What do I.T. people do all day?

Just to keep everyone on track, the IT Dept.
posted a schedule of events, I guess you could
call it. Hours for new accounts, existing accounts and times for appointments to do
upgradea, new installs and removals. This is
followed by the statement that emergencies will
be handled anytime. Seems to work, users know
what we are doing at certain times and seem
to not care anymore, until----

Because they have no clue what we do all day, they imagine that we can be done away with easily and their operations will continue just fine. I interviewed with a title company locally, and they have whittled down their entire IT department to one guy, who handles telecom, network, servers, and desktops. I asked them what happens if he gets sick or hit by a truck. They replied that someone from an outlying area has to do 2 jobs. I'm glad I didn't get the job, as I'd be a lot more stressed out.

I liked the other poster's suggestion of putting up what they do and how long it takes to do it. Another idea is posting job descriptions detailing what one has to do to accomplish the job well.

they'll notice, unless the question was justified.

The better I do my job, the less you will see me. I work behind the scenes to make sure the servers and desktops continue to run without interrupting production.

If you see me often, then that means systems are failing, and I'm not doing my job.

I had a white board behind my desk where I would write down all of the things that needed to get done. People would stop in and check my board; if there were too many things on it, they would say, "Never mind. I see you're busy. I'll come back later."

I had finished upgrading everything before I left that job and all the systems were finally stable. I was told later they would say, "Everything runs fine...I wonder what he did all day."

I think this line of questioning pops up in every organization. I'd like to think its simply job envy by someone who is stressed out over their own position, but I could be wrong. However, having been in that situation, here's my responses:

1. "I appreciate your concern for my welfare, but don't you have other things to worry about?"

2. "I know what I do. Partner, I don't work for you." (When the asker gets particularly nasty about it.)

For your particular situation, here would be a good retort"

"I work in a secure area, and I really can't talk about it."

The bottom line is that the asker is putting their nose in something that doesn't concern them. Its the old office/grade school playground mentality crap of being envious of anyone who they perceive as doing less than they do. The asker needs to grow up and take care of their own business.

Now, in the event the asker DOES have the authority to ask that question: Be prepared to deliver solid information to answer the question so you don't look like you only do play solitare all day!

have the whole department take a week in the virgin islands... so when email goes down and they can't forward that joke about Bush and Clinton to thier friends and they cannot get to the internet to buy the new ipod they want for little Johnny or to check how Tiger Woods is doing on the 15th hole they can become mad that you are not doing your job

It has been my experience in life that those who accuse without proof are usually the guilty

see brj you can't stop people from thinking what they think.The best thing is to keep the reply short & ask them to mind their business.It's a waste of time explaining them what you do & anyway to how many people would you explain

"I sit and read Tech Republic, drink coffee, and read YOUR emails off the server. By the way, just how much Viagra does a man need?"

We post here, right?

Seriously, I sometimes have people that want to "trade jobs for a week." I just smile knowingly.

tend to over analyze what everyone else is doing. Besides like the before mentioned high school mentality I think people cant gauge that we are more of a re-actionary position rather than a benchmarked performance. They get held to a different standard meeting deadlines with productivity graphs whereas we are more self policed doing research not data inputting or quality controlled. There is no silver lining for any job unless you do absolutley nothing and get paid, somebody tell me where that job can be found. Every job requires work, stress, headache, and criticism. Perception and reality are two different things that people rarely comprehend.

Why not turn the tables? "Hey marketing guy, I haven't seen any new ads or products in a couple months. What do you do all day? Your job cat be that hard, my preschooler could slap to gether our last ad campaign."

As they leave unplug the jumper from the patch panal to the switch and see if they have a new appreciation for all the games you play.

A great counter to an insulting and ignorant question.

IT people spend their days and nights trying to figure out what boneheaded incredibly stupid thing the users will try next, and to make the systems so idiot proof as to minimize the physical injuries users do to themselves.