What is my job title?

Posted by rjp94sep@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 25 comments

About a year ago I switched from working in a school's Special Ed team to being one of two IT Support people in the building, while also having a MSP help us when needed.

Back in April the school fired the other guy so I am the ONLY IT person for roughly 900 kids and 300 staff. Now, with the promotion and pay bump, the HR Director gave me the title" IT Manager," but after looking into what GlassDoor classifies as an IT Manager and what i actually do, I'm curious what i should put down on future resumes.

The following are some of the many things I've spent most of my time doing and will probably continue to do:

Tracking and distributing inventory/Assets. Computer Carts, Chromebooks, Desktops, kids computer headphones, anything the IT Deptment bought.
Helping teachers/admin/users with every day troubleshooting (password resets, figuring out ed tech software/platforms/logins)
Onboarding and off boarding staff and disenrolled students from Azure, Google, Zoom, M365 System Admin and many many more other websites.
Physical hardware repair with projector bulbs and mounts, rolling TVs, HDMI/VGA cords.
Video and Audio Equipment help to non-tech friendly users and running A/V for assemblies and special events.
Running Professional Development on new Ed Tech for teachers and admin.

I know that is a wide scope. So other then "Miracle Worker," what do I put as my title on future resumes?

Tl;dr--I do everything IT for a K-8 school. What's my job title?

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Buckw12@reddit

More importantly, was this a change from hourly to salary? If so, this is a labor law violation in the U.S.

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RCTID1975@reddit

Hourly and salary have no impact here.

What you should be concerned with this exempt and non-exempt.

It's possible to be a salary employee and be non-exempt.

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Buckw12@reddit

Salary is understood to mean exempt in my world

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RCTID1975@reddit

I'd encourage you to have a proper understanding as it's important.

There are criteria that need to be met for exempt, but no criteria for salary.

This is an extremely important distinction.

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Buckw12@reddit

And I stand by my statement, if you are switched from Hourly to Salary (and still meeting the test criteria for non-exempt) it is being done to exempt you from overtime laws. IT Techician, desktop support and helpdesk do not qualify. There is also precedent that server admins do not.

To qualify for an exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employees generally need to meet specific criteria related to their job duties and salary. Here are the key points:

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RCTID1975@reddit

Everything you said is exactly why it's extremely important that everyone understands salary does not mean you're exempt.

I'm not even sure why you're arguing this and then posting links supporting what I'm saying.

If you do not meet the job duty requirements, you cannot legally be exempt no matter if you're hourly or salary. Again, this is extremely important for everyone in the US to understand to ensure you're not being screwed out of overtime.

stufforstuff@reddit

For IT career related questions, please visit /r/ITCareerQuestions

rjp94sep@reddit (OP)

Thank you, had no idea that sub Reddit existed.

Consistent_Slice8489@reddit

System Admin or Helpdesk/Support Engineer.

namocaw@reddit

If youre the only IT guy then youre the top IT guy The top IT guy is called a CIO.

Just sayin. Lol

Impossible_IT@reddit

Or IT Director lol

Kuipyr@reddit

Whatever you want it to be. Job titles in IT are all made up nowadays anyways.

Aurora5511@reddit

Seconding this. Meaningless words like "IT Consultant" and "IT Architect".

kuahara@reddit

IT architect does sound a bit meaningless. If someone said "solutions architect", there's a whole ballpark of interview questions I'm going to fire at them to find out about symptoms the previous org had where I expect them to (maybe/hopefully) have had a hand in identifying the underlying problem and definitely/absolutely designed the solution and led implementation or coached the manager of the implementation team and in some other way oversaw implementation. I'm going also going to be interested in how they communicated and worked with other affected teams, got buy-in from leadership, communicated with directors or CIO, learn what they did to got budget approval. And depending how they answer, I'll go down other roads to make sure the architect is actually the person I need for that role. A helpdesk person with a glorified title won't be difficult to expose.

Thats a very detailled explanation and as well a preview of what applicants can possibly expect when they want to get hired for said roles. More interviewers should do this, so people stop calling themselves this and that if they lack the quality of such titles.

vandon@reddit

Unless the pay is IT Manager, you're glorified desktop services or helpdesk.

I'm seconding helpdesk, not to minimize his importance, but because all his bullets are tasks that would fall to the helpdesk in most large orgs.

Spoonie_Frenzy@reddit

There's a point, and you've crossed it, where 'duties not otherwise specified' becomes your primary focus. What I did, and something I feel you should do, is make the choice as to what you'd rather do.

Just for history, I was a facility manager with a good bit of IT included in the job (maintain half a dozen computer classrooms with the promise of more). I did everything by maintaining images and software - but not in the enterprise just yet. I found myself liking that I could save time doing stuff like that in the background without even physically in front of the machine, so I applied for a job as a sysadmin. I've never really looked back. I did a stint as a senior helpdesk tech with a focus on printing services - for over 1000 pieces of hardware to look after. Not too much different from any sysadmin - typically contracted, because it's a headache to be known as the PB for the organization. Then COVID hit, and I actually returned to my old office feeling unsatisfied. But that's me. I found myself a remote sysadmin gig that really is a great group of folks to work with.

I'll stay where I am until I retire, I think. What's YOUR story, and who are the people YOU want to work. That's the question you must answer for yourself.

That job description you posted is really just helpdesk/support.