I am a level 1 help desk tech at an MSP. I’ve been at this job for a year. I’ve been working in IT for 1.5 years, though.
I have my yearly review coming up and I have no idea what kind of questions to ask. I’m drawing a total blank.
I do know that I am being prepped to become a level 2 tech, but I’m not there yet.
My company is small and I can be totally open and honest with my boss.
I’m still anxious though.
Can I have a raise?
Super tempted to ask for one if one isn’t offered lol
Don’t take random people’s advice at face value. You know your circumstances best.
That being said:
“I’ve done the following this year and feel my work meets or exceeds expectations. That being said cost of living has been going up quite a bit and I would like to discuss how my pay can reflect this”
Or
“What steps do you think I should take to advance my career here? What’s the best path forward to taking on more responsibility and the commensurate compensation?”
And, if you’d rather just ask in general how things are going
“I feel this and this has been going great. Are there any areas you feel I do best in? Any areas that I should work on refining?”
And if the last question doesn’t have anything then that may be a good time to ask about pay. Just the COL alone is reason enough because there’s always the option of finding a new job whose starting pay is what you want.
Also, what’s the plan to correct salaries for higher than normal inflation over the last several quarters?
(Or maybe that would get you fired idk)
If you’re on the path to level 2, ask what you need to get there.
If you can get specific feedback then you can work on those things, and it also shows your boss that it’s your goal so they can help you work towards it.
I know that I have to get a specific Microsoft cert to get discussions on a promotion started. I attempted the cert exam and failed pretty badly. Gotta study more.
I plan on asking for specific feedback and how I can improve and all that.
Would it be helpful to ask for suggestions on getting better at the exam stuff, or do you already have what you need and just need to put in the study time?
I have loads of resources, so I just need to study.
Any chance of getting hands-on experience? Spin up some VMs to play with?
I could look into that. I got a udemy course on sale that has simulations and stuff. If those don’t cover what I am struggling with, I can totally see if we can spin up some temporary vms
Don’t have any MS certs myself, but the conventional wisdom is this: Answer how you think Microsoft wants you to answer. If there are two correct answers, go the Microsoft way.
I know that’s a little nebulous at your experience level. Wish I had some examples, been a few years since I looked at it.
Ask about your goals for getting to the next level. Be prepared to be told that no positions are open or expected to open soon, which is understandable, but your question is regarding goals so you’ll be ready when that time comes.
I already know one of them is going to be certs. So ask which certs does he think are most relevant to your current position and for advancing your career with the company. Those will be what helps you most when it comes time to either getting a promotion or moving elsewhere to another job at another company, which is how most people level up in this industry, unfortunately.
Along with this, ask if they do tuition reimbursement for said certs, where the company will pay either all or some of your costs for getting certs. They honestly should and you should take advantage of it if it is offered.
Ask what areas your boss thinks you can and should improve in and ask for specifics. If he thinks you don’t close enough tickets, ask what the recommended amount should be for you to hit, for example. This will help eliminate vague answers to legitimate questions you have and also help you better realize how you can improve and do better.
You should definitely be asking or getting a raise at your annual review. The cost of living is always increasing with inflation. The below bare minimum of 3% should be standard even though it doesn’t cover increases due to inflation. But there should be a raise in wage. They raise their rates on their customers, it’s not unfair to wonder where your cut is of that raise on the customer too.
Over the course of my time with my current job wheee I have been promoted and received a 20% raise on my first year, I wrote up a letter to my boss explaining why I felt I deserved a substantial raise of 20%. The letter covered my accomplishments over the the year, boasting about my good metrics and lightly comparing myself to my colleagues (you don’t want to bag on them too much because it’s bad taste and creates a hostile work environment, it’s shitty and can hurt them, and you don’t want your boss thinking you’re a haughty person), and also doing an informal average of similar jobs in my area for the same position showing that I was being paid 20% less than the average (implying that I could take my performance with me to any of these jobs and get the raise I’m asking for; I just went on indeed and picked the jobs with wages higher than mine, added them all up and divided them by the number of wages I had picked to get the average salary).
Thank you for such a detailed response! My company pays for the first attempt at a cert test, but I have to pay for it myself if I fail and have to retake it. I am also going to ask for a raise if one isn’t offered. I had to do a self-evaluation and listed a bunch of stuff I want to learn and start doing. I have to get help from other techs for a lot of stuff that I end up not understanding, and I want to not have to rely on them so much going forward. Like, they’re more than happy to help me, but I don’t want them to put their work aside for me. As for my coworkers, they’re all absolutely amazing. I consider them work friends and we are close and support each other.
NoneYa has the best answer you’re going to get, focus on it. All so very true for us techs.
They’re correct about moving on to get paid more. I’ve received massive pay bumps moving from my last two jobs. Hell, if I included benefits, this job doubled my last one. You’re expected to move every 3-5 years so your skills don’t stagnate. Some places won’t hire you if you’ve been in a job for 10+ years. They figure that’s all you know how to do, that one job.
And it’s not just tech! When we moved here, my friend took a job at an oil change place. So wildly under his experience we were scratching our heads. He just kept hopping jobs, excelling, and doing it again. Got up to $80K pretty fast, now he’s well over $100K, finally settled down I guess.
You’re in a great place! It’s where most of us start. Technical learning aside, you also get invaluable experience dealing with people. That will take you far in any field. If you’re not doing it already, use your coworkers to learn more! People starting out are passionate and always experimenting with tech outside their immediate needs.
Build relationships and learn from each other. Those relationships are key in helping you move to bigger and brighter jobs. One of our top managers brought in great people he worked with in the past. Our new VP just brought in a couple of new directors who I’ve talked to and have high hopes for. Keep in mind, even in a big city you’re quite likely to run into your current coworkers down the road.
Go forth and kick ass!
How has me working here financially impacted the company? What can I do to help the company become more profitable?
Oh that’s a good one! Especially since profit is up a whole fuck ton rn. I did do a job where we made $5400 to retrieve 3 emails.
It’s a blessing to be at a company where you can share that info. Looking for work now, but that’s one thing I’m looking for…a company that’s open enough to share how I’ve impacted the overall business.
I hope you can find a company as good as mine. I feel appreciated and cared for for the first time at a job. I broke my ankle and leg in October and had to have surgery to fix it. Everyone has been incredibly accommodating and supportive during my recovery. When I was in the hospital after the injury, I was either too high or crying too much to update my bosses on my condition. My mom did the calling for me and the owner of the company had her tell me that I don’t need to worry about keeping my job and focus on recovering. I ugly cried when I was told that.
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Try to secure a firm schedule for your L2, and what conditions need to met-to achieve it, . Not because you are especially ambitious, just because you want to keep growing into your job.
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Demonstrate a wider interest in a) your department (what is the current state of tools, processes, what are the pain points) b) the wider company (how is the company performing, does your dept have a good reputation within it)
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Tell him you think you are in a good place to grow both technically and as a person and as long as that remains true, you are happy and loyal.
When you are running the place, don’t forget your friends 😉
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A yearly review is generally more for them to give you feedback so you really don’t have to ask questions if you don’t want to. If you’ve been doing a decent job you have nothing to be anxious about. But here are some questions you could consider asking:
What do you consider my strengths? Is there anything I can improve on?
I would like to develop my skills in xyz, are there any opportunities in the company for me to do that? Or do you have recommendations for how I could do that outside of the company?
What are the career path options after level tech 2?
Am I meeting your expectations for where I should be at the current point in my career?
What direction do you see the company/our team moving in in the next few years? How could I help us align with that?
Why do you lie? Why do you move the goalposts between every meeting? Why are you the way that you are?
Or maybe that’s just for me.
I wanna ask end users why they lie lmao
I’ll say 99% of the time they are embarrassed or just stupid
20 year IT veteran here. What are your areas of interest?
Some potential areas:
- Networking
- AV
- End Points (PCs, phones, etc)
- Security
- Virtualization
- Programming
- Servers
- Applications
- Databases
- Storage
- Project Management
- Systems Analysis
I am interested in literally everything. I wanna learn more server stuff and phone systems especially. I am last in line to learn phones though. I do a lot of basic stuff with most of the things you’ve listed, though. I’m currently trying to fix the backups on a client’s server and I’m actually making progress on my own.
So you want to advance to a higher level and have a broad interests?
You failed some MS cert exam?
You have a review coming up?
Broad interests. Don’t miss the forest for the trees. Learn core concepts and things that are useful in many contexts rather than specifics. This is where a lot of newbies go wrong. E.g. don’t learn about AD, learn LDAP and AD, OpenLDAP, DS389, will all come much easier. In most roles some basic programming with Python will come in handy. Once you learn to write code in one language, learning others comes a lot faster. Some worthwhile things to have a foundational grasp of: PKI and how it is used by SSH and TLS, a high level understanding of common network protocols. Peruse IETF RFCs for that. E.g. if you know how say DNS works, you can manage it using any DNS server software. Ditto http and web servers. You will need to learn configuration management SW and monitoring SW. I prefer salt stack and zabbix. There are many good choices.
Seriously learn PKI and TLS. I can recommend some good sources. TLS is used by pretty much everything to secure connections. Backup server to agent, browser to web server, AV to server, you name it.
Open Source is your friend, learn a bit about big projects. E.g. say you get good with backups and want to work for your favorite product vendor. That fancy backup appliance or cloud service is probably running Linux or FreeBSD on the metal and using something like Tomcat for the WebUI.
Learn a bit about licensing models. You will have to deal with it no matter what path you choose.
I wouldn’t try to impress your supervisor. Chances are, they’ll see through it. They may or may not care about their employees. Assume they don’t. Don’t assume the worst either. You can almost always trust interests. Their job in an MSP environment is to make sure contractual requirements are met and clients are happy. Focus on where your interests are aligned. Happy clients mean less headaches for you and your boss. I would let them lead the conversation, but focus on that aspect. If a lot of clients use X thing, mention that to your boss that you want to learn more about X thing as it will help you close tickets faster.
Solid! This reads like old-school wisdom from /r/sysadmin. Those folks really helped me kick start my career.
I have my yearly review coming up and I have no idea what kind of questions to ask. I’m drawing a total blank.
You could ask a question demonstrating you’re thinking about how your actions influence the success of the company. Such as:
“What technologies or certifications are our customers asking for now or in the near future? If I could obtain some, that could increase my bill rate to because of that higher level of expertise.”
It comes off as an altruistic question, but knowing that answer, obtaining that skill makes you a more valuable worker in your industry irrespective of who is your employer. Especially closer to the beginning of your career the most valuable investments you can make are in yourself. This means skills, credentials, or tools. Have the ability to do things that your other peers can’t.
If your manager is a good manager, then nothing that comes up in your review should be a surprise. Talk about a plan to get to the next level. Nothing will ever be guaranteed, but if you work together on a plan and have milestones to meet then you’ll have a better chance of getting a raise and promotion. Obviously, not every review cycle can include a raise or promotion, so be reasonable.
A good review has what are called SMART goals. They should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based. If your manager fails to give you goals that meet that criteria, then chances are you aren’t both working toward the same thing. Be open to criticism, because you probably won’t be doing everything well. Make sure you’re having regular one-on-ones with your manager, or whoever gauges your progress. If you’re early in your career, I would recommend every week, or every two weeks at most. This way you have regular feedback. Make sure you take notes.
Ask what the most important skills or experiences to develop are for the transition to level 2, if there are any new or unexpected needs emerging in the department, if there are any specific departmental or company-wife priorities or goals for the coming year, and if there’s any way your specific role can more actively support those goals.
Depending on the type of place, you can ask if you’re perceived as taking feedback well and/or being up for a challenge, saying that you want that to be clear and would like to work on it if it isn’t. The fine line is asking a question that seems like it’s just meant to make you look good vs. a legitimate request for somewhere you can grow or do more good for the team/company, which is why keeping things focused on questions that will have actionable responses is a great move. Hope this helps and good luck! Sounds like you don’t have much to be worried about if they’re already prepping you for a promotion!
Before you ask your boss anything, figure out where do you want to go? And I don’t just mean in your career.
Then from that figure out, what does your ideal career trajectory look like in the next few years?
Do you want to be an L2? a sysadmin? DevOps? Do you want to keep working for an MSP, or maybe into a company with a dedicated IT team. Also consider if your tech career progression isn’t the most important thing, maybe it’s family, maybe it more time for a hobby, that’s ok too.
When you have a clear picture of what you want to do, communicate that and ask what you can do for the company that also helps move you toward that goal.
They probably won’t be moving you into your target role immediately, but any decent manager will help you move towards your goals, with training, mentoring, or other opportunities for skill building.
Some bosses are shitty and will try to keep you in roles that are the best for them, These bosses usually respond with a focus on your flaws, they will tell you why you’re not ready for whatever the next step is and offer no support or guidance to help you change whatever they cite. If you have a boss like that, start looking for another job.
Keep in mind the company has their own goals, you need to be prepared to be flexible they’re not going to move you into a role they don’t need. But as long as your manager isn’t a total dick, they’ll move you as close towards your goal as they can within the limits of the company’s goals.
Especially in this field it’s pretty common to need to move to another company to keep moving towards your goals. If you haven’t progressed to a new level within a year or two start applying for L2 role (or whatever else you want) at other companies.
Ask your boss how much they are making and how they got the job.
