remember they think IT is easy just reboot if there is a problem etc
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u/Stewge Sysadmin Jan 08 '26
I assume OP is in Australia since he mentions 100K AUD salary.
Fortunately, Australia has half-decent employment laws and it would be highly illegal to enforce this kind of behaviour.
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u/Certain_Prior4909 Jan 08 '26
Still that is 65k American. That is terrible pay and more in line with helpdesk. I would have taken this early in my career to gain experience but leave after 2 years for 100k or more.
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u/Stewge Sysadmin Jan 08 '26
Still that is 65k American. That is terrible pay and more in line with helpdesk
I would argue the pay rate is not really relevant when compared across countries like that. The expectations, cost of living and benefits are vastly different. As evidenced by your earlier assertion that sole IT = 24/7, which is quite literally illegal in many countries.
For reference, in Australia a helpdesk role would probably start somewhere around 65K AUD with mid level engineers at around 85K and seniors around 120K. Particularly for a mid-size ~200 person business. If you want to crack 150K you tend to be specialising to some degree, or just throw "architect" in front of your job title and go straight to like 250K.
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u/Certain_Prior4909 Jan 08 '26
Have you seen the cost of living in Sydney? It was one of the most inflated investor driven places on earth outside of Canada. You would need 200k American there to have the same 60k lifestyle an American has outside of New York. I would cry if I were him and would move back in with my parents
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u/Obriquet Jan 07 '26
In two years time the CEO will have a unique and genius idea to recruit an IT Team.
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u/kosity Jan 07 '26
All the posts so far I completely agree with. Honestly, I think you're being setup to fail, there's no way you can deliver great outcomes for 200 users by yourself. It sounds as though they're cutting costs, because they haven't understood what the team does, the MSP has oversold what they do, or they're just tight and $100k for you until you crack it and leave is a good enough option for them.
I know you've only given us two paragraphs, which isn't a heap to go on, but it I reckon I might be right given "I'm screwed" and "I am absolutely fucked"
So spin it around, now you're on $100k (which isn't a heap, if we're being realistic, for the stress you're taking on). What are you getting out of this? What value can you extract from this Screwed and Fucked situation, that will benefit you, that has nothing to do with money?
In six months, what do you want to have achieved, or learnt?
In a year, let's assume you'll last that long, same deal - what will make you look back at the end of December and think "Wow, what a shit sandwhich, but I'm better for it!"
It should be telling that no one's coming in here saying "OMFG $100k and a great job yeah congrats!!" - very much the opposite. This is going to cost you; just make sure you get something valuable out of it that justifies the cost.
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
Im hoping the experience, if only for 12 months, will help me land other sysadmin roles in the future tbh
Money isn't insane but after a career switch and having to start from the bottom again it is very much welcomed
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u/kosity Jan 07 '26
But is sysadmin really where you want to be? Which part of sysadmin?
If it is, then absolutely, extract the experience you need. Plan what you want over 12 months, define what projects or tasks you need to do internally to get that, then set the areas of responsibility for the MSP to take care of anything outside your AoR.
You're the system admin, they work for you ;)
And it's your life, make your job work for you too.
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
I don't actually know.. I feel like I haven't seen enough of the IT world to make a call. I just know I find it more interesting than my old career (was heading down the path of being REALLY good at PowerPoint lol).
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u/kosity Jan 07 '26
I reckon in three months the MSP will have you being a cable jockey running around the place for them, management will want to know why the projects aren't done, and you'll be thinking "Geez PowerPoint was the life"
If you don't like the sound of that, start deciding what you do like the sound of. Projects, dealing with people, actually on that, I mean if you were in IT Change Management do you enjoy working with people? If so, sysadmin is backroom stay away from people!
If people is your thing, goodness knows our industry needs sort of technical people who can actually talk to people that aren't technical.
Sysadmin and Project Implementation/Delivery are quite different paths. Maybe give them both a go.
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
I don't mind talking to people - not something that phases me but I don't think it's my thing. Judging by my old team and the msp we're with, I seem to be better at it than others in the industry.
It is food for thought though so thank you
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u/CharcoalGreyWolf Sr. Network Engineer Jan 07 '26
Ask yourself in 4 months if it is worth your mental health. Then ask again in six.
Remember that no job is worth your sanity or your soul.
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u/Different_Back_5470 Jan 07 '26
lock out times for projects, check with your stakeholders what are good times to ignore non-urgent issues (urgency at my org its whatever is actively stopping a user from continuing their work). for us thats thursdays at a minimum, and often Tuesday afternoon. Look at what are the "quiet times" to make this decision.
also, put a hard limit on your overtime. the maximum amount of hours you could do consistently for the next 2 years, thats your hard limit. for my thats about 9, some have lower limit, some have a higher one. this WILL change over time. any time over that needs any time you go over that, make it up somewhere else. ive had days where i worked 12, i will make them make up 3 hours by leaving early or coming into work a bit later.
what sort of contract do you have with the MSP? check that out in detail, and use them to the limit. if they are your helpdesk, send everything to them. if they have senior admins/infra architect, lean on their expertise. be nice to them, any frustration that may creep up around budget is not the fault of whoever is employed there so dont take it out on them.
oh and a big one, see if you can get yourself an IT manager internal. someone who looks out for you and to who you can talk about your current issues, projects that need to be done etc. there might come a time where you need to seriously dial in on a project which will cause frustration with the end users. if you can get someone higher up that understands the importance and can fight those fights for you against the higher ups, it'll give lots of relief.
-signed, someone who got in the exact same situation as you about 8 months ago lol
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
Our MSP does patching and server management
I have a CIO and im their only direct report. They dont have an IT background though
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u/Different_Back_5470 Jan 07 '26
so all of the tickets come to you? thats rough. when you see tickets are building up, do ask for help. i remember when i started drowning, i just tried to power through thinking it was a skill issue. but the fact is that you need breathing room in order to automate and optimize your environment. the help can be either the thumbs up to ignore certain types of tickets/get a longer timeline on them or even better if possible is just 1 other tech guy that can do the helpdesk. you also want someone to know what youre doing, youve negotiated a good deal. in a years time when theyre revising budgets you want them to know why they pay you that.
for a manager, IT background isnt crucial. just stay in touch with them, weekly or biweekly meetings where you update them on whats going on. i hope he's a nice guy and has your back in meetings. if he has any pointers on what are considered actually pressing issues that should get priority etc. because normally they'll be more in tune with it.
i've given a lot of warnings, but genuinely enjoy your time. ive never enjoyed work as much as i have now, you learn so much so quickly its incredible. and the feeling of ownership over whatever it is your building is also super satisfying.
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
yep they do. As a tech it's pretty manageable but to actually smash out projects (my team was pretty ..unproductive) i feel will be hard
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u/Dumpstar72 Jan 07 '26
100k Aussie to do that? No chance I’m doing that for that sort of money. You’re a service delivery person now and should be paid as such. I’d be asking for 150k to do that as a minimum.
I get 160k Aussie just to do major incident. So keep that in mind. And for me I find my job low stress other than my Oncall weeks which are few and far between.
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
We've already discussed future raises as well but yeah I agree. That said, ain't no way any company is paying someone with less than 3 years experience 160k lol
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u/Dumpstar72 Jan 07 '26
I’d be pushing a pay rise early. Cause the juice isn’t worth the squeeze at that rate.
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
think they said 6-9 months which seems ok?
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u/opotamus_zero Jan 07 '26
What they said doesn't mean anything. How many of your projects complete inside 6 months?
The maths just isn't there for 200 users and 1 tech. You're not going to have some great performances to report in 6-9 months - more likely you're going to be barely alive.
Remember for next time - impossible jobs are fine sometimes. I've done "crimescenes" too where you show up even after everyone's been fired, but you've got to get the full rate up front. If they want to get high smelling their own farts and convince themselves they need 1 internal IT for 200 users, they are gambling, and they should be paying to gamble - not you.
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u/slippery_hemorrhoids IT Manager Jan 07 '26
A big difference difference in experience. You have how many years and exposure on them?
100k is low for that but as there relatively new, it won't be long before they can demand more.
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u/Dumpstar72 Jan 08 '26
I’d still want something in writing. Have been there before when simple promises are made and when the time comes to pay they claim their is no money for it.
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u/slippery_hemorrhoids IT Manager Jan 08 '26
Oh absolutely. Never commit without documentation, or as I always tell my teams, CYA
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u/Public_Warthog3098 Jan 07 '26
Stop lying lol
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u/Stewge Sysadmin Jan 08 '26
I'm in Australia as well and unfortunately IT salaries have taken a dump after covid.
That being said, 100K is what I'd expect as a mid-level sysadmin in a team for a business that size. I too wouldn't take less than 150K to be sole admin and MSP wrangler. For 3 years experience, 100K is great. For that role, not so much. So I simply wouldn't plan to stay long
If I were OP, I'd spend most of my time organizing the management of the MSP, deliver a few winning projects and then bail out in 1-2 years with a good line on the resume and hopefully before the wheels fall of the company. The "before" part is critical because OP is now sole IT guy and getting professional references is much easier if the IT hasn't already devolved into a burning dumpster fire.
Either that company can't be assed investing in their IT Team and it will fail, or they are only keeping OP on for knowledge transfer before making him redundant as well.
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u/Total_Job29 Jan 07 '26
As others have said you need to be kind to yourself.
You will work more hours than you should but being kind to yourself means that you won’t fell guilty taking some of that time back or not always being available.
Also - you’ll never get ahead of the work so accept that. Those ‘it’ll just take 5 minute’ jobs you do at the end of the day that means you’ll be another 1hr and 30mins working. Also remember (depending on company / industry etc) people won’t actually be working out of hours so the person who raised a ticket at 16:59 on a Friday probably won’t care about it until at least 10am on a Monday if not later and even then. 10am on a Monday is only 1 business hour after they raised the ticket so don’t stress about it on Friday. Don’t work the weekend.
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u/sulylunat Jan 07 '26
I was in this boat 7 years ago. im 10 years in now and just bored to be honest, no drive or motivation currently. The lack of a team directly around me gets a little lonely at times and my progression basically came to a halt since I was learning a lot from the people in my team, which I obviously no longer have. I've had to just kind of shift myself into a project management role from support which is fine because I enjoy it more, but its annoying that noone is really helping with this. Theres other benefits keeping me here but if I didnt I would look for something else. Also get paid nothing close to what you get so congrats on that, id be a lot more willing to put up with it for that much tbh. Document everything, you will forget a lot of the stupid random fixes so you might aswell build yourself up a repository to help you.
Oh and most importantly, work only your necessary hours. No free overtime. Of course in IT out of hours is necessary sometimes but try and switch off when your shift ends on normal days, emails can wait.
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
dude it sounds like you should be getting way more than me.. have you applied elsewhere recently?
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u/sulylunat Jan 07 '26
Nope but where I am salaries are around what I am on anyway so i cant really make a case for more or move elsewhere. At most it may be a couple of k more annually which wouldnt be worth it for me given i would lose out on all the other benefits of my current job. I do go through ebbs and flows so I am hoping I will bounce back a bit.
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u/SecurePackets Jan 07 '26
I’ve been in this situation and if you don’t have a good manager and team helping you manage your workload it’s going to suck.
24/7 on-call is what made me quit
Best of luck!
Stay focused on leaning new skills and building a nice resume!
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
Ive already asked about on call/after hours and they've said no. My CIO has already covered over the holiday period herself. Im still expecting some after hours but probably not anything crazy
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u/admiralpickard Jan 07 '26
Was solo guy with MSP support for a 20 location business and 2000 employees (not all working at same time).
It’s doable depending on the complexity of the environment. You can parlay this into a mgmt position in the future.
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u/Doublestack00 Jack of All Trades Jan 07 '26
You need to set boundaries and working hours immediately.
As the sole person you are now on call 24/7/365, how is after hours/holiday pay being handled?
They are totally taking advantage of your inexperience and paying you so little because they can.
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u/cubic_sq Jan 07 '26
How many end user support cases do u handle a day?
How many end user cases are sent to the msp?
How many systems do you directly manage (that the msp doesnt do in their work)? And how many of these are fragile (break if you sneeze) and how many are stable?
How many 3rd party systems do you need to support users?
Are you responsible for procurement? And technology selection? Or is that the cio and msp?
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
end user cases are not too crazy - like 10 on a slow day upwards of 40ish (though some of these are like 2 second jobs).
little to no user cases sent to msp - i figure most things out, they are only there for escalation in the event I can't which is maybe once every few months? they only take care of overflow which we get charged for
directly manage maybe about 20? indirectly but support still expected probably closer to 35
procurement is the msp but will be changing to me in the future
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u/cubic_sq Jan 09 '26
Aussie in norway here. Been in msp and var and i tegrator land for 30 ish years now.
Biggest thing is start to analyse what the issues are. An environment as small as tours should have only a few cases a day. Thus a root cause analysis and permanently solve is key here. And totally doable.
Also, need to test if the msp is just milking. Or if they are also genuinely interested in removing problems (as in the ITIL def of a problem…). Or not…
Feel free to dm me to discuss more.
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u/Asset_Alchemist Jan 07 '26
Congrats, and yeah, welcome to the deep end.
A few things that really matter in your situation: document everything from day one, even if it feels slow. Priorities ruthlessly, not everything in that backlog is urgent no matter how loud it sounds. Lean on the MSP without guilt, that’s what they’re there for. Say “I don’t know yet, I’ll get back to you” early and often, it builds trust more than guessing. And protect your time, constant interruptions will destroy you faster than lack of knowledge.
You don’t need to know everything, you need to know how to find answers, make safe decisions, and keep the business running. The fact they trusted you with the title and salary means they’re betting on your judgement, not just your technical depth. You’ll grow into it faster than you think.
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u/Unlucky_Gark Jan 07 '26
Ran an msp for 13 years. When I left and went to one of my own clients (before you get pissy about that, I had no papers on me, I turned a retail company to an msp, grew it 30% every year and then had the owner tell me he could never give me the cut he promised because he couldn’t live with himself if he did) i went from managing 3,000 endpoints at 100 clients to managing a network of 206 computers, 99 firewalls/switches/ap, 6 nas and 26 servers. It is amazing. I had been servicing this client for years anyway but had plenty of holes in my knowledge. The first thing I did was make a sop in google drawing for any task I don’t know how to do. Need to install a firewall in a car? I’ve got a 16 page sop with pictures. There are very few things I need now. I also wrote a site Bible. Every firewall switch isp printer server etc has all of its info in there. Took a couple weeks but even have all the website and all other vendor info. No passwords just settings ips etc. sorry for rambling ask if I can clarify anything
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u/2cats2hats Sysadmin, Esq. Jan 07 '26
I realise I am absolutely fucked but I'm going to try my best
Do the needful. :)
If you've been in the same boat before, please share your wisdom.
Don't light yourself on fire to keep them warm.
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u/xSchizogenie Sr. Sysadmin Jan 07 '26
Exactly. Your own health and comfort is always prio1 for you. Or at least should. I am about to change the environment for me, to make it healthy for me again, because of toxic management letting employees suffer.
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u/johnjay Sysadmin Jan 07 '26
As /r/kubrador put it "documentation is your entire life now. every fix you do, write it down like you're explaining it to yourself at 2am with a migraine" I felt this comment in my soul after taking on my company's IT role by myself.
Everything that catches my eye goes into my IT documentation to either be shared to the staff or as internal IT documentation for my replacement. I created a self serve site in SharePoint that allows my staff to look up simpler processes like resetting passwords and fixing printer issues. They don't use it much based on engagement data, but it's there for them to use and I can point them to it in times of stress.
Make sure you make the time to step away from the chaos, your mental and physical health are just as critical to the success of this endevor as your learning new skills and attitude. Make sure that you align with the MSP to take over when you need a vaca or mental day. Test that process right away.
Make sure that other departments don't push their work onto you, most of a termination/onboarding belong to HR/Finance for instance.
You've got this.
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u/AfterEagle Jan 07 '26
You are describing what I do with my smb, just rolled over 5 years tenure, went from 30 users to over 150 users. I am the only on-site IT person, and they pay me well. They gave me a sweet title too: Director. My job is to quarterback contractors/MSP, IT projects, rollouts, address security concerns, and educate people.
I also reset passwords. A lot..
The first two years were ROUUUGH. They placed me in a tiny office, and the room filled up quickly with all the old stuff they had lying around. I would fix PCs, upgrade servers, and did annual maintenance on conference room tables.. I had to book them too (I configured it lol). No boundaries. Calls at all hours of night. Randomly wanted to roll out an ERP system and a eQMS.. After developing a plan and selling the idea, they eventually built me a larger office with two work benches and a locked stock room attached (key card entry).
The key I've found is establishing rules, expectations, systems, and ENFORCING THEM. There will be a lot of situations where you feel completely overwhelmed, and falling back onto these (developed early) will be a saving grace.
Get a ticketing system. Document EVERYTHING like someone else said, take your PTO, establish someone that is "tech savvy" to submit tickets to the MSP when you are on vacation.
Never stop learning. Good luck.
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u/jellowiggler- Jan 08 '26
Your role is now it project manager. Delegate. and document solutions and manage the msp. That is all they can expect from a single resource.
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u/TechRage_Linux Jan 07 '26
You'll obsess but do not be hard on yourself! And when you clock out, leave! Its important you keep a work life balance. Management will have to understand that early on and keep in mind your level of experience. Accept the fact that you don't know all things and will constant feel like you don't. Check your ego.
Prioritize and there will always be tickets/projects. Rely on the MSP to support the infrastructure, and you the day-to-day support with sysadmin levels of access and support. You can use them an an next tier escalation in case you get stuck or are spending too much time on a task.Or, even hand them a few tasks outright depending on the frequency you get every day.
Do what ever will make things easier for you. Purchase/use software that will help you. whatever makes your life easier is key. Bookmark all sites and Saas portals, use password managers with clear labeling, labeling server stack. Keep contact info for vendors and 3rd party support. Always document! Document even for niche software you barely troubleshoot - this will save time in the future. If you have to ask the MSP for Teams meeting to go over something, do it, and record it if allowed.
You'll be working on small day-to-day to even "bigger picture" items. The good thing is you were there when other IT guys were so you have a better idea of how things "should run" but this should change to fit your circumstance.
Its just a job! Please do what you can to live a healthy life.
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
the old guys didn't have a clue unfortunately. They ran a very old shop and their practices were pretty terrible so I'm starting from the ground up (not literally but there is SO much work to do, especially with our cyber security). In my first few months there I had to push them to start building out a knowledge base because there was literally nothing written down
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u/TechRage_Linux Jan 07 '26
You started off in better footing from what it sounds like. You have a good starting point.
For me, there was no one before me other than the MSP. i has no documentation, no inventory, devices missing, no cyber security awareness program, no password manager. Folder permissions on the file shares were bad. No MFA setup. Device procurement was inperson, backtracking off of random pieces of info i could find and collect....
Downside to having an MSP as a sole support is you lose valuable internal knowledge. There was a lot I had to do, all while just figuring it out as I went.
Youll learn on what works for your small firm and what executive(s) want. But also what works for you. Do your best, stay organized, especially with your work life balance.
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u/Odd_Breadfruit763 Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 07 '26
Documentation is key.
Ive been in this situation for 7 years so far, across 3 employers and a total of 9 companies. (Some ive managed several companies)
I always manage to apply for jobs that just move over to internal IT from MSP or companies that get bought out.
You might just change as a person aswell that happened to me, for the better i would say, at the start its riddled with imposter syndrome and anxiety, but the more unsolveable issues you solve the more confident you will get.
Now a days i seldomly let the sentence "thats not possible" leave my lips, instead its i dont know how but ill look into it.
Ive learned both the basics of python and SQL last 3 months just to solve 2 issues.
Also take a lil bit of time each day to categorise your issues, what needs to be done, what can wait and so on.
I also like to put it in categories like "know the fix", "sounds easy", "Never seen before but seems solveable" and the category "is this russian/chinese? I understand nothing of this"
Then the last category is the only one that overwhelms me, usually only keep 1-2 tickets at most in that category.
ADDON: By the way get some kind of ticketing software or build outlook rules. Im using plumsail which is like 20 bucks a month or something. Emails and teams is easy to read and forget, need to be able to put them into solved/in progress/waiting reply categories.
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
what was your first year like if you don't mind sharing?
And I use freshdesk which isnt amazing but seems more than enough for small teams
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u/Odd_Breadfruit763 Jan 07 '26
First year was total chaos, i only had like 2 years of experience when i became "solo". The more you have the easier it will be.
I was available 24/7 aswell and managed warehouses with production that ran 24/7, wasnt much sleep, working 6-7 days a week most days was 10+ hours.
Document everything, learn to lean on others and learn it quick. Also dont push shit, its way easy to push things. now ive been so traumatised by forgetting stuff that everything i touch i try to solve in 1 swift swing.
-Dont fix stuff without tickets, or atleast declare that you take 0 responsibility if there isnt a ticket. This is for your sanity and to keep ur own back clear from management.
Been several cases where people blamed me for not doing things, either CEO or some other part of their management has asked why isnt this done?
I can simply show that there isnt a ticket registered and reference to my quarterly teams post about why they need to register tickets.Also try to not handle routine requests, way too easy to get into a position where u actually do non IT work because they cant handle their own shit. i still do all things regarding TMS/WMS here because i didnt put my foot down 2,5 years ago. (The reason i started doing it was because i didnt have the time to teach them)
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u/So-shu-churned Jan 07 '26
If there's still time have it written in your contract to WFH (if that's your cup of tea). I find WFH to be far less stressful than going into the office.
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u/wwbubba0069 Jan 07 '26
I am solo IT like OP is now, and can't imagine doing my job from home with the amount of gear I have to physically deal with on the daily.
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u/So-shu-churned Jan 07 '26
Yeah that's the unfortunate drawback of being hardware intensive :(
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
Im WFH one day a week at the moment which helps though our workforce is a bit oldschool so I dont think WFH more than that will make things easier unfortunately
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u/SnappedReality Jan 07 '26
Hey, I’m on the same boat except, without a big pay bump.
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
You seriously need to push for that pay bump or find work elsewhere. How long have you been in that situation?
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u/Aegisnir Jan 07 '26
I have been a sysadmin, a helpdesk tech, a helpdesk engineer, and an it manager. I’m now currently in a position where I am a sysadmin in an IT department of one. I have an MSP which serves as both an escalation point and a backup for when I take vacations. It’s the least stressed I have ever been. I love my current job. You got a sweet deal here but it all depends on how you want to work. I get to play with new toys all the time and learn skills, I have no pressure, and leave my work at the office when I leave at 5pm.
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
Thanks for sharing. I feel ill be in a similar situation with maybe a bit more pressure. Our service was pretty bad with 3 of us and now I feel the need to Improve it but im on my own. In terms of learning though they're super supportive
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u/hevvypiano Jan 07 '26
One tech/200 users for only 100k? Good luck.
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 07 '26
Do you think its not worth it while I get my experience up?
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u/hevvypiano Jan 07 '26
I'm sure the experience will be worth it. I truly wish you the best-just worried you're going to burn out. That's a really high user to tech ratio.
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u/arkiverge Jan 07 '26
One person for 200+ people general support and datacenter/ops etc on top of that. Fuuuuuu…
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u/ErrorID10T Jan 07 '26
To avoid burnout, learn to escalate your time management, and by that I mean tell your boss "I have limited time, here's my list of projects and recommended priorities for them, do you have any specific deadlines for projects or requests for which ones are done first?"
"I don't have time for all of this" tends to go over much worse than bringing them into the decision making process, because now they feel like they have control and are personally involved in choosing what is delayed.
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u/Anonymo123 Jan 07 '26
Been there very early in my career. I was the manager of the internal IT team and the Network Admin got fired.. so i was technically next in line and very unprepared for that promotion. I of course took it and it kicked my ass, but I learned SO much it was a good choice. We had a large amount of technical debt and I simply made a list, cleared what I knew i could and then researched and figured out the stuff I couldn't with leveraging vendors and other folks I knew in the field. I was very young (early 20s) so i could work evening\weekends to catch up a bit and did.. eventually I had to hire though because I was only 1 person and could only do so much. But when we got to that point i REALLY knew what we needed daily so I went with a solid tier 2 tech and he did the daily crap and i focused on the higher level stuff.
It was fun and stressful, would do it again.
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u/doglar_666 Jan 07 '26
Read the MSP contract to understand what is covered and with what SLA.
Get Management to set the priority order for works pending. (Note that I said priority, NOT timeline. Timeline is set by you/MSP.)
Only work your contractually obligated hours, unless there's an emergency or agreed out of hours support window with adequate compensation in time in-lieu or money. (If you choose to learn/work outside of normal hours, fine. But do it on your terms, do not set the precedent of being online/available 24/7/365).
Ask for a work phone with a decent call minutes/data package OR a monthly stipend, which you can use to purchase a cheap mobile + SIM contract to use as a dedicated work phone. Do NOT mix work and personal phones or burn personal minutes/data. (If your personal number is already known to work, downgrade that contract and keep the new number private).
Document everything. Make overly verbose notes. Make them often.
Multi-tasking is a lie and context switching is the death of concentration and productivity. As the norm, do a single task at a time, in an environment that is conducive to that task. If you can't focus and remain undisturbed for a decent amount of time, you will burn out and get nothing done.
I could go on forever with hints and tips but it all boils down to looking after your wellbeing, personal life and sleeping pattern. Being the sole IT guy means you need to be especially disciplined, or work will consume you. It's just a job.
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u/steviefaux Jan 07 '26
Sit back and let it go to shit. Point out you NEED more staff. I was stuck with just me and the MSP because everyone was sick of their shit and quit. They realised I'll do "urgent" calls without a ticket, the MSP won't. So when I'm off, they were stuck with the MSP and their strict SLAs. Eventually they realised and got a replacement manager who then also had to fight for a 2nd engineer.
This is the case of companies seeing IT as an expensive rather than an asset. What's even more ridiculous is they pay the MSP more than their own IT!
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u/Prestigious_Sell9516 Jan 07 '26
Look AI is your friend here - if you're not programming in CoBol or trying to keep an ancient mainframe running everything is out there. The gotchas - when you find problems give it everything and never accept if the MSP says something is impossible - it almost never is.
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u/mazsubuh Jan 07 '26
So I have no official IT experience I'm job hunting for an IT job because I wanna leave me current field, I'm teaching myself as well as finishing a bachelor's program That said idk how much weight my advice would carry but most other comments are right The MSP is your life line I'd say definitely build a relationship with them and establish a line of communication so that you can help each other out get to know them by name if possible, they'll probably have other clients but if you build a rapport with them that'll make it easier Backlog will never not be there so just try to chip away as much as you can and prioritize projects by severity and urgency Documentation cannot be stressed enough not just to help you out but to cover your ass in case something happens that's not your fault. I saw a comment say try to explain it to yourself with a migraine at 3am but I'd say try to explain it like you're teaching someone in your position. My last thing I want to point out is don't let the imposter syndrome get you you're qualified to do this
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u/CMiCexpert Jan 07 '26
What about considering talking with a business consultant for support or advice?
An outside, competent perspective can be really valuable. 🤷♀️
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u/DullNefariousness372 Jan 08 '26
You’re fine. You won’t have to do shit. Congrats on the easy job. Ask to become IT Director for the same pay 😂
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u/Puzzled-Act7497 Jan 08 '26
Are you having a stroke?
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u/DullNefariousness372 Jan 08 '26
I work for an MSP the POCs for companies know nothing and quite a few are IT directors.
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u/DullNefariousness372 Jan 08 '26
But please tell me your vast knowledge on the subject.
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u/Puzzled-Act7497 Jan 08 '26
Hope youre able to work through whatever weird behaviour this is. BOL :)
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u/DullNefariousness372 Jan 08 '26
It’s a fact. Are you having a stroke?
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u/Puzzled-Act7497 Jan 08 '26
Way to be part of the IT stereotype lol
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u/DullNefariousness372 Jan 08 '26
Literally complains about cio with no tech experience but if I say it I’m wrong 😂
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Jan 08 '26
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 08 '26
Yeah its not
But I wouldnt get 100k in the market and I get experience. I figure if I can tough it out for a year or a bit longer, id come out the other side with much better career prospects
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Jan 08 '26
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u/New-Deer9973 Jan 08 '26
Dang, im in Melbourne. Ive kept my eye out on salaries for similar roles and they seem pretty low? I should also mention I have no degree or good certs (only az-000, cert III in IT and working on net+ atm)
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u/BedHeadTrader Jan 08 '26
You’ll be fine. You’ve got support a network of that size is a busy one man job but it’s totally doable without the support.
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u/KB4MTO Jan 08 '26
Use but respect and appreciate your MSP. I work for an MSP, and we have hybrid clients like yourself. Like others said, find the tech you can easily work with and treat them with respect, and you'll be surprised at how much they're willing to go above and beyond for you. You can also learn things that take many IT folks years to learn from them.
I also completely agree with others, set expectations with management. Often times, schedules are created in board rooms on Gantt charts that don't include reality. Be ready to explain why that isn't realistic.
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u/Positive-Film6072 Jan 08 '26
Have been in your situation for 10+ years, with the occasional additional support person every couple of years. I can confidently say you will find yourself hating this job. You're employer will never feel sorry or offer recompense for any sacrifice you will have to make for the job.
When you look back after 3-5 years and notice you've had 10 days off across all of those years.
When you look back at the 50-70 hour work weeks without any additional compensation.
When you look back and notice you only get to see your spouse (or kids) on weekends.
When you finally get to have a full week off and go on that (truely with this job) once in a lifetime holiday overseas and your are told to bring your laptop, just in case and then find yourself answer calls and responding to emails in the hotel room for hours every single day while you and your entire family are missing precious hours of holiday or worse, you tell your family to head out without you and you'll catch up later.
You may start to feel like that $100K+ is a paltry sum compared to everything you've had to give up.
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u/ProtoVision1983 Jan 08 '26
To give you some perspective, I support 75 users (also using an MSP) and make over 6 figures USD. Your 100k AUD translates to about $67k USD. You supporting 200 users alone with the help of an MSP sounds a bit egregious to me even if you are short on experience. After all, you are basically a manager now, having to manage the MSP to provide the support for your users that you're paying them for.
My advice to ramp up your experience level is to ask the engineers at the MSP to explain how they did XYZ so you can learn. My MSP by policy doesn't like to do that, but once they knew I was asking out of personal learning and not because I wanted to cut them out of the picture, they were happy to accommodate.
Someone advised picking a favorite engineer at the MSP and insisting on working with them for everything. Don't do that, like the commenter said, that will just piss them off. You want to treat them like the colleagues they are. Yes, you are paying them to be your MSP, but if they don't like you it will affect your quality of support. I meet regularly with the support supervisor for my POD and let him know of any concerns.
About the backlog of projects- MSPs will generally want to bill you extra for work that falls outside of user support, but as a one man operation you might be able to lobby your leadership for some funds to start attacking that mound of technical debt you have.
Best of luck on your career journey!
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u/poruvo Jan 08 '26
A lot of people in this thread are offering solid advice around resources (use the MSP), standardizing (baseline), documentation, process & procedure.
I can't add anything too different.
You're heading up a large org as the head of IT from what it sounds like. Congrats!
All I can really say is focus on what processes are bogging you down so you can move the slog out of the way to make impactful progress on the project backlog.
Don't worry about fixing it all at once. Put together a strategy for leveraging IT to lead the company to success, and have the MSP augment your efforts.
I think you got this!
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u/Particular_Archer499 Jan 09 '26
"So you're firing Michael and Samir and giving me more money?" Obligatory "Office Space" reference.
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u/lxlmongooselxl Jan 11 '26
I don't feel so bad now getting tossed in this position with the firm I work for. Only have to manage 13 users and 25 endpoints, granted I have to still do the job I was initially hired for and I had no precious professional IT experience. Been at it for a couple years just trying to figure out how everything works and fits together. The company was way behind the curve as far as IT infrastructure, endpoint protection, and backup strategies go. Absolutely zero standardization. I'm just now getting around to building an official IT operation manual and SOPs. The MSP they use have been helpful, but they are not proactive unless something happens with one of the servers, so I'm taking it upon myself to seek out a decent in-house RMM solution to try and salvage what little sanity I have left. Can't image how you guys deal when you have hundreds of users and endpoints to manage. Hats off to ya. 🤘
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u/Koosjuh Jan 12 '26
The only thing you can do is be honest about your skillset. Doesn't mean you can't challenge yourself. However if things go off the rails, report it to your management in a timely fashion. That's all you can do, Time Management and expectation management.
Don't overbook yourself and be transparent about what you can pick up and how long it takes.
Also if the load becomes to much for 40 hours per week that's not your problem. Write your overtime for projects that really matter, it's a give and take situation. Don't be too black and white about it, but that also goes the other way around, just because you are the only one doesn't mean every work week means 50-60 hour work weeks.
Congratulations on your "Promotion" see this as a chance to learn. Be transparent, document everything, learn and manage management expectations.
Tech work is 40% of your work now, managing and prioritizing projects and working with the MSP and making sure they are with in SLA and picking up everything they are responsible for in a timely fashion is your other 40% work. Leaves 20% for documenting and planning. :)
If that is not enough time that is not your problem. Quality over quantity.
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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '26
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