Am I expecting too much of engineers?

[Exterous]

Because I was more than a bit surprised that our new 'hot shot' opto-electrical engineer couldn't figure out why his laptop docking station didn't have power. He thought the green audio cable was the power while the real power cord (dell with glaring blue light on the end mind you) sat on the floor.

 

[ControlD]

Maybe he's a Mac guy.

If it helps, I'm an electrical engineer with a Dell and I know which cable carries power. Maybe I have cancelled him out!

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Just because he's an engineer doesn't mean he's intelligent.

I know plenty of people who did well in engineering, but outside of schoolbooks are dumb as rocks.

 

[mvbighead]

I'll say one thing to this...

Through college I worked as a technician at a local repair shop. Countless times I'd have customers come in spouting off about being computer science majors, computer programmers, whatever the title was. Then, a day or two later, they'd come back in with a broken Athlon XP cpu. I'd look at it for 15 seconds and say, yeah, you put your fan on backwards. Most likely the dye is cracked and you'll need to buy a new CPU due to physical damage.

They'd piss and moan about the warranty, but when you install that incorrectly and crush the CPU, it isn't AMD's responsibility to replace it. Nor was it ours. We started offering a $10 CPU mounting just to give the customer another out not to screw that up.

So while someone may be an engineer of some variety, that doesn't mean he knows anything about plugging in a computer or anything of that nature. One should expect it, but there are always guys who know what they are doing as it relates directly to their job, but nothing beyond it.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Through college I worked as a technician at a local repair shop. Countless times I'd have customers come in spouting off about being computer science majors, computer programmers, whatever the title was. Then, a day or two later, they'd come back in with a broken Athlon XP cpu. I'd look at it for 15 seconds and say, yeah, you put your fan on backwards. Most likely the dye is cracked and you'll need to buy a new CPU due to physical damage.

A couple of jobs ago, I worked with a programmer who constantly bragged about what an "elite" programmer he was and how he was the only "true" IT person in the department since he had a degree in Computer Technology (lol!). Anyway, one day, he needed to have a development machine configured and needed Office installed. He came over and asked me about it and I handed him the Office CD and told him to go install it himself, as I wasn't a help desk or desktop support person and I was too busy to help him out. He could not figure out how to install Office and had to call the help desk.

This same "elite" programmer wrote a program for one of our really profitable business units for inventory tracking, IIRC. As usual, he was bragging and saying his stuff was the most important in the entire company since this business unit was our biggest money maker and used his program. Well, when he rolled it into production, performance was TERRIBLE -- I mean, when you loaded it and did a search, it would literally take 5 minutes per search. Being the "elite" programmer he was, he refused to believe he was at fault and started pointing at the infrastructure group (of which I was a member).

Well, I reviewed everything (network metrics with the network engineer, server resources, etc) and saw no evidence that the network or server was too slow for his stuff. He kept arguing with us and finally, the business owner called me directly to get the scoop -- I told him we suspected it was his software and were going to run some network captures during transactions to see if we could nail it down. The business owner then called the programmer and told him what I said and the programmer called me and yelled at me, calling us "too lazy" to fix the problem. I yelled right back that there was NO PROBLEM with the network and we were going to capture the transaction traffic to see what the problem was.

Want to guess who was right? The dumbass, "elite" programmer was using an ACCESS DATABASE SITTING ON A FILE SHARE as his backend database when I have told him -- NUMEROUS TIMES -- not to do that and use SQL. His program was literally copying over all 500 MB of the DB whenever updates were being made to it. He never even apologized to us for the name calling and left the company a few months later. I'm convinced that incident was such a blow to his ego that he couldn't bare to look us in the eye anymore.

The moral of the story? Don't assume anyone who professes to be a "computer guy" or "programmer" knows what they're doing. Make them prove it first.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I'll say one thing to this...

Through college I worked as a technician at a local repair shop. Countless times I'd have customers come in spouting off about being computer science majors, computer programmers, whatever the title was. Then, a day or two later, they'd come back in with a broken Athlon XP cpu.

Just because someone is a good programmer doesn't mean they know hardware or other software (like OSes). Quite the opposite in fact, if they are really good they often focus on their craft and not the underlying pieces.

 

[Exterous]

So while someone may be an engineer of some variety, that doesn't mean he knows anything about plugging in a computer or anything of that nature.

Well its the 'electrical' part of his engineering variety that would leave me to believe he could figure out how to power a laptop with all the parts in front of him. I should certainly hope anyone with 'electrical' anywhere in their job title could figure out a green cable running to the monitor wasn't going to power the dock and that, perhaps, the unplugged thing that has a blue light on it should be investigated

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Well its the 'electrical' part of his engineering variety that would leave me to believe he could figure out how to power a laptop with all the parts in front of him.

Eh, one is just shit in a textbook, other is comprehension of reality.

Very different things.

 

[ControlD]

The only thing I find disappointing is that he didn't properly shift the blame to the IT department for not having his work station ready to go in the first place.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Oh yeah, thats right I have a good one.

I "recently" (3 months ago), recieved a upgrade on my workstation from a shit xp computer to a modern 7 computer. My XP computer had a dual DVI monitor setup. Lo and behold, they being me my new computer which only has a single DVI output, a HDMI, and a vga output.

Of course, they couldn't book up my second monitor, and the guy sort of just left it as is hooked to one monitor and told me that it wasn't his problem (asshole).

I contact IT and tell them to get their ass togther and get me some sort of HDMI to DVI converter or cable that would allow me to get my dual monitors back. I badger them for a month while they put it off, and the cable eventually comes. Except its a DVI to display port adaptor. Literally completely wrong on both ends because the monitor doesn't have a displayport and the compuer doesn't have any new DVI ports.

I email IT saying stop being dumb and set me the right part. I lay out to them the exact port layout of both machine and monitor and tell them the exact part I need. After a month of badgering and arging with them, they finally put in an order for the part.

I get it a month later, ITS THE EXACT SAME WRONG PART. So at my desk, I currently ahve two completely useless converter cables as well as a second monitor that can't be hooked up.

 

[Newell Steamer]

OP is tots jelly over the new guy.

 

[dank69]

Holy fuckballs, he/she has no business being involved in the modern professional environment.

 

[jaedaliu]

Oh yeah, thats right I have a good one.

I "recently" (3 months ago), recieved a upgrade on my workstation from a shit xp computer to a modern 7 computer. My XP computer had a dual DVI monitor setup. Lo and behold, they being me my new computer which only has a single DVI output, a HDMI, and a vga output.

Of course, they couldn't book up my second monitor, and the guy sort of just left it as is hooked to one monitor and told me that it wasn't his problem (asshole).

I contact IT and tell them to get their ass togther and get me some sort of HDMI to DVI converter or cable that would allow me to get my dual monitors back. I badger them for a month while they put it off, and the cable eventually comes. Except its a DVI to display port adaptor. Literally completely wrong on both ends because the monitor doesn't have a displayport and the compuer doesn't have any new DVI ports.

I email IT saying stop being dumb and set me the right part. I lay out to them the exact port layout of both machine and monitor and tell them the exact part I need. After a month of badgering and arging with them, they finally put in an order for the part.

I get it a month later, ITS THE EXACT SAME WRONG PART. So at my desk, I currently ahve two completely useless converter cables as well as a second monitor that can't be hooked up.

Tell It it's time for you to get a (or 2) new monitor(s). They'll have your correct cables.

 

[Viper GTS]

Oh yeah, thats right I have a good one.

I "recently" (3 months ago), recieved a upgrade on my workstation from a shit xp computer to a modern 7 computer. My XP computer had a dual DVI monitor setup. Lo and behold, they being me my new computer which only has a single DVI output, a HDMI, and a vga output.

Of course, they couldn't book up my second monitor, and the guy sort of just left it as is hooked to one monitor and told me that it wasn't his problem (asshole).

I contact IT and tell them to get their ass togther and get me some sort of HDMI to DVI converter or cable that would allow me to get my dual monitors back. I badger them for a month while they put it off, and the cable eventually comes. Except its a DVI to display port adaptor. Literally completely wrong on both ends because the monitor doesn't have a displayport and the compuer doesn't have any new DVI ports.

I email IT saying stop being dumb and set me the right part. I lay out to them the exact port layout of both machine and monitor and tell them the exact part I need. After a month of badgering and arging with them, they finally put in an order for the part.

I get it a month later, ITS THE EXACT SAME WRONG PART. So at my desk, I currently ahve two completely useless converter cables as well as a second monitor that can't be hooked up.

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=104&cp_id=10419&cs_id=1041902&p_id=2080&seq=1&format=2

If they couldn't pull it off in a day I'd be smuggling one of those in my pocket. $3 well spent even if you end up donating it.

Viper GTS

 

[ControlD]

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=104&cp_id=10419&cs_id=1041902&p_id=2080&seq=1&format=2

If they couldn't pull it off in a day I'd be smuggling one of those in my pocket. $3 well spent even if you end up donating it.

Viper GTS

That's pretty much what I do these days as well. By the time I can get a number entered in SAP, get a purchasing ID, write the requisition, get the requisition signed, and get the part ordered it just doesn't seem worth it. Half the stuff on my desk has been donated by me at this point.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=104&cp_id=10419&cs_id=1041902&p_id=2080&seq=1&format=2

If they couldn't pull it off in a day I'd be smuggling one of those in my pocket. $3 well spent even if you end up donating it.

Viper GTS

I tried it. Management and IT yelled at me for making modifications to the workstation.

 

[Rakehellion]

Because I was more than a bit surprised that our new 'hot shot' opto-electrical engineer couldn't figure out why his laptop docking station didn't have power. He thought the green audio cable was the power while the real power cord (dell with glaring blue light on the end mind you) sat on the floor.

Everyone makes mistakes.

 

[Exterous]

The only thing I find disappointing is that he didn't properly shift the blame to the IT department for not having his work station ready to go in the first place.

Oh no - it was setup correctly. Not sure why the power cable was unplugged. I suspect that he actually took his dock home with him

I tried it. Management and IT yelled at me for making modifications to the workstation.

"I think one of your guys gave me that."

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Oh no - it was setup correctly. Not sure why the power cable was unplugged. I suspect that he actually took his dock home with him



"I think one of your guys gave me that."

Nope, because management gets the emails saying that I've been approved for the cable and knows I still don't have the right one, also I've been bitching at management too to put pressure on IT.

 

[jaedaliu]

Nope, because management gets the emails saying that I've been approved for the cable and knows I still don't have the right one, also I've been bitching at management too to put pressure on IT.

So, have you tried asking nicely?

I know if you used that attitude on me (and I was in IT) I would fake try and just give you the run around for a couple years.

Then give you the right cable 1 or 2 days before your extra monitor is decommissioned.

 

[Sonikku]

psh. What a moron. Hell back in my day an engineer could keep a bloody starship together if it were falling apart at the bloody seams!

 

[NikolaeVarius]

So, have you tried asking nicely?

I know if you used that attitude on me (and I was in IT) I would fake try and just give you the run around for a couple years.

Then give you the right cable 1 or 2 days before your extra monitor is decommissioned.

There was no attitude, I was use hyperbole.

And even then, the shoddy work IT did was completely against the terms of the contract. I need to have 100% access to a dual monitor setup at all times.

Also anyone who pulls that shit is a dick. You woulnd't be angry too if someone can't do their job after 3 months of specific instruction?

 

[Rakehellion]

So, have you tried asking nicely?

I know if you used that attitude on me (and I was in IT) I would fake try and just give you the run around for a couple years.

Then give you the right cable 1 or 2 days before your extra monitor is decommissioned.

I'd fire your ass for pulling some passive-aggressive bullshit. You'd both get the can.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Some people have major blinders on outside their specific area of specialization.

If they're that good at what their specialty is, then you deal with the rest of it.

 

[mvbighead]

Just because someone is a good programmer doesn't mean they know hardware or other software (like OSes). Quite the opposite in fact, if they are really good they often focus on their craft and not the underlying pieces.

That was my point. These guys would come into the store and start puffing out their chests and telling us they didn't need our help because they were a ______. And more often than not, they messed something up bad enough that they had to buy the replacement part.

We even had guys with A+ certs say such and do the same thing.

Thing is, if a guy comes in puffing his chest, it seemed more than likely that he would screw something up. And we were offering a $10 mounting fee just to avoid hassle. Heck, if they spent $300, we'd do it for free sometimes just to ensure they didn't have that problem. Oh the gems that would come in though... some were just irritating.