Without going too far into detail our product and industry are a bit more complicated than most. It's not a phone app or a startup in a new industry. Our softwa

Without going too far into detail our product and industry are a bit more complicated than most. It's not a phone app or a startup in a new industry. Our software is primarily used by independent contractors who are subject to a lot of federal and state regulations. In fact, I'd say that our support staff spends more time in an advocacy role than actually supporting the software itself. So I would disagree when you say it's "not really your job" and "just plain stupid". Our job (as developers) is to create a product that helps our clients navigate a very tricky business environment -- one which most people have never experienced before working here. The time frame of the initial support training and continued learning is justified. That's not to say that our system's perfect, mind you. In the 6-plus years since I was hired the company has gone from around 25 employees to almost 100. My initial training before actually taking support calls lasted about 4 days, then I was thrown into the fire. The current new employees spend like 3 weeks in the classroom before ever picking up a phone, which I think is far too long.