How Much Respect Do You Get? 884
droidlev asks: "In our continually fluctuating economy I have seen a drastic change in the level of respect that I receive. As a technician I've grown accustomed to a heightened level of respect when I walk into a client's office. Not to say that I have a God complex, however, it feels good to walk into a room and be appreciated. I'm passionate for the computer work that I do; I'm 'GEEK' for it. People know that I'm there to help and solve their problems. There is good amount of value in this extra level of appreciation and respect. This is especially true when you are developing business relationships (and of course it never hurts to be liked). In recent times, however, I've been cast in a different light; actually more like a darkened shadow. I am now seen as a necessary evil instead of the 'all powerful technician.' So I ask what your experiences have been, either as a computer technician or another professional? Have you seen a change in the level of respect that you receive?"
"Businesses are trying to save every penny they have. Unless something significant goes wrong, they handle a situation themselves. This only compounds the severity of a problem. By the time I get there, everything has gone to hell and I get a look (the it's-all-your-fault look) from every cubicle and every office. In the past, exceptionally dedicated service translated to loyal clients that didn't mind paying a little bit more. Once I was the problem solver, now it seems I am yet another flame to burn their money."
Yeeah, I don't buy it. (Score:5, Insightful)
Granted there are ups and downs in the industry at large and variations from employer to employer, but by far the most significant factor in determining the level of respect people show you at work is your own conduct. If you've noticed that the people at work suddenly seem to respect you less, IMO the first place you need to look is at your own conduct. Are you really working and behaving in a way that earns and demands respect? Overall, this shakes out into two basic keys:
1. Earn respect. Know your stuff, be willing to help people out and be someone that people can stand. Own your responsibilities. At the same time, don't try to be an expert in matters you don't really understand and don't try to force your big nose into other peoples' work. Be that guy that people want to work with and want on their team. It's perpetually amazing to me that such a high percentage of people in the professional world (not just geeks) fall down on one or more of these three and then act shocked when people hate dealing with them because they're either incompetent or impossible to work with (which amounts to more or less the same thing).
2. Demand respect. There are always going to be people who try to make you do something or bypass you or whatever by running over or around you. Don't stand for this -- be professional, be polite and (if it's someone up the foodchain from you) remember your place, but leave it crystal clear that in matters where you hold responsibility, you will not be cut out and you will not be strongarmed. This is an attitude, and it's not "respect mah authoritah!" attitude that I see a lot from geeks.
Competence and confidence are the keys to garnering and maintaining the respect of your coworkers. Really, they're the keys to success at life in general.
Respect... (Score:4, Insightful)
We are now an expense. (Score:5, Insightful)
In theory, everyone goes to work to add value (Score:5, Insightful)
For instance, if you're not involved in the analysis and design phase of software, maybe watch the market more closely so as to know what suggestions to make in terms of features and design. If you're not a programmer, then look into ways to add value by improving the company website; maybe freshen up some content, add an RSS feed, or look for ways to improve the aesthetics and page copy of a conversion page (such as a point of purchase page, for example). Look for ways to improve conversions from affiliate lead sources.
I know how easy it is to go "down the rabbit hole" when writing code. You get lost in the code. You dream about it; it's the only thing you think about. And it pretty much has to be that way. I try and periodically take some time off from writing code for short intervals specifically to come up for air, so to speak.
But most significantly, realize that everyone arrives at work precisely to add value to the company's bottom line. Everyone arrives at work in order to solve the problems to which they are assigned. There is certainly nothing unique about IT in that manner.
However, if you're truly being treated like a pariah, I would ask, who is responsible for "casting" you in such a unfavorable light? It could be office politics. And of course, there's always the chance that you're too much like the IT guy in those Jimmy Fallon SNL sketches.
Egoless professionalism (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe it would be better just to do good, professional work that can itself withstand such comparison rather than seek the "I am better than the run-of-the mill-worker" kind of "respect."
Back in the day we called it egoless programming. It means to feel good about the whole team being productive. Groups like this share code, mentor each other constantly, prevent anyone from failing, and are fun to be around. Groups that worship individual "respect" get prima donnas, backstabbing and less overall productivity.
Let your good work speak for itself. If you need more respect, learn something additional about your craft and feel good about it yourself.
How much respect do you give the pizza guy? (Score:5, Insightful)
We're not really all that special, we never were.
It's just a job, man.
Here's a question for you (Score:3, Insightful)
People don't like depending upon other people, and the sad reality, and it's amazing how few techs realized this, was that people were patronizing you in the past when they'd fawn over you. That wasn't that they respected you, but rather that they thought that they could get as much out of you as possible by pushing your ego buttons.
I caught onto that very early in my career, and no longer did coworkers and family talking about how I'm the smartest person they've ever met and boy do I know computers, ad nauseum, fool me into providing pro bono work.
Respect is a function of personal relationships.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Respect (Score:2, Insightful)
One of the other comments - 'A BOFH should be feared, not respected' - is perhaps, true, but unless you're in an extraordinarily IT-centric organization, that kind of attitude is much more likely to hurt rather than help.
Times are changing (Score:3, Insightful)
Further to that, geek is now chic. This means there are many posers who are diluting the true meaning of the word, because they want to look hip and trendy.
Its sad, really. We are a victim of our own desires, to be accepted by society as a whole instead of relegated to the computer and AV rooms of the world.....
Respect will continue to decline (Score:5, Insightful)
Computers are being viewed more and more as another applicance. A means to get things done. Not some mysterious and all-powerful machine. As this perception becomes more widespread, the respect given to people who repair them will approach that of people who fix other appliances.
The are no more Priests of the Temples of Syrinx (obscure Rush reference).
IT is evil! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Yeeah, I don't buy it. (Score:5, Insightful)
It's more like politics (Score:5, Insightful)
Having to deal with techies and reality is an annoyance for managerial types. What seems more important is the power play on the corporate ladder.
To be part of the "in crowd" means playing the game. Brown nose, buzzwords and running a general line of bullshit. As a techie not interested in the corporate power chain, but rather in shipping good product and making a real profit, I find it hard to get a reasonable audience. Sure they'll usher me in the back door to fix a multi-million dollar problem then out the back door again when the job is done, but they won't listen as to how the problems can be fixed.... mostly because they're often process or political problems, and rule number one of the corporate power game is "don't step out of line".
Janitors/electricians of the 21st century (Score:5, Insightful)
If you want more respect for what you do, do something beyond maintaining systems or technician work. Do something that requires intelligence to design the systems. Mystique fades quickly once everyone gets used to the technology and you're not the one propelling it forward.
The importance of walking around (Score:5, Insightful)
At my boss's advice, I visited the end customers each and every workday.
They began to associate me with the system while it was working. In contrast, some admins only showed up when their systems were broken. They were usually greeted with "Here comes trouble!"
My relationship was so good that, when the system broke in the middle of the night, the customers would do their best to get by until morning, even though I assured them that it was my duty to restore it during the night.
Being around to take credit for things running smoothly is indispensible.
Re:Egoless professionalism (Score:5, Insightful)
Also, regarding your comments about backstabbers: there is nothing wrong with looking out for yourself. You never really know who the backstabbers are until they 'strike' and when they do, those who are expecting it and have a counter are the ones who survive.
Your 'egoless programming' groups worked because you all respected each other, not because you gave up on the concept of respect.
Re:We are now an expense. (Score:3, Insightful)
It was though of bringing money to the company at the time, if they did or didn't is an other issue.
Varies (Score:5, Insightful)
In general, respect has declined during the past years, even though my abilities and credentials inside my profession have increased.
There are also different kinds of respect. I have learnt to not give much on statements of respect. My boss tells me five times daily that I'm the most knowledgable security dude in the company - but my advise on security matters is apparently not important enough to warrant action.
Two former bosses had the proper method for expressing respect towards techies: Not only did they say "you guys know best how to do this, just get it done", they also followed through with it and got out of our ways. One was the CTO, the other was brilliant in keeping other trouble (higher-ups, users, other bosses) away from us while we worked on the problem.
Genuine Vs. Displayed (Score:5, Insightful)
There is however displayed respect. That special kind that gets displayed whether you're actually deserving of it or not.
This is the kind that gets displayed to an utterly incompetent CEO (to his face at least) because, well, he signs the checks and, whether you respect him or not, if you piss him off, you're screwed.
During the dotcom boom, most IT people got the displayed kind automatically. I remember being outright told, "You don't need to worry about HR and viewing unsafe sites. In the current economy, we can't replace you. You piss them off, they recommend you're fired, we refuse to do so because we can't lose you. End of story."
If a client pissed you off and you quit - or refused to work for them - it was [perceived as] way too hard to get someone else in. Thus they sucked up and displayed respect whether they felt like it or not.
It's a logical OR statement:
Genuine and Displayed: Respect is shown.
Genuine only: Respect is shown.
Displayed only: Respect is shown.
Neither: You're screwed.
What sucks for many in the IT field is that they were never really deserving of genuine respect, they just got the displayed kind because IT salaries were so nuts. Now the boom has burst and starving developers are [perceived as] a dime a dozen, they no longer qualify for the displayed kind. Thus, if you were genuinely deserving of respect, you continue to gain be shown it. If you were only ever getting the displayed kind - well, you don't merit it anymore.
Of course there's one other aspect to it. Scott Adams calls it the way of the weasel. Genuine respect still requires genuine people. In the typical workplace, many people will show respect if you genuinely deserve it - but there are still plenty of cretins who will screw anyone over, deserving or not, if it suits them. For them, whether you warrant genuine respect or not, they'll only ever show it to you if you warrant the displayed kind as, otherwise, you're not helping them directly and they can, therefore will, screw you.
More educated customers (Score:3, Insightful)
Years later, after dumping millions of dollars into our industry, clients are wising up. Most companies have horror stories at this point. Most of them have been burned by start-up custom software houses who can no longer maintain the broken wreck they have created. Most clients have been through the ringer with consultants who charge an arm and a leg but don't deliver anything.
There are a lot of good computer guys out there, and a lot of good software companies, but my honest opinion is that most people in our business are little better than snake oil salesmen.
Re:Respect or co-dependence? (Score:5, Insightful)
Agreed (Score:5, Insightful)
Since the technology isn't that new anymore, they don't feel dumb anymore when it breaks. Everyone "knows" that it's Microsoft's fault and nothing they did could ever cause this much distruction.
How many times did you hear customers belittle themselves while you tried to defend their dignity: "No, no, it's nothing you could have prevented. Oh, no, you're not that stupid. This is hard." It's the only time I've ever heard so many millionaires and businessmen call themselves idiots.
And now? They don't even want to know how it works, "just fix it" is the reply. No more apologizing for their stupidity.
Maybe everyone finally realized that they're not stupid after all. Or maybe, they're tired of software breaking when it's not their fault. Parhaps this is OUR fault for telling them for years that, no, they didn't do anything, they're not stupid. Perhaps it's time to go back to confirming a person's insecurities.
Re:In theory, everyone goes to work to add value (Score:2, Insightful)
Perhaps you're speaking from experience.
My own experience has been always to do a little more than asked, stay a little longer than needed, and go that extra mile. I've worked with too many people who said "I'll do more if they'll pay me more."
I did more, and now they pay me more. Those who chose to wait for the raise before taking on more responsibility are still waiting -- and still choosing to.
Re:Respect... (Score:4, Insightful)
IT Consulting (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Janitors/electricians of the 21st century (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Yeeah, I don't buy it. (Score:5, Insightful)
I had another manager who tried to go around me, when I was a new hire (I'm Regional IT Manager) - hadn't been there a month. In private I politely told him "I have no problem with you getting a bit of IT gear that you need if I'm not around - I just need to know that you've done it and what you bought. I have a budget too, and I also need to make sure anything IT related that comes in the building fits in our target architecture and doesn't cost too much."
He got a little out of joint because of that, but it became clear to him that he wasn't allowed to just buy whatever he needed without my approval, which is what he was used to doing. He's since turned out to be quite an ally - after that incident I let the subject drop and have also gone out of my way to help him when he needed it. I saw that he was an IT advocate, not someone trying to beat me down.
Besides Competence and Confidence, you need to be able to squelch you emotions and focus on what's important to the task at hand. People don't normally go out of thier way to show disrespect without zero cause - you should try to understand where the hostility is coming from.
If you need to rant against your cow-orkers, there's The Scary Devil Monastary, where such behaviour is accepted (and usually appreciated).
Soko
Class. (Score:5, Insightful)
Suppose someone at a fast food restaurant does a bang-up job of serving your food - gets the order right, the food is prepared perfectly. You respect him. But do you think he's now in the same tier as you? Maybe you'll give him a few extra bucks, but you probably won't invite him to your parties and you'd feel pretty weird if your graduate-school educated sister went out with him.
Well, that goes in both directions. Your B-school educated manager, or PhD-awarded engineer or researcher, is going to give you respect for a job well done. But if you think that translates into access to a new tier of status and esteem, think again. A lot of IT geeks think that their mastery over one piece of infrastructure should translate into general esteem for their intellectual prowess, but that's as much driven by resentment and an inability to understand what's really going on around them as anything.
Re:Respect or co-dependence? (Score:5, Insightful)
I get calls from friends & family demanding help with their viruses, M$ installations, bugs, printer jams, you name it, while I'm already busy working on the CEO's system.
I manage a LAN/WAN environment with 7 locations, 75 customers, and 500 Cisco IP phones. Do they respect me? Yes. Do they show it? Not monetarily... no raise in 2 years.
But let me put it another way. What was I doing on that CEO's system? He demanded I clean his keyboard, because someone spilled something sticky on it.
wow... (Score:4, Insightful)
A first post with the words "frist psot" on slashdot modded +5 funny? That's impressive. I guess it's like that old saying, you can fool some of the moderators all of the time and all of the moderators some of the time... or something.
Is it just techs? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm a sysadmin/technician myself, and I do notice a notible amount of disrespect at times in my job - sometimes often enough because others just don't understand the work involved in things they ask for - but I can't say I'm the only victim of this as my co-workers often enough readily disrespect each other as well.
Re:How much respect do you give the pizza guy? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not trying to equate IT work to those other jobs. Heck, sometimes, IT work is MORE important than those jobs. If you work IT in a hospital, you know what I'm talking about.
Not suprised (Score:3, Insightful)
In this day, it's now painfully obvious that many people who work in IT are just bloodsuckers. They claim to know what they're doing and yet they manage to accomplish amazing feats of stupidity.
Come on. We all know that guy who's an Exchange administrator who can't explain how an e-mail gets from one persons computer to another. Or the web designer who solely uses Frontpage. Or the system administrator who has managed to get Windows installed on a PC.. but can't quite do anything else.
It's all too common. The IT industry just pisses me off now because it's filled with flunkies got an MCSE out of a crackerjack box.
And now Joe Public has a dim view on techies? Took them too bloody long imho.
Respect means nothing (Score:2, Insightful)
I've got a family from which I receive love and respect. I work to provide money to feed and shelter my family. I don't work for respect, and frankly as long as I'm doing my job, I don't really care if my managers respect me or not.
Re:Janitors/electricians of the 21st century (Score:3, Insightful)
Respect is a function of comprehension (Score:5, Insightful)
This only makes sense. An increasing proportion of people who use computers come from the general population. In relation to computing professionals, their position is increasingly that of consumers rather than colleagues. The traditional respect for a professional which is based on an informed recognition of ability is bound to suffer.
That's one main factor, as I see it. The other is that our culture is going through a characteristic phase of technology change in which adoption is followed by social disruption. The same process happened as agriculture transformed social structure, and again during the industrial revolution. This time around, we have other major forces of social disruption at play as well, including globalization, the inversion of market and social values, and the accumulation of ecological effects which began with the previous two revolutions.
Some of these forces are pretty abstract, even though their effects are not. But the force of technological change is manifest in an unprecedented flood of new artifacts into people's lives. As bearers of that change, we make a very visible target for frustration not only with the artifacts and their mysterious technology, but with disruptive forces in general. Our very competence can become a liability.
my boss admitted it ... (Score:5, Insightful)
So my boss tried to console me with some lip-service: the engineers are more valuable than the managers. You see, the company can find a new manager without too much trouble, but replacing an engineer, someone who can come in and pick up the hardware and the code, is much more difficult. This led to the obvious question: if the engineers are so valuable, why don't we get the huge bonuses and stock options?
I'll let you guess at his answer, but here's a hint: I updated my resume that night.
-paul
Re:Janitors/electricians of the 21st century (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Yeeah, I don't buy it. (Score:4, Insightful)
There are those who afford you the respect you deserve.
Then there are those people who afford you all the *dis*respect they can, with out at any point crossing this line where you could go to H.R. These are the people who are genuinely threatened by your competence. Perhaps they have the same goals as you, and these goals are mutually exclusive (such as both vieing for the same position).
The correct way to respond to these individuals is with all the professional respect you can muster. Unless your management is blind, they'll see one guy disrespecting another, and no reciprocation. The paint is on the wall there, and usually people who will disrespect you like this are foolish enough to do so in open when their little early nibbles fail to get your back up.
This principle is ancient. The Bible talks about repaying your enemies with kindness, and you pour hot coals on their head, or something to the effect. Certainly it's the same basic principle that the likes of Ghandi demonstrated. Nothing really pisses off that jerk who's always giving you a hard time like never acknowledging his jabs, and continuing to be nice to him. Sometimes you'll even turn that enemy into an ally.
Best of all, to any outside observer, you're always professional no matter how much you are prodded, and that's certainly a promotion worthy quality, and a quality that by itself commands additional respect. I have one of these people at my work, and I think it strengthens my position on a day to day basis.
Re:You come when things are broken. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yeeah, I don't buy it. (Score:5, Insightful)
In a big organization, sometimes it is really hard to get past the initial expectation/distaste people have after having had to deal with incompetent support staff/programmers/whatever holding "paper" certs and one year quickie "degrees".
Half our problem as IT workers is the incredible amounts of scholatic "SPAM" the tech bubble engendered.
Example?
I got handed a new hire for my last project. He didn't know the difference between stack and heap, signed and unsigned or how pointers worked. Not only was he useless to me as a programmer - a drain on my time, but frequently, and loudly exclaimed that he had graduated with "HONOURS". That he was an "engineer!". and FFS, this guy graduated from my ALMA MATER. The last three hires have been from different schools but not much better..
that is why we don't automatically get respect. Too many of us don't deserve it.
Dude, it was never "respect." (Score:5, Insightful)
True respect is earned because of the kind of person you are, not the things that you do (insofar as those things are not a part of who you are). Comport yourself with honor, be respectful of others, and you will earn their respect in turn. That you think having some inscrutable technical knowledge should earn you respect is, frankly, revolting.
Re:Respect or co-dependence? (Score:4, Insightful)
So, if you're going to ask favors from someone, be polite, ask them if they have time for a question, before you expect them to drop everything they're doing, and fix it immediately. Odds are, your being able to check email or play minesweeper isn't a high priority on your friend's list, when they're trying to recover from a bad day at work, where they spent 14 straight days of 12-16 hrs days fixing a server so 35k people could read their email.
For some reason, we don't expect waiters/waitresses to go and get us drinks at our every whim, yet there are some professions (IT, medical, lawyer, seem to be the big ones), where it seems people are just okay with asking them for advise whenever they feel like it.
(oh -- and wearing an 'RTFM' shirt to parties doesn't seem to help, either. You go and explain the significance to someone, and someone else hears half of the explaination, and you get a 'you work in computers? I'm having this weird problem
Re:Janitors/electricians of the 21st century (Score:3, Insightful)
In the 90's more programing jobs delt with transforming how a business worked and integration. Now its maintance where we are an electrician or a mechanic. Sure they value as necessary, but also they look at you as under them.
Today we are cost centers who do not contribute to the bottom line. Actually we are "necessary" cost centers to keep things rolling but cost centers we are. We are valued only because they have to us and not for what we can do for the company.
Most of us can not sell ourselves and promote solutions to our employers or our bosses can not do it and we get shit on as a result.
90% of IT projects fail and outsourcing is a disiaster to all but QA.
My father use to implement projects and large software installations and never in 20 years missed a deadline. He knew how to sell himself and researched MRP, ERP, programing managment processes, and speced everything to death before having his programers write any code. Because he worked at being part of the business he moved up the chain and became a VP. Today businesses only care about price because they do not know any better.
Same is true with us and management. We have a crises today in our universities. I am not just talking about computer science students who know only how to write a hello world program but MBA's and MIS majors. Folks in business think I.T. is just a maintance cost or programing is just something a guy does on the moment by himself with no specing. Outsourcing has really hurt IT for this reason since you can not spec if you are on the otherside of the world or know what the business needs. My guess is the new guys graduating gew up with computers and think pc's are just machines you plug in and packaged software takes care of everything.
Last, I disagree with a parent poster about earning respect. Some people just wont like you while some give you too much respect if you dont deserve it. That is life.
If you never get enough respect and can get it elsewhere I would look to work elsewhere. Let someone else less qualified take your job if that is what your boss wants due to his undervaluing.
The correct response to the CEO (Score:2, Insightful)
If he presses the issue, politely present this:
What's going to cost more in the end, me spending an hour of your time cleaning the keyboard(which when you figure in travel to and from the location, time finding supplies, the supplies themselves, and putting everything away, isn't likely to be under 1 hour), or buying a new keyboard?
Or, you could just clean the keyboard, and ask for a bonus
Re:Genuine Vs. Displayed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Yeeah, I don't buy it. (Score:4, Insightful)
Then my review came up. I thought, surely they can't help but appreciate all the hard work and dedication I have displayed. And considering my low wages, I was expecting a hefty raise and a promotion to a technician position. Instead, I got a $0.25 raise and was promised a performance bonus based on my sales. No tech position, and with a raise like that, they might as well have spit in my face. Now, six months later, I still haven't seen this bonus, not because my sales have been low, but because they simply haven't bothered to calculate my bonus. The guy that invoices orders and handles RMAs (who has been there only a month longer than me) makes 15% more than I do! So I talked to my boss about my low pay, told him about all the promises made and broken, about how my current wages could barely support my living expenses, let alone my tuition (I pay out-of-state), and their response was to offer me the same commission again. That was a month ago. I still haven't seen a dime, and I doubt I will get any bonus on my check tomorrow.
Long story short, you can do great work with a big smile, and still get walked all over. I'm currently seeking new employment opportunities (if anyone has an opening for a technician in the Denver area, please email me!).
expectations rise over time (Score:3, Insightful)
The golden years are gone. The age where I could walk into the room and hold people in awe has passed. It's not that my skills are less than they once were, it's that over time, people have become accustomed to what the IT people can do, and today, their expectations exceed their wildest imaginings of 20 years ago. Or 5 years ago.
To be honest, I think Y2K is where it tipped. Up until then, even when there was plenty of money, there was a lot of pressure to do more with less. Y2K forced many companies to make substantial IT investments, and since then, I've seen a greater willingness to maintain code, to upgrade systems, and to avoid creating similar problems in the future. Along with a greater awareness of how IT works and what IT can do for them, users expectations have risen. Somewhere aroune Y2K, we moved from users assuming we couldn't do things to users assuming we could do anything.
Over the same general period, a lot of technology that used to be tightly controlled by IT due to cost has become so cheap that consumers now litter their homes with it. In 1990, people thought I was insane to have managed ethernet hubs in my home network. Today, gigabit switches don't raise an eyebrow.
I think when this was more of a black art, and far less pervasive, people had a greater respect for our knowledge and skills. Now that they're constantly surrounded with the stuff, I've felt I get a lot less professional courtesy and respect.
Re:Allow me to boost your ego (Score:3, Insightful)
It's now Non-Technical Professional Appreciation Day. Let me list the things that I'm glad my PHB/business-dev/sales folks get to do:
* Go to project meetings and listen to client's problems for hours on end
* Fly halfway around the world to drum up new business
* Resolve sticky contractual issues that involve many days of phone calls, faxes, and lawyers
* Translate for/run defense against upper management
There is no question that some organizations are top-heavy and it slows them down. This is why we have the free enterprise system, to allow the nimble to outsmart the slow. But I don't see it getting worse. In fact we now have the technology and management theory to make big enterprise more efficient than ever -- witness the Wal Mart phenomenon.
If you complain about anything, complain about the government's policies not making the playing field level enough. But I don't agree with your worker's revolution thesis. As long as there are people willing to give up freedom for security, there will be the employer-employee agreement.
Oh BTW if this is a troll, please ignore -- I gave up my mod points anyway
Re:Respect or co-dependence? (Score:3, Insightful)
There's a lot of free advice out there, but not enough time or energy in my day to follow all of it.
Bleh (Score:2, Insightful)
Respect doesn't put food on the table.
Respect doesn't get me a fancy new car.
Respect doesn't cause That Nice Lady to come over to my house and clean it every Friday.
No, my good fellows and fellowettes, all those good things take money. Cash. Moolah. The long green. Bucks. Gravy. The means. Dough. Simoleans. Bread--can you dig it?
And, as it turns out, I don't need respect. I have money.
Money is not the root of all evil. Wondering about whether or not you're being respected is the root of all evil.
Re:Yeeah, I don't buy it. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Class. (Score:5, Insightful)
It's happened many times since as I've met people from many lines of work and it's just as evident that you can be a respected professional in any industry. And I sure as heck hope you can appreciate someone with this kind of "class." It's not the job they're doing, it's the quality of the person standing in front of you. Good people are hard to find.
The commen above illustrates exactly the problem. (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes? The team has rules, don't deride them, they are there for a reason (not all of them necessarily practical from a purely technical or professional point of view).
No? Then get out of the team, find a team you are comfortable with.
Honestly, techie types fit the stereotype of social ineptitude so neatly (trying to hide behind the "I bring the millions, I am the little misappreciated star" pseudo moral high ground) that is actually surprising that their non techie colleagues don't hate them more than they do.
Like if hanging out with nerdy types did not include a good amount of "brown nosing". And buzzwords? Amongst techies? No way, we 4r3 33lite, whe us no bu55word5 you xuqor.
Nothing worst than social ineptitude with an attitude.
Re:It's more like politics (Score:5, Insightful)
Allow me say that I'm sure you are well-intentioned by your post, but I think you may be looking at this the wrong way.
Just as you don't expect the "corporate power chain" to understand the tech stuff, you probably don't understand all the management stuff your audience does. But life is better when you do (just as visa versa). Don't we love managers who understand the technology? Of course. But you can do the same the other way. Let me ask you, do you understand your manager's problems?
I know it is not your job to understand it, but it will help immensely. Like have your tried wording your suggestions in a manner that will appeal to management? Have you tried tying it to real numbers?
For example: By simplifying the architecture of the system, I estimate that we can reduce the time spent on fixing bugs by 50%. Also, since we are reusing code, adding more features is easier. I predict we can also write code faster by a factor of 25% because there will be more code re-use. Although this will result in an up-front investment of three months work, additional changes will be easier and faster to make. The net result is that within about 6 months, we will be in the same spot but with a better architected system. [Okay, this is NOT the report you'd write, but you get my drift]
By the way, I used to do this all the time. I'd often make reports with suggestions outlining why I recommend each aspect and what effect it will have on the business.
I'm happy when people make suggestions, but as a manager, it is HARD to do the work to the next level. For example, if you are managing 10 people, spending 30 minutes a day with each person takes five hours leaving three hours left in a day. Most managers don't have the time to figure out the logistics and they don't understand the problem as well as you do. I love it when somebody comes up to me with all the arguments thought out. THAT is easy to process.
Having been raised on tech and management principles (graduate of a business program), I can say that people who understand both the tech and the management side are the most valuable people in the company. Become one. We need more.
As a related aside, I am now the CEO of a successful and profitable Internet company. And of course, I still read slashdot.
How Much Respect Do IT People Deserve? (Score:3, Insightful)
Exactly how much respect should we expect when we are called in to fix it?
Re:Genuine Vs. Displayed (Score:5, Insightful)
In the same vein, I had a great big green mohawk in high school. In a strange accident, part of it caught fire, and I was thus forced to shave the whole 'hawk off.
The change in attitude I got from everyone around me, whether they had seen me with the mohawk or not was remarkable to me.
I went even further by growing my hair out and cutting it into what I referred to as a 'young republican' haircut (side part, faded sides). The difference again seemed like orders of magnitude.
The lesson I've learned is that while respect is something you can earn, it's also something you can steal by inference. If people infer that you are important, that will treat you that way.
What we have here is a model of authority that is culturally implanted in each of us. If you seek to wield some particular authority, it helps if you can model yourself after this idea that is already lurking in the heads of those you would seek to influence.
Janitors-yes, of the Microsoft Plumbing (Score:5, Insightful)
We are now "Janitors of th Microsoft Plumbing"
And why are we viewed with such disdain? Imagine how you would feel about your plumber if you had to call him in two or three times a week to unclog your stopped toilet.
People expect computers to be a consumer appliance that "just works". We get a share of the blame for the appallingly low quality of shrink-wrapped software that is barely beta-test status when shipped to production users. (Test the software?- that's what users are for; Configuration Cotnrol? - that would dip into profits, let the DLLs crash, they can always reboot)
You want respect - install OSS software that doesn't crash, and get paid for adding value in the design process, instead of billing hours for reaming the t3rds out of the M$ toilet.
Re:Class. (Score:4, Insightful)
The executive management doesn't "feel" superior, or need to. They are just working at a different level than you are. Their time is more important, on a number of fairly objective scales. Do you feel "superior" to the janitor where you work? Do you think your time is worth the same as his? Are you willing to earn the same amount of money? Do you want an interviewing process as rigorous and demanding as that of the CEO?
There's a kind of plateau people see: they see the gap between themselves and people above them as mostly accidental, or fictional. They see the gap between themselves and people below them as natural, or as a consequence of moral, ethical, or other personal attainments.
A fast food employee may be as valuable to you as a person, but we very rarely deal with people as people. Most of our dealings with others are in the context of the goods and services they provide. Instead of "CEO," think "neurologist." I suspect you'll have far higher expectations of your neurologist, and frankly think higher of his abilities.
The Reward for a Job well-done: More Work (Score:5, Insightful)
As people develop expertise in their field, their primary responsibilities take less and less effort than they did when they were new. Eventually things then tend to progress in the following manner:
1. Because of your good work, your accounts are happier with your company or run more profitably than they might otherwise be. They take on more business and buy more equipment from your company. Guess who gets to service it! Okay, you were getting bored anyway, and so you welcome the new toy.
2. The boss notices that you don't have to work very hard to keep up with your responsibilities, and knowing this, he asks you to "help out" the guys working on a difficult problem at another site.
2a. Once you establish a positive track record of fixing difficult problems, your name rises to the top of the list of who to call when there is trouble. You get an Attaboy, and wangle a free lunch or two out of the boss. That and your sense of accomplishment is your reward, but not much more money, except for the overtime.
2b. As your reputation spreads, your pager starts to go off at all hours, day and night. Blearily eyed, you trudge off into a snowstorm at 3 AM on Sunday Morning to drive the 50 miles to fix a half-million dollar machine with a turn of the screwdriver and a few taps on the keyboard. You get home at about 9 AM, just in time to get paged again by the same customer for another machine. After this debacle, you resolve to test and end up spending 3 hours doing preventative repairs to all of your company's equipment at the site before leaving. After putting in 14 hours, you arrive home. The following week, the regular tech has his easiest week in months, but you get mildly reprimanded for putting in too much overtime. Boss apologizes when you point out that the work was billable at off-hours rates.
3. For the reason above, the boss asks you to "cover" another tech's accounts while he is out sick, on vacation, or forgot to turn on his pager. Being the dedicated employee you are, you oblige, and fix a bunch of things the regular guy has neglected. The account now has higher expectations from the equipment, which means that the boss or the other tech will be calling on you frequently to maintain the performance of the equipment.
4. You are asked to help train new employees, and to work with "problem employees" to improve their skills. Training new guys with talent isn't too bad, though it is time-consuming. Trying to work with guys who have teflon-coated brain cells is ultimately futile and a waste of time.
5. You become the boss's confidant and right-hand man. He asks you to cover him on weekends, vacations, and golf outings, in addition to your expanding list of regular duties. Your cell phone rings on vacation. It's the boss pleading for help.
6. The boss eventually retires, gets promoted, or takes another job. You are now the new boss, and have to take responsibility for everything. First item on the agenda after buying a new suit for all of those client meetings: Finding a replacement for yourself in your old job. You no longer have time to do the tech work you love and were good at, instead you are buried under a mountain of paperwork, meetings, and reports. By the way, you are now on straight salary and are on call 24/7.
Welcome to the Corporate Ladder!
people and place, not time (Score:4, Insightful)
I've generally received the least respect from the least intelligent people. They don't have intelligence, they don't recognise it, they don't respect it.
That's not to be confused with technical expertise. I've been respected by people who could whup my butt with their wizardly skills, and by people who didn't know a byte from a battery. But they recognised my qualifications and respected them, because they were qualified for their jobs, and knew that deserved respect.
Re:Class. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Yeeah, I don't buy it. (Score:5, Insightful)
I would also add, be generous and share your solutions; don't insist on being the go-to guy for repetitive bullshit. Document your solutions and make them freely available. Make your worth a function of your ability to solve new problems, not repeatedly re-implementing the same old solutions over and over just to get paid.
It's the perceived difference in whether you are a high-priced button pusher, or a problem-solving resource. The former will always cost you respect.
Along the same lines, when helping in the acquisition phase, don't skimp on spending money for a real solution vs. spending less on something that requires more of your intervention.
Re:Genuine Vs. Displayed (Score:3, Insightful)
Generally, you'll find few good SEs wearing nicer clothes than a polo shirt and khakis. I tend to jeans and a button-down shirt, but I've worn worse. Reason being that I'm there to impress the tech people, my sales partner is there to impress the manager and experience has shown that dressing up to talk tech diminishes the audience's respect.
The message behind a suit in a sales meeting is "I dressed up just for this meeting and your sale is very important to me." While some people are certainly gratified that their business is important to you, the naturally suspicious geek is partially discounting everything you say. "They're just saying that the product works in our situation because they want the sale."
The message behind business casual is "this meeting is one of a thousand for me; I'm just doing my job." Much more trustworthy.
I get no respect, I tell ya, no respect! (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously... if you're not getting the respect you want, chances are that it's because of some larger ongoing interpersonal context that has been established.
It sounds silly, but when you present an idea to people, or do work for them, the respect and consideration they give to the idea or results is wholly dependent on their preexisting opinion of you (whether it is inaccurate or not). Even if the idea itself is great or you do outstanding work, if they don't like you, your ideas won't be considered and your work won't be respected.
Be honest with yourself and others and seek to clearly understand the interpersonal context people have with you. Then, change it by addressing it explicitly -- don't expect things like producing better results or offering better ideas to change anyone's mind, because it won't. Instead, work on things like being less critical or defensive.
Re:Class. (Score:2, Insightful)
My uncle said that he never knew what he was doing while getting his PhD. He said that shortly before it was awarded he realized that he had finally learned to do independant research. He didn't think it had been demonstrated in his thesis, but he was okay accepting the degree because he learned it in the end. A lot of people say that college is not about learning something specific, it's about learning "how to think" or "how to learn". I think that's moreso for a PhD, your thesis is liable to be useless, but it teaches you to approach something with much greater depth and diligence than almost anyone else will do.
Re:Janitors-yes, of the Microsoft Plumbing (Score:2, Insightful)
My feeling about my machine is exactly as you stated - I just wanted a consumer appliance that just works. Yes, I still run DOS for schematic capture, circuit analysis, C++ DSP experimentation, and PCB layout. I know all the file formats. Using my computer is like using my hand - I know exactly what I want it to do and know how to tell it to do so. Everything has user-definable libraries and models, so as I get new parts to work with, I add them in.
Yes, I do have the 'business' types telling me to get current, join the 20'th century, all that kind of talk, yet its obvious to me he has no idea that the stuff I need done is quite easily handled by 1990 technology. Paid for. Understood. ALL my productivity using this setup is pure PROFIT!
I have to realize this concept of "marginal benefit". The highly-paid guy is apt to buy a car based on showroom appeal, whereas I buy a car almost purely on technical matters. I won't part with my old 1977 toyota either. Its old school technology. Uses points. Yes, all I have to do to get the engine to run is get fuel to it and power to the coil. The points degrade gracefully, and even if they do go out completely, its really hard for the mechanism to fail in such a way I can't simply bend the contact area in such a manner it will work for another several thousand miles or so.
I am running up close to 400,000 miles on that guy, and he's shown little signs of wear, other than brake shoes and the rubber trim is deteriorating. But then, I bought the car in the first place to get me moved from one location to another. I did not buy it to impress others on how much money I had to squander on show.
I can understand how once one gets "trapped in the cage", egress can be very difficult, so its been my intention to be like that wiry stray cat in my neighborhood and stay out of confining cages, as I know what they are. This cat will recognize structures made of steel wire, just as I recognize structures of EULA's, legal restrictions, 'security authentications', and legal mandates.
If businesses get themselves snarled into these traps, they traveled in on their own paws. We are trying like hell to keep them safe, but sometimes trying to persuade a businessman from getting himself trapped is like my trying to persuade my cat not to visit the neighbor's yard when I know the neighbor does not like cats, and is actively trapping them and taking them to the pound.
I know your feeling about trying to deal with some people. The people who have lots of money are the worst - as they feel that their money and authority, not the laws of physics - or man, give them extraordinary powers. The rich man has his money, just as my cat has muscles and claws, and if my cat insists on visiting my neighbor's yard, I just have to prepare myself for the loss of my cat. A technical guy can try to keep his company out of trouble, but as any parent can tell you, trying to help a corporate entity can be like trying to help a teenager, who will probably never understand the ramifications of certain behaviours until they have personally experienced the results of doing so.
It got so bad for me, working in a large aerospace corporation, that it was obvious we had such a difference of opinion that I had to go. Ranked as not being a 'team player'. You may find smaller businesses, especially businesses still heavily in the initial growth phase, very receptive to techniques which generate profit from no investment. Tools already paid for. Knowledge already in place.
I am the type that once I put something in place, I expect it to work until I decommission it. I pour concrete foundations. Use lots of rebar. By golly, it takes a lot of work to build something. Build it well so y
Re:Genuine Vs. Displayed (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, I think you forgot to take one important factor into account: Your own behaviour . When you "dress up" in a suit, take a good long shower, have recently gotten a haircut, a shave and put on some after-shave, you start to act differently. You probably act more confident, smile more, look people into their eyes etc. when you feel good about the way you look. The same goes in reverse, of course. When you feel hung-over and have the breath of a rabid dog and just pop out to get a quick snack, wearing what was in the bottom of the basket -- then you're not exactly going to act like you owned the world. And people will treat you differently.
This is, of course, not the only thing that matters. But it plays an important role in the subconscious feedback that we get from other people.
Re:Yeeah, I don't buy it. (Score:4, Insightful)
I mean no slander by this; I did it too for years. The nice guy who is always up for "helping out" and "going above and beyond the call of duty". Sad to say, but in most places this will get you nothing more than, at best, maybe a little bit of lube before you get bent over. Sometimes they just drill you even harder with no lube. And your current employer is bending you over big time.
I work for a great company now and occasionally feel bad about not going the extra mile and helping out, but I've gotten all my raises just the same and I'm certainly in no danger of getting shitcanned.
And I go home on time.
And I no longer have stomach trouble.
Just do your job. Let someone else be a hero. You'll be getting most of their raise anyway.
Re:Class. (Score:3, Insightful)
In theory, someone may know how to drive without a driver's license, and many with licenses are horrible drivers. But I wouldn't want to get in the car with someone who doesn't have a license.
Re:Class. (Score:5, Insightful)
Uhh... Have you ever actually hung around with PhD engineers? They love geeks. They worship us. They hold doors for us. They lavish us with praise. They can actually grasp the units of measurement when we ask them to pass us a metric hex driver.
Why?
Have you ever seen a PhD cry when the $3k frontend to their $150k NMR goes down?
I don't think they even care (or possibly know) the cost difference, but they perfectly understand the idea "the box I use to justify my salary no longer works. Please please please keep me employed".
Your B-school educated manager,
Ahahaha, gimme a frickin' break. You want to compare an aloof twit to a PhD? The PhD I would actually tolerate a bit of flak from, they earned their title. But a manager with an inflated title and degree? I will assume, for the sake of argument, that I have no choice but to help them (since I would gleefully watch them suffer otherwise). But as any IT pro knows, "make it work again" lies a whole world away from what we can do for someone we actually want to help. SpyBot? AdAware? Never heard of 'em. Sounds dangerous, don't run them. FireFox? Damn, man, you want to get the company branded as a bunch of communists? Backups? Oh, you mean you have to re-enter all those reports by hand? Bummer, eh? Automatically recreate them with Crystal? Hmm, sounds like a drug reference, you should sack the bastard that told you such an off-color joke.
I don't want people to suck up to me. I don't want people to grovel. And that includes management. I just want people to appreciate (in its most basic form) what I do for them - namely, nothing short of making it possible for them to do their job in the modern world.
And no, I don't generally play BOFH. At my current job, I consider even the management pretty cool (of course, an owner on a first-name basis with most of his staff really makes for a MUCH nicer environment). I help them out to the best of my ablility because I want to. They deserve it, by treating me as a human rather than as a number in HR's files.
This is why managers get paid more than geeks (Score:1, Insightful)
Many geeks are good managers. But many are not. It's just a different skill set to run a business and make money at it consistently, than it is to code, work on hardware, etc. You can be good at both, but being good at one does not necessarily require you to be good at the other.
Being spectacular at a specific geek skill like programming, network admin, security, etc. makes you valuable to a business. But without good management, there is no business--whether or not the engineering skills are there. That's why managers make more than engineers in a lot of cases.
Re:It's about customer service (Score:5, Insightful)
Prepare for huge blanket statements
Why are programmers usually geeky properllerheads with little social skills? Probably because they stare at code all day. Did you hire them to smooze?
Why are sales guys finger shooting suits? Probably because they sell things to people who don't want to spend money, smooth out issues and network all day. Did you hire them to be introverted and shy?
Sorry to generalize but IT people are bitter because the job is fighting fires all day. Make a sales guy code for a year and most will start watching Star Wars and have little to say at parties. Make a developer sling deals and pitch to high powered VPs and I bet people think he's greasy and fake. I'm stereo-typing in a major way but I've seen really happy people turn sour in a position like helpdesk/desktop support.
It's just a thankless job where you only can dump on your PC/desktop vendor. People seek power and bottom rung is no fun for most.
Re:Respect, dignity, and disrespect (Score:3, Insightful)
I think you are suggesting far too much latitude. How easy it is to justify our inhumanity to each other by imagining that those acts are the necessary response to an aggressor. A bully can produce any number of reasons why his victims deserved what they got.
I believe that its never acceptable to deny someone human dignity, no matter what the conditions, a principle that extends to how you treat other people and how you treat yourself - i.e. to permit someone to treat you without dignity is morally equivalent to permitting that treatment for others. If someone incites you to assert your own dignity which causes a denial of their dignity, then they are responsible for both actions, such as if someone purposely stepped on your toes and you responded by pushing them off.
In such a situation, all of the actions that you take to restore your dignity are morally acceptable, but everything beyond that is immoral. Therefore, the impulse to retaliate and cause the attacker to experience the same humiliation that you received is immoral. Causing the attacker to be humiliated may be satisfying to the attackee, but goes far beyond restoring dignity and into punishment and disincentives and it is unjust for an attackee to dispense his idea of justice since the satisfaction of revenge would be something very much like a material benefit. A disinterested party is the proper dispenser of justice, who should restore the plaintiff's dignity if possible. But since denying an individual's dignity also strikes a blow against the community as a whole, it is just for the attacker to make additional reparations to the community itself in the form of incarceration, fines, community service, etc.
its the new mcdonalds (Score:3, Insightful)
For good or bad. The creme will always rise to the top, just like in any industry. Looks like the guy in article needs to learn how to sell himself insead of assuming people will magically understand how good he is.
Re:my boss admitted it ... (Score:3, Insightful)
The answer is actually a lot simplier than many people think. Have you ever noticed at your company that some/most/all of the top level managers have worked together before? That the investors that they go to meet first are personal freinds that they have worked with before? Or that most of the people on the board of directors are also on other boards of directors and tend to know each other and work together many times over the years? Or that the CEO has been involved with starting up X number of business in teh last ten years, none of which ever actually succeded, but somehow he's found the cash to start again?
Well, here is the dirty little secret... That's because they are all playing a game together. The reason why the CEO (& friends) gets the big bucks is so that, when the company fails (which a signifigant percentage inevitably do), he will have enough solid capital to start up a new business, or, and this is key, invest in a business started up by one of the people who invested in HIS business.
It's a safely net, you see. He fails and helps his buddy start up a business. His bubdy fails and turns around and helps the first guy, ad nauseum.
Re:wow... (Score:5, Insightful)
Respect Declining in Our Culture Overall (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Respect Declining in Our Culture Overall (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:The importance of walking around (Score:2, Insightful)
My little IT department got a good amount of respect from the whole company (and, like a previous poster said, nailing interns left and right as well
Suffice to say that my department was not considered a necessary evil, but an equal of accounting. Being a part of the community sure contributes a lot.
That said, if you consider accounting is just a "bean counter", then you deserve every amount of disrespect you have. Just treat others like how you want them treat you.
Re:Yeeah, I don't buy it. (Score:4, Insightful)
You guys want to be recognized, even praised by the big dogs? Find out who the real boss is, the guy that can authorize a massive bonus or raise. Find out what his motivation is, and make that happen. You can make all the end users happy as pie but if you don't accomplish any of the things the guy cutting the checks wants done - you were effectively worthless to him. Actually he still had to pay your salary without getting any of the things he wanted done, so you were a drain on his balance sheet (in his head at least.)
Enable a Corporate VP succeed with one of his business goals this year and you will find yourself way better off than if you had enabled 100 secretaries to 'do email' 13% faster or saved the company $300 by driving across the state instead of flying.
Re:Yeeah, I don't buy it. (Score:3, Insightful)
You are absolutely right. You need to make your intentions popular in order to succeed, and I have succeeded because of that mentality. Being in a dying industry, a pastime lately of people aspiring to be or are already accomplished inventors; working in a machine shop is a very humbling if not life changing trade.
I am an extremely intelligent man, with the test scores to prove it. The history, resume and school records to show that I am at least a revolutionary. As of late, I know that doesn't mean jack squat compared to the actions I partake in to prove it.
Respect is a dish that is best served prepared, and being passionate or at least a little professional about your livelihood is one of the best methods to help another person prepare it. Being an extremely young man, I have earned almost all my respect through yearning to learn and genuine inquiries into the working of things and the most efficient way to accomplish goals.
Take this man's advice, people. Only a man who respects himself and the goals he wishes to accomplish is ever going to do anything he truly meant to do in life.
Re:An Outside Perspective (Score:3, Insightful)
You are making the same mistake a whole lot of people around the world make. You visit big cities that are full of judgemental assholes (usually self-proclaimed to be the most open minded) and cast the whole country in that light.
I don't blame you for it, because really, who wants to vacation in South Dakota, West Virginia, or New Mexico? No one. Well, very few.
If you go to parts of the U.S. where people are REAL, then you will see it's not quite as stratified as you think. Remember, people who live inside/near the cities either:
1) Make shitloads of money, so they think they're all that and don't have much grasp on reality. Of course, they have to pay back most of that money on the form of higher city/property taxes and much higher costs of living.
2) Work the undesireable service jobs and make just enough to eke by, making them look poor, when really, they would do alright with the same pay in a different area. They just refuse to go where life is better because they don't realize that it is better (IMO, of course).
You want a quick answer? (Score:3, Insightful)
This is a vicious generalization, I realize. But in my experience, it has often held true.
Re:Oh fuck ya**UPDATE** Part tres flores (Score:3, Insightful)
Ok, mostly I see a bunch of AC comments saying the situation could have been handled better, ect. There's one about me not being a good manager, what not.
First off, this isn't the dot com boom anymore. You take what you can get in this economy. If this is what I love doing, i'm good at it, I should be happy with whatever I get paid, as long as it compensates for my costs.
Second, as far as this being a lack of management skills on my part, well, refer to answer #1. I did everything I could do right. There was a contract, I put in little clauses like "2 hour minimum for any site visit" and other things like that to make sure my time wasn't monopolized on little shit 1/2 visits. All said and done, I did a very good job of "managing" this.
Third, there are people in this world that no matter how good of a deal you're going to give them, they're always going to want more. This is a personality type. Usually I can spot these right off the bat, but when I first started working for this client, there was no indication that he was this type. I worked without a contract, just straight billing at my full non contract rate.
Three is enough responses, so onto what happened today..
So I get out to the sattelite office. This wasn't the main office with the troublesome company president. Like I said in my previous post, the manager of this office always valued my time and opinion, and would sometimes throw a little extra change my way ($100 check usually).
The VPN was totally down. He said it had been this way for months, and the president had several people out there to fix it, but none of them were able to figure it out. (hmm, gee, freeswan vpn, documentation is all over the fucking net you idiots) He told me at one point they had brought in these red vpn boxes (i'm guessing watchguard boxes) and when they didn't work, brought them back.
Apparently Bob was no longer doing work for the company because he wasn't getting paid. The last trip he made out there, the sattelite office had to make the check out, then fax it to his office before he even showed up on site.
There was the usual run of spyware on the machines. A few swipes with adaware and S&D cleaned them up fast.
There was some data in the main office he needed transferred over. See, the sattelite offices would save their data over the VPN to a server in the main office, where the data was backed up to a DLT tape every night.
Right before I left, I set up PPTP on their PDC so they could remote in while on the road. I just simply fired up the PPTP client, connected, downloaded the data and put it on the local BDC. Then I went around and changed all the drive mappings in the local office to point to the BDC on the local site instead of the PDC in the main office.
It was a cool hours worth of my time. Clean up 5 machines, set up some new accounts, bring the data they needed back to them, ect.
After an hour, I told him that's all that really needed to be done. I walked out with a nice check for $100 bucks for an hour of work. Well worth the trip.
Before I left, the office manager told me that the sattelite offices were planning a coup, that the company president had been flaking on everything, missing deadlines, pretending not to be in the office when he was, and making promises that he couldn't keep. Apparently they're talking to the investors / aka board of directors about this in secret meetings.
When the coup finally does happen, they want me back taking care of things with a substancial pay raise.
So again, there's another moral to be learned out of all of this.
Just because things fall apart, it doesn't mean that you will always get the blame. Do good work, and people will notice you.