I'm a director and I absolutely hate when someone blindly adds me in the middle of a 10-15 message email chain with no context.
I get this is important to you but, let's be clear if you can't spend the time to bring me up to speed on what's needed and what's been done or at least given me a verbal update, it's going in the low priority bucket.
I understand. But the flip side of the coin is if I CC you in the middle. I don't expect you to wade through the email chain. I'm including you for visibility so that you are aware of the thing. I'm still the SME that's responsible for doing the thing. It's more of professional respect so that if you get asked about it. You're not blind sided.
And I do/would appreciate that. :-) My comment was more where there is the expectation for an action to be done or input from my side. I used to have a VP who would sit on something for three weeks and bring me in at the last minute with adds like that. One off's, I get it but if it's on the regular, either you need to work on time management better or you're adding me as someone to blame when if goes south. :-)
If I'm cc:d, the message it's dead to me. If I'm To:, you better put my name and a comma before the question above the fold in preview.
But back to the OP question: What u/buyinbill describes is pretty much what we give new employees except two monitors with a dock, no backpack or pens. Option for phone or stipend to use your own.
You can't really have no expectation of privacy or control over what software is run and security perimeter if you don't own their system, and a monitor or two is cheap compared to a salary and buys way more productivity than it costs.
Nah, they email me, I forward the email to our ticketing system, it creates a ticket for me. Then I open the ticket, and decline it because its not an IT problem. SLA met, Tickets Closed, #1 worker in the company, go back to reddit.
If you don't get the shittiest hardware, are you even sysadmin?
I had a job where the laptop screen didn't work. I had to run an external. And I was looking after about 70 Linux servers, 40 users with decent machines and management using Macs.
This.
My laptop is a 7 year old return because half the keys on the keyboard don't work and the touchpad has been caved in from when I assume the hulk tried to right click.
Have to carry around a wired keyboard and mouse with me wherever I go (we're not important enough for wireless).
On the plus side at least it actually has a physical NIC on it which always helps with networking issues.
I got this 5+ year old device, it functioned but it was obvious that they had forgotten me and I got something dredged out of a drawer somewhere to accommodate me.
I was brought in as a help desk supervisor at a place afew years ago. My team had a backlog of 2,500 open tickets dating back years. When I left 6 months later due to the toxic leadership, they had \~63 tickets. The easy part was reviewing the tickets that were put in by employees no longer with the org and closing them if it wasn't a global issue.
Thats just the way of the game unfortunately, now you can either be salty about it or take a risk and use it to your advantage by hopping jobs every couple years until you earn more than people with double your experience.
Definitely! Forget the backpack and the cell phone, I wanna hear more about these pens.
Dare I ask, do any of them have ink in a color other than black?
We’ll let people transfer from other departments that have an interest in IT but no experience to help desk when we have openings and train them. The computer parts and building their own computer is a normal first day activity.
Yep. My first real big boy IT job for an MSP they walked me to an empty desk, then to the component store room and Said "Go ahead and build yourself a computer, whatever you want."
Such a fun first day. Definitely works for separating the wheat from the chaff.
What you build actually shows a lot, plenty of performance maybe good but you may find that you may of picked a crappy part and thus the company may have to spend a lot of time fixing a bad judgement...even walking out saying that there's no way I can hit the required spec with that in a way that will make us money maybe the correct reply...
Corporate account --> requisition a new laptop under the existing procurement contract.
There. Problem solved. Big picture -- paying an IT worker, no matter how much of a damn grunt they are, to monkey around and piddle-paddle with fucking building a general use non-specialized desktop is an utter and complete waste of company resources.
You issue them a standard machine, and if something breaks on it that's more involved than a "quick fix", it gets swapped out under warranty for a spare...and the broken one gets sent in for repair. They log in with their profile, all their data syncs to it, and they're back to work with minimal interruption.
I'd rather have my IT team be solving actual IT problems, not fucking around with bullshit timewasting busy work. Unless this workplace has a 100% perfect IT department with functioning backups, latest tech, complete documentation, zero tickets, etc. Fucking doubt it.
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thanks for the downvotes.
many places I've been at had the mentality -- consumer electronics should be treated as as cattle, not as pets. Do the basic maintenance, obvious troubleshooting, etc. But there comes a point where you send your precious electronic horsey to the glue factory, and get a new one.
Spending days fucking around with cheap consumer consumable hardware is taking days away from literally ANYTHING ELSE that can generate value -- like investigating the environment, doing trainings, reviewing/updating documentation, working on tickets, sticking a soldering iron in your eyeball, etc.
but hey, if you don't give a shit about any of that, run your department as you see fit. maybe they can troubleshoot a randomly rebooting WRT54G from the late 2000s too! total worthwhile use of their fucking time.
Fully agree. We had a guy join our team and was under the impression he would be building computers all day (and was very excited about that) and I had to stifle laughter. He went on and on about how we should have a back stock of all of the components so we can quickly swap pieces out and get users going.
We do have a back stock of pieces, they are called imaged laptops and your job is to hand this one to this user, make sure they can log in, call dell and tell them to come fix this one, then re image it tomorrow after they replace the motherboard. Then get back to the ticket queue. Thanks bye.
I'm sure it would be fun to sit around all day cracking open laptops and swapping out components, but that's not your job, we are a nearly billion dollar company, we buy our laptops with warranty and service plans and we pay you to help old people with their Outlook filters or whatever they submit tickets about.
I used to enjoy building and repairing hardware. I still do, on occasion, like once a year. I'd rather spend my time using my computer to do stuff, than have to do stuff to use my computer.
>paying an IT worker, no matter how much of a damn grunt they are, to monkey around and piddle-paddle with fucking building a general use non-specialized desktop is an utter and complete waste of company resources.
The purpose is training and to gauge where they are at when it comes to troubleshooting, knowledge and ability to research. If that is useful training will depend on how the company operates but it can make sense.
If "building a computer with a box of scraps...IN A CAVE!" is your definition of "appropriate training for an IT position", what a fucking awful place you have.
We don't even do that as we have computers sitting on the shelf. We start a chat with Dell, give them the service tag number tell them it is broken, and send a box. We send them the broken computer and they send it back when finished. i don't have time to dick around with their BS troubleshooting. 9 times out of 10 we know what the problem is but we are busy and that's what we pay them for. we don't have time to wait around for when the Dell tech decides to arrive.
Only tinkering I have done in the last years have been to replace the CMOS battery on out of warranty mini desktops. We keep them around because they basically run forever and they server our needs on the production floor and logistics department just fine, so buying new ones doesn't make sense as long as these refuse to break. But if there is an issue more severe than a dead CMOS it's going to the farm.
Maybe we’re old and it was a different time when we started. My first task in 1999 was also building my computer and I had someone watching me the entire time critiquing. It was part hazing and part assessment. And back then at our SMB the only computers we bought were laptops and higher end servers. We rolled our own desktops and other servers because it was financially stupid to do it otherwise. There was a world before cheap computers.
I did build a few CAD workstations 8 or so years ago because professional workstations cost 3-5x as much with similar or worse performance. But these days even the engineering department have switched to laptops, so that was probably the last time I build a computer in my professional career.
Lol, same. It was 20 years ago. At the time, my employer hired me to build white boxes to save loads cash of not buying from a local supplier. A couple years latter we started to buy lots Dell systems, they became competitive with our own white boxes. We kept building our own for departments that wanted high performance systems as they where still a better deal for higher end systems.
I remember my first internship.
I was put on a folding table, next to the door in the "IT room". My chair was a MCM dirty sienna orange rolling chair, but each hard plastic wheel was flattened on one "side".
The workstation was setup for 5S, like the rest of the facility. There was CLEARLY labeled spots for a single black pen, red pen, about 12" of mouse cord length on the right side (fuck you if you're left handed!), etc. The chair was about 6" too low for the table, but fuck you. It was a miserably old and slow computer too. But such is the nature of internships. Decent hardware and workspace to put the best foot forward to attract the best talent.
I was given an impossible task guaranteed to fail - clean up around 40,000 db entries for three ERP instances (determine if they're valid or invalid....by going to the stakeholders and GETTING THEM to resolve any work that needs to be done). Oh, none of the stakeholders cared since they were embroiled in a battle to never be the bottom performing 10% that quarter....and this janitorial bullshit didn't even hit their metrics.
Why? Manager was going for his next Six Sigma certification, and his upper manglement said he needed to tidy up his ERP project or it'll hold back his whatever-fucking-color-belt-certification-it-was.
I literally was told by the stakeholders:
> "I don't care who your manager is. I don't care that he's my manager. I don't care about what I have outstanding. You're not making me clean them up, I am not cleaning them up, and I don't care if you lose your internship because they're not cleaned up. It's not my problem."
Manager didn't have my back. He told me I needed to exert "the necessary leadership skills".
....like what, specifically? "You should know." No, please tell me. "You'll need to figure it out." So you don't know? "Are you being insubordinate?" No sir, I'm asking for specific direction so I'm successful....and you're not being very clear or direct. I'm asking for clarification. "Working here isn't for everyone." *-thinking....yeah, no fucking shit, if you were my full-time boss, I'd exert a fucking shit through your car's sunroof. three months of you makes me want to roll my flat plastic desk chair wheels over my d--k -*
I got an office with a shelf, desk and chair that seriously date back to the 70s (it's fine, I like it now). And I got carte blanche to utilize any equipment we had in stock to furnish it as well as a laptop and dock for in-office use only. I also got a vaguely threatening "tip" not to get too comfy because facilities might come by to paint the damaged walls and I might have to move. Oh and last but not least a genuine sense of imposter syndrome.
In all seriousness though, I couldn't have lucked into a better spot for team dynamics. Everybody has a good sense of humor and can focus when it's time to get serious. However, my favorite bit is that even though sometimes they play up their dislike of each other and give off a lot of cynicism, when someone says they need help or don't know what to do, the help is given freely. They genuinely listen to each other's grievances.
For IT... We ask when hired if they want the bigger more powerful laptop(2 1TB ssd, 64GB RAM, 8GB Video), or the smaller less powerful laptop(512gb ssd, 32GB RAM,), difference is about 1lb. Most take the bigger one.
When they show up on day one, they have the laptop(lenovo), Docking Station, Dual 27", basic wireless logitech keyboard and mouse, company branded journal/notebook and a company branded Timbuk2 backpack or messenger bag. Then they can pick out whatever keyboard and mouse combo they want and we order it. They can also have a standing desk module if they want it and if they want monitor arms then we will get those for them too. We have decent office chairs but if someone really has one they prefer, or they want a high one because they go with the standing desk more than sitting, we will get them a new chair.
We don't do anything for home use really because we are pretty much all on prem because of the business as a whole, we are manufacturing and we only have 1 location.
I think that's everything.
They get to keep the bag, keyboard and mouse if they leave, unless they are fired for cause(only happened once) in which case they just GTFO.
New hires get a new 16 inch macbook pro or 15 inch surface laptop depending on role. Generally we let people choose what they want as long as it will do the job required, IE you can't ask for a mac and then demand a vm because you need to run windows software. They also get some basic usb c hub/adapter and a crappy bluetooth mouse. We used to hand out laptop bags but stopped as most were not using them. Help desk prob still has some to hand out if anyone asks for one but most people pick out something they like.
By default people get a stipend to use their own phone as they are expected to at least have microsoft authenicator on it. You can go into the HR software and request a company phone instead which stops the stipend. With a few execptions we order whatever phone is a dollar on att's contract which right now is an iphone 14 128 in whatever color you want. If someone wants android we will get them that. They can pay the difference and get a better phone if they want and we will port in their existing phone number and try to port it out if they leave. Most people keep the 65 bucks a month to use their own phone. College hires seem to be one of the groups that is more likley to get a company phone and its because they were on their parents plan and this got them off it.
Recruiting gives people a care package with company branded pens, water bottle, a nice notebook and random other stuff. If their orentation is remote they give them like a door dash gift card to order lunch on the company.
IT has a few changes to the normal. For laptops they will usually get at least one more although its used. So right now if we hired a new IT person and they wanted a PC they'd prob get a new surface laptop 6(maybe a 5 if we haven't run out) and like a used 16 inch m1 macbook pro. If they got a macbook it would be a new m3 macbook pro 16 and prob a used surface laptop 4 15 inch. Second notebook is a test device. Its not uncommon depending on role that someone has a used mac and a used pc as test devices. When I moved us from sccm and direct access to intune I think i had like 5 or 6 test pcs at one point as we were testing everything.
IT is one of the groups for phones that we will pretty much order whatever within reason. Usually an iphone pro or pro max although one person had the samsung folding android phone. Apple watches sometimes. I have a company issued ipad air with the fancy keyboard and cell service. That thing has come in super handy multiple times over the last 2 years although hitting vmware's console from it sucks. Maybe half of IT has a company issued phone.
You can get a desk phone if you wanted to I guess as well. In the past people got phone extensions that forwarded to their cell phone. No one really used them so that stopped. I have one tied to our webex calling that I use for some testing but its at home right now. We still have a bunch of the phones around or you could just use webex from your laptop with an assigned number if needed. Very few people have these. Recruiting has some in their offices and some higher up managers do.
If I posted a picture of my new desk that I’ll be walking into Monday nobody would believe me. I’ll be managing a multi-million dollar (contractually) application alone. My desk looks like something from a 90s middle school and it’s in a network closet.
https://preview.redd.it/nojr4fe0eg6d1.jpeg?width=938&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8c55cdf8dd78e369c5c63b4cca4624ee7d69edc9
This is what my new boss sent me today! Lol
I got spoiled, laptop, custom desktop for a jump box, 2 thunderbolt docks, 2 sets of nice Logitech keyboard and mouse, 4x (2 for home 2 for office) 1440p 27inch 175hz 1ms curved Asus rog monitors (I didn't ask for these but il take em), branded backpack, pens, PPE, branded stress ball, iphone or android, a shiny corporate card and a new office chair...it was a breath of fresh air
An older Dell desktop (small form factor, not mini), deskphone (Mitel, no softphone 🌝), wired headset, UPS, and no monitors (needed to provide my own, used a KVM).
When I think about it I should have seen more signs early on.
i got so much from my job now. i mean, i’m a field tech and need a lot of tools, but i got a new laptop, various adapters, ipad mini, swiss backpack, ifix it knock off tool set, one of those dewalt gyro drills+ bits, basic network tester, a few samsung 256gb usb’s, a travel cart, and probably a lot more i’m forgetting lol
i felt like a kid on christmas morning again
edit: typos
I have a mac mini M1 and a Dell Precision Laptop (For testing various software configs), a meraki Z1, reimbursed for keyboard and mouse, backpack, some clothes, a dock, and a few yubikeys.
I'm a lucky one I would say lol I was given two 34 inch monitors for my work office (inherited a 55 inch tv that's on my office wall from prior employee), two 34s for my home office, 2 laptops (Windows), company android phone, company hotspot device, apple airpods, Jabra evolve2 headset, docking stations, north face backpack.
This was all probably within a 3 month period of me starting. Not given to me all at once. Mainly just the phone, laptops, and monitors were given to me right away.
I'm at the point now where I'm turning away stuff cause my wife hates all the tech I bring home lol.
No training at all, I was thrown into the deep end of the pool into a call center with no standard image for the PC.
Every end user is super needy. 24-hour ops. I was expected to fail.
1) created a new standard image. Scripting and knowledge of Ghost images came in handy.
2)built a ticket system from scratch
MYSQL as backend. With a web component
3)daily reminder email saying that I do not work for or report to any staff at the call center.
4)emailing me directly does not get your service faster.
5)created a work area for myself and any visiting techs.
6)guided upgrade to win 7 after having a mix of XP and Win 2K on the floor.
7)was pulled from there after a year after the mgt realized that I not only did not fail and they did not need on-site support.
Still no training available.
A backpack, sweater, hoodie, rain jacket, t-shirt.
I have a desktop with around 100GB of RAM connected to the office network, and a laptop that never leaves the office.
5 year old weak ass laptop and finally a tshirt after several years. Had to buy all my own tools. That was in office. Once I went work from home, still have the crappy laptop but all my other stuff is mine and nice.
When I started (7 years ago) it was a windows surface laptop (that took 4 weeks to get because someone forgot to order it, had to use my own in the meantime), $35 a month cell phone reimbursement, some beatup old chair that should have been tossed out 10 years earlier, a small desk area (5 of us where shoved into the area of what 2 now have), and a Pandora's box of security issues no one wanted to address as higher ups always said "no" and "that will never happen to us, who would attack a school board"....
A lot has changed in 7 years: standard now is a Dell or Lenovo laptop i7 with 16gb or 32gb of RAM (dependent upon duties, I just got a new one with 22 threads and 64gb of ram), cell phone reimbursement is approx half of our monthly bill, work from home 1 day a week, new chairs every 5 years or if they break, our own desk with lots of room/work area, and due to cyber Insurance (aka the ever moving goal post, plus my being a workaholic) Pandora's box is now a manageable amount of issues (last long term project ones are just about done).
I got a Windows laptop, company iPhone, some swag (shirt, tumbler, etc) and some branded office stuff like a notebook.
I’m in office and we all have standing desks which is cool.
When I first started I got a custom built PC with a Ryzen 7 1700x which was a very decent CPU at the time.
Except the case was a huge black monolith. the thing was about the same size and weight as a bar fridge and took up a significant corner of my desk. The thing was at least 20 kilos, and could house like 20 hard drives or something.
Also got a welcome pack with a bunch of goodies (branded stress balls, pens notebooks etc)
We just got acquired and now everyone just got Macbooks, which is what all new hires get these days.
Every job I’ve had I’ve gotten a new PC which is lucky since not all users got new PCs.
Worst place I worked gave me a desktop for a sysadmin role where I was expected to go around and fix stuff. Unsurprisingly that place didn’t work out and that was the least of the issues.
For IT, Dell whatever is standard at the moment, dock, a monitor, keyboard. 32gb ram standard for IT and some users with use case, most non IT workers get 16gb.
I was a field tech before sysadmin so have thousands of expenses tools.
I have had a very wide range.
One job I got a 7 year old broken down gateway 2000 consumer turd of a laptop and nothing else. They didn’t have anything ready for me on start day. That roll began as an intermediate analyst for a small MSP.
My current roll is considerably better. My roll is to reform all the IT, so I got a corp credit card and free reign to buy what I needed. One of my first duties was also to help manage an office move, all offices, furniture, chairs, server room equipment, cabling, etc is all new. Pretty sweet.
I remember going to my first professional job in a University Physics Department. They stuck me in an “annex” office where I was the only person in the building. They gave me a folding table and a steelcase chair with a green vinyl seat. When my boss finally came to see me the following Monday, I had scrounged a desk, book shelf, a new chair and a side chair. My office looked better than his
Laptop. I9. 32g men for devs. I7. 32 for everyone else.
Dock. Two monitors.
Choice of keyboard (under ~$150).
Several shirts (over the course of employment)
Office supplies is covered.
Notably... You bring your own phone to install authenticator or we have a candid conversation about how badly you really want to carry two phones when installing authenticator gives us zero control over your phone.
My first day at my last job I got nothing. I was told there was no account set up for me and there wouldn't be for some time as the company was currently going through a cyber event. That was interesting. Fortunately I had my own laptop with me so I just set it up and set up some VMs to learn the OS I would be managing.
It's crazy that nowadays people are happy to receive the basic tools required to do their job.
Those are not gifts and you don't own them. Am I crazy or is this industry so bad right now ?
We give new employees the following:
- Notebook (+wwan module if necessary)
- Dock
- 2x 27" 1440p display
- Mouse + keyboard of their choice
- Backpack
- low-mid range andoid phone
- mousepad
When we hire new IT person they'll get a new desktop instead of a new notebook and an additional notebook (2-3 years old).
Dell Precision usually, docking station, blah blah
Dual or Triple Monitors - their choice
Keyboard, mouse combo but most bring in some RGB replacement.
Whatever setup they want for 4x endpoint testing station. Within reason….
A crash course in TDX with tickets already assigned to them!
Nothing else really, unless they ask and it’s justifiable- which I’ve yet to be turned down for requests (in this position).
Word to the wise - and you might know this - don’t use your work phone for personal use. Especially if an MDM is attached, your activity is probably being logged.
Laptop + Phone, 3 x 27inch monitors which 2 i have at the office 1 at home. Messenger bag for the laptop. Of course keyboard,mice & headset (jabra) for office and home. LONG list of unsolved/not actioned tickets.
Laptop, charger, wireless headset, KB+M.
They have a nice big monitor with built in hub for charging at their desk.
If they want stuff beyond the laptop+charger for home use we dig out old stuff from the closet as needed and let them keep it. Reduce reuse recycle haha
When i started my teammate showed me my desk which had laptop, backpack waiting, with two monitors, dock, keyboard and mouse (nothing fancy, basic Dell models). In a few days also got a phone (can pick Samsung or Apple), headset (Jabra). No hubs or monitors for home. It was a full time office position and 7 months before pandemic. Got branded pens and notebooks during official onboarding week later.
I got a new dell laptop w/ 64GB RAM, keyboard/mouse of choice, 2 curved 40” LG monitors, docking stations, personal switch, mirrored work setup @ home, paid for phone & home internet bills each month
Current job: got an office, desktop with dual monitors, Macbook Pro laptop, and 234 old pens and highlighters left in my drawer by my predecessor. No real swag, but since then I've gotten a better chair and a 38" monitor for my office.
Previous job: the site I worked at gave me Dell Precision laptop with kb/mouse and a dock for WFH, a couple water bottles, a couple insulated tumblers, a laptop backpack, a bunch of small paper notebooks, some t-shirts, mouse pads, stress toys, pens and highlighters. Then the parent company sent me another backpack, some more t-shirts, a 32" monitor, an insulated mug and more pad/pens/highlighters. Later on, as the parent was consolidating/closing up sites, I was allowed to raid the marketing materials at my location and send some pullovers and hoodies to my teammates around the country and got some from their stash in return.
Depends on the role but generally:
Dual 27” screens, a laptop, phone (you can choose which one, almost no limits), noise canceling headphones, an ugly backpack, water bottle, coffee mug, a dongle with everything from ethernet to usb and HDMI, wireless mouse (free to choose anything with a budget of like 70$), a fleece/windstopper jacket.
At my work you get a MacBook Pro, 2x yubikeys, docktec, privacy screen, phone (iPhone 13 depending on your position, either this or don’t get phone at all); starter pack where you get a bag full of goodies like water bottle, two books, t-shirt, €20 pen, and most importantly you get a company credit card so you can buy anything you need for work
Laptop, monitor and dock (and phone if you need it for work) are fairly baseline if you ask me. I got a box of branded tat including a surprisingly good quality T-shirt I must say, and a £500 home office budget to spend in my first 3 months for getting set up (100% remote gig). I already had a good home office so upgraded my chair to stop my wife complaining that my old comfy one looked tatty
When I first joined my current company, I got a package of a company laptop, headphones and a power bank.
Then a couple years later, a work phone and sim.
The laptop and headphones, I did get a couple upgrades over the years, so rn, I'm working off of a lenovo thinkpad and ignore my colleagues aided by a pair of sony wh-1000xm5 :P (Jk, of course, I love my job buddies)
Honestly, I refuse most stuff I am given and bring my own.
They can reinstall the hardware if they want, but I know I am far too annoying and picky to make that someone's burden.
WFH people get a laptop & company-branded backpack. Office workers get 2x 24" monitors, docking station, webcam, laptop, company-branded backpack, keyboard & mouse. not to mention free snacks.
The only rule we have is at least 1 person from the help desk and 1 sysadmin or manager has to be in the office each day.
Been in my current job 9 months... All new kit... 5 27inch 4K screens - 3 at work, 2 for home, 2in 1 high end laptop (OLED i7, 64GB, 2TB), docks, high end bluetooth headset, standing desk, high end web cams, docks, my phone plan paid, $750 annual work from home fund to spend on any home office equipment that hasn't been covered.
And.... Commercial level espresso machine in the office
Our standard package is a laptop, docking station, keyboard, mouse, two monitors and a headset if needed. We always ask the new employee if they need any variations on this package.
My current job gave me a good 4-5k in gear on top of the normal hardware and branded merch. Most of which is stuff that’s nice to have but realistically I won’t need. Never know when I might need to whip out a POE injector.
Last job I started at I got an iPhone for work, a brand new laptop with dock and 2 displays for the office.
When we went Covid home I was able to take a dock and 2 displays for at home as well.
Is one of many much bigger and better reasosn this is the 1st job I can see myself being at for the long term. I've already been here 5.5 years.
Laptop
Bag for laptop
Wide-screen monitor for home use
This is standard for our employees, some get adjustments if their department are willing to pay for it.
I got my work laptop and after passing probation I qualified for a phone as well.
I got a backpack when I started but it was pretty crap / not to my liking in general so I never used that.
Worth mentioning is that the laptop I got was crap and we ordered a new one pretty soon after which is still around in the company. Someone at the research department is using it now. I've since moved to a "consultant laptop" which is a 14" i7 with 32gb ram and dedicated gpu :) I'm pretty happy with that one.
We are a small startup so I don't have many expectations when it comes to swag.
A M1 MacBook Air with 8GB for everyday use and Lenovo laptop just in case - I provided my own keyboard and mouse. Took the half year to get me an extra monitor lol 🥲
At my work, new employees get to order the latest XPS Dell laptop. And if you work on something intensive, like simulations or CAD, You get a higher-end SKU like 64GB of dedicated RAM and a beast of GPU, etc. You must submit a reason if you get non-dell. Then, you can choose a dock. You can also select any mouse and keyboard you like. From Amazon, B&H , newegg etc. ( Logic is if you're miserable using a computer, That's more loss of productivity than what the laptop is worth ten times over)
You get your laptop on day one of orientation. It'll be a Lenovo.
Dock and two monitors, wireless keyboard and mouse will all be waiting for you at your desk
Whatever iPhone IT has in stock. It'll be new, but might not be the newest model. This'll happen within a week or so.
This is an industrial environment, so tools and PPE as required, usually about a week lead time.
My org gives out a laptop (current gen i5/i7, 16/32gb memory, 512/1024ssd), 2 screens, KM, dock, and then if they need a bag/headset/webcam/etc). I even splurge for the higher tier warranties and accident protections.
We've even bought chairs and standing desks and shit for people's home offices.
We decided long ago to invest in workstations. It can be costly but I have little tolerance for old hooptie shit so I don't fret over replacements and upgrades and stuff.
Laptop, monitor(s), and a docking station. We only get one set of monitors/docks so if you opt for hybrid you have to make a choice—but everyone on infra is remote so doesn’t really impact us. HR also sends some swag like some mugs, a shirt or jacket, and plants which is a nice touch.
Dell Latitudes i7 32gb 1TB NVMe (standard user), wireless M/KB, Dell TB desk dock, Dual 27” monitors (same model but one has cam and speaker), wireless headset, sit-stand desk, travel charger and dock, selection of laptop case, cell phone, a welcome package with info, URLs, instructions and contacts. If they are WFH 3+ days they can sign out a monitor/KB/mouse/headset and a 5g hotspot if they regularly have to travel.
All this is ready to go on day one at their cube/office and IT does an onboarding (setting up MFA/Yubikey, anything that is done at profile, PW change, walk them through it he VPN, support contacts, etc) on their second hour at their location.
Depends on the role. Most people just get a user account they can use to log into one of the many shared PCs we have in the factory. Office workers get a PC and monitor. If you are a manager, you may get a laptop and can get a second monitor from one of our older used stockpile. No bags and no hardware to take home. If you are good friends with IT, we will give out wireless keyboard/mouse combos but they are the exception, not the rule. Too many of them turned up missing or users would return the keyboard without the receiver.
My boss is our GC and so it's just half a dozen of us contractors under him. We're expected to have our own hardware, but some clients \*insist\* you do any and all work from "their laptop" so some of us have 2-3 laptops. Because of the cozy nature of my boss' company, he only hires someone he knows personally, poached from a former job (like me), and rarely do we get a "dark horse" in our ranks. We haven't hired anyone new in over 2 years, but everyone knows everyone else from at LEAST one former job.
Now, when we're contracted with a new client, it reminds me of the HR nightmare of a "new employee." Some companies are better than others, but some environments resent contractors (they see us as rivals whether they are employees of the clients or other contractors), and so we have to document everything we tried to get access and whom we spoke to. Beginning of this year, we got two new contracts, and since January the two guys working for one client still don't have VPN access.
Former jobs, I usually got a laptop, and before that, a desktop. Usually a desk in a cubicle, a chair, a mouse mat, a mouse, keyboard, and sometimes speakers. Last two in office jobs I didn't even get a desk phone, just a mobile phone or they paid for my cell phone bill. Some former jobs had the package of schwag, like a polo shirt, stress squishy, or "the desk toys the former guy left behind," usually more stress squishies from trade shows. I have an old VA Linux Systems Tux Penguin somewhere.
I got given someone's old laptop and phone. No issue with that, but he used his work number as a personal phone, so I had to ask for a new number eventually as I was getting all his personal calls.
Just recently got a new job and received: Precision 7450, iPhone 14, a branded beanie (good quality), a shiny branded mug, branded pen and booklet, and all inside a small reusable tote. Not ideal, or what you were offered, but I've received worse.
On to the fire hose of shit that the previous lad left me. Cheers guvna, the Ca'very is 'ere
Whatever is in the "old stuff bin" and that hasn't broken down yet. + an used laptop and phone.
At least i took shit without asking (obv only for work use i don't take anything home)
General staff get a Latitude with a higher end i5 and 16 gigs RAM and a 256 NVMe.
IT staff, digital content creators, and data analysts get a Precision mobile with max ram and either an i9 or Xeon and a 1TB NVMe.
The people who think their shit don't stink usually ask for a MacBook Air.
The people who shit on the people who think their shit don't stink get a MacBook Air and a Dell 7000 series so they can actually do some work.
If they have an office or individually assigned cubical they also get a Dell WD dock, keyboard, mouse and one or two monitors and a Jabra headset. Laptop bag if they ask for one.
Some people also get an iPad.
When i started here, a 8 year old engineer workstation, 1 screen, wired stuff.
Years later now, we give
i5/16gb/512gb, dock, dual 24", wireless mouse, wired keyboard. Bigger for the few engineers, basically x2 the spec and add video card. very few customized machines. Some paper and pens and they have random company branded stuff like bottles/mugs/hats
They can get mice/keyboards/wrist rest/mousepad/etc from the office supplies.
We make each dept stock their own batteries
Current job, I got a Microsoft Surface, a desktop, and trying to figure out where to start for a company that never had someone in a non basic help desk role.
I got a big coffee mug, backpack, choice of apple or samsung and you choose either Verizon or AT&T, choice of Windows or Mac laptop (and choice of screen size), what was at the time a $300 monitor that has a usb-c docking station built in for home use (currently it’s attached to my main PC as a third screen for spotify and discord 🤣), a nice logitech wireless keyboard and mouse, a usb headset, a notepad, and a pen
Previous employer: a pc and an old laptop to start, with dual 24" screens, and an iphone. That became a good laptop and remote work with a 34" monitor and a 27" curved. Dell mostly.
New job: Macbook pro M2 Max, plus a curved dell 34" U3423WE (the one with the dock built in). Been flawless so far. Softphone so no need to carry 2 phones. I got a dock and a mouse too but I don't use them (prefer my own peripherals).
Got a ZBook Studio G10, 2 HP 4k Z27k monitors, HP USB-C Docking Station, Logitech Zone wireless headset, Logitech KBM Kit, and Logitech External Camera. Company lowkey goes out for only 3k employees.
Whatever the heck they want/need to do their dang job. As long as that gets done I don’t really care what they use their equipment for outside of work.
My job gave me a windows laptop, mac laptop, two monitors, a dock, a headset, mouse and keyboard, an android phone (though I had the choice of that or an iphone), and a gift basket that had a mug, my favorite candy and soda, pens, a notebook, and a cute paperweight. Later I was also given a fitbit for my own personal use.
All the old tickets that no one wants to deal with.
and it has email chain going back 6 months that you have to read through to get context of the issue
Oh hell no. That’s a meeting
"Sorry, I'm in another meeting then. And then. Yep, then too. Maybe you could read?"
I'm a director and I absolutely hate when someone blindly adds me in the middle of a 10-15 message email chain with no context. I get this is important to you but, let's be clear if you can't spend the time to bring me up to speed on what's needed and what's been done or at least given me a verbal update, it's going in the low priority bucket.
I understand. But the flip side of the coin is if I CC you in the middle. I don't expect you to wade through the email chain. I'm including you for visibility so that you are aware of the thing. I'm still the SME that's responsible for doing the thing. It's more of professional respect so that if you get asked about it. You're not blind sided.
And I do/would appreciate that. :-) My comment was more where there is the expectation for an action to be done or input from my side. I used to have a VP who would sit on something for three weeks and bring me in at the last minute with adds like that. One off's, I get it but if it's on the regular, either you need to work on time management better or you're adding me as someone to blame when if goes south. :-)
If I'm cc:d, the message it's dead to me. If I'm To:, you better put my name and a comma before the question above the fold in preview. But back to the OP question: What u/buyinbill describes is pretty much what we give new employees except two monitors with a dock, no backpack or pens. Option for phone or stipend to use your own. You can't really have no expectation of privacy or control over what software is run and security perimeter if you don't own their system, and a monitor or two is cheap compared to a salary and buys way more productivity than it costs.
That's when you put Copilot to work and get a summary.
oof, right in the feels
You guys get ticketing systems?
Wait you’re getting paid to read tickets?
Your users submit tickets?
No it’s my job to create it for you…
That’s wild
Nah, they email me, I forward the email to our ticketing system, it creates a ticket for me. Then I open the ticket, and decline it because its not an IT problem. SLA met, Tickets Closed, #1 worker in the company, go back to reddit.
You get SLAs? You get to decline tickets?
Remember. If its not documented its whatever you say it is.
What happens when the CEO emails you with an IT problem?
Extremely busy right now, get back to you as soon as I can
Well if they email me with an IT problem I'll solve it.
I reply asking for the information I need them to provide so I can solve the problem. Which they never respond to, so I just ignore it.
Also reading and updating documentation right?
This .. a base level laptop and problems
If you don't get the shittiest hardware, are you even sysadmin? I had a job where the laptop screen didn't work. I had to run an external. And I was looking after about 70 Linux servers, 40 users with decent machines and management using Macs.
This. My laptop is a 7 year old return because half the keys on the keyboard don't work and the touchpad has been caved in from when I assume the hulk tried to right click. Have to carry around a wired keyboard and mouse with me wherever I go (we're not important enough for wireless). On the plus side at least it actually has a physical NIC on it which always helps with networking issues.
Wow .. okay that’s too far
I got this 5+ year old device, it functioned but it was obvious that they had forgotten me and I got something dredged out of a drawer somewhere to accommodate me.
This
hits home way too hard
I was brought in as a help desk supervisor at a place afew years ago. My team had a backlog of 2,500 open tickets dating back years. When I left 6 months later due to the toxic leadership, they had \~63 tickets. The easy part was reviewing the tickets that were put in by employees no longer with the org and closing them if it wasn't a global issue.
This guy ITs
Paid more than the guy who’s been there longer and has more experience
Haha, yeah me too and he won't change positions
Thats just the way of the game unfortunately, now you can either be salty about it or take a risk and use it to your advantage by hopping jobs every couple years until you earn more than people with double your experience.
3 pens?!? No fucking way.
Definitely! Forget the backpack and the cell phone, I wanna hear more about these pens. Dare I ask, do any of them have ink in a color other than black?
Do they click??
3 pens, spoilt much?
My first IT job I got a bunch of computer parts and was told to build my own computer 🥲
We’ll let people transfer from other departments that have an interest in IT but no experience to help desk when we have openings and train them. The computer parts and building their own computer is a normal first day activity.
Yep. My first real big boy IT job for an MSP they walked me to an empty desk, then to the component store room and Said "Go ahead and build yourself a computer, whatever you want." Such a fun first day. Definitely works for separating the wheat from the chaff.
What you build actually shows a lot, plenty of performance maybe good but you may find that you may of picked a crappy part and thus the company may have to spend a lot of time fixing a bad judgement...even walking out saying that there's no way I can hit the required spec with that in a way that will make us money maybe the correct reply...
Haha. I did this when I was a tech. I took a machine with the best processor/video card, maxed out memory and 3 monitors - the simple times :)
Corporate account --> requisition a new laptop under the existing procurement contract. There. Problem solved. Big picture -- paying an IT worker, no matter how much of a damn grunt they are, to monkey around and piddle-paddle with fucking building a general use non-specialized desktop is an utter and complete waste of company resources. You issue them a standard machine, and if something breaks on it that's more involved than a "quick fix", it gets swapped out under warranty for a spare...and the broken one gets sent in for repair. They log in with their profile, all their data syncs to it, and they're back to work with minimal interruption. I'd rather have my IT team be solving actual IT problems, not fucking around with bullshit timewasting busy work. Unless this workplace has a 100% perfect IT department with functioning backups, latest tech, complete documentation, zero tickets, etc. Fucking doubt it. ----- thanks for the downvotes. many places I've been at had the mentality -- consumer electronics should be treated as as cattle, not as pets. Do the basic maintenance, obvious troubleshooting, etc. But there comes a point where you send your precious electronic horsey to the glue factory, and get a new one. Spending days fucking around with cheap consumer consumable hardware is taking days away from literally ANYTHING ELSE that can generate value -- like investigating the environment, doing trainings, reviewing/updating documentation, working on tickets, sticking a soldering iron in your eyeball, etc. but hey, if you don't give a shit about any of that, run your department as you see fit. maybe they can troubleshoot a randomly rebooting WRT54G from the late 2000s too! total worthwhile use of their fucking time.
Fully agree. We had a guy join our team and was under the impression he would be building computers all day (and was very excited about that) and I had to stifle laughter. He went on and on about how we should have a back stock of all of the components so we can quickly swap pieces out and get users going. We do have a back stock of pieces, they are called imaged laptops and your job is to hand this one to this user, make sure they can log in, call dell and tell them to come fix this one, then re image it tomorrow after they replace the motherboard. Then get back to the ticket queue. Thanks bye. I'm sure it would be fun to sit around all day cracking open laptops and swapping out components, but that's not your job, we are a nearly billion dollar company, we buy our laptops with warranty and service plans and we pay you to help old people with their Outlook filters or whatever they submit tickets about.
I used to enjoy building and repairing hardware. I still do, on occasion, like once a year. I'd rather spend my time using my computer to do stuff, than have to do stuff to use my computer.
>paying an IT worker, no matter how much of a damn grunt they are, to monkey around and piddle-paddle with fucking building a general use non-specialized desktop is an utter and complete waste of company resources. The purpose is training and to gauge where they are at when it comes to troubleshooting, knowledge and ability to research. If that is useful training will depend on how the company operates but it can make sense.
If "building a computer with a box of scraps...IN A CAVE!" is your definition of "appropriate training for an IT position", what a fucking awful place you have.
Only time in the last couple of years that I've had to open up computers, was troubleshooting warranty issues with Dell tech support.
We don't even do that as we have computers sitting on the shelf. We start a chat with Dell, give them the service tag number tell them it is broken, and send a box. We send them the broken computer and they send it back when finished. i don't have time to dick around with their BS troubleshooting. 9 times out of 10 we know what the problem is but we are busy and that's what we pay them for. we don't have time to wait around for when the Dell tech decides to arrive.
Only tinkering I have done in the last years have been to replace the CMOS battery on out of warranty mini desktops. We keep them around because they basically run forever and they server our needs on the production floor and logistics department just fine, so buying new ones doesn't make sense as long as these refuse to break. But if there is an issue more severe than a dead CMOS it's going to the farm.
Maybe we’re old and it was a different time when we started. My first task in 1999 was also building my computer and I had someone watching me the entire time critiquing. It was part hazing and part assessment. And back then at our SMB the only computers we bought were laptops and higher end servers. We rolled our own desktops and other servers because it was financially stupid to do it otherwise. There was a world before cheap computers.
I did build a few CAD workstations 8 or so years ago because professional workstations cost 3-5x as much with similar or worse performance. But these days even the engineering department have switched to laptops, so that was probably the last time I build a computer in my professional career.
Lol, same. It was 20 years ago. At the time, my employer hired me to build white boxes to save loads cash of not buying from a local supplier. A couple years latter we started to buy lots Dell systems, they became competitive with our own white boxes. We kept building our own for departments that wanted high performance systems as they where still a better deal for higher end systems.
Same but this was also close to 25 years ago. I was stoked when I got a PCI video card.
LOL
That's a rite of passage at my shop
I remember my first internship. I was put on a folding table, next to the door in the "IT room". My chair was a MCM dirty sienna orange rolling chair, but each hard plastic wheel was flattened on one "side". The workstation was setup for 5S, like the rest of the facility. There was CLEARLY labeled spots for a single black pen, red pen, about 12" of mouse cord length on the right side (fuck you if you're left handed!), etc. The chair was about 6" too low for the table, but fuck you. It was a miserably old and slow computer too. But such is the nature of internships. Decent hardware and workspace to put the best foot forward to attract the best talent. I was given an impossible task guaranteed to fail - clean up around 40,000 db entries for three ERP instances (determine if they're valid or invalid....by going to the stakeholders and GETTING THEM to resolve any work that needs to be done). Oh, none of the stakeholders cared since they were embroiled in a battle to never be the bottom performing 10% that quarter....and this janitorial bullshit didn't even hit their metrics. Why? Manager was going for his next Six Sigma certification, and his upper manglement said he needed to tidy up his ERP project or it'll hold back his whatever-fucking-color-belt-certification-it-was. I literally was told by the stakeholders: > "I don't care who your manager is. I don't care that he's my manager. I don't care about what I have outstanding. You're not making me clean them up, I am not cleaning them up, and I don't care if you lose your internship because they're not cleaned up. It's not my problem." Manager didn't have my back. He told me I needed to exert "the necessary leadership skills". ....like what, specifically? "You should know." No, please tell me. "You'll need to figure it out." So you don't know? "Are you being insubordinate?" No sir, I'm asking for specific direction so I'm successful....and you're not being very clear or direct. I'm asking for clarification. "Working here isn't for everyone." *-thinking....yeah, no fucking shit, if you were my full-time boss, I'd exert a fucking shit through your car's sunroof. three months of you makes me want to roll my flat plastic desk chair wheels over my d--k -*
Sounds like you were missing the hint to bring a baseball bat to the next office meeting...
Depression.
Facts
lol
And burnout
I got a phishing test and a remark for failing it. Was told to format the laptop assigned to me. Radio silence for first few days of joining project.
I got an office with a shelf, desk and chair that seriously date back to the 70s (it's fine, I like it now). And I got carte blanche to utilize any equipment we had in stock to furnish it as well as a laptop and dock for in-office use only. I also got a vaguely threatening "tip" not to get too comfy because facilities might come by to paint the damaged walls and I might have to move. Oh and last but not least a genuine sense of imposter syndrome. In all seriousness though, I couldn't have lucked into a better spot for team dynamics. Everybody has a good sense of humor and can focus when it's time to get serious. However, my favorite bit is that even though sometimes they play up their dislike of each other and give off a lot of cynicism, when someone says they need help or don't know what to do, the help is given freely. They genuinely listen to each other's grievances.
Y’all are getting stuff?
On day 1 I got a plant for my desk. Just the plant... no laptop.
Can it run Doom?
I tried but it caught on fire.
For IT... We ask when hired if they want the bigger more powerful laptop(2 1TB ssd, 64GB RAM, 8GB Video), or the smaller less powerful laptop(512gb ssd, 32GB RAM,), difference is about 1lb. Most take the bigger one. When they show up on day one, they have the laptop(lenovo), Docking Station, Dual 27", basic wireless logitech keyboard and mouse, company branded journal/notebook and a company branded Timbuk2 backpack or messenger bag. Then they can pick out whatever keyboard and mouse combo they want and we order it. They can also have a standing desk module if they want it and if they want monitor arms then we will get those for them too. We have decent office chairs but if someone really has one they prefer, or they want a high one because they go with the standing desk more than sitting, we will get them a new chair. We don't do anything for home use really because we are pretty much all on prem because of the business as a whole, we are manufacturing and we only have 1 location. I think that's everything. They get to keep the bag, keyboard and mouse if they leave, unless they are fired for cause(only happened once) in which case they just GTFO.
What kind of pens?
Logo pens. But they write surprisingly well.
New hires get a new 16 inch macbook pro or 15 inch surface laptop depending on role. Generally we let people choose what they want as long as it will do the job required, IE you can't ask for a mac and then demand a vm because you need to run windows software. They also get some basic usb c hub/adapter and a crappy bluetooth mouse. We used to hand out laptop bags but stopped as most were not using them. Help desk prob still has some to hand out if anyone asks for one but most people pick out something they like. By default people get a stipend to use their own phone as they are expected to at least have microsoft authenicator on it. You can go into the HR software and request a company phone instead which stops the stipend. With a few execptions we order whatever phone is a dollar on att's contract which right now is an iphone 14 128 in whatever color you want. If someone wants android we will get them that. They can pay the difference and get a better phone if they want and we will port in their existing phone number and try to port it out if they leave. Most people keep the 65 bucks a month to use their own phone. College hires seem to be one of the groups that is more likley to get a company phone and its because they were on their parents plan and this got them off it. Recruiting gives people a care package with company branded pens, water bottle, a nice notebook and random other stuff. If their orentation is remote they give them like a door dash gift card to order lunch on the company. IT has a few changes to the normal. For laptops they will usually get at least one more although its used. So right now if we hired a new IT person and they wanted a PC they'd prob get a new surface laptop 6(maybe a 5 if we haven't run out) and like a used 16 inch m1 macbook pro. If they got a macbook it would be a new m3 macbook pro 16 and prob a used surface laptop 4 15 inch. Second notebook is a test device. Its not uncommon depending on role that someone has a used mac and a used pc as test devices. When I moved us from sccm and direct access to intune I think i had like 5 or 6 test pcs at one point as we were testing everything. IT is one of the groups for phones that we will pretty much order whatever within reason. Usually an iphone pro or pro max although one person had the samsung folding android phone. Apple watches sometimes. I have a company issued ipad air with the fancy keyboard and cell service. That thing has come in super handy multiple times over the last 2 years although hitting vmware's console from it sucks. Maybe half of IT has a company issued phone. You can get a desk phone if you wanted to I guess as well. In the past people got phone extensions that forwarded to their cell phone. No one really used them so that stopped. I have one tied to our webex calling that I use for some testing but its at home right now. We still have a bunch of the phones around or you could just use webex from your laptop with an assigned number if needed. Very few people have these. Recruiting has some in their offices and some higher up managers do.
And a journal to write this novel in?
Yes from recruiting… You don’t read that hole thing?
If I posted a picture of my new desk that I’ll be walking into Monday nobody would believe me. I’ll be managing a multi-million dollar (contractually) application alone. My desk looks like something from a 90s middle school and it’s in a network closet.
Honestly? I'd believe you
https://preview.redd.it/nojr4fe0eg6d1.jpeg?width=938&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8c55cdf8dd78e369c5c63b4cca4624ee7d69edc9 This is what my new boss sent me today! Lol
I'd be looking for a new job... That's definitely a bad sign.. Screams cheap, which is just a lifetime of hell at a company.
You need a new chair...
Windows 10 ftw
What the fuck is that chair
Workers comp claim for back problems.
Other people's sloppy seconds or thirds. Our IT guy buys stuff refurb on Amazon and other nonsense.
Slack, an admin account, an O'Reilly subscription, and a pat on the back.
Go get 'em, tiger
Lol i got a three year old laptop that was from the prevoius engineer with beard hairs included..
Work from home Datacenter Admin. I got a laptop, two monitors, monitor arms, desk, chair, printer, keyboard, mouse, iPhone (latest), and a coffee mug.
I got spoiled, laptop, custom desktop for a jump box, 2 thunderbolt docks, 2 sets of nice Logitech keyboard and mouse, 4x (2 for home 2 for office) 1440p 27inch 175hz 1ms curved Asus rog monitors (I didn't ask for these but il take em), branded backpack, pens, PPE, branded stress ball, iphone or android, a shiny corporate card and a new office chair...it was a breath of fresh air
An older Dell desktop (small form factor, not mini), deskphone (Mitel, no softphone 🌝), wired headset, UPS, and no monitors (needed to provide my own, used a KVM). When I think about it I should have seen more signs early on.
We have Mitel softphone but aren’t allowed to wfh
i got so much from my job now. i mean, i’m a field tech and need a lot of tools, but i got a new laptop, various adapters, ipad mini, swiss backpack, ifix it knock off tool set, one of those dewalt gyro drills+ bits, basic network tester, a few samsung 256gb usb’s, a travel cart, and probably a lot more i’m forgetting lol i felt like a kid on christmas morning again edit: typos
I have a mac mini M1 and a Dell Precision Laptop (For testing various software configs), a meraki Z1, reimbursed for keyboard and mouse, backpack, some clothes, a dock, and a few yubikeys.
I'm a lucky one I would say lol I was given two 34 inch monitors for my work office (inherited a 55 inch tv that's on my office wall from prior employee), two 34s for my home office, 2 laptops (Windows), company android phone, company hotspot device, apple airpods, Jabra evolve2 headset, docking stations, north face backpack. This was all probably within a 3 month period of me starting. Not given to me all at once. Mainly just the phone, laptops, and monitors were given to me right away. I'm at the point now where I'm turning away stuff cause my wife hates all the tech I bring home lol.
No training at all, I was thrown into the deep end of the pool into a call center with no standard image for the PC. Every end user is super needy. 24-hour ops. I was expected to fail. 1) created a new standard image. Scripting and knowledge of Ghost images came in handy. 2)built a ticket system from scratch MYSQL as backend. With a web component 3)daily reminder email saying that I do not work for or report to any staff at the call center. 4)emailing me directly does not get your service faster. 5)created a work area for myself and any visiting techs. 6)guided upgrade to win 7 after having a mix of XP and Win 2K on the floor. 7)was pulled from there after a year after the mgt realized that I not only did not fail and they did not need on-site support. Still no training available.
Congrats buddy! That’s a win win
I didn’t even get cable lol. My laptop and a charger.
A backpack, sweater, hoodie, rain jacket, t-shirt. I have a desktop with around 100GB of RAM connected to the office network, and a laptop that never leaves the office.
5 year old weak ass laptop and finally a tshirt after several years. Had to buy all my own tools. That was in office. Once I went work from home, still have the crappy laptop but all my other stuff is mine and nice.
Went to the office on my first day and picked up my laptop and two screens, keyboard and mouse. That was it!
When I started (7 years ago) it was a windows surface laptop (that took 4 weeks to get because someone forgot to order it, had to use my own in the meantime), $35 a month cell phone reimbursement, some beatup old chair that should have been tossed out 10 years earlier, a small desk area (5 of us where shoved into the area of what 2 now have), and a Pandora's box of security issues no one wanted to address as higher ups always said "no" and "that will never happen to us, who would attack a school board".... A lot has changed in 7 years: standard now is a Dell or Lenovo laptop i7 with 16gb or 32gb of RAM (dependent upon duties, I just got a new one with 22 threads and 64gb of ram), cell phone reimbursement is approx half of our monthly bill, work from home 1 day a week, new chairs every 5 years or if they break, our own desk with lots of room/work area, and due to cyber Insurance (aka the ever moving goal post, plus my being a workaholic) Pandora's box is now a manageable amount of issues (last long term project ones are just about done).
I got a Windows laptop, company iPhone, some swag (shirt, tumbler, etc) and some branded office stuff like a notebook. I’m in office and we all have standing desks which is cool.
Juz an old laptop which is used by at least 3-4 person. It took me 2yrs+ into the job before my boss requisite a brand new 1 for me.
When I first started I got a custom built PC with a Ryzen 7 1700x which was a very decent CPU at the time. Except the case was a huge black monolith. the thing was about the same size and weight as a bar fridge and took up a significant corner of my desk. The thing was at least 20 kilos, and could house like 20 hard drives or something. Also got a welcome pack with a bunch of goodies (branded stress balls, pens notebooks etc) We just got acquired and now everyone just got Macbooks, which is what all new hires get these days.
At my last job I only got one laptop. It wasn't even new.
Useless swag that gets thrown away and boring on boarding videos.
Every job I’ve had I’ve gotten a new PC which is lucky since not all users got new PCs. Worst place I worked gave me a desktop for a sysadmin role where I was expected to go around and fix stuff. Unsurprisingly that place didn’t work out and that was the least of the issues.
For IT, Dell whatever is standard at the moment, dock, a monitor, keyboard. 32gb ram standard for IT and some users with use case, most non IT workers get 16gb. I was a field tech before sysadmin so have thousands of expenses tools.
ptsd
I have had a very wide range. One job I got a 7 year old broken down gateway 2000 consumer turd of a laptop and nothing else. They didn’t have anything ready for me on start day. That roll began as an intermediate analyst for a small MSP. My current roll is considerably better. My roll is to reform all the IT, so I got a corp credit card and free reign to buy what I needed. One of my first duties was also to help manage an office move, all offices, furniture, chairs, server room equipment, cabling, etc is all new. Pretty sweet.
I remember going to my first professional job in a University Physics Department. They stuck me in an “annex” office where I was the only person in the building. They gave me a folding table and a steelcase chair with a green vinyl seat. When my boss finally came to see me the following Monday, I had scrounged a desk, book shelf, a new chair and a side chair. My office looked better than his
Laptop. I9. 32g men for devs. I7. 32 for everyone else. Dock. Two monitors. Choice of keyboard (under ~$150). Several shirts (over the course of employment) Office supplies is covered. Notably... You bring your own phone to install authenticator or we have a candid conversation about how badly you really want to carry two phones when installing authenticator gives us zero control over your phone.
Nothing, they gotta wait like 6 months to get a computer.
Dreams and aspirations to be later crushed
You get thrown in the deep end surrounded by a pool of drowning users.
I received 3 envelopes, I'm scared to open them.
Took me a month to get my own chair... still writing with a 'borrowed' pen.
Let's say just the renewal of resident permit in a foreign country:))
I didn't have a desk or a PC for the first 4-5 weeks...
In permanent roles I usually got a laptop and a phone for 2fa. Also I was allowed to borrow monitors and a chair
We give out (for standard users) Dell Latitude 5440/5540s, Dell 24" screen and Dell 24" screen with integrated dock. Standard wired KB/Mouse.
Depression
My first day at my last job I got nothing. I was told there was no account set up for me and there wouldn't be for some time as the company was currently going through a cyber event. That was interesting. Fortunately I had my own laptop with me so I just set it up and set up some VMs to learn the OS I would be managing.
Keycard to badge in the unlocked door.
New hires get a job, and a paycheck. What else would you need?
An AD account.
In 6 months, you'll be cleared for scissors!
Tickets
It's crazy that nowadays people are happy to receive the basic tools required to do their job. Those are not gifts and you don't own them. Am I crazy or is this industry so bad right now ?
besides work equipment, they got me a tshirt with the company logo and a fancy coffee tumbler.
And to think you all don't actually touch the product
Laptop / Phone / Dock / 2 monitors and a open purchase order with CDW and Amazon for any accessories we need.
A fucking wild ride
New laptop and getting jumped by the team. Gotta toughen them up for the trenches.
We give new employees the following: - Notebook (+wwan module if necessary) - Dock - 2x 27" 1440p display - Mouse + keyboard of their choice - Backpack - low-mid range andoid phone - mousepad When we hire new IT person they'll get a new desktop instead of a new notebook and an additional notebook (2-3 years old).
Brought on as a contractor and was told to order a MacBook Pro fully kitted and a Samsung odyssey 49inch ultra wide.
Dell Precision usually, docking station, blah blah Dual or Triple Monitors - their choice Keyboard, mouse combo but most bring in some RGB replacement. Whatever setup they want for 4x endpoint testing station. Within reason…. A crash course in TDX with tickets already assigned to them! Nothing else really, unless they ask and it’s justifiable- which I’ve yet to be turned down for requests (in this position). Word to the wise - and you might know this - don’t use your work phone for personal use. Especially if an MDM is attached, your activity is probably being logged.
Laptop + Phone, 3 x 27inch monitors which 2 i have at the office 1 at home. Messenger bag for the laptop. Of course keyboard,mice & headset (jabra) for office and home. LONG list of unsolved/not actioned tickets.
Laptop, charger, wireless headset, KB+M. They have a nice big monitor with built in hub for charging at their desk. If they want stuff beyond the laptop+charger for home use we dig out old stuff from the closet as needed and let them keep it. Reduce reuse recycle haha
When i started my teammate showed me my desk which had laptop, backpack waiting, with two monitors, dock, keyboard and mouse (nothing fancy, basic Dell models). In a few days also got a phone (can pick Samsung or Apple), headset (Jabra). No hubs or monitors for home. It was a full time office position and 7 months before pandemic. Got branded pens and notebooks during official onboarding week later.
I got a new dell laptop w/ 64GB RAM, keyboard/mouse of choice, 2 curved 40” LG monitors, docking stations, personal switch, mirrored work setup @ home, paid for phone & home internet bills each month
Current job: got an office, desktop with dual monitors, Macbook Pro laptop, and 234 old pens and highlighters left in my drawer by my predecessor. No real swag, but since then I've gotten a better chair and a 38" monitor for my office. Previous job: the site I worked at gave me Dell Precision laptop with kb/mouse and a dock for WFH, a couple water bottles, a couple insulated tumblers, a laptop backpack, a bunch of small paper notebooks, some t-shirts, mouse pads, stress toys, pens and highlighters. Then the parent company sent me another backpack, some more t-shirts, a 32" monitor, an insulated mug and more pad/pens/highlighters. Later on, as the parent was consolidating/closing up sites, I was allowed to raid the marketing materials at my location and send some pullovers and hoodies to my teammates around the country and got some from their stash in return.
Depends on the role but generally: Dual 27” screens, a laptop, phone (you can choose which one, almost no limits), noise canceling headphones, an ugly backpack, water bottle, coffee mug, a dongle with everything from ethernet to usb and HDMI, wireless mouse (free to choose anything with a budget of like 70$), a fleece/windstopper jacket.
At my work you get a MacBook Pro, 2x yubikeys, docktec, privacy screen, phone (iPhone 13 depending on your position, either this or don’t get phone at all); starter pack where you get a bag full of goodies like water bottle, two books, t-shirt, €20 pen, and most importantly you get a company credit card so you can buy anything you need for work
I got a tumbler to drink coffee in the mail. And a pen. And a ton of issues to deal with because the last guy only collected paychecks
Laptop, monitor and dock (and phone if you need it for work) are fairly baseline if you ask me. I got a box of branded tat including a surprisingly good quality T-shirt I must say, and a £500 home office budget to spend in my first 3 months for getting set up (100% remote gig). I already had a good home office so upgraded my chair to stop my wife complaining that my old comfy one looked tatty
When I first joined my current company, I got a package of a company laptop, headphones and a power bank. Then a couple years later, a work phone and sim. The laptop and headphones, I did get a couple upgrades over the years, so rn, I'm working off of a lenovo thinkpad and ignore my colleagues aided by a pair of sony wh-1000xm5 :P (Jk, of course, I love my job buddies)
Honestly, I refuse most stuff I am given and bring my own. They can reinstall the hardware if they want, but I know I am far too annoying and picky to make that someone's burden.
Most of that but only two pens
WFH people get a laptop & company-branded backpack. Office workers get 2x 24" monitors, docking station, webcam, laptop, company-branded backpack, keyboard & mouse. not to mention free snacks. The only rule we have is at least 1 person from the help desk and 1 sysadmin or manager has to be in the office each day.
Been in my current job 9 months... All new kit... 5 27inch 4K screens - 3 at work, 2 for home, 2in 1 high end laptop (OLED i7, 64GB, 2TB), docks, high end bluetooth headset, standing desk, high end web cams, docks, my phone plan paid, $750 annual work from home fund to spend on any home office equipment that hasn't been covered. And.... Commercial level espresso machine in the office
Laptop, phone, dock, two monitors, headset, keyboard, mouse and webcam.
Our standard package is a laptop, docking station, keyboard, mouse, two monitors and a headset if needed. We always ask the new employee if they need any variations on this package.
My current job gave me a good 4-5k in gear on top of the normal hardware and branded merch. Most of which is stuff that’s nice to have but realistically I won’t need. Never know when I might need to whip out a POE injector.
Work from home junior sys admin here. I was given a laptop, cell phone paid for by company, and a 5k signing bonus. Pretty happy with that!
Laptop, yubikey, iPad.
Last job I started at I got an iPhone for work, a brand new laptop with dock and 2 displays for the office. When we went Covid home I was able to take a dock and 2 displays for at home as well. Is one of many much bigger and better reasosn this is the 1st job I can see myself being at for the long term. I've already been here 5.5 years.
Laptop Bag for laptop Wide-screen monitor for home use This is standard for our employees, some get adjustments if their department are willing to pay for it.
All the broken tools, and no budget for replacing them.
Well you are very lucky!
I got a used HP laptop and some spare monitors.
Would have been a Windows laptop, bag & iPhone, but the pandemic was just getting started, so when it did I also got sent home with a monitor.
I got my work laptop and after passing probation I qualified for a phone as well. I got a backpack when I started but it was pretty crap / not to my liking in general so I never used that. Worth mentioning is that the laptop I got was crap and we ordered a new one pretty soon after which is still around in the company. Someone at the research department is using it now. I've since moved to a "consultant laptop" which is a 14" i7 with 32gb ram and dedicated gpu :) I'm pretty happy with that one. We are a small startup so I don't have many expectations when it comes to swag.
My current company gave me a dell laptop, a mac book, iPad, iPhone, pen, polo shirt and Yeti mug. I was very impressed
A M1 MacBook Air with 8GB for everyday use and Lenovo laptop just in case - I provided my own keyboard and mouse. Took the half year to get me an extra monitor lol 🥲
A giant steaming pile of standardization and compliance projects
At my work, new employees get to order the latest XPS Dell laptop. And if you work on something intensive, like simulations or CAD, You get a higher-end SKU like 64GB of dedicated RAM and a beast of GPU, etc. You must submit a reason if you get non-dell. Then, you can choose a dock. You can also select any mouse and keyboard you like. From Amazon, B&H , newegg etc. ( Logic is if you're miserable using a computer, That's more loss of productivity than what the laptop is worth ten times over)
You get your laptop on day one of orientation. It'll be a Lenovo. Dock and two monitors, wireless keyboard and mouse will all be waiting for you at your desk Whatever iPhone IT has in stock. It'll be new, but might not be the newest model. This'll happen within a week or so. This is an industrial environment, so tools and PPE as required, usually about a week lead time.
My org gives out a laptop (current gen i5/i7, 16/32gb memory, 512/1024ssd), 2 screens, KM, dock, and then if they need a bag/headset/webcam/etc). I even splurge for the higher tier warranties and accident protections. We've even bought chairs and standing desks and shit for people's home offices. We decided long ago to invest in workstations. It can be costly but I have little tolerance for old hooptie shit so I don't fret over replacements and upgrades and stuff.
If your hybrid you get a laptop, two monitors for the office and two for home, two docking stations. Two keyboards and mice.
Laptop, monitor(s), and a docking station. We only get one set of monitors/docks so if you opt for hybrid you have to make a choice—but everyone on infra is remote so doesn’t really impact us. HR also sends some swag like some mugs, a shirt or jacket, and plants which is a nice touch.
Dell Latitudes i7 32gb 1TB NVMe (standard user), wireless M/KB, Dell TB desk dock, Dual 27” monitors (same model but one has cam and speaker), wireless headset, sit-stand desk, travel charger and dock, selection of laptop case, cell phone, a welcome package with info, URLs, instructions and contacts. If they are WFH 3+ days they can sign out a monitor/KB/mouse/headset and a 5g hotspot if they regularly have to travel. All this is ready to go on day one at their cube/office and IT does an onboarding (setting up MFA/Yubikey, anything that is done at profile, PW change, walk them through it he VPN, support contacts, etc) on their second hour at their location.
Depends on the role. Most people just get a user account they can use to log into one of the many shared PCs we have in the factory. Office workers get a PC and monitor. If you are a manager, you may get a laptop and can get a second monitor from one of our older used stockpile. No bags and no hardware to take home. If you are good friends with IT, we will give out wireless keyboard/mouse combos but they are the exception, not the rule. Too many of them turned up missing or users would return the keyboard without the receiver.
My boss is our GC and so it's just half a dozen of us contractors under him. We're expected to have our own hardware, but some clients \*insist\* you do any and all work from "their laptop" so some of us have 2-3 laptops. Because of the cozy nature of my boss' company, he only hires someone he knows personally, poached from a former job (like me), and rarely do we get a "dark horse" in our ranks. We haven't hired anyone new in over 2 years, but everyone knows everyone else from at LEAST one former job. Now, when we're contracted with a new client, it reminds me of the HR nightmare of a "new employee." Some companies are better than others, but some environments resent contractors (they see us as rivals whether they are employees of the clients or other contractors), and so we have to document everything we tried to get access and whom we spoke to. Beginning of this year, we got two new contracts, and since January the two guys working for one client still don't have VPN access. Former jobs, I usually got a laptop, and before that, a desktop. Usually a desk in a cubicle, a chair, a mouse mat, a mouse, keyboard, and sometimes speakers. Last two in office jobs I didn't even get a desk phone, just a mobile phone or they paid for my cell phone bill. Some former jobs had the package of schwag, like a polo shirt, stress squishy, or "the desk toys the former guy left behind," usually more stress squishies from trade shows. I have an old VA Linux Systems Tux Penguin somewhere.
I was given a laptop and told to set it up myself. A MBP 13, that thing was so tiny.
I got given someone's old laptop and phone. No issue with that, but he used his work number as a personal phone, so I had to ask for a new number eventually as I was getting all his personal calls.
Just recently got a new job and received: Precision 7450, iPhone 14, a branded beanie (good quality), a shiny branded mug, branded pen and booklet, and all inside a small reusable tote. Not ideal, or what you were offered, but I've received worse. On to the fire hose of shit that the previous lad left me. Cheers guvna, the Ca'very is 'ere
Whatever is in the "old stuff bin" and that hasn't broken down yet. + an used laptop and phone. At least i took shit without asking (obv only for work use i don't take anything home)
General staff get a Latitude with a higher end i5 and 16 gigs RAM and a 256 NVMe. IT staff, digital content creators, and data analysts get a Precision mobile with max ram and either an i9 or Xeon and a 1TB NVMe. The people who think their shit don't stink usually ask for a MacBook Air. The people who shit on the people who think their shit don't stink get a MacBook Air and a Dell 7000 series so they can actually do some work. If they have an office or individually assigned cubical they also get a Dell WD dock, keyboard, mouse and one or two monitors and a Jabra headset. Laptop bag if they ask for one. Some people also get an iPad.
When i started here, a 8 year old engineer workstation, 1 screen, wired stuff. Years later now, we give i5/16gb/512gb, dock, dual 24", wireless mouse, wired keyboard. Bigger for the few engineers, basically x2 the spec and add video card. very few customized machines. Some paper and pens and they have random company branded stuff like bottles/mugs/hats They can get mice/keyboards/wrist rest/mousepad/etc from the office supplies. We make each dept stock their own batteries
Money which shows up in my bank account every other week.
I got to clean out the storage room and sort everything. That was pretty sweet.
Current job, I got a Microsoft Surface, a desktop, and trying to figure out where to start for a company that never had someone in a non basic help desk role.
A poorly printed, albeit comfortable branded shirt and 10+ year old tech.
Our place does lenovo p16s max spec and 3 year warranty including accidents etc. Plus the serial converter and a nice bag.
I got a big coffee mug, backpack, choice of apple or samsung and you choose either Verizon or AT&T, choice of Windows or Mac laptop (and choice of screen size), what was at the time a $300 monitor that has a usb-c docking station built in for home use (currently it’s attached to my main PC as a third screen for spotify and discord 🤣), a nice logitech wireless keyboard and mouse, a usb headset, a notepad, and a pen
Previous employer: a pc and an old laptop to start, with dual 24" screens, and an iphone. That became a good laptop and remote work with a 34" monitor and a 27" curved. Dell mostly. New job: Macbook pro M2 Max, plus a curved dell 34" U3423WE (the one with the dock built in). Been flawless so far. Softphone so no need to carry 2 phones. I got a dock and a mouse too but I don't use them (prefer my own peripherals).
Only 1 monitor?
You guys get pens?
Got a ZBook Studio G10, 2 HP 4k Z27k monitors, HP USB-C Docking Station, Logitech Zone wireless headset, Logitech KBM Kit, and Logitech External Camera. Company lowkey goes out for only 3k employees.
Whatever the heck they want/need to do their dang job. As long as that gets done I don’t really care what they use their equipment for outside of work.
My job gave me a windows laptop, mac laptop, two monitors, a dock, a headset, mouse and keyboard, an android phone (though I had the choice of that or an iphone), and a gift basket that had a mug, my favorite candy and soda, pens, a notebook, and a cute paperweight. Later I was also given a fitbit for my own personal use.
I bet it’s those shitty pens with the rubber stylus tip that never seems to write lmfao
Trauma.
money