| February 2006 |
| By Alex Bayardo |
I work in a “small” office (60 users) that is part of a huge law firm in Las Vegas, NV. Since I am the only IT person in this office, I basically do it all, with a lot of support from the central office. So when I say System Administrator, I really mean Jack of All Trades. I am part time Network Administrator, part time Help Desk, part time A+ Certified Tech/Installer, part time software guru, part time psychiatrist, and all around popular dude, only because everybody needs me at one time or another. If you are shy, this might not be for you, since half the job is technical and the other half is pure PR.
Typically, my day starts with taking care of the backup tapes, which encompasses changing them and sending them offsite for storage. Day-to-day activities might include adding or deleting an employee to our servers (Microsoft, Exchange, etc), making sure all servers are running properly, and everyone in the office is able to login and get to work on the tons and tons of paperwork a law firm generates, which necessitates a very good knowledge of MS Word and Excel, but that varies from office-to-office. A basic knowledge of printers is always helpful for all this paperwork, although you usually have a vendor available for this and any other issues.
From there, it’s all fast paced and VERY intense, simply because the users must be helped at all times, in a very professional manner, and without ever letting them know that you might think they are not all there. Attorneys don’t need to know computers, after all. They need to know how to argue a case or file a brief, but forget about them knowing how to copy a file to diskette (yep, sometimes, it’s that basic), or why their screen is blank (power button?).
The good news is almost every law firm in the country (and really every business now) is dependent on these little boxes, so job security is not an issue. While the depth of knowledge does not have to be huge (writing code is optional), you will pick up a LOT of information as you go along, simply because it’s a constant learning experience.
The main thing I have learned from working for several law firms is that while technical “know-how” is very important, attitude/personality/patience/EMPATHY goes a long way towards being successful in this career. Throw in a bit of humor, and learn to never take anything personally, even the yelling (yep, they do that also), and you will come to realize it’s a very interesting job. Believe me, when you have several partners stuck in a deposition or in the middle of a video conference call, and something goes wrong, they want their IT guy to resolve it on the spot. This is where logic, patience, a “can do” attitude, and a good sense of humor come into play.
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