Baby System Admin. Company Set to be Acquired by PE Firm. Job Hunting?

Posted by throwaway1950301015@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 14 comments

My company (apartment management/investment company) is set to be acquired by a Canadian private equity firm, set to close in about 6 months. We are in a market here in the US that they do not have a foothold in, and from what has been explained to us, they are looking to vertically integrate our company to expand their operations here. We will keep the same branding and operations after the acquisition.

I haven't been through something like this before. I started here 3 years ago at the T1 help desk- 6 months later, T2 technician work. And just over a year ago, T3 system admin. They never backfilled my role, and I was previously the only tech in my area, so I continued to support the 40-odd sites here as well as other functions like IT transitions for newly acquired properties and tickets for the T2 team.

It has been a slow learning process until recently. I've only touched our servers once. They're finally freeing me up to learn more about my role, and it's been great so far, but then this acquisition was announced.

We've had a handful of people leave our team already. And I've heard many stories about getting acquired, especially for PE firms. I really do love my job and the people I work with. But I feel like I have to be realistic and keep my options open, especially in this job market. But the job hunting prospect is a little strange. I don't feel as if I have the experience needed to jump ship. And the job titles for system admins seem to greatly vary, making it difficult to identify positions I would qualify for, and most listings ask for experience I don't have.

What is the wisest way to spend my time? Dedicate all my time in the office to learning, pursue certifications, apply to jobs like a madman? I wouldn't mind stepping down to a T2 role again, but I think that step down would hurt my resume.

What have your experiences been with acquisitions like this, and how worried should I be? Any other advice is also most certainly welcome.

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GX_EN@reddit

You never know what's going to happen in these circumstances.
I worked in corporate America for 40 years and have been through so many mergers/buyouts that I can't even count. It can be stressful, so keep your support network close.

That said - let this be a lesson to anyone, please for the love of god always keep your resume updated. Make sure you're not just listing shit you know, but also impactful projects that you've worked on etc.
You are just a number, I don't care how often leadership says "we're a family" or whatever. Nope, they can and will drop you like a hot potato at a moment's notice.
My advice is you update your resume, talk to some recruiters, come up with a good job search that fits your profile while riding out whatever might happen there.

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PowerShellGenius@reddit

You're just a number anywhere, and can be dropped anywhere if you are not needed anymore.

But in exactly one major developed country, you are a number that can be dropped with zero notice EVEN IF THE COMPANY PLANNED IT AHEAD AND COULD HAVE TOLD YOU. And they use the head game of not knowing what's coming to scare people into doing overtime without claiming it, etc. And no guarantee of severance no matter how long you have been there.

And they can use a fake "layoff" for a position that isn't actually being phased out, to reset salaries (if they lay you off, for no cause, but they actually still need the role, and create a substantially identical position a month later, they DON'T have to offer it back to you at your old pay)

If you are in that one country, do not be quiet in the political sphere about how unique this is.

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Tall-Geologist-1452@reddit

The one country you are talking about offers higher salaries, and that salary has more purchasing power. This is the trade off. I am not saying one system is better or worse, but they each have pros and cons that have to be weighed.

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GX_EN@reddit

Yes, it is insane.
I live in California, so we have overall better protections than most states, but we're still "at will".
Though at least companies here have to pay out your banked PTO if you're canned.

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PowerShellGenius@reddit

Yes, you're just a number and in the US, can be dropped on almost zero notice (even if the company had notice and secretly planned the layoffs for weeks or months).

Be prepared for it. And every human being in the very few countries where it is like this (mostly just USA) should be vocal about this with their reps. Most developed countries are not zero stability.

Spellbound55@reddit

It’s a coin flip man. And very hard to predict, you might be spared, you might be laid off. You won’t really know. I’ve been on both sides during an acquisition.

Just be ready, have resume primed and updated in a ready to send out state. I’d tentatively look around while you’re employed. Cherry pick during active employment, if you see something better, apply, if you get an interview? You interview THEM if that makes sense.

Otherwise, you could stay and see it play out. No one will know for certainty.

This is a toss up, as it all depends on the company buying you all. We were bought by a PE firm a few years ago and we have stayed pretty autonomous as a company. The C-suite was completely replaced, but they also dumped a bunch of money into our tech stack and gave us the opportunity to skill up and grow. I have had about a 25% pay increase since they bought us, so it has been really good for me. Be 100% ready to jump, but I would wait and see what’s what first.

Elensea@reddit

I’d stay for the experience. M&A experience looks good on the resume. Leave a year or two after the merger if you’re in a dead end position.

Sacrificial_Identity@reddit

PE will turn your role into a pseudo janitor/ delivery driver without a thought.

Start adding people on LinkedIn or networking with the people you had good experiences with.

Dont tell anyone you're looking, but when you put in your notice, make sure you have a week of vacation scheduled in that 2week span.

If they need anything after you're gone, $350 an hr and a minimum of 10 hrs

Ssakaa@reddit

Always be job hunting. Worst case, you let the people you meeta know you're reasonably comfortable where you are, but you'll entertain genuinely good offers. Your employer will replace you (or foist your workload on a coworker until they also quit and then will hire cheaper people when absolutely forced to) just fine if you leave.

theoriginalharbinger@reddit

PE's are the sharks of the news cycle. Not so much "They eat everything they see and never sleep," but moreso "The perceived threat far outweighs reality."

Lots of PE acquires companies to expand. Of all the companies I've worked for, a Canadian publicly traded company was by far the worst, the PE-owned entities are all fairly middling.

It doesn't cost you anything to update your resume, but you should not jump into any decisions that are fear-hyped by media that is always seeking to latch onto the next hundred clicks.

Frothyleet@reddit

If you start job hunting aggressively now, worst case scenario, you've wasted a bit of time when your current employment continues swimmingly.

If you don't, you could be fine, but the worst case scenario turns into being jobless with little notice.

odellrules1985@reddit

It never hurts to see what's out there even if this was not happening. Sometimes better options come.

With this it depends on what's going to happen. I am in a similar situation. I have been doing all IT for my company for 3 years. Another company and PE decided to buy us and we are merging and will grow very fast. The other company had no internal IT. They have a single guy MSP that handles their stuff. So basically, we are going to keep me, lower the responsibility of their MSP guy and bring in another MSP to handle high level network and security.

My role went from IT Manager (wasn't the right title to begin with) to IT Director. I will handle the MSP and guide the tech and IT policy for the company with obvious room to grow and potentially get more employees under me as needed.

So what's happening for you could be opportunity to move up like mine. But it does not hurt to clean up your resume and see what's out there just in case they do decide to do what I have seen some do which is gut IT and have an MSP handle everything, which is a terrible idea and I say that having worked for MSPs before.

Also don't shy away from titles because there is stuff you may not have done before. I have taken on a lot of roles where I didn't have everything they wanted. The best thing about IT is that you can learn and need to learn to continue to do well as it's ever changing.

Master-IT-All@reddit

Yes, definitely be ready to hit the eject button. Solidify your knowledge, and anything you may have touched, it now counts as something you've done, so study it a bit more to ensure you're good to say, "I know server A"

It's possible they may keep you as the IT gopher for the area, but you'll be a gopher forever. And touching servers will never happen, any servers your org has will be consumed and moved to a data center.