I’m working at this health company; it’s my first IT job, and I’ve been here a little more than half a year so far. I do appreciate the opportunity I was given, but man, this place is kind of a wreck. The boss didn’t want to upgrade the Windows 7 computer that’s sitting on the network and utterly refused to do so. Even with everything that was shown that it could be upgraded, he was pissed, and it took six months to finally upgrade it to Windows 11 with the necessary software we have.
Another crucial issue is that literally the people who work on the floor have FULL ADMINISTRATOR ACCESS to install any programs they want. I brought this up to him, and he said, “We have bigger battles to fight.” The computers are literally just “Password” or the start date of the employees. So literally all someone has to do is ask when they started working here, and boom—they have access to their account. We also had local accounts sitting on every computer. He does not want to change any of this.
I am capable of switching jobs. I have talked one-on-one with big figures in the field like Richard Stallman before. I do testing and help port hardware for coreboot/Libreboot. I am also looking into getting my Linux+ (currently only have my A+). What should I do?
(My boss and I are the only two IT people)
in the health sector specifically, IT is a mess because you can’t stop people from working or there will be deaths. one thing you should take away from this is that their jobs are important and it is crucial that they can do them. it is your job to support them; anything that stops them doing their job or makes it take longer, even once, is dangerous. improving infra for its own sake is not a good idea because it comes at the risk of peoples lives. the details don’t matter in the face of that.
if this stresses you out, you can absolutely change jobs. i did.
if you think you can work within those parameters, and you think you can find ways to improve the system in-place while mitigating the risks, then you will be highly respected.