Are IT staff supposed to know everything

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27 posts

Geek

#1099958 1-Aug-2014 12:16

when you are solving a work related problem for someone and a conversation happens something like this

Person : while i have your attention, my mothers best friends brother in law has a problem with their computer , when they are on the internet and click on videos it doesn't work"
you: "are there any error messages?"
Person; Im not sure, he said it wont play
You: "do you know what operating system he has?"
Person: "no but it says compaq on it"
You: "im guessing its windows then..."
Person: " DON'T YOU KNOW WHATS WRONG? I THOUGHT IT PEOPLE KNEW HOW TO FIX COMPUTERS"

keewee01

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#1099960 1-Aug-2014 12:19

I hate people who are ignorant and expect you to just drop everything to do their bidding - even when their bidding so insignificantly unimportant!

I the person was a visitor to your company, then at the very least the person within your organisation who was responsible for that visitor should have been their to 'kick the ball off'. If anything they are at fault for not doing this.

I've been in the situation numerous times where you are doing a job for someone and you need their input or to ask them a question, but they're busy talking to someone about things not even work related and they act as though you are not there - completely invisiable, even if waving your hands and jumping up and down! Thankfully most people aren't like this.

Always memorable is the Japanesse visitor who wanted access to our network. He could not speak much English and I was trying to work my way through the various dialog boxes to make the required changes. Got most of the way there from memory without having to know what was written on screen, but had to find a computer with the same OS to work out the dialog in one box to get the right options and get the job finished. A great challenge.

Mind reading is easier with some people... but darn near impossible with others. I ask my users to be upfront with me - if you did something stupid I would rather know as it could save me a huge amount of time trying to work it out first and I can just get on to fixing the issue! And when they are upfront I thank them for it.

ETA - And Scientists can be the worst to deal with!!!

gjm

808 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1099961 1-Aug-2014 12:20

wasabi2k: Working support in schools and small business I think rule of thumb was if it has a cord we had to fix it...

PCs

Fax Machines

Kettles (seriously)...

The further you get from users the better IT gets. But in general - all people are bastards.

you forgot fridges, coffee machines, microwave ovens, moving furniture around the office, lights and garage doors. I feel a little bit over this "sysadmin" gig at the moment but arent sure what else I would do as I love the fun stuff I get to do (prob just need a holiday). In my next life Im def coming back in the sales or marketing department.

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Demeter

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One NZ

#1099964 1-Aug-2014 12:22

gjm: you forgot fridges, coffee machines, microwave ovens, moving furniture around the office, lights and garage doors. I feel a little bit over this "sysadmin" gig at the moment but arent sure what else I would do as I love the fun stuff I get to do (prob just need a holiday). In my next life Im def coming back in the sales or marketing department.

best of luck with the reincarnation.Whatever you do, stay away from Social Media

insane

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#1099966 1-Aug-2014 12:28

This pretty much sums up the expectation of IT people

gjm

808 posts

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#1099968 1-Aug-2014 12:32

Demeter:
gjm: you forgot fridges, coffee machines, microwave ovens, moving furniture around the office, lights and garage doors. I feel a little bit over this "sysadmin" gig at the moment but arent sure what else I would do as I love the fun stuff I get to do (prob just need a holiday). In my next life Im def coming back in the sales or marketing department.

best of luck with the reincarnation.Whatever you do, stay away from Social Media

On my 21st day of work in row at the moment....social media gig doesnt sound that bad

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Behodar

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#1099973 1-Aug-2014 12:38

keewee01: I hate people who are ignorant and expect you to just drop everything to do their bidding - even when their bidding so insignificantly unimportant!

Reminds me of an "urgent" job received via email this week. The person submitted the job then took off out of the office for three days. Never mind that the job request didn't contain anywhere near enough detail to complete the work, but it's apparently urgent!

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gzt

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#1099975 1-Aug-2014 12:40

andrewNZ: In the second "We need you to change the language to English so we can do our job".

Ok can you help me with that?

BlueShift

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#1099988 1-Aug-2014 13:07

gjm:
you forgot fridges, coffee machines, microwave ovens, moving furniture around the office, lights and garage doors. I feel a little bit over this "sysadmin" gig at the moment but arent sure what else I would do as I love the fun stuff I get to do (prob just need a holiday). In my next life Im def coming back in the sales or marketing department.

I fixed the microwave in a client's office once by rebooting it. They were suitably impressed. Always turn it off, then turn it back on again...

MikeB4

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#1099991 1-Aug-2014 13:17

The last IT Support Team I managed I put all the Analysts and Tech's through customer relations and some sales courses. It made a huge difference on how things went, complaints dropped dramatically( achieve (96% Sat ratings), and my staff enjoyed their work a lot more.
My ethos for teams I managed was we don't support devices we support people, colleagues and friends.

robjg63

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#1099993 1-Aug-2014 13:19

Bee: I have had visitors to our workplace ask for help with their Apple Mac - I've never worked anywhere that uses Apple at all on their network.

Yes - I have had this as well. Usually find that the mac user has no idea how to get into any settings at all and will tell you at the same time 'macs just work and are so easy'.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

wasabi2k

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#1100001 1-Aug-2014 13:42

robjg63:
Bee: I have had visitors to our workplace ask for help with their Apple Mac - I've never worked anywhere that uses Apple at all on their network.

Yes - I have had this as well. Usually find that the mac user has no idea how to get into any settings at all and will tell you at the same time 'macs just work and are so easy'.

When the infrastructure guys spend hours and hours and hours building extra stuff and duplicating infrastructure so that the macs can work with corporate services - then still require manual config on the macs themselves.

HATE mac products in the workplace. Only thing worse is mac users.

sonyxperiageek

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#1100005 1-Aug-2014 13:49

johnr: My sister thinks I am a mind reader when it comes to IT issues with her Home PC

Well you are "John" Reader.. ;)

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xpd

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#1100012 1-Aug-2014 14:00

BTR: This is a bit of a rant and it is IT related so it could be in the wrong forum.

My question is are IT staff expected to know everything and I mean everything.

No.

If the answer was yes, you wouldnt have had the need to come here to ask. ;)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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gehenna

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#1100016 1-Aug-2014 14:08

I agree with the OP, but I also think there are a ton of IT people who put too much pressure on themselves to know everything too. That ends in burnout and pessimism, and is compounded by the customer having those expectations too.

I've recently been trying to help the IT guy at my wife's workplace. He's under a ton of pressure given he doesn't have a solid background in the industry and is almost solely in charge of their infrastructure. We talked for about an hour or more one day and the best advice I could give him was not to expect to know everything about everything. That's why there are specialists out there, people and companies you can engage with to help manage your infrastructure. You can only know what you know, and you can only learn a few things at a time and it takes many years to get a good understanding across the board - but even then you're a generalist not a specialist. You'll know a little about a lot, and a lot about a little.

He emailed me a few weeks later and was so grateful to have heard from someone that he didn't have to know everything. It's a simple concept for a lot of us, but some people in the industry are under such extreme pressures and get so little support internally that the small realisation of understanding their limitations can make all the difference to bringing focus and optimism back to their career.

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