I'm going to tell you in advance that working in IT is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I'm encouraged to learn and cultivate my skills as well as work in a team of people doing way more than I previously envisioned and being challenged in my role every day. It's the best job I've ever had and in the short time that I've worked it, I've improved in many areas mentally, psychology, and even physically.

 

But like any job, there are things that suck about it. The good news is these things aren't so bad in the grand scheme of things, but they are recurring and can be annoying. For anyone that's wanted to get into a more technical career, keep these things in mind...

 

Your former coworkers are morons...

 

 

When I first joined this company, the assumption was they would put me into an advanced technical support position right off the bat since I had years of experience, but instead they put me in customer service. I came to realize later that this was a good move on their part because you are required to know everything about their billing system AND their tech is very different than previous tech I had worked with (mostly computers and stuff).

 

I remember when I had worked my way into advanced tech a year in that my new coworkers were making fun of my former customer service rep coworkers and it started getting to me. Then I got a cold transfer from a coworker on my old team where they had done absolutely no troubleshooting whatsoever. Yes, they were expected to do some troubleshooting and do a warm transfer.

 

And it kept getting worse because many of my former coworkers that I considered to be fairly competent would transfer the stupidest things that should have been resolved on their level, but weren't, usually because they really were that inept and/or lazy. It wasn't a lack of training; it was a lack of trying on their part.

 

But I figured those days were over. Surely people that work in advanced tech aren't that dumb! Oh yes they are. I just had an advanced tech former coworker that didn't know how to clear cache, what "My Computer" was, or how to access their shared drive...and she's been doing her job longer than I've worked in this company, period.

 

The end users don't treat you like a real person...

 

 

The basic idea of my job is I'm here for 3 reasons. One, in case small stuff happens throughout the day (locked out, PC reboots, faulty equipment, etc.). Two, in case something MAJOR happens, even though I probably won't be able to do much except have someone else help me remotely. Three, headsets. I cannot begin to tell you how many people "forget" to bring in their headsets...to work in a call center.

 

This wouldn't be so bad except there have been times when people literally do not knock, do not look, but simply walk right in and without skipping a beat just start asking for a headset...even if we're in the middle of a meeting...or lunch...or repairing a patch cable...or literally anything at all that would constitute hard work.

 

Imagine if a road crew was working on some construction and you walked up to someone manning a jackhammer and straight up just asked him to borrow $5 like he was doing absolutely nothing and should drop everything he's working on to accommodate you. That's exactly what happens about 10 times a day.

 

You learn to distrust everything people say. Again...

 

 

When a customer calls up and says their remote isn't working, sometimes it's because it's not their TV remote. Or because they don't have a TV. Or maybe they're not even at home. I have literally had people call me from work telling me their remote isn't working and how long is it going to take for me to send them a new one...then get upset when I tell them I need to troubleshoot, claim I'm being unhelpful, and hang up on me.

 

Several times a day I will have this conversation over the phone...

 

"I don't know what happened, the computer won't turn on."

"What happened?"

"It just turned off in the middle of a call!"

"Is it plugged in?"

"Uh, DUH!"

 

So I go over to investigate and lo and behold, it's NOT plugged in...because they had to unplug something so they could charge their smartphone. Yeah, their smartphone...something they're not supposed to have out on the floor while they're working. It gets to the point that they'll tell me some grandiose, ridiculous problem that's happening, and I get there and it's just a cable that's loose or something.

 

Don't get me wrong; I WANT them to call. What I DON'T want is to constantly have to come to someone's desk that could fix the problem themselves over the phone. I want them to call so I can track and document. I don't want to have to constantly come out over and over again for something I already educated you on.

 

Your manager is so far out of the loop it's ridiculous...

 

 

The following happened to me the other day...

 

"Hey, what's going on with the silent monitoring system?"

"Apparently it's been down since Friday. They have opened a ticket and are actively working on it."

"Well, that is not good. Have they opened a ticket?"

"...yes."

 

On the one hand, your manager is usually a nice guy and really is there for you. On the other, he's usually balancing so much in his head that he doesn't fully hear what you're saying unless you repeat it 20 times a day and he micro-manages. This isn't just my manager, though; this is more or less all of IT in general.

 

The managers assume the workers and lazy slackers. There is a small amount of truth to that (I mean, I am posting this at work after all), but we all work pretty hard and operate as a team. Problem is again, it comes down to numbers. How many calls were answered in a week? How many tickets were closed?

 

Yeah, there are other factors, but their bosses are more than likely worse and with the same problems, so they're constantly finding themselves asking the same questions because their bosses are asking the same questions. Good times.

 

The assumption is you can fix anything and everything...

 

 

Sigh...no. It's not true. I wish I could fix more than I can, mostly because I'm still learning, but also because I assumed I would be in charge of more than I am. On the other hand, being responsible for more means being further burdened, which can be a bad thing. The problem is any time there's a technical issue, they assume we can fix it.

 

No, I can't fix your Facebook login, contact Facebook. No, I don't know why you can't view your paycheck, try payroll. No, I don't know why your fingerprint isn't working in the biometric scanner, try security. The problem comes into play when it is something to do with technology, but not something we explicitly manage, such as a tool that was developed by an outside company that we have no control over.

 

The frustration is I would LOVE to fix the problem, but I can't. In many cases it falls so far outside my responsibility that if I were to attempt to fix the problem, it would either cause liability issues or I'd be stepping on the peoples' toes who SHOULD be fixing the problem, then it's not documented properly, and so on.

 

It's always your fault...

 

 

Can't get on the corporate wifi that you really shouldn't be on anyway? Must be our fault. Don't seem to be able to play videogames on your PC instead of working? Totally our fault. Someone took your parking space? I'm waiting for that one; I'm sure it will happen. Some of these things are common sense, but some of them also go back to the idea that we aren't treated like people doing a job, but rather a servant that comes at their every beck and call.

 

You're expected to know everything...

 

 

I've only been doing this for 5 months. It's true that I've learned a lot in the meantime, but I don't know everything there is to know, everyONE there is to know, and all the little devious workarounds and hacks that my coworkers know (though I am documenting as much as possible). When I honestly don't know, the proper course of action is to go and find out, but that doesn't always suit the end user's need because...

 

You're expected to have everything finished in the snap of a finger...

 

 

Do you know what I spent an hour doing today? Labeling and categorizing 10 PCs that were set up for a job fair today and put on a VLAN, then turning off and disconnecting them, reconnecting all the cables EXCEPT the power cable so it wouldn't officially be recognized on the network yet because it had an old DHCP license attached to it, getting all the PCs to their correct areas but not hooking them in yet, going into multiple server rooms to redirect cables, removing the DHCP licenses via remote desktop and admin access, powering on the correct computers to ensure they were back on the correct network, hooking up the other computers to where they were supposed to be, then ensuring THEY were on their own private network...and that wasn't technically all of the work (one of my coworkers was taking care of the cabling while also showing me how to do half this crap because I hadn't had to yet).

 

In fact, I'm sure I skipped a few steps in my explanation. The set up of the job fair took even longer. Apparently HR thinks this is all done magically and within seconds, minutes tops. There really isn't proper designation for all of this and the set up and tear down of it takes hours. But since it was done "so quick and well," they asked our manager if there was a way to have this permanently set up with all kinds of fun options.

 

And while the answer is yes...my newly appointed systems administrator almost pulled what little hair he had left out when they asked that.

 

Conculsion...

 

 

Should I complain? Nah. This is exactly the kind of work and responsibility I wanted. It's also WAY better than being on the phone having some idiot claim their remote USED TO work their toaster and why can't I make it happen again. It can be frustrating, but I absolutely love it.