Discussion on:

Sanity check: 10 dirty little secrets you should know about working in IT

This article is a great example of what is wrong with the IT profession. The best thing you can do is ignore it. How did the author ever become a director?

The best advice: Act like a professional... if you see an issue take responsibility for getting a resolution. If you are unwilling to take action then you are simply a clerk. If you are behaving like a clerk than it is justificable to replace you with a clerk from India who is cheaper. If you behave like a professional, you will have greater value to the organization.

That list of top 10 things to expect is so very true

...you are being hired because something has gone wrong, nobody knows how to fix it, and there is no position in the organization that is responsible for it. Whoever is supervising you has NO idea, and the only person who does quit three months ago. Good luck.

Silly me, I thought IT stood for Information Technology. Little did I know that it really stood for "Give me everything that has a battery or AC adapter and I'll fix and maintain it". Here a short list of past IT duties (I've done this for 15 years):

* The usual (servers, routers, firewalls, pc's, printers, scanners, wireless technologies, card scanners, etc.)

* Cell phones (How does this work? Why can't I get service? How do I put in a phone number? Can you delete this phone number for me?

* Key Fob System (Why won't this key fob work? Why can't I get in the door before 6:30 AM?)

* Hand Punch Time Clock (Why can't I put my hand in upside down? Why won't it work if I have long sleeves that cover part of my hand? I forgot my employee number--what is it?

* Fire Alarms (Why is the fire alarm unit flashing?)

* All Electronic Beeps (What is that beep coming from the phone room?)

* Desk Phones (Can you fix this phone? I can't hear the other person but they can hear me.)

* GPS Systems (Which GPS unit should we buy? How is it installed in the truck?)

* Cameras (How does this camera work? How can I get the pictures out of it?)

* Postage Machine (How do I put more money in the postage machine?)

* Music (I want music piped into our showroom. I want a bell to sound at certain times of the day.)

My favorite point in the top 10 list was the IT expert for friends, family and co-workers. I spend an insane amount of time at my boss' house fixing his computer, printer, wireless, VPN, yada yada yada... His wife now calls me with problems also, as does his parents and brothers. My husband refers to me as the 'computer wh*re' who gets passed around for my services. Hey, but we get paid well!

*

Yes - as an IT pro (for 20 years) - that's completely my experience - thanks for the article!

The act was changed in the mid 1990s. Before that there
were two classes of worker. Salaried which meant the pay
each period was independent of hours worked. Hourly
which meant the pay was based on the actual hours
worked with overtime for more than 40 hours.

A computer professional is hourly but not eligible for
overtime. They get the benefits of neither group.

Congratulations. You're in the top 40% of wage earners in the US.

Note: This exemption only applies to "computer systems analysts, computer programmers, software engineers, and similarly skilled professional workers" making over $27.63 an hour. http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/fedreg/proposed/2003033101.htm

You are correct the rate is part of the definition. For example
GSA IT Labor Rates vary from a high for Program Mangers
($169.37) to a low for Data Technician 3 ($26.79) puts virtually
all GSA IT people into the category. Specifically exempt are
people whose work requires extensive use of a computer. For
example CAD - operators, people who make engineering
drawings, as well as hardware technicians are simple hourly
people.

you young guys probably never saw a mechnical calculator. I started reparing them in the early sixties. When asked what was wrong with a calculator my reply often was "the rocker restore arm was binding on the main shaft". Often the problem was not found, but it satisified the customer. Today we don't have mainshafts or rocker restore arms. So what do we say It was a memory leak or malcious code. Both satisify the customer and no harm is done as long as we are sure we fixed the problem.
God's Peace to all this Easter weekend

are they going to keep posting this crappy article. This is about the sixth time i've read it

are you going to read it before you realize that nobody is forcing you to do so?

IBM and HP are two of the leading brand when it comes to server technology. Both will work fine. The only difference between the two is the price - although in reality, there is not much of a difference. That is because price can be negotiated.

After 20 years of IT I can assure you you will run into people that will always claim to be smarter than you.

If IT is not a team this can and will destroy the efforts. If IT people work together as a team they can achieve greatness.

Be humble and understand every day should be a learning day. Don't be the guy/girl that makes claimes to be smarter. When proven that you are not you will find that you have seperated yourself from the people that can help you out.

After 20 years I started working in IT at a K-12 school. I have 9th graders that have learned how to bypass the content filtering. Proof there will always be someone that can find a loophole in what you did.

It is best to keep people educated about options and pull people into the decisions and work through problems as a team. Then you are on the same level playing field.

p.s. This will counter act some of the negative replys found on this post. When it does not it was not ment to be.

If you have an unreasonable deadline; you tell management that the reports, software, graphs, etc. are on the Tape, Disk, CD, DVD, etc. and let them ship them out.
By the time they are received and found to be blank; you will have given yourself another week to get the actual job done in a reasonable manner. You then blame the media for being a bad tape, Disk, CD, DVD, etc. I used to receive a blank 'scratch' tape from one of my data suppliers every once in a while. Management would always say "Are you sure the tape is Blank!!??" I would just show them the Blank tapescan "Tape is scratch". But meanwhile; the poor tech in another company had bought himself an extra week to get the ridiculous job done!

These three led to a prosperous business followed by early retirement.

1. Management will believe a consultant before they believe an employee.

2. Mangagment is willing to pay a consultant more than an employee.

3. IT management looks bad if they hire a low cost consultant - why can't they use in-house talent? A high priced consultant obviously has skills that far exceed anything in-house.

Be a high priced consultant.

4) Management will believe the new younger guy with the fancy certifications, but not the old timer, even when they both say the same thing.

These are all great points. Something else I've noticed...

No matter what department wants a process or system in place, they always figure IT must be the ones driving the implementation since they will likely utilize that system on there computers rather than plan and spec the system themsleves and inlude IT in the infrastructure and developer part; "Oh, we want a new CRM system to better manage our clients. IT will whip something up and continually change whatever we don't like."

This tongue in cheek guide was written by a long time victim, oops make that "customer" of various I.T. departments. Most of the secrets mentioned are not secrets to those outside the I.T. world.

99 % OF WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO BE AN I.T. PROFESSIONAL

DEALING WITH MANAGEMENT

ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE BIG BOSS?S COMPUTER OPERATES. EVEN IF ALL PRODUCTIVITY CEASES AND THE COMPANY IS IN RUINS MAKE SURE HE/SHE CAN GET ON THE INTERNET. THAT?S WHAT THEY USE IT FOR. A DEDICATED T-1 LINE IS RECOMMENDED.

WHEN ASKED WHAT YOU NEED TO SET UP AN IT DEPARTMENT: DEMAND GREAT AIR CONDITIONING, LOTS OF MONEY AND MUMBLE A STRING OF INCOMPREHENSIBLE ACRONYMS.

MAKE A POLICY: ALL PASSWORDS SHOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO REMEMBER. NO PASSWORD SHOULD EVER BE WRITTEN DOWN.
THAT WILL KEEP PEOPLE OUT OF YOUR HAIR.

ALWAYS REMEMBER: ALL ERRORS ARE USER ERRORS. IF PEOPLE WERE NOT USING THE COMPUTER THERE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AN ERROR.

COMMUNICATION

NEVER COMMUNICATE WITH THE USER. IF THEY ASK A QUESTION MUMBLE A SERIES OF INCOMPREHENSIBLE ACRONYMS . IF THEY INSIST ON AN ANSWER ASK IF THEY HAVE CLEANED THEIR MOUSE?S BALLS WITH ALCOHOL. ESCAPE IN THE ENSUING CONFUSION.

NEVER ANSWER THE PHONE.

NEVER ANSWER E MAILS.

NEVER ANSWER VOICE MAILS.

NEVER ATTEND MEETINGS UNLESS THE BIG BOSS IS THERE. IF YOU MUST ATTEND A MEETING BRING SOME OVERHEADS SHOWING THAT USER SATISFACTION AND PRODUCTIVITY HAS STEADILY IMPROVED SINCE YOU JOINED THE COMPANY. THERE ARE SEVERAL EASY TO USE SOFTWARE PACKAGES AVAILABLE TO FAKE THIS FOR YOU. MUMBLE A SERIES OF INCOMPREHENSIBLE ACRONYMS . ARRANGE TO HAVE SOMEONE BEEP YOU AND CALL YOUR CELL PHONE EVERY TWO MINUTES. LEAVE EARLY BEFORE TASKS ARE ASSIGNED.

GENERATE AT LEAST THIRTY MEMOS A DAY FILLED WITH INCOMPREHENSIBLE ACRONYMS. COPY EVERYONE.
THERE ARE SEVERAL EASY TO USE SOFTWARE PACKAGES AVAILABLE TO FAKE THIS FOR YOU.

COME IN LATE ON A SUNDAY NIGHT AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH, LEAVE EVERYONE WHO COUNTS A VOICE MAIL MESSAGE WITH TIME STAMP SO THEY KNOW YOU WERE THERE. THIS IS ALSO AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY TO PILFER CHANGE ETC FROM YOUR CO-WORKERS DESKS.

IF ANYONE EVER ASKS A QUESTION ABOUT WINDOWS ON THEIR HOME COMPUTER. LOOK AT THEM LIKE THEY ARE A PIECE OF EXCREMENT ON YOUR SHOE AND SAY YOU USE LINUX. ESCAPE IN DURING THE ENSUING CONFUSION.

PROFESSIONAL GROWTH

HIRE A SMART GUY FROM INDIA ON A SIX MONTH WORK VISA TO DO ALL YOUR WORK. CHANGE OFTEN.

SPEND AT LEAST SIX HOURS A DAY SHOPPING YOUR RESUME.

NEVER STAY OVER NINETEEN MONTHS AT ANY COMPANY. STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT AFTER THIS TIME THE CHANCES OF PEOPLE DISCOVERING THAT YOU DO NOT HAVE A CLUE INCREASE AT AN EXPONENTIAL RATE.

Labels: computer, I.T. profession, Linux, resume, windows

Number three: 3.) Veteran IT professionals are often the biggest roadblock to implementing new technologies, could have been better worded.

I've been in IT since my first 8088. Generally, I am so far ahead of most that I have to drag everyone into new technologies kicking and screaming.

You could have named it "Lazy and Complacent IT Professionals" or something.

Amen Paul. Item number 3 does seem to say that "they're all alike, those red neck IT Professionals. That statement gives me reason to question the source or motivation behind it. The author maybe a lazy, complacent, and resentful software company executive unable to demonstrate primarily to the business decision makers, or to the IT professionals, compelling evidence that the product will deliver customer value. Possibly item 3 was written by ?a? in support of an advertiser. Thanks, bc

i took some of these advises and its works awesomely. Haha. Thanks for the posting

I studied Human Factors Engineering along with Industrial Computer Tech and Software Eng. About 20 years in the biz.

1) Heavy resistance to writing correct technical documentation.

2) I see a repeated pattern of poor communication. Social skills are anemic.
Many young or older have reclusive characteristics, cannot speak in clear and concise manner, they will say something that in their lexicon means something, I have often times had to interrogate to draw out what they mean. and they have no idea that their word are coming out that way. problem:
this transfers into design conversation into poorly written spec. resulting in everything from unnecessarily complex to code.
3) Superiority complexes are also common, I design RAS fall back plans for reliability serviceability and availability. Intellect seems to justify immunity from providing everything from commented code to docs or to consider the remote possibility code should provide logging and tracing for field personnel.

It's getting old. So be preapared to deal with socialy reatard, inferior communicators.

It is a sad fact that most Organizations acknowledge the services of the marketing personnel (he brings the bucks) in getting the Project much more than the IT specialist who has sweated it out to design and develop it, making it a success.

"The computer has never worked since your last visit." Sometimes as "This has never worked since you changed it." The fact that you didn't "change it" is not listened to.
the "...hasn't worked since your last visit." thingy means, in fact, that the user hasn't worked since your last visit - effectively. So why has he/she been drawing wages?
On certification as a promotion medium.
I have long thought (I've been involved in computers since 1958 - yes 1958 on one of the only two mainframes in London) that 'personnel' departments/managers haven't a clue on ascertaining what a prospective employee knows and doesn't know on absolutely ANY subject. Neither are these interviewers any good at all at spotting a really worthy promotion candidate. Promotion these days relies on the amount of boot polish one can absorb without becoming ill, ditto faeces from his/her superiors. The biggest obstruction to efficiency is the failure to rapidly remove useless managers and obstructionists. I'm 74, therefore I rapidly rise to the opportunity to grouse - For which thankyou.
Norman Speight

By far the worst experience in my IT department has been finding employees with people skills to match their technical skills. We actually had to fire a very good UNIX admin because he refused to mentor and train other members in the department. But by the same token he would use his knowledge and their lack of it to make hisself appear smarter and more valuable to the orgznization. Luckily management finally woke up and sent him on his way but not after much damage had been done to the morale of the department.

If it is plugged into a wall receptacle it
has to do with IT.

Veterans will be laid off sooner than other non-veteran employees ( who have been there longer ). Your veterans preference counts for nothing even with companies that are government contractors and get all of their monies from the government. If you have your service on your resume you will be called in for an interview by the personnel dept. even if they have no positions available. [ they want you to fill out that nice little dept of Labor form that says they did a good deed by "interviewing a veteran". They didn't hire you, of course; but that's immaterial to their good reputation!

Whereas I've found that veterans over age 30 are more reliable, put up with ******** better, and are more fun to be around.

Users and Bosses are generally your enemy. Users don't want a new system because they'll have to learn something new ( unless the old system is completely unuseable ).
I turned a system over to a user for testing and he was hitting the keyboard with both hands like a gorilla!! When I asked him what he was doing; he said testing. I told him with a litle luck he could hit cntl-alt-delete! Bosses have a differenet agenda which revolves around them not being chewed out by users and the upper bosses. You and your career and/or doing an exceptional job are seconday to that.

This is recycled from a year and a half ago. Is this dredging up of old topics a cost-saving measure of some sort?

Because I was a temp field tech sent to various jobs...the IT pros I ran into very seldom knew what knowledge I had accumulated, "assuming" techs are basically "dumber." But, just because you don't have the monetary means to BUY certifications doesn't mean you aren't smarter than your boss.

I'd been my own sysop with a BBS in those days (we practically invented the tech), and was quite self-sufficient with electronics engineering and a 12 years to get class IV water plant license certification (which involves MOST of the sciences and is the highest in the country to get) under my belt. Back then, very few employers were willing to pay for my certs...so I just kept plodding along...doing a great job, hoping to budget for anything higher than an A+ tech. cert...but bills always grabbed the money 1st.

The reverse techie thing happened to me on a few occasions during the Y2K era. BTW - I personally helped save 100 pharmacies in a chain from crashing, plus a major bank, and a children's hospital. They were all in bad shape. During tests, they wouldn't have survived Y2K...so don't tell me it didn't exist. I was there.

One time, on a chain of 100 Midwestern banks, a boss told me over the phone while I was preparing a bank's server, to "flash" the core memory for Y2K prep. I mentioned that the network card has "flash" memory too (I'd done it myself at least 50 times), and needed to be taken out...or we'd be spending 2 days looking for the nic card drivers, etc...to reboot intact. (This was UNIX, not Win XP.) It was a simple procedure I was 100% familiar with...and was looking for confirmation. I could fix the clock on it later, if there was one, which would be a 1st. He said, "Just do it! Flash the whole thing! I have more experience than you. I KNOW what needs to be done." I had no choice but to comply, and to get it documented, so I'd get paid, etc.

That afternoon, the branch bank I was working on was off-line for 2 days...and couldn't process customers. The "client bank" was furious. I got my brownie points in with regional bosses...hehehe! After that, I fixed quite a few banks and pharmacies for Y2K, without an assistant. They didn't think I needed one. Just because you don't have a cert, doesn't mean you don't have the experience! (Managers, it pays to listen to the ground troops.)

Just to add to the point, companies aspect their IT professionals to "KNOW ALL" in the business. Right from simple switch a computer to business decision modelling, selecting a desktop till purchasing mobile phones.

Agreed it is part of the job. However, companies failed to understand that their IT professionals are human too and need time to investigate a situation before can provide his expertise to the company. Companies? aspect their IT professionals to provide business support instantly. Suppose this is not fair in the nature of their IT professionals.

When the users or management don't get it it really is your fault.

*It techs are their own worst enemies. Techs can abuse their privilege on the network and hog the bandwidth with illegal or non-sanctioned downloads (Games, etc)

*When budgets get tight and cutbacks have to be made, the first Dept that gets the chop from Finance is Info Tech, and the excuse? The other projects are critical, you can always re-submit for next year's budget

*The tech you're working with and who you think is helping you, is really stabbing you in the back by making users and bosses think that you're incompetent

1) I *am* the IT department at my company.
2) 18 years in IT qualifies as veteran.

I've had lots of "projects" hoisted on me as the next best thing to use. Many of them were:
1) Not thought out - like ignoring other groups' needs in the solution.
2) Not priced out - no RFP, RFQ, just WTF.
3) No ROI presented.
4) and with a total lack of understanding the current IT environment.

I am willing to stand in front of the backhoe that's about the cut the fiber optic cable while trenching a new foundation for something else.

If you're willing to support every poor soul who needed that fiber optic cable working - I'll give you the keys and let you drive the backhoe.

My dirty little secret about IT:
It's not JUST IT for most of us. I spend hours out of my workweek doing tasks that some monkey like "Joe the Plumber" (w/out contractor's license mind you) could do instead. Examples - Christmas Decorations, hanging pictures, cubicle relocations, water cooler refills, and the lists go on and on.

Why? We've got screwdrivers and the ability to put things together, and we're stupid enough to have an interest in helping others get things done.

A big secret seldom realized or told to an IT person is to remember one basic fact...he or she has a job because of the business community. The fact that business puts demands beyond your job description needs to be seen as an opportunity to help the business community. The more you help the business community the more they will talk about you. The more the business community talks about you the more you will be seen as indispensable. A very important trait to have in your favor...and the more food you will be able to eat.

If you are, there's a good chance of a wage/hour violation.

I have several employers investigate whether they could convert the system administrators from hourly to salary and all found that the ware/hour rules (laws?) prevent doing so.

Baring some kind of grandfather provision, I suspect many IT folks who are salaried shouldn't be.

So much depends on the institutional culture where you work. I'm sure it's a nightmare for many of you, but it is possible for I.T. to work in amicable partnership with each other and with the other employees. Yep, the users have their quirks. So do we.

Even if you move to a non-technical management job or retire you are still viewed as a technoid,and will still get the phone calls, emails, and verbal questions about software X or harware Y and Z until the day after your funeral, and they may not stop then.

Honestly, after doing this for 15 years, I have seen people who are genuinely roadblocks to doing anything. But what management often considers 'roadblocks' is actually the wisdom and maturity of years of experience - you know it won't work, you've seen this done before and can see plainly that it is a fail waiting to happen. Then you are viewed as being a 'problem'. Of course they never admit that when they do try and it fails miserably that you were right in the first place...

Along with good pay I have seen many companies expect the Technologist to pay for their own continuing education to stay current regardless of how old the company's technology.

2011 2012 2100 2212.

When an employer says ?You are exempt from overtime?, don?t believe it. Here is an brief explanation of the Federal Labor Laws dealing with computer professionals.

Under federal law to qualify for the computer employee exemption, the following tests must be met:

1) The employee must be paid an hourly rate not less than $27.63

AND

2) The employee?s primary duty must consist of:

? The application of systems analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware, software or system functional specifications;
? The design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing or modification of computer systems or programs, including prototypes, based on and related to user or system design specifications;
? The design, documentation, testing, creation or modification of computer programs related to machine operating systems; or
? A combination of the aforementioned duties, the performance of which requires the same level of skills.

Positions that are typically exempt are Applications Developers, Programmers/Analysts, Systems/Analysts, and software Testers. The test used to determine if a person falls into any of these categories is based on the duties performed, not the position title.

If you feel you are due overtime, contact the local office of the State Wage and Hour Division to file a claim. You have two years to file a claim, but should do so within 18 months so there is sufficient time for the case to be investigated.

Every Computer Professional should do this anytime they get this bullsh** handed out by some employer. Eventually, the employers will comes to realize the expense we go through to learn all the technology we have to know to keep their computer systems running.

....and businesses don't know the difference.

How many are on-call? How many people that are not officially on-call, still get calls at home?

I have been lucky to avoid getting a company Nextel. When they first offered them to us, a few co-workers jumped for them, thinking it made them cool. Almost a status thing. I passed. Now they are the ones that get calls 10 minutes after they leave for the day with stupid little questions that users forgot to ask before the tech left, or get the middle of the night calls. I get NO calls. poor lonely me? I don't think so....

Oh, and a subnote on #3. Don't go into IT if you don't plan to constantly learn new things. I know someone that used to be a GOD in Novell, but got to the point of "they aren't paying me to read on my own time". He has been unemployed for about two years now....

Dirty little secret....company cell phones or blackberries/treos are not a perk, they are a leash.

Having one doesn't mean, you've arrived, it means, I value your contribution so much, I need to call you whenever I want.

A Blackberry means, I expect you to keep up with email.

James

"tether".....

I walk out that door, I am gone!

It rhymes with Leather!
and Heather!

CuteElf