theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
I'm embarrassed to admit that after finally upgrading from Windows XP, I made a point of customizing the new UI to have the same "jolly rancher" look and feel as XP.
Dear Users... (A thread for Sysadmin, Technical Support, and Help Desk people)
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I'm embarrassed to admit that after finally upgrading from Windows XP, I made a point of customizing the new UI to have the same "jolly rancher" look and feel as XP.
theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
My last few successful job interviews, I've pretty much given this as my strongest skill.
"I don't care what software you're using. I don't care if I've never seen it before. Give me an Internet connection, an admin login, and a week, and I'll be fully qualified to handle 80% of the issues that come up. I'll also be well-grounded on researching and mastering the other 20%."
The weirdest part about my current job is that because I support software build pipelines, I often end up knowing more about build tools than the software developers whose livelihood depends on mastering those tools.
"You're a Java developer, and you don't know how maven works? I'm not a Java developer, and I also don't know how maven works, but... <googling intensifies> ... I've figured it out. Here you go!"
"You're a nodejs developer, and you don't know how NPM works? I'm not a nodejs developer, and I also don't know how NPM works, but... <googling intensifies> ... I've figured it out. Here you go!"
"You're a docker developer, and you don't know how docker works? I'm not a docker developer, and I also don't know how docker works, but... <googling intensifies> ... I've figured it out. Here you go!"
---
I attribute this to having spent year or so as a product support engineer, in a shop where the senior support engineers were total jerks. As a rule, they absolutely and rudely refused to provide any technical assistance unless you'd first completed a due diligence checklist:
- did you gather all the context (OS version, app version, error message, etc.)?
- did you read the relevant Knowledge Base articles?
- did you perform ALL of the basic triage troubleshooting steps?
- did you get ALL the relevant logs?
- etc.
So I got into the very strong habit of not daring to ask for help until I'd gone through every troubleshooting and info gathering steps I could think of. And asking for help to me always means presenting a detailed technical report of everything I've already tried, and what the results were.
theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
I wish. If that were true, my job would be full of people who claim they don't Google error messages, but somehow mysteriously never have problems they need me to help them solve.
Instead, my job is full of people who honestly don't Google error messages. They're either lazy or incompetent, but they're definitely not lying.
theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
Fair enough.
One could also argue that anyone who isn't able to Google error messages isn't actually a computer tech at all.
"I've been a computer professional for years!"
"What's your technique for googling error messages?"
"Oh, I don't do that."
"Wait, seriously? You're not lying?"
"Lying? Why would I be lying? That's kind of offensive, you know."
"Then you're not a computer professional. You're a computer ******* amateur. Thank you for your interest. We'll be in touch if we decide to move forward with your application. Next!"
Wudang
BOFH
Unless it's an IBM z/OS error message where you check IBM doc. It's one thing they do very well.
theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
I don't know about z/OS, but nowadays when a vendor has good documentation, the best way to find it is to do a google search for the issue.
The Greater Fool
Illuminator
Even with IBM, they have all sorts of help reachable through google. Through manuals. Through help screens. Though Support calls. Though email. Through chiseling on rock.
arthwollipot
Limerick Purist Pronouns: He/Him
Things I wish more people knew, part MCMLXXVICBNDP:
Your password will expire 3 months (or however long it is) to the minute after you last changed it. If you changed it at 09:50 last time, it will expire at 09:50 this time. If you are logged on at that time, you'll suddenly start losing access to things.
Change your password no less than a full day before it says it's going to need to be changed.
Your password will expire 3 months (or however long it is) to the minute after you last changed it. If you changed it at 09:50 last time, it will expire at 09:50 this time. If you are logged on at that time, you'll suddenly start losing access to things.
Change your password no less than a full day before it says it's going to need to be changed.
arthwollipot
Limerick Purist Pronouns: He/Him
I like to say that this job is 60% knowledge, 30% Google, and 10% improvisation.
Those ratios may vary according to the particular environment, but that's about how it is for me.
Blue Mountain
Resident Skeptical Hobbit
 |
Gah! I hate Google! I detest their deep tendrils in the web, their omnipresent code snippets in damned near every page I visit, and their creepy tendency to grab as much information about me and my browsing habits as they can get their filthy hands on. I despise the fact that in order to use a lot of sites I have to solve an idiot Google ReCaptcha, which drive me nuts and which binds me to their Terms of Service in addition to the site's. Google is an advertising and privacy sucking company first and a search provider second. To a huge degree the omnipresent advertising and tracking that's made the modern web damned near unusable can be traced back to Google and their business practices. And I really hate it when people use the word "google" as a verb to mean a "web search." Not that it's unprecedented; several common words in English originated as corporate trademarks. But to see people, especially computer techs, casually using it to mean "searching" makes me cringe, almost as if they were talking about "*******" when they mean "black people." |
There are search providers out there that don't make it their mission in life to grab wholesale every scrap of information they can about you and sell it at a profit. Please stop feeding the beast.
alfaniner
Penultimate Amazing
...
There are search providers out there that don't make it their mission in life to grab wholesale every scrap of information they can about you and sell it at a profit. Please stop feeding the beast.
Might as well object to the word "computer".
|
RANT |
I did just learn about the RANT feature here though. Thanks for that.
Guybrush Threepwood
Trainee Pirate
All that snipped rant may be true, but they gave their company a name that trips off the tongue nicely and lends itself to verbing, which was a smart move.
'I'll just DuckDuckGo that' doesn't work quite as well.
It could have been worse, if Microsoft had been more on the ball, we might have been binging information.
AltaVista, please!
erlando
Master Poster
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2007
- Messages
- 2,432
Yeah well... I tried DuckDuckGo and some others I forgot the name of. Common for them all was that especially for technical stuff they sucked. Big time. So.. As long as Google does the trick better, Google it is.
erlando
Master Poster
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2007
- Messages
- 2,432
I once had a contract at a major financial institution. They were nowhere near ready when I showed up on day one. Cue 20 workdays of waiting for the proper credentials so I could start working.
I showed up and billed every hour. At $90/h.
theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
Please do me the courtesy of assuming I'm well aware of these arguments, and have made my own choices about how to respond to the situation. I've seen your rant before. Hell, I've ranted your rant before. I don't mind if you dissent, but don't think you're telling me anything I haven't already considered.
Gah! I hate Google! I detest their deep tendrils in the web, their omnipresent code snippets in damned near every page I visit, and their creepy tendency to grab as much information about me and my browsing habits as they can get their filthy hands on. I despise the fact that in order to use a lot of sites I have to solve an idiot Google ReCaptcha, which drive me nuts and which binds me to their Terms of Service in addition to the site's.
Google is an advertising and privacy sucking company first and a search provider second. To a huge degree the omnipresent advertising and tracking that's made the modern web damned near unusable can be traced back to Google and their business practices.
And I really hate it when people use the word "google" as a verb to mean a "web search." Not that it's unprecedented; several common words in English originated as corporate trademarks. But to see people, especially computer techs, casually using it to mean "searching" makes me cringe, almost as if they were talking about "*******" when they mean "black people."
There are search providers out there that don't make it their mission in life to grab wholesale every scrap of information they can about you and sell it at a profit. Please stop feeding the beast.
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