Entries Tagged 'Information Technology' ↓

My project manager told me on Friday that I had to work this weekend and she expected at least 8 hours of work a day. They do not pay me enough to work 16 hours or more on a weekend.

My 8 hours of work today consisted of watching a cycling race, sending an email, watching Dirty Jobs, sending another email, grocery shopping, and sending a third email and charging 8 hours of work when in reality I only worked for 30 minutes. We are supposably supposed to go-live next weekend which is the reason we all have to work 16 hours this weekend, but we have been asked to work every weekend for the last 5 months.

One of my insane co-workers worked 92 hours last week. I charged 62 which is basically the minimum expected, but only worked like 50. The rest of the time I spent cleaning my apartment, watching TV, or anything else that needed done. I just feel sorry for all of those IT workers who have not caught on to the game of pretending to management you actually work the hours they demand.

My project manager told the entire team we had to work 16 hours this weekend, yet she did not even log on today. Do not expect me to work if you are not going to. I can do the same crap you are doing too.

After reading the book “Anonymous Lawyer” by Jeremy Blachman I decided to write my own version of Anonymous Computer Geek here.  Well at least occasionally. If you have read my blog, you have realized I am gay, and yes I will occasionally continue to post about gay topics, but I now have another topic to write about.

You have all heard about child abuse, spousal abuse, and all other types of abuse. But have you heard about IT worker abuse?

Probably not. You are actually probably one of the culprits. You expect your helpdesk and your IT workers to be available 24/7 to fix the smallest problem you are having. Almost every IT worker is forced to carry a BlackBerry 24/7 and is expected to answer it all hours of the day or night. We would be happy to do this and help you, if you treated us as an equal rather than the lowliest of dogs.

To be honest when you are having problems, we have no idea what is wrong. Your resident IT department is clueless, but we do know how to troubleshoot. Yes, I am going to tell you to reboot even if you have already done it 6 times, because honestly I don’t trust you. I don’t even trust my fellow co-workers. 99% of the time you or my co-workers are telling me something is wrong, when there truly is nothing wrong.

Do NOT treat my like shit just because you have already rebooted. Most of the time, you have not already rebooted and you are flat out lying to me. Do not treat me like shit because you are having a problem at 2 AM. I do NOT care. I want to sleep you can wait until I wake up. Do NOT think you can run your company without IT. I will quit and leave you as the emperor with no clothes. If I tell you it is going to take 2 months do NOT tell me it has to be done in 2 weeks. I am not going to work 48/7 for the next two weeks so you can get your bonus check. Do NOT play political games. I do not care what management is telling me has to be done. I know what I can do and if you don’t like it go find yourself another IT worker to fuck.

I am not your slave. Yes, I love troubleshooting computer problems, but you are not the only one who has computer problems. I can find a job somewhere else paying me more. I do not care if your company crashes and burns if you treat me like shit. If you treat me and pay me well, I will work my ass off for you. If you treat me and pay me like trash, screw you.

It is just too bad you are going to treat me like shit. I will find another job in 2 years. If I wake up at 1 AM trying to figure out how to fix your problems, it is time for a new job.

Much has been made about electronic voting machines and their reliability. Election officials and the makers of these machines claim they are completely reliable, yet security and computer experts insist that problems exist.

The security and computer experts are right. Think about Windows and how Microsoft releases several patches and security fixes every month. This means Windows which has been out and in development for years still has security problems. Why would anyone believe that a voting machine which has been in development for a lot less time does not have security problems?

I work in the computer industry and I can guarantee that security holes or bugs exist in Windows, in the computer that runs your car, in this website, in your DVR, at your credit card company, and in voting machines. With complex software there are always bugs and security issues.

So if e-voting machines have problems how should we count our votes? Well, there is no 100% accurate way to count votes. People will make mistakes hand counting, scanning machines may misread or have a bug, mechanical counters may break, and e-voting machines may have bugs. The most accurate of these four is the mechanical machine; however, this is hard for the voter to use because once they press a lever they cannot change the vote. Hand counting would be the next best, but is very slow and requires a lot of people. Scanning machines and e-voting both have the same security and bug issues.

The right solution in my opinion is to use the e-voting machines with a paper trail that is also audited. This does not mean every paper ballot should be hand counted, but 10% of the votes cast on the machine should be hand counted and a statistical analysis done to ensure that the voting machine most likely reported correctly. If this shows potential issues, then a full hand count for the voting machine should occur.

The problem is most states do not require a paper trail, so if the voting machine reports incorrectly, too bad the results are still treated as gold because there is no proof or possible indication of a problem. Encourage your legislators to require a paper trail for all voting so the machines can be audited and the general public have confidence in the results.

I hate being in IT. Everyone expects their friend the computer geek to fix all of their problems, yet no one repays their local computer geek for spending your nights at their house troubleshooting their problem. The problem they have because they forward every chain letter, click on every phishing email, do not have anti-virus software, and think they know it all. They expect you to spend 4 hours of your Saturday at their house, troubleshooting their computer. You then get to ruin their day, by telling them you have to reformat because they never listen despite how often and how loudly you tell them.

You do all of this with a smile on your face because that is what they expect. Yet inside you are wishing how you could be out on your bike. You are on call 24/7 and if you do not answer your phone the calls keep coming. You are always in front of a computer, no matter how much you want to get away. It is always work, work for your friends, work on your own pet projects, eat, sleep, and repeat.

You give $30,000 worth of free IT support and advice to your friends and relatives a year, but do not expect anything in return. You could fix your tax accountant friend’s computer, but he will not do your taxes for free. You could fix your mechanic friend’s computer, but he will not fix your car for free. You could fix your bosses computer, but do not expect any favors.

Why is it that the entire world takes IT for granted?