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IT here. I don't need a website; I have users.

by Hobadee 1y ago

SanjayMehta 1y ago
I miss alt.sysadmin.recovery
- teddyh 1y ago
  “scary devil monastery”.
devjab 1y ago
I've been in SWE in non-enterprise for decades and right now I'm seated with IT and operations because our two teams total less than 15. The amount of users who open tickets with "I have this issue" and then send a screenshot of some error in a browser with absolutely no context... Not even the full browser image, just a small snapshot of the completely meaningless error... As though they expect the IT support people to just know what they were doing? My twin todlers who haven't learned to speak yet are still somehow better at telling me what is wrong when something is wrong. I'm always amazed at how friendly the IT support people manage these things.
knowitnone2 1y ago
this is a you problem. Worked in IT over 20 years, never been angry. Perhaps you should change careers.
teddyh 1y ago
It is with the confidence of decades of experience that I can say that the problem is that you have a bad attitude about your job. (I have elaborated on this in the past: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17164086 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17164086>)
- throwanem 1y ago
  It is with the confidence of decades of experience I can say that to quote Alan Watts aloud is a sign of desperately needing to read another book.
  - teddyh 1y ago
    Is anything in that quote so wrong that it invalidates the larger point the quote is meant to illustrate?
    - throwanem 1y ago
      What am I meant to think the experience of providing IT support shares with that of the bodhisattva nature, such that quoting the ever tiresome Watts at paragraph length is meant to aid understanding of either? It's just a lot of self-aggrandizing humblebragging nonsense, "look whose name I drop and you don't." Good grief, in this millennium having had an encounter with Watts doesn't even really qualify anyone as being familiar with the literature. If one means to say it's not people's fault that computers suck to use and they shouldn't be blamed for exhibiting some emotional dismay when forced to do so anyway, then one may say so clearly and concisely, and without insisting on oneself even by implication.
      - teddyh 1y ago
        Your reading comprehension seems to be lacking. Maybe you should read more books? What I meant to convey, seven years ago, when writing that comment making the analogy to Zen Buddhism (as described by Alan Watts at least) was that there are those who come to understand technology and immediately go off and despise and belittle all the people who don’t understand it. There are also those who come to understand technology and can explain the relevant parts to those who don’t understand it, and help them handle technology to help them in their lives, without belittling them or even secretly/silently looking down on or feeling superior to them in any way. This dichotomy seemed to me to be very similar to what Alan Watts once described about Zen Buddhism. But sure, you keep berating people for daring to quote something by someone so plebeian as Alan Watts, in a seven year old comment. I’m sure it will help you get along with people.
        throwanem 1y ago
        You're right. Seven years is a long time. I'm not the one who brought it up. Why do you keep using forty words where two or three would serve?

IT here. I don't need a website; I have users.

SanjayMehta 1y ago

I miss alt.sysadmin.recovery

teddyh 1y ago
“scary devil monastery”.

devjab 1y ago

I've been in SWE in non-enterprise for decades and right now I'm seated with IT and operations because our two teams total less than 15. The amount of users who open tickets with "I have this issue" and then send a screenshot of some error in a browser with absolutely no context... Not even the full browser image, just a small snapshot of the completely meaningless error... As though they expect the IT support people to just know what they were doing? My twin todlers who haven't learned to speak yet are still somehow better at telling me what is wrong when something is wrong. I'm always amazed at how friendly the IT support people manage these things.

knowitnone2 1y ago

this is a you problem. Worked in IT over 20 years, never been angry. Perhaps you should change careers.

teddyh 1y ago

It is with the confidence of decades of experience that I can say that the problem is that you have a bad attitude about your job. (I have elaborated on this in the past: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17164086 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17164086>)

throwanem 1y ago
It is with the confidence of decades of experience I can say that to quote Alan Watts aloud is a sign of desperately needing to read another book.
- teddyh 1y ago
  Is anything in that quote so wrong that it invalidates the larger point the quote is meant to illustrate?
  - throwanem 1y ago
    What am I meant to think the experience of providing IT support shares with that of the bodhisattva nature, such that quoting the ever tiresome Watts at paragraph length is meant to aid understanding of either? It's just a lot of self-aggrandizing humblebragging nonsense, "look whose name I drop and you don't." Good grief, in this millennium having had an encounter with Watts doesn't even really qualify anyone as being familiar with the literature. If one means to say it's not people's fault that computers suck to use and they shouldn't be blamed for exhibiting some emotional dismay when forced to do so anyway, then one may say so clearly and concisely, and without insisting on oneself even by implication.
    - teddyh 1y ago
      Your reading comprehension seems to be lacking. Maybe you should read more books? What I meant to convey, seven years ago, when writing that comment making the analogy to Zen Buddhism (as described by Alan Watts at least) was that there are those who come to understand technology and immediately go off and despise and belittle all the people who don’t understand it. There are also those who come to understand technology and can explain the relevant parts to those who don’t understand it, and help them handle technology to help them in their lives, without belittling them or even secretly/silently looking down on or feeling superior to them in any way. This dichotomy seemed to me to be very similar to what Alan Watts once described about Zen Buddhism. But sure, you keep berating people for daring to quote something by someone so plebeian as Alan Watts, in a seven year old comment. I’m sure it will help you get along with people.
      - throwanem 1y ago
        You're right. Seven years is a long time. I'm not the one who brought it up. Why do you keep using forty words where two or three would serve?