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Just keep learning and learning, to the point where being laid off is "cool, free time to find a job making more money"
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Oct 14, 2015 13:42
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evobatman posted:Another day, another all staff meeting with the CEO where he tells us that poo poo is hosed up in the oil business, and even more people have to be let go. I think we have had like 5 or 6 of them so far, but I'm still here. Until I'm not I guess. Let me guess: Profits are only up 25% instead of 50% and therefor he can only afford to wash his yacht twice a week with the tears of 3rd world orphans instead of 1st word orphans correct?
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Oct 14, 2015 14:01
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RFC2324 posted:This sounds like something that would get you sent to HR in a hurry. You'd think, but I do all the ordering and my boss doesn't give any shits. My last ebates check was around $300.
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Oct 14, 2015 14:02
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Gevobatman posted:Another day, another all staff meeting with the CEO where he tells us that poo poo is hosed up in the oil business, and even more people have to be let go. I think we have had like 5 or 6 of them so far, but I'm still here. Until I'm not I guess. Geez. I've got former co-workers that work IT for natural gas/oil as well right now...at least I think they still do. I doubt the petero engineer friend I know however is ever going to get let go except for complete company collapse.
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Oct 14, 2015 14:39
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ratbert90 posted:Let me guess: Profits are only up 25% instead of 50% and therefor he can only afford to wash his yacht twice a week with the tears of 3rd world orphans instead of 1st word orphans correct? I don't know, my company told all our service providers they need to drop their price by 30% or we'll find someone else. That was on top of earlier price reductions. I can see some MSP's being hit pretty hard by that.
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Oct 14, 2015 17:28
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Back in the '90s I worked for a place called "Computer City" for about a week. Can't get much more '90s than that name. Oh, it wasn't a regular Computer City: it was a SUPERCENTER! Due to my familiarity with computers and retail experience they unleashed me immediately but I quickly got in trouble for not selling enough extended warranties. My supervisor was a dour guy named Klaus whose sole contribution to my development as an employee was to bark "TAKE YOUR HANDS OUT OF YOUR POCKETS" when he saw me patrolling the aisles. I saw him years later stuck behind the upgrade counter at a CompUSA, not long before they started closing their stores. gently caress you, Klaus. EDIT: The only way it could've been more '90s is if I'd worked for Tandy's other retail tech disaster, Incredible Universe.
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Oct 14, 2015 17:40
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Vulture Culture posted:This is why I can't enjoy NY winters anymore. I'm already staying home, now I just have a shitload of snow to shovel. Last place would close if it smelled like a storm. This. The past two winters were brutal, two hours of snow blowing and shoveling then having to login to work. Had to burn a few sick days just to recover from being out of shoveling shape. Dick Trauma posted:Computer City Thanks for the walk down memory lane, although I never worked there I would be in and out for parts all the time.
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Oct 14, 2015 18:19
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This winter is supposed to be especially bad too. 
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Oct 14, 2015 18:23
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Apparently, I'm solo calling candidates to "phone screen" them for technical ability for a job I don't do in a branch I'm not in, with no questions or material provided other than the candidate resumes and a statement of work that doesn't match the duties of the person they are replacing or the expectations of the branch chief in question. I'm also a contractor screening other contractors with virtually no input from the feds. :Wednesday:
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Oct 14, 2015 18:47
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Dick Trauma posted:Back in the '90s I worked for a place called "Computer City" for about a week. Can't get much more '90s than that name. Oh, it wasn't a regular Computer City: it was a SUPERCENTER! Computer City still exists over here. I'm guessing it is remains of the same chain/franchise, since the stores here were also called Supercenter. I think they dropped that since. I think they used to have all kinds of cool stuff, but now it's just a boring home electronics retailer, and with a mostly poor selection.
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Oct 14, 2015 18:49
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Dick Trauma posted:CompUSA CompUSA!!!  My nostalgic heart's aflutter! Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun launch displays! Mechwarrior 2 with Virtual IO iGlasses! IBM Aptivas with the worst voice recognition software known to humanity! Sorry. Lost my head there for a sec.
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Oct 14, 2015 19:16
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Docjowles posted:Pretty sure getting rejected from Best Buy is a great sign for your abilities! A couple months back my mom went to them to buy a new laptop* and paid to have them transfer her data to the new device. All of her music and a bunch of documents didn't make it. Their response was essentially "lol it's your fault, also there's nothing we can do and we won't issue a refund, Best Buy's tech support is incompetence personified, and being the only other computer/consumer electronics repair shop in the area we get to clean up their mess (and usually profit off of it) often. Just recently we had someone come in with a laptop that refused to boot. According to her Best Buy said that the machine was completely dead and that it wouldn't be worth fixing. Turns out the laptop uses the caps lock light to communicate error codes (I noticed that starting up the machine made the light blink three times, then turn off completely). A cursory Google search revealed that the specific error means the RAM's gone bad. Upsold her on some new larger RAM that we had lying around and we made some good cash off of a 30 minute fix because Geek Squad couldn't take five minutes to observe closely and do a Google search.
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Oct 14, 2015 19:24
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Segmentation Fault posted:couldn't take five minutes to observe closely I've talked a lot about troubleshooting fundamentals, this is the easiest step to skip and it's incredibly important.
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Oct 14, 2015 19:26
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Dr. Arbitrary posted:I've talked a lot about troubleshooting fundamentals, this is the easiest step to skip and it's incredibly important. This can't be said enough. Years ago my A+ certification course instructor had lots of chuckles at the expense of the students when they couldn't figure out that he'd wrapped the ends of the power plug in electrical tape.
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Oct 14, 2015 19:46
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Heard the office manager on a call. Don't know who he was talking to. He said "it's more complicated than a Japanese porn website!"
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Oct 14, 2015 20:00
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Dick Trauma posted:Back in the '90s I worked for a place called "Computer City" for about a week. Can't get much more '90s than that name. Oh, it wasn't a regular Computer City: it was a SUPERCENTER! Whoa. Was it the one in Overland Park? I worked there. Crazy easy work doing upgrades and warranty repair. Never worked the sales floor. Then they got bought by CompUSSR and we were put under the management of a guy whose only experience was managing Taco Bells. I didn't last a month, that place definitely felt like the money laundering front it was purported to be.
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Oct 14, 2015 20:06
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Wrath of the Bitch King posted:This can't be said enough. Back in high school I did a little work fixing minor computer problems in town. By far my favorite was the woman whose inkjet printer simply would not work. It would feed the paper through and act like it was printing, move the ink heads around etc, but the sheet always came out blank. Took me an annoyingly long time dicking around with drivers and whatnot to figure out. I finally pulled out the ink cartridge and she had forgotten to remove the strip of tape that goes over the head to prevent leaking  Always remember to check Layer 1...
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Oct 14, 2015 20:34
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Wrath of the Bitch King posted:This can't be said enough. I would do something like this to my classmates when I took an A+ class, except I'd flip the 115v/220v switch on the back of the PSU. Second semester of that class was really just dedicated to Unreal Tournament 2004.
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Oct 14, 2015 20:50
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AlternateAccount posted:Then they got bought by CompUSSR and we were put under the management of a guy whose only experience was managing Taco Bells. I didn't last a month, that place definitely felt like the money laundering front it was purported to be. Haha! I worked at a CompUSA in Modesto. A few months after I quit and relocated to the Bay Area, I stopped by to pick up some parts for my parents system. I spoke to some of my former co-workers who said most of the managers were fired for stealing. This was back in early 2000's, so it was mostly PDA's, since those were the hot item at the time. I think the store maybe lasted another year before it was closed.
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Oct 14, 2015 20:59
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Well, I just knocked an interview out of the park. Unfortunately, I'm not going to take the job even if I get the offer. I sure wish the recruiter would have mentioned that it could require out of state travel for days rather than just day trips down to Denver. Meraki people, for the "Last 2h/1d/1w/30d" listings, does it just go with what has been used, or what is connected? I see printers that show as offline that I can still access the web servers for pretty regularly.
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Oct 14, 2015 21:43
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Wrath of the Bitch King posted:This can't be said enough. I think you're sorta understanding what I'm getting at. I'm talking even more basic than that though. You get a call from a user saying their computer doesn't work. When you get there you notice that the Monitor says No Signal and its power light is on. You glance at the keyboard and notice that none of the capslock, numlock, scroll lock lights are lit, you press capslock just to see. No change. You look under the desk at the PC, the light on the front is off and you don't hear the fans. You press the power button, nothing. These are REALLY basic symptoms but they tell you a lot. From here you can probably narrow the problem down to a few general areas. You know that there's probably not a blown fuse, building power or UPS problem because the monitor works. More importantly, you can probably use the monitor's power outlet as a known good. The cable too if it comes to that. Here's a few likely problems: 1. The power outlet for the PC is broken. 2. The power cord for the PC is broken. 3. The power supply for the PC is broken. 4. The motherboard is broken. 5. Something complicated is going on. Complicated is fun, but let's be logical. You're going to want to half split here. As you become a more skilled troubleshooter you'll learn to take into account how easy a split is, and how likely different problems are, but for now, let's just try to separate 1,2 from 3,4. Test 1: Unplug power cord from back of PC. Unplug power cord from back of monitor. Plug monitor power into back of PC. Press Power button on PC. Result: PC begins power up cycle. This tells you that the problem is either the cord or the outlet. So power the PC back off, set the cord back how they were to begin with. Test 2: Unplug both power cords from outlets, plug PC into other outlet. Result: PC does not power up. We already knew that the other power outlet was good, so it's not a power outlet issue. The problem is definitely with the power cord. Return the Monitor power back to how it was., Test 3. Replace power cord for PC. Result: PC powers up. At this point, we could troubleshoot the power cord, maybe there's a short, or a damaged connector. I think it's probably best to just toss it. Finally, we can do failure analysis. This is really good for new technicians. Why did a bad power cord cause the original symptoms? Bad power cord means no power from wall to PC Power supply. That means that no power will be sent to the power light or fans. Furthermore, it means that the keyboard can't get power either so no Caps Lock lights. The monitor would still get power, but since it isn't getting a signal from the PC it still gets a NO SIGNAL sign on it. I know this seems obvious, this is what goes through the brain of a troubleshooter, but if you have new people, you have to spell it out until they start to learn.
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Oct 14, 2015 21:46
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ChubbyThePhat posted:This winter is supposed to be especially bad too. I hope so! (But then, I work at a ski resort, so it means more budget for me in the summer.) Docjowles posted:Back in high school I did a little work fixing minor computer problems in town. By far my favorite was the woman whose inkjet printer simply would not work. It would feed the paper through and act like it was printing, move the ink heads around etc, but the sheet always came out blank. Took me an annoyingly long time dicking around with drivers and whatnot to figure out. That's Layer 8.
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Oct 14, 2015 23:45
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Colonial Air Force posted:I hope so! Yep, classic PEBKAC issue.
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Oct 15, 2015 01:46
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ChubbyThePhat posted:This winter is supposed to be especially bad too. Yeah I just dropped a lot of money on a separate set of winter tires and rims after almost meeting a snowy demise several times last winter.
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Oct 15, 2015 03:31
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There's a thing I don't know. Is it my boss's responsibility to teach me, or is it my responsibility to ask? Is he supposed to train me, or am I supposed to get trained? I already know the answer to this question and you're not going to change my mind, but I am curious where other people fall on this.
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Oct 15, 2015 06:27
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If you knowing more about a technology benefits the team/organization or is required to do your job, then it's your management's responsibility to make sure you are adequately trained (whether that's directly or through third party training). If it's training that's tailored towards your goals (even if it's likely to help your organization), then you will likely need to be proactive about making it happen. Realistically, it's more of a middle ground. You probably have one on one time with your manager, even if it's informal - among other things those discussions should cover what training is expected of you and what training you would want to get, and the logistics of making sure that happens.
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Oct 15, 2015 06:49
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MC Fruit Stripe posted:There's a thing I don't know. Is it my boss's responsibility to teach me, or is it my responsibility to ask? Is he supposed to train me, or am I supposed to get trained? Your boss likely doesn't know what you don't know. Ask to get trained.
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Oct 15, 2015 06:49
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MC Fruit Stripe posted:Existential crisis: I am sick, but I barely do anything anyway and I work from home, so being sick has no actual bearing on my work. Why even be sick? I did this a few days ago, used it as a way to #connect with #clients/#coworkers I hardly ever engage with on a #personal level. *cough cough*, sorry your active directory federated services is causing an outage with your single *cough* sign on system, I'll *cough* get right on that sorry I'm sick, you know how it goes!!!!! oh whats that don't worry about it until next week? why no I'd never leave you in a *haccccckkkk* lurch like that!
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Oct 15, 2015 06:59
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I strongly believe in leaving a ticket for two days (unless urgent) before addressing it. Doing so results in way more tickets than you would think solving themselves. We're in slow season right now as far as tickets go. I probably have 6 right now. Out of the 18 or so I've been assigned this week, 5 solved themselves. That's a 27.78% increase in efficiency!
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Oct 15, 2015 07:49
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That's 27% of people not submitting tickets in the future because they know it takes two days and you might not even address it, so why bother? If it's something that might solve itself, it's a slam dunk to show up, act like you care, and walk away the hero in 30 seconds.
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Oct 15, 2015 13:37
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Or they'll figure out that you only respond to urgent tickets and start gaming the system.
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Oct 15, 2015 14:23
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Grimshak posted:I strongly believe in leaving a ticket for two days (unless urgent) before addressing it. Doing so results in way more tickets than you would think solving themselves. sorry this is dumb, solve the loving ticket within an hour of it being opened or what the gently caress are you doing in IT. if it's user error or you need more details tell them, that's fine, but still reassign to user or solve as quick as humanly possible.
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Oct 15, 2015 14:25
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psydude posted:Or they'll figure out that you only respond to urgent tickets and start gaming the system. Urgent tickets get resolved last. The trick to get your ticket done immediately is to mark it as low importance.
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Oct 15, 2015 14:25
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My boss is offering to pay for a bunch of training stuff but has no idea what to get as part of our budget for next year. I told him to get CBTNuggets for our department, but is there anything else I should recommend?
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Oct 15, 2015 15:34
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Kashuno posted:My boss is offering to pay for a bunch of training stuff but has no idea what to get as part of our budget for next year. I told him to get CBTNuggets for our department, but is there anything else I should recommend? http://www.pluralsight.com/
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Oct 15, 2015 15:39
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A safari books subscription would be cool. You can get all of the O'Reilly books online that way.
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Oct 15, 2015 16:00
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Kashuno posted:My boss is offering to pay for a bunch of training stuff but has no idea what to get as part of our budget for next year. I told him to get CBTNuggets for our department, but is there anything else I should recommend? http://www.pass4sure.com/ 
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Oct 15, 2015 16:01
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BaseballPCHiker posted:A safari books subscription would be cool. You can get all of the O'Reilly books online that way. This would be my first choice.
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Oct 15, 2015 16:38
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MC Fruit Stripe posted:There's a thing I don't know. Is it my boss's responsibility to teach me, or is it my responsibility to ask? Is he supposed to train me, or am I supposed to get trained?
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Oct 15, 2015 16:45
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MC Fruit Stripe posted:There's a thing I don't know. Is it my boss's responsibility to teach me, or is it my responsibility to ask? Is he supposed to train me, or am I supposed to get trained? People can't be expected to know what they don't know they should know. It's the job of management or senior staff to keep on top of this. It's also the job of management to foster a culture where people can ask questions without being looked or talked down upon by the people they're asking, and to do everything they can to facilitate a learning organization through the free exchange of information. At the same time, if someone understands the parameters of their job, understands that there are skills they're lacking, understands they need to take steps to bring those skills to the table and then does nothing to actually improve themselves on the job, that's likely to be a problem with that employee's work ethic. At its core, like everything else, this is a question about complicated systems, and how people with different personalities, fears, insecurities, wants, and needs interact within them.
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Oct 15, 2015 16:50
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