“The more companies and management treat their administration like dirt, the more problems like this will arise.”
by Kevin Church
- Published:July 22nd, 2008
- Comments:5 Comments
- Category:Blog Comments, Technology
A Wired article about San Francisco’s network being hacked by a vindictive ex-employee features a litany of offenses by sysadmins who have wrought havoc upon their former workplaces, including someone deleting a database used for matching organ donors to patients and an Australian fellow who hacked a sewage plant and flooded local rivers and parks with hundreds of thousands of gallons of filthy water. This has, of course, brought out those on both sides of the “You know, my IT guy is kind of a dickbag” issue.
The gems, of course, all come from the guys that make sure your business functions well in between marathon sessions of WoW and Mountain Dew Code Red runs.
This is just bullshit….The companies that fire their employees after a year of employment ask for it…it is so simple…don’t hire someone if you want to fire him/her afterwards….Japanese are smart….after all the yellow race is the superior than others…
It is simple…..we lost !
This is why it is so critical that management handle their tech personnel carefully. If you need to let one of them go, for whatever reason, it’s not a good idea to make it a public event or a heated argument. It only takes a knowledgeable tech a mere minute or two to initiate an attack that will severely cripple the business.
It’s generally a good rule of thumb to not talk down to your local tech during any period of their employment. That will only guarantee you poor and slow service when you need it and will make that techs termination even more potentially hazardous.
So if you like to be the hardass boss to the employees in your charge, tone it down for the techs. Treat us with kindness and you’ll reap the benefits!
I’m amazed at some of the HUGE sentences handed down for mostly “irritating, not life-threatening” crimes. Even some killers don’t get 97 months jail, and it was only a s**t Banking Institution!! Somebody must have been REALLY pi**ed off!
One last word for IT management, you’re only in control because us techs let you be because we like you and the way you treat us. Don’t cross us unless you want to lose your job too.
Its not the poor treatment of the employees that caused them to go off. Its their poor mental state that caused them to go off, most of us with the knowledge and ability to pull off such sabotage would never do it. We might think about it and fantasize about it but never actually go through with it..
NERDS RULE!!!
Here is a hint to resolve these common plagues from network admins…
Treat your administration with respect and as if they are actually valuable!
The more companies and management treat their administration like dirt, the more problems like this will arise.
Either that, or send the admin jobs to be outsourced in India. You think it’s hard understanding the guy from 7-11, try getting your password from him and understanding what he said.
If Corporate management would use just an ounce of respect, maybe things will be different. But since that will never happen, maybe you’ll think twice about treating your admins and engineers like the geek you kicked around in high school.
I would suggest that Terry Child is probably a disgruntled homosexual. This is the type of behavior you will see from such persons. Another example was the homosexual that blew up the turret on a navy ship after a falling out with another homosexual lover.
So, what have we learned? That IT guys are overbearing, loudmouthed whiners who don’t understand why people don’t like them? Or that companies need to have better procedures in place? Or is that the gays are always up to no good? U-DECIDE!
5 Comments
The answer is both. Lots of companies heavily rely upon technical people who they don’t pay very well. A friend of mine was forced to stay at one of the company facilities DURING A HURRICANE to keep servers running. What did the company give as a reward to its employees for this?
A cookie.
That’s all, just a cookie for staying around huge amounts of electronics and electricity during a hurricane.
Management often makes insane or impossible or down right stupid demands. (When I worked as the web guy for the KU business department, one of the professors wanted me to set her up a website which would have violated copyright law. And this was a person who ran SEMINARS FOR JUDGES. (On economics))
So lots of companies treat their techs badly.
That being said, lots of techs are anti-social. I know a lot of people who went into this field in order to not have to deal with people.
And they become more so after years of trouble with management.
So what you have here is the sacred union of open flame (the management) and gunpowder (the techs).
It’s surprising we don’t get MORE explosions.
Lots of companies don’t pay ANY of their employees well.
Those darn homos are always stirring up trouble…
“Lots of companies don’t pay ANY of their employees well.”
Well, right, but it’s only the IT guys who are special, precious, and cultured enough to warrant better pay. Or else they’ll make YOU the target of their Fight Club-esque fantasies to sabotage the Man.
Because being a bunch of unorganized dicks has usually worked for people seeking better pay.
It’s true that lots of companies don’t pay any of their employees well, and it’s true that some tech people are surly misanthropes. However, I’ve worked both in and out of IT, and I’ve found there is a general… I don’t know what you’d call it, but the lack of value that companies place on their IT departments is really weird. I think part of it is that they’re money losers, but at the same time, they’re a totally necessary money loser. At the same time, because it’s one of those jobs where most of the time, everything looks so easy, that people start to get pissy that techs get paid for it. At the same time, people get mad at techs when it’s usually the person’s fault that their machine is broken; it’s like getting mad at the mechanic after the driver runs their car into a wall.
I really wish there was more of a move to unionize IT, but there are so many objectivist/libertarian jackasses in the industry, I doubt it’ll happen in the next 20 years.