I hate corporate IT people [Archive]

Dorfdad

Mar 16, 2008, 01:50 PM

There's nothing worse than those Windows geeks that work in IT at corporations. Here's my list of reasons I hate them:

1. They all think they're better than you.
2. They have no social skills.
3. Half of them smell bad.
4. Even if they make less than you, they think they're more important than you in the company just because they have administrative rights over your computer.
5. They are anti-mac. They will literally hate you for owning one.
6. They slow down your PC by putting all sorts of useless security and monitoring software on it. My PC takes 10 minutes to boot.
7. They refuse to enable IMAP on the exchange server for my iPhone.

Please feel free to add to the list.

Wow pretty unintelligent statements by you.

First off casting everyone into the same category is stupid you might as well have said you hated blacks, or jewish or even white people.

Im an A+, MSCP in 98,XP and office products, and an MSCE in windows NT4.0, 2000 and 2003. Im not Citrix certified but can basically do everything to setup and run the show there as well, and I clearly do not think im better than anyone. We all learn from each other and every day I learn new tricks so please do not cast us all in the same lot. We all have good and bad sides.

I just got an Apple and LOVE it so we can change :) IM also trying to find a way to get into Apple IT work around here as I believe there is some major value to small business.

As for no social skills I think thats your opinion just beacuse some people do not laugh at your beans and franks jokes make them anti-social? What about punk rockers, or D&D fans they all hang in their own circles and tend not to be "Social" whatever your definition of it is..

Half us smell bad? Well you got me there :)

Without going more into this, I think you are just having a bad day and while there are people in EVERY industry regardless of profession that feel they are better than you, or more important etc, etc it's a fact of life... Stop painting everyone with the same brush... Give everyone a fair shot and if they screw you over than move on and find new people to work with etc...

As for securing your PC, It's a work pc I suppose and when you download porn, warez, and viruses to "your" pc do you know your company can be SUED to bankruptcy because you had to see Jennifer Lopezs shinny chest? (Pauses to take in visual portrait)

Just relax were not all bad, we are not all better than you. Im in IT guy and while I Respect everyone I know in my mind that the CEO gets up and does the same things I do so were all on a level playing field... Treat people with respect and you just might get some..

This post is sponsored by Barrack Obama for president..
(And im a Republican, just not this year!)

scotthayes

Mar 16, 2008, 02:01 PM

Talk about taring everyone with the same brush.

I'm a Microsoft Technical Instructor and meet hundreds of "corporate IT people" every year and I've worked as an IT professional for the last 22 years and your list describes a very very small percentage of the people in the IT industry and I've never meet one who is everything in your list.

Still I guess it's only fair that you say what you did as most corporate IT people think endusers are dumb arse morons who should never go anywhere near any item that uses electricity.

liketom

Mar 16, 2008, 02:02 PM

it's true i work in IT and some of the dev's are right Wan****

Mac used to be a swear word in my department , but slowly they are coming around.

iPod's have done wonders in changing peoples mindset of Mac's

Gelfin

Mar 16, 2008, 02:08 PM

Still I guess it's only fair that you say what you did as most corporate IT people think endusers are dumb arse morons who should never go anywhere near any item that uses electricity.

Indeed, I was about to reply, "only fair -- most of them hate you as well." I've known some very good IT people and I have no idea how they keep their spirits as high as they do. For most, the nonstop abuse associated with the job seems to slowly breed misanthropy. I wouldn't be able to do it.

ErikCLDR

Mar 16, 2008, 02:08 PM

They really do seem to have no respect.

The IT people at my dad's work hung up on him because it was after 5:00pm.

He is a vice president of the corporation.

My dad wanted IMing for employees to talk to each other. The tech people said they would have to buy the software. My dad told them the program is already installed on the computers. The IT people said it would make people work less and converse too much.

One time the power went out and the servers didn't reboot. My dad didn't ask why they didn't have program to notify someone that the power went out. The tech people said it isn't possible. hah
----

The IT people that I work with aren't that bad. They recognize problems but don't really care to do anything. Nothing is ever a priority.

steveza

Mar 16, 2008, 02:08 PM

it's true i work in IT and some of the dev's are right Wan**** Some developers are complete fruitcakes and don't generally get on with other IT folk. Then again developers probably think the same about the rest of us :)

PowerFullMac

Mar 16, 2008, 02:14 PM

My school IT department are like that, Mac bashing jerks who blag about their admin powers on their crappy Windoze systems... Hate the mother****ers!

EDIT: ErikCLDR: The last thing you said reminds me of The IT Crowd (TV show, incase you dont know).

scotthayes

Mar 16, 2008, 02:15 PM

Red Sox

Mar 16, 2008, 02:19 PM

Hey relax folks. I'm just trying to get a rise out of you IT guys. There's plenty of IT guys who are great people that I like. And I thought that the non-IT people would find this to be funny.

... but still, there are some IT people who totally fit the bill... :D

ErikCLDR

Mar 16, 2008, 02:38 PM

Have to ask one question on your post, have the people in your Dad's company's IT department had training on the systems they are asked to support?

Well the IMing software is part of the Lotus suite that everyone in the company uses, so I assume yes.

c-Row

Mar 16, 2008, 02:42 PM

There's nothing worse than those Windows geeks that work in IT at corporations. Here's my list of reasons I hate them:

I am one of those filthy corporate IT persons you are complaining about, so let me check that list...

1. They all think they're better than you.

Judging by the calls I get over the day, I am. :p

You would be surprised (or horrified) about the kind of problems we get bugged with. Most people don't even care about getting explained what they did wrong and how to avoid it next time - no, they are like, "Oh, whatever, next time I will just call those weirdos to fix my computer which I totally screwed up again". :rolleyes: It's like a huge kindergarten with some of the kids being able to get you fired.

2. They have no social skills.

This is, however, true for some of us. I usually receive a strange look when I tell my colleagues that I didn't play World Of Warcraft (or whatever) at the weekend because I was "out in the streets" (huh!) or even "having a drink" (gasp!) with "friends" (shock!). ;)

3. Half of them smell bad.

Luckily I am of the other half. :D Two of my colleagues indeed smell badly of cigarettes, although you can't blame that on being part of the IT crowd. However, if you think we smell bad, you haven't been to a typical gaming store (Games Workshop, I am looking at you) yet.

4. Even if they make less than you, they think they're more important than you in the company just because they have administrative rights over your computer.

We are one of the departments you better not screw with. :cool: Others include the company's cantina. :D

People in department A don't care about the people in department B not being able to do their work because of someone having the flu or a mildly annoying case of diarrhea. But if the network fails, or a server goes down, it's like all hell breaks loose. Maybe next time one of "them" should forward all the then incoming calls to your phone.

5. They are anti-mac. They will literally hate you for owning one.

I'm not, obviously.

6. They slow down your PC by putting all sorts of useless security and monitoring software on it. My PC takes 10 minutes to boot.

You are right! Next monday I will go to work and uninstall all of that useless security software at 9 AM in the morning. 2 minutes later, I will leave the office, hopefully just in time before some clever co-worker - like you - will manage to get his PC infected by a virus or trojan, start whining and crash the whole system.

Don't blame IT, blame those people at your company stupid enough to open all kind of emails, links and what not. Do you think we *love* wiping everyone's ass because they are too stupid to watch after themselves?

7. They refuse to enable IMAP on the exchange server for my iPhone.

Can't comment on that, but - never touch a running system.

Please feel free to add to the list.

Oh yes, please! I had some great fun! :)

7on

Mar 16, 2008, 10:11 PM

I actually like our IT department. They are well advised and I should treat them better than I do :(

freeny

Mar 18, 2008, 10:24 AM

edesignuk

Mar 18, 2008, 10:26 AM

Queso

Mar 18, 2008, 10:28 AM

ESPN was pretty mac friendly. they had a crew that was specifically assigned to the mac community, mostly for the magazine. they werent as punctual to our needs but did eventually get around to fixing things. Nice peeps too but not very talkative.
If your office was like the one I did some work for the ESPN IT types were also responsible for a whole bunch of other Disney companies. I did a bunch of projects for the Disney group and although on the corporate side HP was favoured the creatives tended to use Macs. Both systems were well supported within the IT function.

iBlue

Mar 18, 2008, 10:32 AM

http://upc.edesignuk.com/uploads/smilies/megarolleyes2.gif

please feel free to stop overgeneralizing.

mondesi43

Mar 18, 2008, 10:34 AM

All of IT is cool here. I kid you not. No neck-beard, ponytail/skullet sporting members in our IT group.

aLoC

Mar 18, 2008, 10:36 AM

Most of the IT people at my work "just don't care" and it's hard to get them to do anything. The programmers are far more friendly and helpful but they're in a different department to the IT people and we're not actually supposed to take tech support queries to them.

freeny

Mar 18, 2008, 10:38 AM

If your office was like the one I did some work for the ESPN IT types were also responsible for a whole bunch of other Disney companies. I did a bunch of projects for the Disney group and although on the corporate side HP was favoured the creatives tended to use Macs. Both systems were well supported within the IT function.

Where were you located?
I was in Manhattan where it was mostly the Magazine as well as the ill fated phone. a bunch of corporate offices too.

I Bristol it was much more difficult because they wanted to keep the network as closed as possible seeing all the assets they had lying around...

Eidorian

Mar 18, 2008, 10:39 AM

Us UNIX folk enjoy our beards. Got anything against that?

ctt1wbw

Mar 18, 2008, 10:39 AM

I'm on the NMCI network right now. So I understand. It's horrible. I think they only have one switch and one router for the whole eastern seaboard. It's slower than the 14.4 modem I used to use. The computers are buttass slow because of the security crap that's on there. Why should a computer take 7 minutes to boot up to a useable desktop? Why should it take 45 seconds for a right-click popup menu to appear? Why is the Navy still using Windows 2000?

edesignuk

Mar 18, 2008, 10:40 AM

My dad wanted IMing for employees to talk to each other. The tech people said they would have to buy the software. My dad told them the program is already installed on the computers. The IT people said it would make people work less and converse too much.OK, I'll bite on this one as an example.

You think it's so simple, allow an IM app. It's not.

An IM app needs to be chosen, and it will need to be one that has a server component to install on a local server (no AOL IMing in offices me thinks). Servers aren't free, and neither is server software. There might need to be firewall changes made. Due to compliance issues there may also need to be a way for all IM traffic to be recorded in a readable and searchable format and kept for the next 5 years. The list goes on. Nothing is as simple as you think.

ctt1wbw

Mar 18, 2008, 10:42 AM

That's because the IT people make it that way. For example, you can not use Firefox on the NMCI network. For crying out loud.

edesignuk

Mar 18, 2008, 10:49 AM

That's because the IT people make it that way. For example, you can not use Firefox on the NMCI network. For crying out loud.Any idea why that might be? You can't push out security updates with WSUS (Windows Server Update Services, essentially a corporate version of Windows Update) for Firefox security holes, and you have no control over it with Group Policy.

Don't get me wrong, I prefer Firefox and would tell anyone to use it at home. In business though, perhaps not.

IT people don't "make it that way", it's a regulatory thing. Higher powers and all that jazz, it's a pain in the neck, but it has to be complied with.

scotthayes

Mar 18, 2008, 10:50 AM

Well the IMing software is part of the Lotus suite that everyone in the company uses, so I assume yes.

Guessing here, but you don't work in the IT support industry.

I see so many people who have been asked to support a product without training on the system, then a year or so later their company finally discover they are only using half of the product and then send the staff on a training course.

Blue Velvet

Mar 18, 2008, 10:52 AM

Nothing is as simple as you think.

Except slagging off people. :D

I hate some of my corporate IT people. The others are pretty cool, but they play things by the book; a book they seem to be constantly writing as they go. ;)

pilotError

Mar 18, 2008, 10:57 AM

While at MTV creative services I found the IT department to be very mac friendly and nice people to boot. things took a bit long at times but that was most likely the fact that there were only two IT's for a floor of 100+ people.

ESPN was pretty mac friendly. they had a crew that was specifically assigned to the mac community, mostly for the magazine. they werent as punctual to our needs but did eventually get around to fixing things. We were several blocks away from their home base. Nice peeps too but not very talkative.

Every other company ive worked for was too small for an IT dept and I usually ended up playing the role...

MTV uses mostly consultants don't they?

I hate to say it, but both sides are right!

I hate my IT lockdown as much as the next guy. They even get crappy with me (Developer), so I have to slap em around a bit (hey this is NY).

My last contract did a study to see if they could leave some things open without the heavy lockdown. They put out an email the week before explaining how you should handle emails from people you don't know and to not open any attachments unless your sure you know the person.

The next week they sent out a fake virus (it would ping one of our servers with your IP address) from some email address outside the company. Something like 47% of the company opened the email, another 12% opened the attachment. This is just a week after sending the "What to Do" email to the entire company. After that, they locked down external email (yahoo, google, aol, etc.) from within the company.

I see both sides of it. There are reasons for it, but it does suck...

robbieduncan

Mar 18, 2008, 10:58 AM

Due to compliance issues there may also need to be a way for all IM traffic to be recorded in a readable and searchable format and kept for the next 5 years. The list goes on. Nothing is as simple as you think.

That's because the IT people make it that way.

Whilst I am not Windows IT I would like to point out this is not ITs fault. These are mandated controls put in place by government oversight, in this case I believe this is a US FCC requirement. If you don't like it pester the (US) government. Many of the things you think are ITs fault are probably the same. Whilst I'd prefer to have a Mac at work you have to remember it's their computer, not yours. Therefore their rules not yours. If you don't like it leave and get another job.

Don't get me wrong, I prefer Firefox and would tell anyone to use it at home. In business though, perhaps not.

Oops, I use FireFox at work: it doesn't require admin rights to install...

freeny

Mar 18, 2008, 11:06 AM

MTV uses mostly consultants don't they?

I can only speak for the CS department and no, they are staff.

Baron58

Mar 18, 2008, 11:14 AM

1. They all think they're better than you. In many cases, they are.

2. They have no social skills. You mean, that's different from the cube-dwellers who post lists of why they hate IT people on an internet message board?

3. Half of them smell bad. By your logic, half of them don't. In reality, your obese, coffee-breath, farting co-workers are quite disgusting to the IT staff who hold their breaths when they visit the cubes.

4. Even if they make less than you, they think they're more important than you in the company just because they have administrative rights over your computer. They DON'T have administrative rights over your computer. YOUR computer is the one you have at home that you bought with your own money. If you're referring to the COMPANY computer you are assigned to do work that you are assigned according to the policies of the company (which the IT group is part of setting and enforcing), then that's different. **** & GBTW. Oh, and in many cases they make *more* than you.

5. They are anti-mac. They will literally hate you for owning one. Not all. But zealots who can't **** bring it upon themselves.

6. They slow down your PC by putting all sorts of useless security and monitoring software on it. My PC takes 10 minutes to boot. Some IT departments have poor judgement on configurations, that is true. Security & monitoring software is not useless, though, since you've shown yourself to be a risk. You probably try to change the company computer to how *you* want it to be, right? Who knows what kind of damage an arrogant know-it-all may do. If you're so smart with computers, work in IT. Then you'll see the other side of the story.

7. They refuse to enable IMAP on the exchange server for my iPhone.
With good reason. You don't know how the server is configured, it's not just that simple. Besides, no IT person responsible for an Exchange server wants to further increase the load on it with additional services that may cause issues. Also, why should they do anything for YOUR iPhone? Did the company buy it for you? Did the company tell you to buy it? Did the company say they'd support it? It's not theirs, they don't owe you crap for your personal toy. Get over it.

scotthayes

Mar 18, 2008, 11:17 AM

IT people don't make "it that way", it's a regulatory thing. Higher powers and all that jazz, it's a pain in the neck, but it has to be complied with.

As it was an American who thought it was "Because IT make it that way" they need to read all about sarbanes oxley (http://www.soxlaw.com/). and with ITIL standards over here life has gotten a lot harder for IT staff, not to mention the Data Protection Act and the Computer Misuse Act.

ZachsMacDaddy

Mar 18, 2008, 11:39 AM

I am a corporate IT guy. I partially agree with you. There are some who fit your description 100% and some who don't come close. I'll hit on your issues:

1. They all think they're better than you.

Ok, we're not better than all of you. Some of you, not all of you.

I can't expect you to know the intricacies of a Windows based domain and you should not expect me to know the details of electrical engineering.

BUT, if you constantly tell me how you like to build computers at home for your family and then ask me for help with a simple cut & paste operation, then I should be able to smack you like a V8 commercial.

When it comes to the computer side of things, many of us ARE likely better than you. That's why you have your job and we have ours.

2. They have no social skills.

My wife is always amazed at how I can strike up a conversation with just about anyone. I like to think I can make new friends fairly easily. I don't understand the folks who spend all night doing online gaming and never see daylight on a weekend.

3. Half of them smell bad.

Sorry, not me. But I have worked with enough engineers to feel this comment is backwards. Some of those guys must NEVER bathe! I actually got physically ill one day when some engineer stood in my office asking questions. I don't care if your culture has different beliefs on hygiene, get some soap and don't come back until you figure out how to use it. That guy was actually approached by HR about the BO.

My one complaint about IT guys I have worked with is the obsessive addiction to tobacco. It's not just IT, but at that job the smokers outside were 90% IT. I am happy to now work where 0% of IT smoke.

4. Even if they make less than you, they think they're more important than you in the company just because they have administrative rights over your computer.

I'm not more important than you because of that. But don't you go getting a fat head and tell me that it's your computer and you should be able to do what you want. We keep your hands out of the cookie jar for good reasons.

5. They are anti-mac. They will literally hate you for owning one.

Yup, there are too many narrow minded Windows kool-aid drinking loons. I have been in IT for 12+ years now and I have enjoyed Windows, OS/2, Mac OS, Linux, BSD... I have owned Macs on & off over the years. At home I run a Windows network, but my desktop is a Mac Mini and I have a Macbook. The only XP box in use is my wife because she is resisting the switch.

I bring my Macbook to work as well. It sure comes in handy for some things.

6. They slow down your PC by putting all sorts of useless security and monitoring software on it. My PC takes 10 minutes to boot.

Don't blame me. A lot of those items are forced upon us by management or government regulations. I used to be an Altiris administrator. There were 2 clients installed for the project. 1 was a simple little piece that had NO impact. The other was a hog of a service that I hated. I constantly tried to eliminate that side of the project because it served no purpose. BUT, my bosses boss had been the one to buy the product against recommendations and to roll it back would have been a black mark for her with the vendor who she liked. So, we kept the $200,000. application suite all because she was too embarrassed to admit she was wrong. I suffered and so did every server and workstation. Don't blame all IT people for all those things that are running on your computer.

Besides, are you SURE that the Google toolbar, Google desktop search, Weatherbug and desktop pet you installed aren't contributing? How about that 6MB scanned image of your kid/dog that you are using for wallpaper? Do you realize what kind of impact YOUR things are having on your computer's performance???

7. They refuse to enable IMAP on the exchange server for my iPhone.

Ok, let's add work and maybe some vulnerabilities to a corporate server that has 4000+ clients because "Bob" bought a new toy!

Do you stereotype all people like you do IT people?

Queso

Mar 18, 2008, 12:32 PM

Where were you located?
I was in Manhattan where it was mostly the Magazine as well as the ill fated phone. a bunch of corporate offices too.
Mostly at Hammersmith in London where the ESPN and Soccernet sites were developed, but I also did a whole bunch of network upgrades for Disney across Europe. Milan was my favourite office. That's where they draw all the comics for the European market :)

Plymouthbreezer

Mar 18, 2008, 05:55 PM

Until you have worked in tech support / IT (at a large company, or government agency like myself) yourself, make NO judgments about the job, despite the fact it might appear to you we're stubborn, arrogant and narrow minded.

IT people have to follow their departments rules, otherwise, our jobs are at risk. We have bosses too. ;)

scotthayes

Mar 18, 2008, 05:57 PM

this sums up IT support departments to a tee

Jebs Jobs (http://www.weakendproductions.co.uk/movs/jebsjobs.html)

jessica.

Mar 18, 2008, 06:09 PM

There's nothing worse than those Windows geeks that work in IT at corporations. Here's my list of reasons I hate them:

1. They all think they're better than you.
2. They have no social skills.
3. Half of them smell bad.
4. Even if they make less than you, they think they're more important than you in the company just because they have administrative rights over your computer.
5. They are anti-mac. They will literally hate you for owning one.
6. They slow down your PC by putting all sorts of useless security and monitoring software on it. My PC takes 10 minutes to boot.
7. They refuse to enable IMAP on the exchange server for my iPhone.

Please feel free to add to the list.I'm sure you've heard enough of how wrong your statements truly are as they overgeneralize an industry that clearly doesn't fit this so-called mold you've created.

Wow pretty unintelligent statements by you.

First off casting everyone into the same category is stupid you might as well have said you hated blacks, or jewish or even white people.
SNIP
I applaud you for this statement.

Hey relax folks. I'm just trying to get a rise out of you IT guys. There's plenty of IT guys who are great people that I like. And I thought that the non-IT people would find this to be funny.

... but still, there are some IT people who totally fit the bill... :D
Isn't it great when someone comes to a public forum and makes a complete twit out of themselves only to turn around and say "just kidding"?

Honestly Red Sox, you clearly have beef with a small population of people at your company who have put measures in place to stop people from harming the corporation they work for. Your computer taking 10 minutes to boot is probably an exaggeration but even if it is not your wasted time is nothing compared to the time the company would spend on fixing the result of loose computer security measures. While I believe that some of your issues are indeed indicative of professionals in various industries, I don't believe this is the majority. There are people here in the Mac world that believe themselves to be gurus (for lack of better words) of the most random things ever. The arrogance isn't just in the windows world my friend.

A final thought, if your company feels the need to get you access to your e-mails they will provide you with a way. Not being able to use your precious iPhone is most likely the least of their concerns.

iBlue

Mar 19, 2008, 03:31 AM

this sums up IT support departments to a tee

Jebs Jobs (http://www.weakendproductions.co.uk/movs/jebsjobs.html)
<applause> :D

stomer

Mar 19, 2008, 06:47 AM

In my last job, the relationship between IT support and us devs was slightly frosty to say the least. Rightly or wrongly, the general opinion was that support was manned by a bunch of incompetent fools (not necessarily my opinion) and I imagine that support regarded the devs as a bunch arrogant a*****s. It didn't help that support knew very little about *nix, and we ended up doing support that they should have been doing.
Anyway, I remember on time when my computer was supposed to receive an upgrade. It needed to be taken away and I agreed to this to occur on my day-off. I turned up the following day, and there was no computer. I wasn't annoyed, but I found the situation a bit funny. I was in a jovial mood when I rang support about the missing computer, but my mood was completely mis-interpreted:

Me: "Would it be ok for me to have my computer back please?"
Amanda (not necessarily her real name): "There's no need to be sarcastic Paul!"
Me: "I'm not being sarcastic. I'm just asking you if I can have my computer back."
Everyone in the office laughed at this point.

In my job prior to the one above, the support guys, apart from being anti-mac, were pretty darn good, really friendly and very helpful.

Evangelion

Mar 20, 2008, 05:44 AM

7. They refuse to enable IMAP on the exchange server for my iPhone.

I can see it now:

Red Sox: "Hey Mr. IT-person. I just bought an iPhone. Could you change the configuration on our corporate email-system, so I could receive email on my phone?"

IT-person: *blank stare*

Yes, I work in corporate IT ;).

TBi

Mar 20, 2008, 06:13 AM

Red Sox: "Hey Mr. IT-person. I just bought an iPhone. Could you change the configuration on our corporate email-system, so I could receive email on my phone?"

IT-person: *blank stare*

In our place it's a bit different:

Worker: "Hey Mr. IT person i bought one of those new fangled blackberry devices, can you set it up so i can get mail from the corporate email system, so I could receive email on my phone?"

IT-Person: *blank stare* (Or "No we can't, ever")

Worker: "You know like on your blackberry there" *pointing to blackberry and showing you have an identical model* "you told me before that you get all your work mail on it"

It-Person: *blank stare* (Or "our models are super special editions so special even blackberry don't know about them")

I don't hate all IT people. I just hate the pricks in IT.

Evangelion

Mar 20, 2008, 06:51 AM

In our place it's a bit different:

You missed the point. The person apparently bought himself an iPhone, and then complains when the IT-department doesn't make changes to their corporate email-system in order to accomodate him and his phone. If one of our users came to us and said "hey, I bought this phone that is totally different from the other phones we use, and I would like you to make changes to our production-servers so I could access them with my phone" he too would receive a blank stare.

No, you don't go about making changes to production-systems justs because one user thinks it's a good idea. And if those changed were made, and one day he noticed that he's not receiving any emails, he would go complain to the IT-department, who would then have to spend time and energy trying to fix a problem that only exists on a device that is totally different from the other devices that are used in the office. There's a reason why IT-department supports certain set of devices, as opposed to supporting everything.

edesignuk

Mar 20, 2008, 06:55 AM

In our place it's a bit different:

Worker: "Hey Mr. IT person i bought one of those new fangled blackberry devices, can you set it up so i can get mail from the corporate email system, so I could receive email on my phone?"

IT-Person: *blank stare* (Or "No we can't, ever")

Worker: "You know like on your blackberry there" *pointing to blackberry and showing you have an identical model* "you told me before that you get all your work mail on it"

It-Person: *blank stare* (Or "our models are super special editions so special even blackberry don't know about them")

I don't hate all IT people. I just hate the pricks in IT.Why would you be surprised by this? Unless the company provide the Blackberry there's no way you're getting your privately bought one added to the corporate Blackberry system. Rightly so too. :rolleyes:

a456

Mar 20, 2008, 06:58 AM

My experience is that they are poor communicators. Instead of asking people what they need they rely on some kind of faulty osmosis, so for example you ride a bike to work and need a laptop - they give you a laptop the size and weight of a small pony. You need to open files saved in Mac HFS+ (or whatever it's called) on a PC on a daily basis as does an office of 10 employees, they put the software on your director's PC and expect him to share the facility with everyone. And, finally the classic - you spend all day chasing them for support, leaving hundreds of messages on their voicemail, and then they come down and tell you to reboot your machine.:mad:

edesignuk

Mar 20, 2008, 07:03 AM

and then they come down and tell you to reboot your machine.:mad:might be an idea for you to try that before wasting your day waiting then, eh?

People lose all common sense the second they walk in to the office. If something isn't working at home, what do you do? Turn it off and turn it on again. Apparently this is a bit much to ask for at work.

a456

Mar 20, 2008, 07:19 AM

might be an idea for you to try that before wasting your day waiting then, eh?

I didn't say it solved the problem. It simply gives them the chance to walk away while the reboot happens.

Anyway I am now self-employed and so get to work all day on a lovely Mac and don't have to worry about all that nonsense.

Eraserhead

Mar 20, 2008, 07:19 AM

You need to open files saved in Mac HFS+ (or whatever it's called) on a PC on a daily basis as does an office of 10 employees, they put the software on your director's PC and expect him to share the facility with everyone.

That is ridiculous. They should just buy it for everyone.

robbieduncan

Mar 20, 2008, 07:26 AM

That is ridiculous. They should just buy it for everyone.

It is ridiculous but in the current economic climate every cent/penny of expenditure has to be carefully looked at: if you can get by with 1 license instead of 10 then it'll be 1 license. :(

TBi

Mar 20, 2008, 07:31 AM

Why would you be surprised by this? Unless the company provide the Blackberry there's no way you're getting your privately bought one added to the corporate Blackberry system. Rightly so too. :rolleyes:

Yes but why can't they just say that? Rather than some stupid excuse. Although i don't understand why i shouldn't be able to view my work emails on my phone when i can check them at home on my laptop over the net.

Especially since all they have to do is set up the account. Unlike an iPhone, they already supported the blackberry.

You missed the point. The person apparently bought himself an iPhone, and then complains when the IT-department doesn't make changes to their corporate email-system in order to accomodate him and his phone. If one of our users came to us and said "hey, I bought this phone that is totally different from the other phones we use, and I would like you to make changes to our production-servers so I could access them with my phone" he too would receive a blank stare.

No, you don't go about making changes to production-systems justs because one user thinks it's a good idea. And if those changed were made, and one day he noticed that he's not receiving any emails, he would go complain to the IT-department, who would then have to spend time and energy trying to fix a problem that only exists on a device that is totally different from the other devices that are used in the office. There's a reason why IT-department supports certain set of devices, as opposed to supporting everything.

I didn't miss the point. I just said the i've met guys which are bigger pricks, hence "different" :D.

Would you agree that not allowing me to use my own blackberry, which they support and use, is just bloody annoying?

edesignuk

Mar 20, 2008, 07:39 AM

Yes but why can't they just say that? Rather than some stupid excuse. Although i don't understand why i shouldn't be able to view my work emails on my phone when i can check them at home on my laptop over the net.

Especially since all they have to do is set up the account. Unlike an iPhone, they already supported the blackberry.It's corporate data (email), corporate data should only be on corporate equipment that has been purchased for you if it has been deemed a necessary requirement for your job role.

Obviously I don't know how you access your corporate e-mail from home, but I would assume and expect (or at least hope!) it's through some sort of secure means.

TBi

Mar 20, 2008, 07:50 AM

It's corporate data (email), corporate data should only be on corporate equipment that has been purchased for you if it has been deemed a necessary requirement for your job role.

Obviously I don't know how you access your corporate e-mail from home, but I would assume and expect (or at least hope!) it's through some sort of secure means.

Corporate e-mail at home is accessed via two means. A VPN tunnel to the corporate network and using outlook, or using exchange server's webmail service where you access your mail through your web browser. The second method can be accessed from any computer, be it your corporate laptop or the internet cafe down the road.

(BTW this wasn't about me, but someone else in work who wanted this access. Quite frankly i don't want to have all-hour access to my work e-mails :) )

Evangelion

Mar 20, 2008, 08:25 AM

Yes but why can't they just say that? Rather than some stupid excuse. Although i don't understand why i shouldn't be able to view my work emails on my phone when i can check them at home on my laptop over the net.

The task of the IT-department is to provide the users with a set of services and devices that they will then maintain for the users. That does NOT mean that the users could then bring them every device they happened to buy, and expect the IT-department to support it.

If your IT-department provides you with web-access to your email, great! That is a service they provide and support. They might even provide and support push email. But that does NOT mean that the user should expect to be able to buy any phone they want and then expect to use that phone to read his email. What propably happens is that IT-department will provide push-email _on devices that the IT-department supports_.

Especially since all they have to do is set up the account. Unlike an iPhone, they already supported the blackberry.

So, you think that since they support Blackberries, they should support iPhones as well? The logic of that assumption escapes me. We provide our users with push-email on their phones. We have standardized on two company-provided phones that we will provide that service on (and no, iPhones or Blackberries are not supported). Of course the user CAN buy a personal phone if they wish, but we do not support those phones, nor do we support push-email on those phones.

Would you agree that not allowing me to use my own blackberry, which they support and use, is just bloody annoying?

It might be annoying, but it's not unheard of. When they provide you with a service, they take responsibility of that service. You are now expecting them to provide you with a service on a device that is different from the ones they support (not all BB's are identical) on a network-service that is not under their control.

yellow

Mar 20, 2008, 08:29 AM

So you hate me? <sniff>

:(

I would like to rebut by saying this: I hate corporate IT users.

They think they know computers. Actually they don't.
They don't understand corporate IT overlord directives. The 'security crap' is for your own good.
They ALWAYS lie. 'Did you delete the file? No! It just disappeared!'
They think that being unable to play a music CD = work stoppage.
They never listen and continue to make the same mistakes over and over.

Feel free to add your own additions to the list!

:D

TBi

Mar 20, 2008, 08:42 AM

So, you think that since they support Blackberries, they should support iPhones as well? The logic of that assumption escapes me. We provide our users with push-email on their phones. We have standardized on two company-provided phones that we will provide that service on (and no, iPhones or Blackberries are not supported). Of course the user CAN buy a personal phone if they wish, but we do not support those phones, nor do we support push-email on those phones.
<snip>
It might be annoying, but it's not unheard of. When they provide you with a service, they take responsibility of that service. You are now expecting them to provide you with a service on a device that is different from the ones they support (not all BB's are identical) on a network-service that is not under their control.

I'm not talking about iPhones. I'm arguing about supporting a blackberry which is identical to the one they use. Same model/part number/network/firmware/everything except for the serial number. The only difference is that the one you have is your own personally purchased model.

I'm not arguing that they should support an iPhone, or a blackberry that is a different model (although why they couldn't support this i don't know). I'm arguing for an identical model.

Last bit of info, they support a different managers personal nokia.

Blue Velvet

Mar 20, 2008, 08:44 AM

Feel free to add your own additions to the list!

I have some general sympathy; there are ex-colleagues of min who insisted that streaming music all day on their PCs wasn't hurting anyone else... and then there's the people that used to send me 20mb attachments.

It seems like the kind of job that would make you get a little hostile at times... maybe you start off with the best of interests, but after time become ground down by users (or in my case, clients)... however, I have worked with some right IT twunts that have been more inflexible and hidebound than they need to be, especially when they're trying to tell you why a Mac definitely cannot integrate with a Windows corporate network, not for Office, but things like printer and drive sharing.

TBi

Mar 20, 2008, 08:49 AM

They think they know computers. Actually they don't.
They don't understand corporate IT overlord directives. The 'security crap' is for your own good.
They ALWAYS lie. 'Did you delete the file? No! It just disappeared!'
They think that being unable to play a music CD = work stoppage.
They never listen and continue to make the same mistakes over and over.

I agree with your list in general. It is the reason why most IT people are not very nice, they have to deal with arrogant idiot users every day and that wears thin after a while. I understand this.

However the problem comes when a user actually does know more than them. Or else the IT person expects you to be stupid.

My IT manager wouldn't let us have local admin rights on our lab computers because, and i quote: "If i give you Admin rights on that computer, you'll have admin rights on every computer in the center". I certainly know that is wrong and i know you'll agree.

Also i don't understand why CD's should not be allowed. I work better when listening to music.

robbieduncan

Mar 20, 2008, 08:57 AM

I work better when listening to music.

Then buy an iPod: CDs, even Music CDs can be an infection vector for unwanted software...

Evangelion

Mar 20, 2008, 09:20 AM

I'm not talking about iPhones. I'm arguing about supporting a blackberry which is identical to the one they use. Same model/part number/network/firmware/everything except for the serial number. The only difference is that the one you have is your own personally purchased model.

A personally purchased BB that is outside their inventory, management and control. There are lots of reasons to not support such devices, the very first being policy. If they have a policy that says "no personal devices are supported", it leaves very little wiggle-room. If they start making exceptions, then they would have to start making exceptions for everybody. And that is a road to madness.

Last bit of info, they support a different managers personal nokia.

Executives are a whole different matter. We have people high up in the foodchain that use some other phone, and we support them. But just because the people in top of the pecking-order have special-privileges does not mean that everyone should have them.

Also i don't understand why CD's should not be allowed. I work better when listening to music.

One of our users tried to listed a copy-protected CD on his laptop. It hung the entire machine, and we had to do a hard-reset on the computer.... Had he been using a Mac, we might have had to send the machine to the dealer for repair (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106882)....

brn2ski00

Mar 20, 2008, 09:23 AM

To the OP: you are ignorant.

ToddW

Mar 20, 2008, 09:27 AM

You know, I have had cases where I agree with some of the stuff that everyone has stated and I disagree with some of the stuff that everyone has stated.

So, here is my opinion in a nutshell. Do some IT guys bug me, yeah! Do some IT guys not bug me, no. You gotta realize that a lot of their support calls or for stupid stuff, i.e. "I can't connect to the mail server!", "I can't check my home email on my work computer!", "How do I launch Word?" Hell, I can't blame some of them from being rude. I mean how many people lose their file their working on because they just didn't back it up to a server.

Yeah, I get in my share of arguments with administrators, but I basically just keep calm and let them understand why I called them, it is because I cannot fix it myself.

As an electrical engineer, I happen to know my way around a windows domain, do I like doing sys admin type of things? Hell no, that is why I'm not in IT. Do I sometimes have to do it because in our day and time every single close loop system you work on or anything you work with now you need to have some type of Window/Domain/Router/Networking IT knowledge.

As far as the time it takes for my computer to boot in the morning, yep it takes a long time. I've got all sorts of background stuff that runs and clogs up my system. When I get a computer refresh I make damn sure they give me a capable system to do my job. If it keeps lagging on me because of the background stuff they install, I put in a support ticket and make them fix it.

One good thing though, is they most of us engineers have local admin rights on my machine. I couldn't do my job without that. So I will give our IT department thanks for that.

Guys we live in a world today that if your IT infrastructure goes down then you are dead in the water. Certain precautions have to be made to protect the system. Things could be a lot worse. Give you IT guy a break, by him/her a beer, thank them for now being an ass all the time. They have just as much of a hard job as we all do. Be nice to them and they will be nice to you, well hopefully.

As far as BO and scruffy IT guys, I have seen engineers, IT guys, technicians, you name um and every single job as folks like that.

yellow

Mar 20, 2008, 09:35 AM

It's true, there are some serious douchebags in IT Support. I just want to make sure that it doesn't get over-generalized.

Evangelion

Mar 20, 2008, 09:46 AM

I think that one big factor in the resentment towards IT-departments is due to the fact that they deal with tools and devices that many of the users would use in any case. I mean, most people own a personal computer. Then they have a corporate-provided computer that is supported by the IT-department. At that point there are two things that might crop up:

a) "Why should I use the computer given to me by the IT-department, when I already have a computer?"

b) "I have used computers before, I know how these things work".

Feel free to substitute "computer" with "phone" or some other device or service. But in any case, both of those ways of thinking will lead to problems. In case A we get "douchebag IT-department" that will only support devices they have provided. In case B we get users who like to tinker with the equipment, leading to all kinds of issues, and who get annoyed when things start to break down due to that tinkering. And in both cases, the hostility is directed towards the IT-department.

Sesshi

Mar 20, 2008, 02:00 PM

Music CDs can be an infection vector for unwanted software...

I think this is one of the problems of IT support people: They talk gibberish.

pilotError

Mar 20, 2008, 02:23 PM

I think this is one of the problems of IT support people: They talk gibberish.

I know I tend to talk like Rudy in the old Fat Albert cartoons, but then again I'm in development :D :p

robbieduncan

Mar 20, 2008, 02:42 PM

I think this is one of the problems of IT support people: They talk gibberish.

I'm not support: I'm a developer. :p

dejo

Mar 20, 2008, 02:48 PM

Corporate IT people. Well, at least they aren't as bad as Red Sox fans! :D

ZachsMacDaddy

Mar 20, 2008, 03:10 PM

My IT manager wouldn't let us have local admin rights on our lab computers because, and i quote: "If i give you Admin rights on that computer, you'll have admin rights on every computer in the center". I certainly know that is wrong and i know you'll agree.

There's the problem right there. A MANAGER said that. We all know that it's the underlings that know what to do and most managers just think they do. I have had a few managers who know what is going on, but only a few.

I once watched my manager sit down to "help" answer the phones at the Help Desk. She proceeded to make up answers for an hour and totally misinforming all the users she talked to. If you don't know the answer, don't make up something. Come out and admit you don't know, but you'll find out. You look worse when you lie and the truth comes out.

That same manager bragged about her experience as a Novell administrator. Then when she gave all her training material to a co-worker to use, we found the test results from when she tried to get her certification and failed miserably several times.

Yes, I know I am generalizing the entire group of managers. Heck, Scott Adams gets paid to do it every day drawing Dilbert.

7on

Mar 20, 2008, 03:33 PM

I have some general sympathy; there are ex-colleagues of min who insisted that streaming music all day on their PCs wasn't hurting anyone else... and then there's the people that used to send me 20mb attachments.

It seems like the kind of job that would make you get a little hostile at times... maybe you start off with the best of interests, but after time become ground down by users (or in my case, clients)... however, I have worked with some right IT twunts that have been more inflexible and hidebound than they need to be, especially when they're trying to tell you why a Mac definitely cannot integrate with a Windows corporate network, not for Office, but things like printer and drive sharing.

Oh well, my IT people are pretty nice. They were going to get me a Mac but had to wait for my boss's approval (IT lacks all purchasing power, that's why there's a purchasing department). She of course said no because we have to keep compatibility with the branches. I suppose that's understandable, but the most I interact with the branches is updating their webpages. I sat in with her and an IT supervisor and she grilled us over how the Mac is not what is in the corporate world and how we can't support that (the IT just nodded and agreed). I have no problem supporting myself, but if she doesn't have a problem me missing deadlines because of machine lockup, then I suppose I don't have a problem either. Especially the hour or so where I couldn't do any work when IT had to fix an email problem on my machine.

I did convince them to put me back on XP (and they are actually rolling back all the Vista machines to XP eventually).

dejo

Mar 20, 2008, 03:37 PM

She of course said no because we have to keep compatibility with the branches.
Did you tell her that Macs can run XP also?

7on

Mar 20, 2008, 04:01 PM

Did you tell her that Macs can run XP also?

Yeah, but she said that just didn't seem productive :rolleyes:
Plus they would have to purchase all new licenses for the software was a biggie. Hardware not a prob, as my current machine would just replace a slower one.

She also mentioned that I would always be stuck at my current position in the company or if I ever left favorite and the next person they hired was a Windows guy? Well, good luck finding a designer with a college degree that's a Windows guy :rolleyes:

Sigh... It's good experience, pays well, and hopefully in 2 years time I can get the job I really want.:D

neoserver

Mar 20, 2008, 04:39 PM

Feel free to add your own additions to the list!

I work part-time at an academic institution. When rolling out an image to all the lab workstations that the students use, we always ask the instructors to test the software. This is of course to make sure that we don't have any issues during the term, when it becomes inconvenient to push a new image out.

Guess what.. They never do test the software, and then they complain about how we can't seem to do the job properly when things fail. Like we're supposed to know how to use and test all of their specialized software? Especially when there's new versions every year. Give me a break.

steveza

Mar 20, 2008, 05:00 PM

On the Blackberry side a small point. Adding a Blackberry device to a Blackberry Enterprise system isn't free. You need a device licenses and a subscription to RIM for the device. Your subscription may be paid for by your contract but IT would still have to come up wth the license cost. That's alright if it's just one person but I'm sure that word would get out and then everyone would want their personal BB adding in too. Then that would bring up another issue: server capacity. Servers aren't free either and it may be that the current system is specified fir a certain number of devices.

As a consultant I spend a fair amount of my day dealing with unrealistic requests but along with my team we manage to put solutions in where possible and implement workarounds in most other cases. From a user point of view the only thing that matters is their device or machine - the big picture is our problem to sort out.