Career Mashing!: Mix It All Together & You Know You Got the Best of Both Worlds!

I looked through the CareerMash website, not expecting to find much answers to the conundrum that is my future. While going through a CareerMash chart, I found a career that seemed to appeal to whatever pre-set personality traits that I could relate to! While I'm not about to vow that this will be the job I'll work towards, it's definitely one that I would have overlooked if I hadn't been on the CareerMash website.

A network manager monitors, operates, protects and provisions networked systems. Some duties they are assigned include keeping the network running smoothly, monitoring the network to spot problems, keeping track of the assignment of resources, performing repairs and upgrades, and configuring network resources to support a given service. Their all around job is to manage the network, to make interacting via technology an easier and more enjoyable process.
A university degree in computer science, information technology or electrical and computer technology is the standard starting point. You can find specialist concentrations within degree programs such as networks and security at the University of Windsor; communications networking at York University; or a networking an IT security stream in information technology at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Carleton University and Algonquin College partner to offer a degree and diploma in network technology providing courses and practical experience in such areas as design, IT security, the physics of communications and network simulation and modelling.

Twitterverse network is HUGE.

Bob Shwarz is a blogger who spends his days watching for the network of computers that he manages. In a post he wrote, he shows how the everyday life of a network manager is never boring. His day starts at 4:30 AM and can continue until 8:00 at night. It all depends on the number of problems he finds that day, or what his schedule looks like. He could have anywhere from 10 to 18 hour days, and if a major problem arises, he works around the clock to get the network back on track. 
Since I loved writing a list so much for my last post, I believe I will do so again.


Mellat's Three Rules to Being an Effective Network Manager:

1. Your agenda is your biffle.  Being a network manager requires a lot more time than you can actually log, so find your magic number and increase your productivity by scheduling wisely.
2. Remember food? Yeah, you should eat some. Skipping meals to save time will result with you drooling on your keyboard by the end of the day. To be efficient you have to be conscious, so take care of yourself. Eat your fruits and veggies, kiddies.
3. WORK. Perform a scheduled maintenance, check your uptime monitor, troubleshoot problems, make service changes and do everything your job requires of you. 

Since I'm not affluent in tech-speak, I can't translate all the words I read from the various websites I have been on, reading about network management. While I hope what I wrote was not too much of a regurgitation of those websites, please excuse any, ahem, paragraphs, you've seen elsewhere. Of course, anything taken from other does not belong to me.

Here are some useful links:

CareerMash: Network Management

Bob Schwarz: A Day in the Life of Network Admin

Texting In Social Situations: Ping Me Baby, One More Time!

Coming from a girl who is currently sans-cell in a tech dominated world, texting in social situations is a really big annoyance. Usually it's tolerable, since most people aren't huddled over their Crackberry 24/7, but there are many people who don't understand that their texting can be a bother.Text in public all you want, just not when you're attention should be otherwise occupied by the living, breathing person in front of you frowning at your lack of attention. My advice: Know when to text, and when not to.

When you pull someone aside to have a conversation, or are mid-explanation of something increrdibly important, the last thing you want is to be interrupted by a small, hand-held device. I think that people believe that texting is much easier and faster than calling, and just assume that it is okay  to whip out your phone and send back a quick response to the last text you received. In reality, it isn't. These quick responses usually end in replies, and these replies create conversations that interrupt the one we're having person to person, face to face. Wanting to make conversation with people is okay. Wanting to make conversation with multiple people at a time isn't. You wouldn't talk to me and the person next to you at the same time, so what makes texting any different?

Mellat's Texting Etiquette:

1. Place your ring on vibrate. Trust me when I say no one wants to listen to you live "la vida loca" as you reply to your texts.
2. Be discreet. I'm sure what your buddy Brian told you was funny, but you don't need to laugh that loud.
3. No need to flaunt your texts. This ties into the one above: Yes, I'm sure Brian's joke was top-notch, but no that doesn't necessarily mean I want to know how it went.
4. Those "PING!" options on the Blackberry? A lot louder than your average vibration.
5. I'm not going to third-wheel in a conversation I'm not part of. Don't start a conversation you're not going to continue. Prada or nada, baby.

Ms. Powell, I know I'm supposed to be done, but while my opinionated juices are flowing let me say that I really don't have anything against this texting business. It may be a smidge irritating, with a smattering of annoyance, but it really isn't as bad as I made it out to be.Texting is like any other form of communication, just one where the boundaries aren't so obvious.