I’m sure we can all relate to our bosses standing over our shoulders or scolding us for not providing enough documentation or training materials for lower level support staff. The problem is not that we are not capable of writing excellent documentation, as I know I have excellent technical writing skills, but if we make it so understandable to the average person that even a chimp can do our jobs, won’t that put our own jobs in jeopardy? I can understand the business needs of having good documentation and training materials, but where does one draw the line when it threatens his/her own job security? Many times have I seen people who give 2 weeks notice and in those last 2 weeks are forced to train and bring up to speed the new employee who will replace the person leaving. I’ve been in such a situation and my attitude was more like “they can go f**k themselves, they are not paying me to train anyone and training anyone was not part of my job description”. If the new guy/gal they are hiring needs to be trained to take over my job, then they are not the right person for the job. Am I being too harsh and unfair because I value my knowledge and am not there to lecture people or new employees at my own expense? I’ve seen people who documented until they were blue in the face and then replaced by cheaper employees who used the “documentation” written by the former employee to do the same work. Our knowledge is power, and our knowledge cost us a good chunk of change and our valuable time. In no way am I going to give freebee training lessons to anyone. They can all go the same route I did and put down a few grand to send themselves through IT school. There is no such thing as a free lunch and no boss or manager can force you to offer other a free lunch.
