I named this site quite appropriately. My first day as the sole technology person at a downtown Manhattan non-profit proved this. It’s not that non-profits are difficult places to work, it’s that they lack self-respect. I doubt any self-respecting organization would allow their network and infrastructure to fall into such ruin. What I saw today, knowing that I have to deal with it, would have made anyone weep bitterly.
Picture four servers, three years old, each with a tape drive, each running it’s own version of Symantec/Veritas Backup Exec. Imagine all staff having administrator rights to their computers, saving their documents locally since no one can figure out the shared drive structure. Ponder an Exchange server that takes more than two minutes to launch a window. That alone is enough to give a person IBS (info), but there’s more! Much, much more!
I will think of it as the challenge of a lifetime. Single-handedly wrangling this decrepit multi-million dollar non-profit into something smooth, sleek, and overall, efficient. I will take care of it like a child, working its rough patches away until a beautiful being results. I will be a hero….or a completely miserable failure. Wish me luck for I know not where to start.