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I wonder how the IT director was hired and who monitored what the department was doing. I worked at a place that hired a MS system support person but no on one

I wonder how the IT director was hired and who monitored what the department was doing. I worked at a place that hired a MS system support person but no on one knew anything about it and he seemed to know more than they did. He was fired a couple months later as he actually knew nothing and spent all his time making support calls trying to get someone to tell him what to do. He was on the phone for hours every day. Then when he was fired no one changed passwords so he logged into the DNS server and randomized all the IPs, leaving the whole company without networking. Hopefully not the same person...

fortran77 7y ago
Twice I've been at companies where we lost some storage due to a hardware failure and it turns out the backups were missing or didn't work. And both times, nobody was fired.
- JoeAltmaier 7y ago
  In fact, if you haven't tried to recover from a backup, it probably doesn't work. Like most recovery/data integrity hardware/software, if it isn't being (regularly) tested, it probably is misconfigured, not running or broken. Like all software. I've seen many PC-raid hardware solutions that simply didn't work. A drive fails, and the machine becomes unusable, fail to recover when a good drive is inserted, or crashes/hangs and the data is lost. Yet people keep buying raid solutions for PCs. I recommend: pull a drive from your raid hardware and see what happens. If you're afraid to do that, then you need a different solution.
  - bluGill 7y ago
    I used to work at a RAID hardware company (since bought by SUN, now Oracle though I have no idea if that model is still sold). Salesmen were told to demonstrate the system by pulling a random drive from the production disk and put it on top. 15 minutes latter someone from support showed up with a new disk (not IT, support), the salesmen made sure they were still next to the machine to show off that support knew about the failure and could replace it quickly. If you don't have the same confidence in your systems you need to fix that.
    - GhettoMaestro 7y ago
      What kind of protection layer was in place? I've been using ZFS for years and this type of functionality is standard.
      - bluGill 7y ago
        This was hardware raid. There were two parity disks per stripe as I recall. This was about 20 years ago and I didn't work on that system: my memory of the details is probably wrong.
        GhettoMaestro 7y ago
        Thanks!
    - sliken 7y ago
      Heh. I visited a colleague and they had a fancy new netapp and he demonstrated pulling a drive, status light change and notification, reinserting it, status light change and notification. The next morning he got a fedex from netapp... a replacement drive.
  - fortran77 7y ago
    Now at my 3-person startup, we test our backups once a week! Really. I once took over management of a startup that was just acquired (this was back in 1999). The people there never did backups. Ever. They told me with a straight face: "We have a RAID. It doesn't need to be backed up."
  - rhinoceraptor 7y ago
    Hardware RAID is a declaration of war on humanity by firmware. Use ZFS!
paul7986 7y ago
Baltimore has been through a good amount of IT Directors who were caught up in scandals/corruption. Not surprising as in the past ten years we have had two disgraced/corrupt mayors abruptly leave office.
- electriclove 7y ago
  What is the end state for Baltimore?
  - paul7986 7y ago
    Baltimore county, Howard, Harford and everywhere not Baltimore city is good living. High paying IT work is readily available and you can work at many well known Govt agencies. Cost of living isn't too bad as well you can get nice inexpensive new single homes near the MD/PA line and commute in (30 to 40 minute commute).
  - maximente 7y ago
    as a city? probably status quo: continued grift and unaccountability as a once proud manufacturing town decays. it's somewhat attractive price wise simply because it's a very affordable urban east coast city. there's a vibrant/edgy art scene (to include drama, etc.) that's attractive to younger artists, sort of like what detroit is going through (as i understand it)
- slowhand09 7y ago
  IT Directors? Many of Baltimores mayors, councilpersons, police chiefs, police officers and detectives, public works heads, etc have been scandalous, crooked, incompetent, etc in recent years. Its the norm, not the exception. Its a crooked town.
  - paul7986 7y ago
    As for corrupt IT Directors read here https://statescoop.com/4th-cio-leaves-baltimore-within-five-years/ https://statescoop.com/4th-cio-leaves-baltimore-within-five-... It is a corrupt town the facts/history clearly show this. It's where I was grew up/live/work; all within in surrounding counties, which is solid living! Though Baltimore isn't the only corrupt US city!
jascii 7y ago
Small chance, but, is it the same person? https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-johnson https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-johnson
- devinjflick 7y ago
  Yeah that's him, a different article mentioned he was a Sales VP at Intel
crispyambulance 7y ago
https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-johnson https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-johnson is the guy. Typical suit found in many exec positions, looks perfectly legit, fine credentials, a little heavy on the sales stuff. CIO for an acutely underfunded department in large but very poor city is not an easy job.
- kofejnik 7y ago
  From the profile ---- About I am a visionary leader that quickly grasps near-term initiatives and opportunities while foreseeing long-term opportunities and how to achieve them. I bring a unique blend of expertise in building and developing winning teams as well as building and scaling businesses. ... I have strategic technology discussions with the public and private organizations in the Baltimore City area every day. Put simply, I assist the Mayor discover how technology can deliver value and competitive advantage to Baltimore City and transform the lives of people that live, work and visit Baltimore City. ----- Try as I might, I would never be able to come up with something like this, even if you held a gun to my head. There surely must be a small industry of HR consultants who specialize in writing this kind of drivel
  - crispyambulance 7y ago
    Oh, I agree it’s drivel, and it makes a typical HN reader cringe but this is fairly common language in executive bios. Taking a career-ending bullet like this is Part of what these c-level people sign up for, an occupational hazard, especially In Baltimore

fortran77 7y ago

Twice I've been at companies where we lost some storage due to a hardware failure and it turns out the backups were missing or didn't work. And both times, nobody was fired.

JoeAltmaier 7y ago
In fact, if you haven't tried to recover from a backup, it probably doesn't work. Like most recovery/data integrity hardware/software, if it isn't being (regularly) tested, it probably is misconfigured, not running or broken. Like all software. I've seen many PC-raid hardware solutions that simply didn't work. A drive fails, and the machine becomes unusable, fail to recover when a good drive is inserted, or crashes/hangs and the data is lost. Yet people keep buying raid solutions for PCs. I recommend: pull a drive from your raid hardware and see what happens. If you're afraid to do that, then you need a different solution.
- bluGill 7y ago
  I used to work at a RAID hardware company (since bought by SUN, now Oracle though I have no idea if that model is still sold). Salesmen were told to demonstrate the system by pulling a random drive from the production disk and put it on top. 15 minutes latter someone from support showed up with a new disk (not IT, support), the salesmen made sure they were still next to the machine to show off that support knew about the failure and could replace it quickly. If you don't have the same confidence in your systems you need to fix that.
  - GhettoMaestro 7y ago
    What kind of protection layer was in place? I've been using ZFS for years and this type of functionality is standard.
    - bluGill 7y ago
      This was hardware raid. There were two parity disks per stripe as I recall. This was about 20 years ago and I didn't work on that system: my memory of the details is probably wrong.
      - GhettoMaestro 7y ago
        Thanks!
  - sliken 7y ago
    Heh. I visited a colleague and they had a fancy new netapp and he demonstrated pulling a drive, status light change and notification, reinserting it, status light change and notification. The next morning he got a fedex from netapp... a replacement drive.
- fortran77 7y ago
  Now at my 3-person startup, we test our backups once a week! Really. I once took over management of a startup that was just acquired (this was back in 1999). The people there never did backups. Ever. They told me with a straight face: "We have a RAID. It doesn't need to be backed up."
- rhinoceraptor 7y ago
  Hardware RAID is a declaration of war on humanity by firmware. Use ZFS!

paul7986 7y ago

Baltimore has been through a good amount of IT Directors who were caught up in scandals/corruption. Not surprising as in the past ten years we have had two disgraced/corrupt mayors abruptly leave office.

electriclove 7y ago
What is the end state for Baltimore?
- paul7986 7y ago
  Baltimore county, Howard, Harford and everywhere not Baltimore city is good living. High paying IT work is readily available and you can work at many well known Govt agencies. Cost of living isn't too bad as well you can get nice inexpensive new single homes near the MD/PA line and commute in (30 to 40 minute commute).
- maximente 7y ago
  as a city? probably status quo: continued grift and unaccountability as a once proud manufacturing town decays. it's somewhat attractive price wise simply because it's a very affordable urban east coast city. there's a vibrant/edgy art scene (to include drama, etc.) that's attractive to younger artists, sort of like what detroit is going through (as i understand it)
slowhand09 7y ago
IT Directors? Many of Baltimores mayors, councilpersons, police chiefs, police officers and detectives, public works heads, etc have been scandalous, crooked, incompetent, etc in recent years. Its the norm, not the exception. Its a crooked town.
- paul7986 7y ago
  As for corrupt IT Directors read here https://statescoop.com/4th-cio-leaves-baltimore-within-five-years/ https://statescoop.com/4th-cio-leaves-baltimore-within-five-... It is a corrupt town the facts/history clearly show this. It's where I was grew up/live/work; all within in surrounding counties, which is solid living! Though Baltimore isn't the only corrupt US city!

jascii 7y ago

Small chance, but, is it the same person? https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-johnson https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-johnson

devinjflick 7y ago
Yeah that's him, a different article mentioned he was a Sales VP at Intel

crispyambulance 7y ago

https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-johnson https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-johnson is the guy. Typical suit found in many exec positions, looks perfectly legit, fine credentials, a little heavy on the sales stuff. CIO for an acutely underfunded department in large but very poor city is not an easy job.

kofejnik 7y ago
From the profile ---- About I am a visionary leader that quickly grasps near-term initiatives and opportunities while foreseeing long-term opportunities and how to achieve them. I bring a unique blend of expertise in building and developing winning teams as well as building and scaling businesses. ... I have strategic technology discussions with the public and private organizations in the Baltimore City area every day. Put simply, I assist the Mayor discover how technology can deliver value and competitive advantage to Baltimore City and transform the lives of people that live, work and visit Baltimore City. ----- Try as I might, I would never be able to come up with something like this, even if you held a gun to my head. There surely must be a small industry of HR consultants who specialize in writing this kind of drivel
- crispyambulance 7y ago
  Oh, I agree it’s drivel, and it makes a typical HN reader cringe but this is fairly common language in executive bios. Taking a career-ending bullet like this is Part of what these c-level people sign up for, an occupational hazard, especially In Baltimore