Judging permformance on tech support
I'm working as a sys admin with a DBA and I've noticed one big difference in our jobs. He gets a request and actually has something to show for it. My job is trying to anticipate problems and preventing them from occurring in the first place. The more "visible" the work I do (i.e. users impacted by a problem), makes it appear that I'm not doing my job. If I've prevented a disaster from occurring in the first place, people wonder why I'm on the payroll because nothing wrong happened. It becomes a no-win situation.
And as one person mentioned, those outside of the professional field think that because they know how to make Powerpoint sing and dance and that they know what an IP address is, makes them a technical expert. Just because I can sometimes balance my checkbook doesnt make me a CPA.
