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I'm not exaggerating by one bit. At best you had an "ok" situation. Nothing like the "rock star" attitude you get today. Not only geeks where the less popular

I'm not exaggerating by one bit. At best you had an "ok" situation. Nothing like the "rock star" attitude you get today. Not only geeks where the less popular in school, but the media mocked them. And this snowballed into the workplace where the only people threated like the IT department was the accounting one. The pay was not nearly in the same area. Nobody would consider buying a dual screen for their IT dev a minimum requirement. I can recall people dreading to call the sysadmin to deal with anything. Talking to them was considered a chore. The best way to defend this is that before the ipod existed, noone would ever say "I'm such a geek". Today somebody playing too much on iphone would say that. We call girls with cute glasses "geeks".

Roritharr 10y ago
This is an interesting tidbit regarding pay. I have a feeling (no data) that the compensation for lots of professions mostly gravitate around some value that is connected to the perceived social status of said profession. Supply and Demand often really doesn't factor in as much as it should. But maybe it's just because compensation in Germany is weird in general.
- RodericDay 10y ago
  it's because salaries aren't public. if you had public salaries you'd see a huge quick readjustment.
nsgi 10y ago
> The pay was not nearly in the same area. Because the dot-com bubble had recently burst...
watwut 10y ago
"At best you had an "ok" situation. Nothing like the "rock star" attitude you get today." Not being rock star is not an oppression. The ok treatment is what majority of people have. I mean, not being treated as something super special is not "considered less that nothing by society". It is being considered normal. "And this snowballed into the workplace where the only people threated like the IT department was the accounting one." There is nothing wrong with the accounting department. In pretty much all workplaces I have been at, they have been treated with respect. In any case, if that workplace treated accountants badly too, the workplace was shitty for more then one group. "I can recall people dreading to call the sysadmin to deal with anything. Talking to them was considered a chore." I have seen such behavior towards admin, but then again I did not liked talking with that particular admin either. I dont doubt that there were groups of great admins that were not treated fairly despite acting all polite and all that. Bad workplaces happen. However, admin I considered chore to talk with was condescending too often and it was hard to get what I needed from him. He was good in tech, but talking with him was a chore. "The best way to defend this is that before the ipod existed, noone would ever say "I'm such a geek"." Yeah, I find everybody is a geek culture annoying too. "We call girls with cute glasses "geeks"." Guys with pretty much zero technical skills used to be called geeks just for liking a tv show or play videogame.
- cr0sh 10y ago
  Regarding the IT department thing: From my first job to my current one, I always made sure I was in good stead with the IT department (whatever its size) - it was where I could get cast-off hardware for my computer junk pile!

Roritharr 10y ago

This is an interesting tidbit regarding pay. I have a feeling (no data) that the compensation for lots of professions mostly gravitate around some value that is connected to the perceived social status of said profession. Supply and Demand often really doesn't factor in as much as it should. But maybe it's just because compensation in Germany is weird in general.

RodericDay 10y ago
it's because salaries aren't public. if you had public salaries you'd see a huge quick readjustment.

nsgi 10y ago

> The pay was not nearly in the same area. Because the dot-com bubble had recently burst...

watwut 10y ago

"At best you had an "ok" situation. Nothing like the "rock star" attitude you get today." Not being rock star is not an oppression. The ok treatment is what majority of people have. I mean, not being treated as something super special is not "considered less that nothing by society". It is being considered normal. "And this snowballed into the workplace where the only people threated like the IT department was the accounting one." There is nothing wrong with the accounting department. In pretty much all workplaces I have been at, they have been treated with respect. In any case, if that workplace treated accountants badly too, the workplace was shitty for more then one group. "I can recall people dreading to call the sysadmin to deal with anything. Talking to them was considered a chore." I have seen such behavior towards admin, but then again I did not liked talking with that particular admin either. I dont doubt that there were groups of great admins that were not treated fairly despite acting all polite and all that. Bad workplaces happen. However, admin I considered chore to talk with was condescending too often and it was hard to get what I needed from him. He was good in tech, but talking with him was a chore. "The best way to defend this is that before the ipod existed, noone would ever say "I'm such a geek"." Yeah, I find everybody is a geek culture annoying too. "We call girls with cute glasses "geeks"." Guys with pretty much zero technical skills used to be called geeks just for liking a tv show or play videogame.

cr0sh 10y ago
Regarding the IT department thing: From my first job to my current one, I always made sure I was in good stead with the IT department (whatever its size) - it was where I could get cast-off hardware for my computer junk pile!