A friendly reminder from your non-IT staff.

[notfred]

The company does not exist so that you can play with computers. The only reason you are here, is to help the engineers and salespeople do thier job more efficiently. Engineers build products that we can sell. Sales people sell these products and bring us money. These are the people that make it possible for us to pay the salaries of the IT department. Beleive it or not, customers don't walk into the building and offer us money to make sure our computers are working properly.

If someone has trouble with his computer, regardless of the cause, or even if it's his own fault, our goal is to get that problem fixed so that this person may continue his work and keep us earning money. If nothing ever went wrong with the computers we wouldn't need IT people. Remember, the job you do doesn't bring in any money, it only helps to allow others to do so more efficiently.

Acting like a self-important, possesive asshole does not make the company earn more money. Getting the computers up and keeping them running does. If you would like a job in IT that doesn't require you to fix anything, feel free to start your own company - you can pay yourself to do nothing all day long.

 

[cjgallen]

:laugh: :thumbsup:

 

Covered that in the last thread. I'm with ya.

 

[mcvickj]

hehe. Sounds like there is a good story to be told.

 

[Squisher]

:thumbsup:

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: SampSon
Covered that in the last thread. I'm with ya.

Yeah, there was a similar post in that thread, but I thought the idea was significant enough to get its own.

(in truth, I started writing this after reading only the first post in the other thread, heh.)

 

[BigJ]

It'd be better if the IT staff lost their self-righteous attitude, and the average end-user was a little more computer literate, curteous, and used common sense.

 

[Orsorum]

So freaking true. I'm lucky that I have some awesome IT support staff in my firm.

 

[ngvepforever2]

cheers notfred ! :beer:

Regards

ng

 

[kpunc]

typical IT faggle "omg lol some guy didnt' know that intel was the processor and not the hard drive space loLoLoLOl let me post on the internarb and tell my friends about this dumb guy who makes 3x what i do loLolOl!"

 

[CheesePoofs]

Originally posted by: kpunc
typical IT faggle "omg lol some guy didnt' know that intel was the processor and not the hard drive space loLoLoLOl let me post on the internarb and tell my friends about this dumb guy who makes 3x what i do loLolOl!"

yes, I'm sure that was the problem. :roll:

 

[Martin]

Funny thing is, not long ago I would have lambasted you for such a post. Now that I'm working and having to deal with IT department full of idiots*, I can only agree. I may not have lots of experience dealing with IT departments, but my boss assured me that this incompetency is something common to all IT departments he's dealt wtih...


*funny story: about 6 weeks ago I made a very, very simple request to IT. reformat a computer, put SQL server on it. That's it. It took them 6 weeks to purchase SQL server and the win2k server/reformatting somehow just got lost in the ticket. Yesterday we went to pick up the SQL cd (since it finally arrived), and when we did, some other IT guy showed us shelves of MS Software they have there..meaning that instead of giving us the SQL server the same day, IT spent 6 weeks and $1000 getting us an OLDER version than the one they already had!!! Its amazing the company can even function with people like that.

 

[FrustratedUser]

The best IT department is the one you never notice.

 

[eelw]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*yes, works in the IT department*

 

[Megatomic]

Agreed. Our unix IT staff are some arrogant arseholes.

 

[Rock Hydra]

Originally posted by: Martin
Funny thing is, not long ago I would have lambasted you for such a post. Now that I'm working and having to deal with IT department full of idiots*, I can only agree. I may not have lots of experience dealing with IT departments, but my boss assured me that this incompetency is something common to all IT departments he's dealt wtih...


*funny story: about 6 weeks ago I made a very, very simple request to IT. reformat a computer, put SQL server on it. That's it. It took them 6 weeks to purchase SQL server and the win2k server/reformatting somehow just got lost in the ticket. Yesterday we went to pick up the SQL cd (since it finally arrived), and when we did, some other IT guy showed us shelves of MS Software they have there..meaning that instead of giving us the SQL server the same day, IT spent 6 weeks and $1000 getting us an OLDER version than the one they already had!!! Its amazing the company can even function with people like that.

Jeez. That's ridiculous.

 

[FreshPrince]

IT is the only department in companies that gets used and abused...

it's just a job, like anyone else have a job. although, we often do about 10 people's jobs, while others only do 1 job...

how often do you see IT openly criticize marketing for designing that stupid looking billboard? or engineering for taking their sweet ass time creating total crap that's not even marketable? we almost never do that to any department, because we're too busy helping stupid people. you take away the routers, firewalls, app servers like: email, database, file, and the phones/blackberries now what do you get? A company that can't even survive for a day. We make what you do everyday possible. Without us how will marketing keep in contact with their customers? they can't email or chat on the phone about nothing. What about engineering? what happens when we take away your computers or stop backing up your files? no firewall to protect your crappy work from being hacked or stolen? Not that anyone want to steals your crap anyways...

what about the design team? what happens when we take away your precious MACs or your $20K color printer? not that it matters because most of you are too busy downloading mp3's to your ipods and praying to the steve blowjobs shrine right? :laugh:

Accounting, what will you do without that database server? I guess you can do everything on paper like the old days...LOL. Ya, that's right, we implemented CRM and made you look obsolete

HR, what heppens when we take away the computers and stopped encrypting your files? I guess you can start storing everything on paper as well? How do you use companies like choicepoint to do background checks? without their IT folks, I guess it'll take 6 months to verify a candidate right?

executives, what do you do when we take away your emails or blackberries? you might as well kill yourself now? and no, you haven't gotten any emails in the last 2 minutes...stop freaking out about it. why do you have to keep every piece of email back to 1991? You do know that pulling up a 1GB pst over the network is going to be slow right? what happens when we take away your media center pc and your plasma screen or dish? I guess no more golf channel ...

consultants what will you do without your laptop or blackberry? I guess you can lug a large briefcase full of papers with you, and when you're done, use your client's fax machine to fax everything back to the office :roll:

on top of all the above trivial things, we have our real responsibilities to handle as well:

build more servers, workstations, firewalls
configure more laptops, blackberries, routers, switches, printers, fax machines, phones, copiers
configure more email, database, CRM
document everything for audits and make sure everything is complient with recent laws
prepare for budgets, yes that's why we can't upgrade your office from 2000 to 2003 on your whim. don't blame me if your short sighted boss didn't budget you a laptop this year...and no, the SQL server box you see on my shelf can't be used for you as well. If you want one, you're gonna have to pay for it. your ass isn't on the line when IT gets audited...
manage lazy employee

oh ya, we also backup the 800 Terabytes of your "important" data stored on the network weekly. yes, that's 800 terabytes...we all know you've duplicated your files atleast 10 times on the network...why don't we have disk quotas? because you keep lying to your boss that you need the space.

In short, IT people are over-worked, under-paid, and have to make miracles out of your shoe-string budgets.

 

[jtvang125]

Originally posted by: FreshPrince
IT is the only department in companies that gets used and abused...

it's just a job, like anyone else have a job. although, we often do about 10 people's jobs, while others only do 1 job...

how often do you see IT openly criticize marketing for designing that stupid looking billboard? or engineering for taking their sweet ass time creating total crap that's not even marketable? we almost never do that to any department, because we're too busy helping stupid people. you take away the routers, firewalls, app servers like: email, database, file, and the phones/blackberries now what do you get? A company that can't even survive for a day. We make what you do everyday possible. Without us how will marketing keep in contact with their customers? they can't email or chat on the phone about nothing. What about engineering? what happens when we take away your computers or stop backing up your files? no firewall to protect your crappy work from being hacked or stolen? Not that anyone want to steals your crap anyways...

what about the design team? what happens when we take away your precious MACs or your $20K color printer? not that it matters because most of you are too busy downloading mp3's to your ipods and praying to the steve blowjobs shrine right? :laugh:

Accounting, what will you do without that database server? I guess you can do everything on paper like the old days...LOL. Ya, that's right, we implemented CRM and made you look obsolete

HR, what heppens when we take away the computers and stopped encrypting your files? I guess you can start storing everything on paper as well? How do you use companies like choicepoint to do background checks? without their IT folks, I guess it'll take 6 months to verify a candidate right?

executives, what do you do when we take away your emails or blackberries? you might as well kill yourself now? and no, you haven't gotten any emails in the last 2 minutes...stop freaking out about it. why do you have to keep every piece of email back to 1991? You do know that pulling up a 1GB pst over the network is going to be slow right? what happens when we take away your media center pc and your plasma screen or dish? I guess no more golf channel ...

consultants what will you do without your laptop or blackberry? I guess you can lug a large briefcase full of papers with you, and when you're done, use your client's fax machine to fax everything back to the office :roll:

on top of all the above trivial things, we have our real responsibilities to handle as well:

build more servers, workstations, firewalls
configure more laptops, blackberries, routers, switches, printers, fax machines, phones, copiers
configure more email, database, CRM
document everything for audits and make sure everything is complient with recent laws
prepare for budgets, yes that's why we can't upgrade your office from 2000 to 2003 on your whim. don't blame me if your short sighted boss didn't budget you a laptop this year...and no, the SQL server box you see on my shelf can't be used for you as well. If you want one, you're gonna have to pay for it. your ass isn't on the line when IT gets audited...
manage lazy employee

oh ya, we also backup the 800 Terabytes of your "important" data stored on the network weekly. yes, that's 800 terabytes...we all know you've duplicated your files atleast 10 times on the network...why don't we have disk quotas? because you keep lying to your boss that you need the space.

In short, IT people are over-worked, under-paid, and have to make miracles out of your shoe-string budgets.

:thumbsup: I couldn't have said it any better myself.

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: FreshPrince
In short, IT people are over-worked, under-paid, and have to make miracles out of your shoe-string budgets.

Which company do you work at, and how can I make sure I never work with such a pompous ass?

Most IT departments are simply not revenue generators, and garner as much attention as such. If you look at the accounting function in any company you'll likely see them treated the same way, because they're not revenue generators for the company, they're a necessity for the business to function.

 

[FreshPrince]

Originally posted by: Orsorum

Originally posted by: FreshPrince
In short, IT people are over-worked, under-paid, and have to make miracles out of your shoe-string budgets.

Which company do you work at, and how can I make sure I never work with such a pompous ass?

Most IT departments are simply not revenue generators, and garner as much attention as such. If you look at the accounting function in any company you'll likely see them treated the same way, because they're not revenue generators for the company, they're a necessity for the business to function.

yes, I understand IT, accounting, and HR are all service departments. we typically don't generate any revenue and all we know how to do is spend spend spend :roll:

1st of all, accounting does 1 job, that's accounting. we do many, like show them how to do their jobs. for example, show them how to use the CRM, or search the web for solutions on how to use that depreciation schedule they're trying to put in excel. how about the 100th time we've shown them how to print to a check printer? or how to approve expense reports via a browser? yes we have to figure out how to do their jobs and then show them. but how arrogant we are right?

as I stated in the other thread, my department actually generates more revenue than other departments because we offer network admin, and security services. not all IT departments spend money. we can carry our own weight and in many cases, carry the weight of the entire company.

 

[Megatomic]

Background: one of the ops folks has been having wrist trouble and was
using a trackball at his desk to compensate. He started using one in the
control room on a unix workstation as well. Contrary to what we thought
you CAN hotswap mouse devices on a workstation without it locking up
(keyboards lock up the system). Whether this is consistantly true has not
been established.

So, does anyone see a problem here? My coworker, the one alluded to here, is an older gentleman, near retirement age. Well, read on...

I did something that in hindsight was probably a bad idea, I gave the user
a spare trackball mouse and open license to swap them out in the control
room as needed.

So, helping out my coworker was a bad idea???

1. So the issue is this:
a. What is the official policy for ops staff mucking with control room
machines? We need to lay this out so that they have requirements to follow
and that we can point to.
b. How do we want to support this user's needs? Even if hot swapping
the mouse device only locks the machine up "occasionally" this is still
not an acceptable situation (as repeated lock-ups will eventually cause
disk failure).

Hmm, so preventing arthritic attacks is mucking?

Options: 1. A standard KVM switch for the mouse device. This does not
completely solve the problem, as some lock-ups will still occur (see
above).
2. There is a ~$400 KVM switch that uses micro-processors to simulate USB
traffic while devices are being switched. This should prevent the lock-ups
from occuring.

Thoughts?

So, $400 for the KVM is too much for them to spend without thought? They spend far more on even more frivolous things all the time.

ACTIONS:
- ACE needs to define policy for ops making changes to control room
computer hardware in both emergency and non-emergency situations, at the
next ACE meeting.

- ACE needs to decide how to handle this particular case and, if it's
determined to buy the micro-processor KVM switch, get approval for funds.
This issue shouldn't wait until the next ACE meeting, please email
thoughts to ACE group.

Same comment as above. Whatever happened to ergonomic concerns?

This is just one example of what notfred is probably referring to. I see it all the time from the unix guys here.

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: FreshPrince

Originally posted by: Orsorum

Originally posted by: FreshPrince
In short, IT people are over-worked, under-paid, and have to make miracles out of your shoe-string budgets.

Which company do you work at, and how can I make sure I never work with such a pompous ass?

Most IT departments are simply not revenue generators, and garner as much attention as such. If you look at the accounting function in any company you'll likely see them treated the same way, because they're not revenue generators for the company, they're a necessity for the business to function.

yes, I understand IT, accounting, and HR are all service departments. we typically don't generate any revenue and all we know how to do is spend spend spend :roll:

1st of all, accounting does 1 job, that's accounting. we do many, like show them how to do their jobs. for example, show them how to use the CRM, or search the web for solutions on how to use that depreciation schedule they're trying to put in excel. how about the 100th time we've shown them how to print to a check printer? or how to approve expense reports via a browser? yes we have to figure out how to do their jobs and then show them. but how arrogant we are right?

as I stated in the other thread, my department actually generates more revenue than other departments because we offer network admin, and security services. not all IT departments spend money. we can carry our own weight and in many cases, carry the weight of the entire company.

I don't know which company you work for (like I stated previously), but any halfway decent accounting department should be able to do exactly what you described on their own. It's not that hard to do. If they're consulting you for help with that your company has other issues.

 

[Maetryx]

I'll bet each department of every company and government agency believes it is the one that "can carry our own weight and in many cases, carry the weight of the entire" organization. They probably also all feel like they "are over-worked, under-paid, and have to make miracles out of shoe-string budgets". Oh yeah, and all the other departments are full of arrogant, self-righteous a-holes. All of this stuff cuts both directions.

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: Maetryx
I'll bet each department of every company and government agency believes it is the one that "can carry our own weight and in many cases, carry the weight of the entire" organization. They probably also all feel like they "are over-worked, under-paid, and have to make miracles out of shoe-string budgets". Oh yeah, and all the other departments are full of arrogant, self-righteous a-holes. All of this stuff cuts both directions.

QFT

 

[thomsbrain]

good rant, and something that i think all IT people could stand to read.