IT workers, do you lie about what you do?

[nageov3t]

I'm tired of people asking me to fix their PC's just because I work with computers... and it's always spyware or some crap like that.

I work in IT, but I work with hardware... I can diagnose a hardware problem in 5 seconds, but when it comes to clearing spyware or whatever, I don't know ****. lol.

my job revolves around building servers and fixing hardware problems... once the OS has loaded, it becomes another department's job to deal with (seriously, I'm not even allowed to log into boxes because I don't work in software support). I know just as much as I need to know for my own personal needs, but it seems like a lot of people assume that working in IT = comprehensive computer guru

 

[amdhunter]

I stopped telling people I work with computers. I also got tired of fixing peoples spyware problems...

 

[PingSpike]

At least you don't have people asking you to fix telephones, VCRs, clock radios and tape recording equipment that was built before I was born. The people at my work apparently think IT = if it has an electrical outlet you have memorized its blueprints.

 

[BatmanNate]

I work in IT for a small company, so I'm the jack of all trades. I don't mind helping people, a lot of folks that I work with bring their home stuff in for me to fix and usually feed me or do something nice in return.

 

[HBalzer]

just tell them i work in IT and charge $75 an hour

 

[FoBoT]

tell them you are soooo good, you have to charge large $$$ for the work
that should change their mind

 

[isasir]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
At least you don't have people asking you to fix telephones, VCRs, clock radios and tape recording equipment that was built before I was born. The people at my work apparently think IT = if it has an electrical outlet you have memorized its blueprints.

How true. Somehow, being in IT gives me superpowers to find paper jams in our copier that other people can't (or probably are just too lazy to bother looking for).

I also become the person that is asked to take the pictures or video at family functions it seems.

 

[MrBond]

Originally posted by: amdhunter
I stopped telling people I work with computers. I also got tired of fixing peoples spyware problems...

I don't even work in IT and I've learned to feign ignorance in situations where people start talking about their spyware problems.

 

[DaiShan]

I've stopped doing spyware cleanups for people. It was semi-ok when I was working in tech support, but now I do other things and make a lot more money so giving out freebies costs me a lot more. On a related note, one of my current clients seems to think that anyone in IT is an "IT guy" by which he means that he expects any of my guys to be able to answer any and all of his questions. A recent example, he asked one of my Windows Server guys to build a web page for him. When my guy said "that's not really what I do" he responded "oh come on you're an IT guy, it'll only take you a second" While yes, I'm sure he could bang out some HTML, it would probably look like crap, I pay him to know his sh#t when it comes to servers, not making a web page look pretty.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: HBalzer
just tell them i work in IT and charge $75 an hour

yeap i never hide it. when anyone (other then a boss heh) asked me to fix something is ay sure. i charge $50 an hour.

though i do charge friends/family far less. usually a case of beer. UNLESS i start to think they are takeing advantage of me.

 

[daniel1113]

I don't use the term "IT" anymore. Instead, I'll say something like "I'm a database administrator, web programmer, etc." That tends to keep most people off my back.

 

[Lyfer]

NO, I WILL NOT FIX YOUR COMPUTER!




FTW!!!

 

[Chaotic42]

I tell people I work with Solaris and HPUX and don't do much work on Windows systems.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: amdhunter
I stopped telling people I work with computers. I also got tired of fixing peoples spyware problems...

So true. You don't see me going up to the President of the company and asking him to come over to my "shop" to give me some business advice (for free mind you).

 

[drum]

i'm the It guy for our city office. I'm the jack of all trades and people expect me to be able to fix anything and in 5 minutes.
what? you're timing out trying to connect to one of your distributors websites but you can connect everywhere else? sure! i'll just jump on their web server and fix that right up! :roll:
no, i will not burn that &^%&^ CD for you.

 

[thehstrybean]

I started lying, because whenever I went places for parties and such, I got asked questions. Hey, I don't mind answering questions, but there's a time and a place for everything. I hate it when people ask me something, and then I say "I'll put you on my list." (I have a large list that I try to plow through each day), and they say, "But I want to be at the top of your list" or, "I don't want to be on the list."

 

[gsethi]

I just tell people what I dont keep up with latest technology anymore b/c I am too busy with my current work nowadays. Earlier, I had every relative/friend calling me for free advice, how to troubleshoot and were coming to place to fix their computers etc etc.

Eventually got too tired of it. Some people just take full advantage.

The worst part is where you tell them that you will fix their machine when you are free and they keep on calling you every day when I will be fixing their system. If it is that urgent, then pay me to fix your machine or get it fixed yourself...(oh that costs $$ and you dont want to pay me that).

 

[imported_Imp]

Ya, it's pretty bad. I'm summer studenting IT going to offices auditing (read: inventory). I don't think I'm suppose to help or anything, but people have come looking for me cause their system is doing something weird. They came for me about weird pop-ups (porn adware/spyware:roll, the blue box that tells them to set their LCD works best at 1280x1024, the analog/DVI popup they've never seen, the mis-aligned screen, and let's not forget the e-mail about a non-existant address. I pity the local office IT staff.

 

[acemcmac]

Nope. I actually am not 100% dissilusioned yet. I give little old ladies a discount too.

 

[Geekbabe]

My standard response " I'll be more than happy to help you configure/order a Dell system, workstations,server(s) and will also be glad to set them up and work with Dell CS down the road if there are problems, my rates begin at $50 per hour with a 3 hr min"

 

[2Xtreme21]

I have a concience so I can't rightfully charge people I know. But yeah, I'm really sick of fixing everyone's spyware problems...

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21
I have a concience so I can't rightfully charge people I know. But yeah, I'm really sick of fixing everyone's spyware problems...

Create a user account called "Internet". Deny Read and Execute permission to the iexplore.exe file.

 

[edro]

Try changing department in a company after being the IT guy for 4+ years.

Everyone in the hallway thinks you are still in IT and ask you to fix their computer.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: thehstrybean
I started lying, because whenever I went places for parties and such, I got asked questions. Hey, I don't mind answering questions, but there's a time and a place for everything. I hate it when people ask me something, and then I say "I'll put you on my list." (I have a large list that I try to plow through each day), and they say, "But I want to be at the top of your list" or, "I don't want to be on the list."

Don't be a fool, wrap your tool.

 

[trmiv]

Yea, I try not to say what I do. Sometimes my wife will pimp me out to her co-workers though. "Oh Honey, Carol at work is having problems with her computer and she said she'd make us dinner if you came and fixed it. I told her we'd be there Friday at 7" Argh!! She's an English teacher, so one of these days I'm going to be like "Oh Honey, Manuel at work said his son is having trouble conjugating verbs, so I told him we'd be over Friday at 7 for you to tutor him.