Which Is Better? Why?

deanwebb · November 19, 2015, 12:54:57 PM

Say you're starting a job as the one and only network guy at a small/medium-sized company. On day one, you find either:

1. All the network gear unplugged and stacked neatly in a corner, with all the wires - including patch panel wires - unplugged and neatly rolled up in a stack next to all the network gear. All the PCs and phones have their IP information wiped out, but otherwise left intact. You learn that the last network guy was Swiss and found out he was getting fired, so he trashed the network... in a very Swiss way... That being said, your employer would like to have the network running well as soon as possible.

-or-

2. Masses of spaghetti connect everything to everything else. Nothing is labeled, at all. No server labels, no gear labels, no wire labels, no labels on the patch panel, NOTHING. Lights that should not be flashing are flashing, people complain about slowness and intermittent outages and generally crappy voice quality. You learn that the last network guy was a copier repairman with no formal IT training outside of his copier repair courses and that he just stopped showing up one day and never answered his phone. That being said, your employer would like to have the network running well as soon as possible.

For the sake of argument, I'll stipulate that the job market is tight, and this is the only job that you can land, so you have to make the most of it.

So which one would you rather go in to?

SimonV · November 19, 2015, 01:01:49 PM

First one, full network install from scratch. I actually wish that would happen in some places, would probably take the guy out for dinner

routerdork · November 19, 2015, 02:27:52 PM

I've got to agree. From scratch I can get things up much faster by knowing how I would do things versus having to untangle someone else's mess.

deanwebb · November 19, 2015, 02:33:32 PM

I'll make it three in a row.

"Hey, gang, good news! We're going all wireless!"

dlots · November 19, 2015, 02:59:16 PM

The 2ed is almost impossible to recover from inside a year without taking massive down-time and everyone blames you after a few weeks

The 1st option, you get it mostly up and running in a day or 2 and you're a hero, and it's doing what it should be wonderfully, and you know every inch of the network. Your cables probably won't be labled, but you can figure that out later without much of an issue.

deanwebb · November 19, 2015, 03:03:05 PM

Quote from: dlots on November 19, 2015, 02:59:16 PM
The 2ed is almost impossible to recover from inside a year without taking massive down-time and everyone blames you after a few weeks

The 1st option, you get it mostly up and running in a day or 2 and you're a hero, and it's doing what it should be wonderfully, and you know every inch of the network. Your cables probably won't be labled, but you can figure that out later without much of an issue.

Actually, if the guy was Swiss, they probably *are* still labeled, along with all the gear and detailed instructions on how to use the Panduit labeler neatly stored in the closet.

Nerm · November 19, 2015, 03:33:29 PM

As a consultant I actually walk into messes like these more often than I would like and I can tell you from experience I would take number one any day over number two.

NetworkGroover · November 19, 2015, 05:28:58 PM

Yeah... seriously is this even a question? Would anyone really want to walk into #2? I sure wouldn't.

deanwebb · November 19, 2015, 07:10:04 PM

Of course, we all know that situation #1 is pretty much fantasyland. Or a home lab environment.