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I've met very very few IT workers who are happy with their jobs

discuss.joelonsoftware.com

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Re: I've met very very few IT workers who are happy with their jobs

#61

Post by moe »

blhack wrote: post #14

I'll admit that I am very unhappy with my current job. Part of this is whining, I know, but just hear me out. One major, major, major problem with my job is that I work for a small company, and am the only person here that knows tech at all. This was really great for me at the beginning. I am very proficient in BSD and Linux, so everything (mailserver, file server, FTPs, VPN, firewall, etc.) was built on one the two.…

Well, a major part of it is the almost constant flow of interruptions from people who's computers are "broken" (I am "the I.T. guy" [a title that I despise], so every problem from a phone cord with a loose connection to a user that has pressed the insert button on their keyboard and now how a "broken email" gets handled by me).

Many of us know the problem of constant interruptions. Fortunately there is a workable, mechnical solution to this problem.

1. Get an office with a door (this may require some social engineering).

2. Buy a solid wooden panel (about 1m² in size), two hinges, two screws and a nylon string. Make sure to buy the heaviest type of wood they have on stock.

3. Glue a piece of paper onto the panel with the answers to the most common questions printed on it. Think of it as your FAQ panel. There's a lot of room on a square meter, so in 8pt type you should be able to fit on there the answers to pretty much every question that ever crops up.

4. Mount the panel directly above the door with the two hinges at the bottom end. Make sure the panel has good travel and can swing into the "straight down" position. Bonus points if it can even swing through the opened door.

5. Flap the panel upwards so that it rests straight to the wall, pointing up to the ceiling.

6. Use the screws and the nylon string to the connect the upper part of the panel with the door knob.

So how does this help with the daily support workflow?

Whenever someone opens your door for support they will be provided instantly with the solution to their problem. The solution will hit them like a brick, so to say, before they even ask.

You still have to get up and swing the panel back into the home position after each case but that's more quickly done than discussing numlock-issues. Moreover you will soon notice a sharp decline in support requests thanks to the improved workflow.

Re: I've met very very few IT workers who are happy with their jobs

#62

Post by nazgulnarsil »

the reality is that engineer types are often conditioned to be spineless and that is what leads to the attitudes by management that you always hear about. if a company will fire you for standing up for yourself then you shouldn't be working there. you have to establish the rules of the relationship early and be consistent.

Re: I've met very very few IT workers who are happy with their jobs

#63

Post by jodrellblank »

stjohn wrote: post #45
jodrellblank wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By that logic, if you'd tried being an untouchable sewer cleaner in India, you'd have loved your job cleaning chemical reactors by comparison. But somehow, you are allowed to imply that cleaning chemical reactors wasn't much fun, while at the same time disallowing other people from expressing negative feelings about their jobs.

But the logic is valid. He should have loved cleaning chemical reactors in comparison (and he never said he didn't). We should always be trying to improve our lives. But sometimes our current situations aren't ideal, and at those times, I think it is appropriate to mentally establish a context in which that situation is still pretty darn good. You might not find the extreme comparisons intellectually compelling, but…

The logic might be OK, but the smugness and implied superiority isn't.

Re: I've met very very few IT workers who are happy with their jobs

#64

Post by jodrellblank »

stjohn wrote: post #45
jodrellblank wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By that logic, if you'd tried being an untouchable sewer cleaner in India, you'd have loved your job cleaning chemical reactors by comparison. But somehow, you are allowed to imply that cleaning chemical reactors wasn't much fun, while at the same time disallowing other people from expressing negative feelings about their jobs.

But the logic is valid. He should have loved cleaning chemical reactors in comparison (and he never said he didn't). We should always be trying to improve our lives. But sometimes our current situations aren't ideal, and at those times, I think it is appropriate to mentally establish a context in which that situation is still pretty darn good. You might not find the extreme comparisons intellectually compelling, but…

X complains about their job. Y says "fuckers should try my previous job", which implies "X has no right to complain because they have it easier than I had".

By that logic, Y has no right to make this complaint if anyone who has worse job than Y exists. They do exist, therefore Y has no right to complain about X's complaining.

Y's position is inconsistent. It says "You have no right to complain because your job isn't hard enough, but I have a right to complain because my job is/was hard enough".

It establishes an arbitrary baseline of having-a-difficult-life and consequent implied manliness/human worth that Y is above, but X is below. It's a way to smugly look down on someone for not being as awesome as you are, while trying to project a humble "I did a shitty job" image.

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