10 dirty little secrets you should know about working in IT

[legion]

http://www.globalknowledge.com/training/generic.asp?pageid=1470&country=United+States

I love this list. My standard answer for number six is: "Sorry, I work on mainframes."

[KFC911]

Sorry, I can't help ya...I'm lazy, complacent, and self-satisfied

[masraum]

Great list.

[legion]

I really liked #10 too: "IT pros frequently use jargon to confuse nontechnical business managers and hide the fact that they screwed up".

Around my shop, that is not a great move. Managers have learned to vet excuses with a trusted analyst. Besides, when I'm in a meeting with two dozen people explaining why a problem occurred, I rarely know the level of experience of every person in the room. Better to be honest and get to the bottom of the problem than try to BS and be called on it by someone who knows more about the product than me.

[Jeff Higgins]

Computers are just a tool to most of us. I use many tools in the course of my day to get my job done. I actually have two computers on my desk, an IBM RS6000 machine on which I run CATIA V4, and a PC on which I run CATIA V5 and other applications. I'm admittedly no MS Windows application wizard; I use those tools only when necessary to get a part of my job done.

So my pet peeve with my IT support people is the condecending dip*****s that get a good chuckle over helping me. They find it quite humerous at times that an engineer, of all people, is struggling with some application. They remind me of Beavis and Butthead. They are convinced that they are somehow superior, or brighter in some way, because their geek knowledge exceeds mine.

We had a particularly anoying one that would come around every now and again when the problem could not be fixed over the phone. He was quite the pompous ass, lording his secret knowledge over us and implying we were all stupid. So we started ganging up on him, asking for technical advice about what we were working on. We got him pretty worked up one day, to the point that he started snivelling "why the fuch do I have to know anything about what you guys do to work on your computers?" Exactly. Now reverse the roles. I know IT guys find this incredible, but there are an awful lot of us with no interest in what they do. We just need to use the tools they support to do our jobs.

[legion]

Jeff, you're speaking of the first-line support people. In my experience those are usually kids with high-school or associates degrees with a sort of mental Napoleon complex. They hoard and abuse their limited knowledge as a means for raising their self-esteem.

My job is to actually write the applications and handle problems when the first-line people can't figure them out. I am well aware that I don't understand every aspect of how the people that use my programs do their day-to-day jobs--that's why I ask them a lot of questions. The toughest thing I deal with is when designing a new application, many end-users expect the application to be able to know what they are thinking. They want it to behave one way sometimes, and another way other times. When I ask them to draw up rules for when a set of logic should be applied, I'm often told: "Well, just make it do this all the time." I see my job as largely helping the end-users drive out what they want--they often really don't know.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

...So my pet peeve with my IT support people is the condecending dip*****s that get a good chuckle over helping me....

Ahh...those "Helpless Desk" folks . I've always been a "backroom" systems & network designer/implementer/"fireman" type, so I totally understand. I think IT is like most professions...the good ones are secure enough in their capabilities & knowledge and don't condescend like this. It's the "wannabes" that exhibit the traits you describe...childish imo. There's not a single person on this board that's not infinitely knowledgable about "some" subject matter that would be "greek" to most of us.

[stealthn]

Good list, I'm a Consultant so I am the one that gets blamed if things go wrong, and I have found that the employees take the credit for my work when it goes right (That's OK by me), so I would have to say #5 is off.


And yes it's not just IT, there are jagoffs in all jobs, I just wait for the right moment and hit them with the right question at the right time to embarrass them in front of management. Karma's a beyotch

[Scott R]

List is dead on, however I think pay is actually better now then it was before the dot com fallout, at least in the Architecture side.

[M.D. Holloway]

I can normally hang with all science and engineering disciplines but when it comes to IT I am an idiot. That world is loaded with jargon and moves so quickly that unless you are involved with it on a daily basis if becomes upsidedown Greek.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

... That world is loaded with jargon and moves so quickly that unless you are involved with it on a daily basis if becomes upsidedown Greek.

Shoot, I have trouble on a Monday with just two days off! I remember my first position with IBM (notorious for cryptic acronyms) way back when...the "team" could be discussing something (say at lunch, out in public), and folks would think we were speaking some alien language. We were .

[svandamme]

i refuse to read anything that writes about users , that prooves it's written from the wrong side of the fence, as anybody in the right side of the will refer to them as L-users...

[id10t]

Don't forget #11 - You probably can't get away with half the stuff the Bastard Operator From Hell gets away with.... unfortunately...

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by id10t

Don't forget #11 - You probably can't get away with half the stuff the Bastard Operator From Hell gets away with.... unfortunately...

actually...you'de be surprised how much stuff you CAN get away with if you play it right...

[id10t]

Nah, they've started locking the skips and putting security cameras around htem... and we've only got one 'gator in the zoo, and he's missing his bottom jaw, so no disposal duty for him....

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by svandamme

actually...you'de be surprised how much stuff you CAN get away with if you play it right...

Like sitting at home in my robe playing video games for the last three years, while attending the occasional conference call?

[KFC911]

I just sit around "mooing in my cubicle" in my Internet "wet suit" these days (just waiting for an outsourcing decision to come down). If you guys knew how much I got paid per Pelican post, you'd be envious! Not really...it sucks and I'm ready to move on...I'd much rather be productive or out of IT completely...soon can't happen fast enough for me .

[legion]

Outsourcing IT is a bad thing IMO.

In many businesses (but not all), IT represents the implementation of a company's core competency. Programs are highly proprietary and specialized to give that company a competitive advantage.

Why would you want to outsource that to someone who is paid for completing project on time, but isn't invested in the success of the company?

Programming is tough, and all programs have bugs and other mistakes in them. You really need people on staff who understand the programs that are currently in use, can respond to problems, can priortize fixing problems by business impact, and can help an application evolve into being stable and usable.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by legion

Outsourcing IT is a bad thing IMO.

In many businesses (but not all), IT represents the implementation of a company's core competency....

No argument here as you have perfectly valid points. On the other hand, when a corporation selects a CIO to preside over IT (who has no previous experience whatsoever in IT), and then listens to the beancounters and consultants, it seems like a grand idea . Outsourcing is much like "made in China", you get what you pay for. This isn't the first time I've seen this...

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by KC911

No argument here as you have perfectly valid points. On the other hand, when a corporation selects a CIO to preside over IT (who has no previous experience whatsoever in IT), and then listens to the beancounters and consultants, it seems like a grand idea . Outsourcing is much like "made in China", you get what you pay for. This isn't the first time I've seen this...

Or your new CTO is Indian, and has family ties to "TATA" and decides to send half the company over to them. Thanks new boss!