Tales from the help desk...

[Keith_Fu]

Oh yeah- and the Marketing director, whose husband works in IT, is a menace. she hears technical words from him and somehow thinks that is what we need, desperately. So she bombards me with requests of things she doesn't really know what they are and expects they will magically make things better.

Marketing Director:

"Subject: RSS feeds

Keith

I would love to have a quick chat with you on this

Need to understand if I can link to my outlook or not

Thanks

(Her initial)"

[so I come over and she explains she wants RSS for her outlook ... I go back and investigate some alternatives, install a free reader into her outlook, and work with her to subscribe to some relevant feeds-

... after looking at it for one minute she shakes her head... she had no idea what RSS actually was and thought it would make appointments automatically on her calendar for events somehow and those appointments would actually be for events that she would like to maybe attend, and a list of feeds of news headlines was completely not what she thought it magically was.

luckily, she is the same level as me organization chart wise so I could laugh at her, which I did as I walked out her door.]

[Caseyelan]

[vealchop]

"....that mouth a yours."

I can watch youtube clips of ESD all day. fucking great.

[Keith_Fu]

[Keith_Fu]

700 books in cart guy needed a new computer because of persistent errors that caused him to get pissier and pissier.

I gave him a new computer and transferred his settings and files, making sure none of his precious books were lost.

some time later:

him: What exactly did you do with my computer? It is slower that previous one.

me: I replaced it with a computer with updated software and transferred your files and settings. What about it is slower? How much slower is it?

him: Click, wait, click, wait

me: seriously, go F yourself

[Keith_Fu]

yes this is an internet meme/ cliche but so, so accurate.

next time you see me ask me about some of the horrifying, life destroying if anyone ever ever found out but somehow I'll check it out on my work computer and it will be fine shit I have seen on people's computers here that have taken years off my life. suffice to say, if you ever look at anything that is not related to work at work, your IT guy will know, sooner or later. and he really would have been fine not knowing.

[Manayz]

I notice that most of the HuT hosts seem to have IT related jobs. Would any of you have tips for getting into the field? I've plenty of personal experience with computers and have used them since I was in like 3rd grade, but I can't seem to get my foot into any entry level jobs, not even calls for the fucking Geek Squad. All I can think of to do is to keep educating myself and work on certifications until something comes along, feels bad man.

[Keith_Fu]

I notice that most of the HuT hosts seem to have IT related jobs. Would any of you have tips for getting into the field? I've plenty of personal experience with computers and have used them since I was in like 3rd grade, but I can't seem to get my foot into any entry level jobs, not even calls for the fucking Geek Squad. All I can think of to do is to keep educating myself and work on certifications until something comes along, feels bad man.

I think that maybe half of them are in Computer/ technical type fields, but you are making a grievous mistake taking any of them (me included) as career role models. I don't want to speak too much about what I do but I got very lucky with some good opportunities and more importantly used having my foot in the door to make that into official titles and duties (and pay).

For me the most important part of being in IT is knowing it is only about 30% technical knowledge. The most important by far is the 70% of the job that is pure psychology: How to deal with who really is important, what is actually important to do, and who you can say no to or ignore completely. This book here has gotten it closer than anything else i have seen:

http://www.thenetworkadministrator.com/ ... tAdmin.htm

You have to understand that being an IT guy is like practicing magic- almost no one else understands it and will judge you by purely arbitrary measures that they do not fully understand. So make sure the little things that the important people see are never out of place.

Make no mistake, technical knowledge is important, but the certifications are full of dry arcane facts that hold small relevance to your day to day life on the job. But because no one understands IT they use certs to hold up a measuring stick on what you know, and it can make the difference between getting an interview and your resume being insta-tossed

So to seriously land this kind of job spend a lot of time reading up on technical skills. Download a VM and the trial version of the Server OS's Then torrent the pdf's of the certification courses and actually do all the exercises in the books. Offer to help Non-profits with their computers for free, and use the non-profit experience on your resume and use their connections to help get jobs.

So there's lots more stuff you can do but check out real IT forums like http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/

the good news is that everything there is to know about IT is online somewhere and is fairly easy to find. If you still want more pointers let me know.

[DJNewStyle]

From my side, development, there are a few ways of going at it:

1. Know someone.
2. Beef up your resume with certifications, degrees, etc.
3. Make something amazing and show it off.


#1. Go to as many conventions/workshops as you can. Network and meet people.

#2. See Keith Fu's post.

#3. This sharpens your skills and shows that the languages/technologies you claim to be "proficient" in on your resume are tools you know how to use in a demonstrable project. Also helps with #1.

[Manayz]

Thanks for the info, guys. I will check out those resources.

I'm planning on taking the exams for my A+ cert soon, I know some people don't consider that a serious cert but others believe it can help get your foot into the door, so I might as well get it. I plan on following up with my Network+ cert afterwards, hopefully those certs will help my resume be taken more seriously. I hope...

Thanks again, I'll ask if I have any other questions.