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Is this criteria enough to be kicked out?

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hi fellow techies,

I need some suggestions here. Trouble is, that I work in an office where I am the only technical person.Everyone else is sales and are divided into teams.

My trouble is my bosses (2, in this case) are half techies. I have only joined this office 2 months ago. Everyone used to be able to get along without a techie before that. I have managed to change that for all the sales people (they ask me if they need something done) , but my bosses still manage to do everything themselves except a question here and there.

Our head office is in Oslo and they just communicate with the technical people there for anything major. Even after 2 months I feel useless sometimes. Instead of asking me to set up their PCs and stuff for presentations they just do it themselves. They are more involved in everything than I am …

Shouldnt this start changing a bit after 2 months??

My reason for feeling left out is because no one really understands my language (technical in this case) but is my job secure??

This is not an ego problem :o) … I just need some reassurance and some answers…

A Million thanx in advance…

Topic

Find your niche

In reply to Is this criteria enough to be kicked out?

read up on software, organize.. if possible get out occasionally among users if bosses not helping them. I find that people come up with questions if you wander around a bit. (carry a notebook in case you need to write down something, and so you look busy.. 🙂

Be helpful, polite to users.. , perhaps document stuff in your spare time..
the more you know the more you’ll find useful niche something others cant or isn’t their job to do, and less likely to be laid off as useless.

your advantage: know more than the half techie bosses so you’ll be able to answer things they don’t and do more..

hmmm

In reply to Find your niche

That sounds good…I can try that advice :o)… but we actually work in a tiny tiny office grouped around a giant table…so walking arund doesnt help

The main work I do is add new websites to our system all day…but I need to be a one stop person for the sales guys (including my bosses).What scares me is that a girl .. who used to follow up on other sales peoples’ sales…was kicked out of our manchester branch..reason that she was given was that the office didnt make
enough money..

Watch out for your bosses toes!

In reply to hmmm

There are many people that fancy themselves “good” with computers and they are not looking to have something they “like” taken away from them.

How to make yourself valuable. Find the jobs that no one else “likes” to do, but NEED to be done. If you take them on and embrace them, who is going to try to take your job?

Be available but not pushy with the bosses. If they like to do their own stuff, then let them do it. It usually takes less time for a user to do something than to have someone else come over and do it for them.

As for presentations, there is almost never a reason a user should have to see the techs to put together a presentation.

Security is by doing stuff that no one else wants to do!

Ouch !!!

In reply to Watch out for your bosses toes!

But this is a very good idea…This should help a lot…I am puttng all these ideas in practice immediately..

Cheers Ears :o)

I agree with Dr.

In reply to Find your niche

But, you need to make yourself known. Learn the business a little bit, this is why your bosses can still do what they do (they know the business and the tech). Dr. Dij had a great idea about documentation. This feels like the worst waste of time when you do it, but can be very impressive to management and users when they can go to one spot and pick out the documentation for processes or how-to’s. Think about that as well.

Finally, once you know the business, you need to get creative and make some solid recommendations that are backed up with evidence as to how to use technology more efficiently, or use new technology and really wow them.

Good luck

I Agree too

In reply to I agree with Dr.

Yep,

Documentation may be the most boring job on earth but it is also something that comes in the most handy….I am going to start work on some documentation around here..Thanx Dr. Dij and JRod86

Another thing I was thinking of doing, is to buy a white board and hang it behind my chair where everyone can see it….I considered doing this because unlike the sales people I am always quietly typing away at my keyboard…I frequently hear the question going around …. What do the techies do all day anyway???? :o)

Putting down my pending jobs on the white board should tell them what I do all day and how much I get done ….

Gosh, I must be feeling better already…I am giving myself suggestions !!!!

Thanx to all you guys … But tell me do you guys face these teency weency frustrations too??

Who hired you?

In reply to Is this criteria enough to be kicked out?

Did your current two bosses hire you? What is your job function? It sounds like they really don’t need someone to fill the job in which are now in. They got along fine without a tech support person before. What was the motivation for hiring you? Talk to your two bosses about the situation.

Actually…..

In reply to Who hired you?

Let me explain my company profile a bit more…u guys can help me decide whether or not these guys need a techie…

Yeah my two bosses hired me..I actually went for a sales interview but when I got the contract I ended up being the “Technical Support Person”

The company has sales offices in 4 countries…For the the UK we only have two techies..Me and the guy in manchester…

Our job, in addition to keeping everything in working order, is to add new websites to the server…and the queue right now has a 1000 websites waiting to be added. Each takes an average of 20 minutes.

We also build other programs for the customers like customized skins and scrolling newsfeeds.I dont only do this for the london office, people from other offices send in requests too…

I’d say we techies are a part of the company “tech” group..The office we are based in only pay us…but then they have the right to fire us too…..My point..we dont only work for the office we are based in … What do u reckon?? Have I confused you??

why are you complaining??

In reply to Is this criteria enough to be kicked out?

Actually I would be glad to see that they can handle basic stuff themselves…

My boss does the same and that leaves me alone to get more important work done …

Not to mention, more time to read TR 😉

lol

In reply to why are you complaining??

My two bosses are absolutely opposite each other in nature. The face of one reveals what he is thinking…happy,sad or angry!!

The other one, try as you might, you cannot understand what is going though his head..

Honestly such people shouldnt be allowed

Er… Which company you say you work for?

In reply to Is this criteria enough to be kicked out?

I’d like jour job! 😉

As long as your paychecks are coming, don’t worry about a thing. If you have nothing to do, there’s plenty of new stuff to examine, try & learn. If you use Microsoft, go through MSDN. If you use Linux, download & try. This way, even if you get a boot (which I doubt, even your bosses need you only once a month, they still need you), you shouldn’t have too much of a trouble getting another job if need be.

Or, better yet, try to push your geekism aside for a while, and study the business process of your company- rules, who does what and how, how the money is made, and such. It’s highly recommendable to know such things.

Reply To: Is this criteria enough to be kicked out?

In reply to Er… Which company you say you work for?

I like that advice…and as luck would have it I absolutely love my job …

I am an impatient person … and I repeat..this is not an ego problem…but I need recognition…

Let me ask you guys a question…Girl to Guy … or lets make it techie to techie 🙂 …do you guys feel hungry for recognition sometimes?? Are we techies given enough ?? and I am not talking about wages here 😛 …

I’m getting my recognition once a month…

In reply to Reply To: Is this criteria enough to be kicked out?

… to my bank account.

Everything else is a horsetwaddle.

Just what I was afraid of !!! :D

In reply to I’m getting my recognition once a month…

Come on…dont tell me just wages in your bank account is enough…How about the occassional praise or the nice smile??

Gosh…I made that sound like kiddie stuff didnt I? Actually, thats my whole point…Is recognition important or is it just what it sounds like … Kiddie Stuff??

Patting on the shoulder is free,

In reply to Just what I was afraid of !!! :D

and not necessarily sincere. On the other hand, when praise & gratitude is expressed with banknotes, you can be 100% sure that it comes straight from the heart.

similar situation

In reply to Is this criteria enough to be kicked out?

I’ve found myself in a simialar situation twice.

The first time I was hired as a programmer/sales person. The engineer worked as tech support as well and I got snapped at for fixing a computer issue on my work pc.

I was proactive though, being helpful and offering advice when appropriate and eventually I took over as tech supprot guy as well.

I’m currently in a position (3 months now) as head tech person. I’ve had to be as visible and proactive as possible; offering assistance wherever possible. People have learned that I can do the job and come to me with issues now.

It sounds though like your main respnsibility is the web work. If there are 1000 pages to add that could be a full time job in itself.

Gosh I thought it only happened to me..

In reply to similar situation

I got snapped at in a similar fashion because I fixed something which was not really under my domain. It was suppossed to be fixed only by the super techie at the head office…

I mean this is nuts…If someone can do it locally why go all the way to the head office??

I guess the only way of finding your niche is to put yourself up front where people can see you and come to you if they are in trouble..

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