Work as a tech

[Cleetus]

You know, it hit me today how depressing my job can be. I get paid $xx,xxx a year to tell some high paid exec whose butt I have to kiss that the reason he doesn't have e-mail from yesterday and today is that he didn't plug in his docking station. Then watching the empty look he gives me when I ask him if he had noticed that he never got a login this morning. Or telling that same secretary every week how to change her e-mail profile, because someone sits there when she takes her one day a week off. Or having to work side by side with my witch, know it all, ignorant, never shuts up, can't finish the stinking job, glory hound, butt-kissing machine of a coworker.

But then again, someone could actually ask me to do real work too.

[Darkstar]

Speak on, brother Cleet.

There are days where'd I'd do anything to be working outside and away from the mundanity and blandness. Then I remember working outside shoveling and pushing a wheelbarrow for $7.50/hr and no benefits or 401k when it was 101 degrees with 90% humidity. After that, I shrug, smile, and get up to change the backup tape on the server.

It's much lighter than wheelbarrow full of gravel.

[Zil]

I used to work at a steakhouse as a waiter/bartender/manager for 7 years before I got a programming job. Now I have one of my cufflinks attached to my keychain to remind me how much I hated waiting tables. Believe me, it puts things into perspective.

[SCHTUDE]

My personal favorite thing is explaining to users what their user ID is for our network. It's uses their actual name, which some of them can't remember!

[edball]

As bad as it seems sometimes....I love my job !

[Visgothy]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Darkstar:
<strong>Speak on, brother Cleet.

There are days where'd I'd do anything to be working outside and away from the mundanity and blandness. Then I remember working outside shoveling and pushing a wheelbarrow for $7.50/hr and no benefits or 401k when it was 101 degrees with 90% humidity. After that, I shrug, smile, and get up to change the backup tape on the server.

It's much lighter than wheelbarrow full of gravel.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">HEY! thanks with all the workload I have since my coworker is in holiday, and that my boss does not seems to see that I have a L O T of work, I have almost forget to change my tape.
And I feel pretty much the same way. I don't see myself doing that for an other 2 years, my head gonna blow because of all the UI errors....

[Outcoded]

Tell me about it, I'mm sick of this industry, sick of staring at a screen for **** knows how many hours a day. I just want to do something else.

Still one year left of this degree, my previous work experience (there's quite a lot of it), will pretty much get me into any job, just liek the one I was doing before/during my degree.

I dunno, maybe I'll just go fibre installing or something for a couple of years when I graduate, to pay off my student debt, then just do something I really want to do... Dunno what though, might become a sparkie.

/whinge

[geeksRus]

try to do something in your off-time that is the complete opposite of your regular job. myself, i carve landscapes. getting the perfect edge on the chisel...the smell of the wood...about as no-tech as you can get. do something to prevent burn-out.

[Visgothy]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by geeksRus:
<strong>try to do something in your off-time that is the complete opposite of your regular job. myself, i carve landscapes. getting the perfect edge on the chisel...the smell of the wood...about as no-tech as you can get. do something to prevent burn-out.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">thanks for the tips.
well for now I do weight training at least 3 times a week. That help alot to decompress from work. It focus the mind on something else...

[EvilCabbage]

If you really want to imagine how bad working in IT can get, imagine all the frustrating crap you do, all the anal users you deal with, then imagine getting paid aproximately half as much to do it. Then, imagine your industry is belittled, as being un-important, un-appreciated, and basically not a real field.

Then imagine that you are not so much seen as a supportive member of a group, as an expensive annoyance, even after your budget has been slashed to the sh!thouse, and you get paid less than one of the executive secretaries. Work long hours, for-go your health and sleep for the job. Then at the end of a week, happily accept a kick in the 4ss from your unappreciative, moron boss.

Welcome to the Australian IT industry... Hell, welcome to my life.

Enjoy your stay.

[Falanx]

It's times like those that you could just do with a Dark Templar, isn't it....?

This is why I never admit to being an IT head, just someone who knows 'puters. That way I can refuse to do whatever the hell I don't want to. Admittedly this means I don't get any additional pay - hell, I'm the only reasearch student in the entire school PAYING FOR HIS OWN course so I don't get any pay anyway, but that's beside the point. But there is that nice warm feeling of power associated with knowing you're the only guy in the office who can fix this or that... But you're busying typing up your thesis so it'll have to wait....

Muwhahahahaha

Set phasers to 'Reno'.

[Draggar]

I'm really starting to feel it, esp over the past 6 months. The job sucks, its thankless, and the only people who want to talk to you about your job are the people who are pissed off because you can't take care of their problem an hour before they see you about it.

Granted, I'm not a PC tech, but I work with cel phones, and its just as bad, only I deal with all the drug dealing, wife beating, always drinking, dirty and smelly trash that New Jersey has to offer. :rolleyes:

I am currently seriously looking into a career change. My wife is going to school to be an OR tech, so when thats done I can take a step back, and look at my life. I'm realizing now that my ---- isn't together, I'm unhappy, and the most intelligent coworkers I have feel that is funny to wal kin to my tech room, lay out a huge fart, beltch, then think its funny. I tell them that I cannot print out this phonebook, so what do they do, they push me aside and try it themselves. Hey, guess what? It didn't work! they love to bring back phones they know I can't do anything with, but want me to check them out anyway (like its going to make a difference?).

I seriously need a new job. My company is cutting back, where is the first place they cut back? Support. Lets not care about the customers we have.

I look back to my grocerey store experience, deli department and running the seafood department. That was bliss. Out by noon every day, hell, I think I even got paid more then. :mad:

Maybe a career as an EMT isn't too bad...

[cookin chef]

EMT can be just as stressful.
You have to deal with many things at once and sometimes the injured person you are trying to help may spaz out on you.

I work with a repair tech who used to be an EMT and nurse. And she'll take this job over nursing or EMT any day.
Good luck with your chosen path!!!

[jza734]

Why would anyone want to work as a tech? The customers don't understand you, they think you're trying to rip them off. Then you have to explain it to them like they were 5. And it doesn't matter, cause they'll break it or install aol or some other stupid SHat.

I don't know why i ever came back to retail bench work. I've been doing it for 5yrs+. I've seen it all I think, WTF?

[Draggar]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by jza734:
<strong>I don't know why i ever came back to retail bench work. I've been doing it for 5yrs+. I've seen it all I think, WTF?</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The minute you say I've seen it all something you've never seen pops up.

I haven't seen it all with cel phones, yet, but I've seen a lot, like people who rip open their phone, try to repair the issue themselves, then wonder why their warranty is void.

[talltech]

dunno guys, i am enjoying my job, i work for a company that supports a wide range of office product so i work on a varity of stuff, mainly digital and anloge copiers, along with pc printers and fax machines.

the is a saying the goes "if you enjoy your job, you will never work a day in your life", now that is not entierly true, but if you have a good company to work for and enjoy you job. life is pretty good.
BTW i do make heap of $$$ either

[MaddMaxx]

Most complaints here seem to be the "working for
someone else" kind. Hmmm. How about working just
for the person you see in the mirror? Start by
moonlighting for friends. No freebies. As soon as
you do a freebie you are finished. Charge something. Go to people's homes, businesses and
do the "repairs" on the spot. Lug the thing home
if it is too time-consuming or complex a task.
Build a reputation. Once you have that, you are
in good shape. I have a "job" this morning (Saturday) and one tomorrow (Sunday) at the client's place. Who else is going to do that? Your big plus here is no "down time". If you can
complete a job on the weekend the SOHO can be
back in business on Monday. They appreciate that.
Charge mostly by the job, not by the hour. You'd
be surprised how that works out. Answer your phone
messages as promptly as possible. Get ready for
some folks who want "free advice" on the phone, but you can turn that into a service call. All in
all it is nothing but fun every day. Make a rule
that folks will talk about which defines you. All
my clients know if they don't have good coffee ready, I will not come over. Nice to enter a
referral job and the folks you have never seen
hand you a cup on arrival. Just some thoughts.

[EvilCabbage]

I've considered working freelance, but I enjoy having most of my weekends to myself. I enjoy having a large company to buy me replacement gear if it breaks. I enjoy working with other useful people.

At the moment, it outweighs the need to be self employed.

[freddy]

I work freelance , NO go , the punters want u at 9.30 at night , sat aft , sun morning ,,, " how much for the XXX" , i could have got one for XXX$ ,,
last night 10.30 pm sat in pub with wife (sat night - why not) ,,,$illock ringing me up ,just like a shop "my internet is,nt working " "ok , what about mon morn" sorry i,m at work , it will have to be 7.00pm monday ,,,,what a life !!!!!

o for a 9-5 job , 5 days a week with a wage cheque EVERY week.

oh it,s quiet now ,,,11.00 am sunday ,,,,i,m on the phone/internet nobody can ring me !!!!!!!

FtF

[gazzak]

Last month a company came to my garden to remove a large ash tree. I helped out as much as I could. Well I can tell you it really opened my eyes. These guys were laughing all day long, never stopped joking with each other, were always smiling and did a fantastic job. They were happy doing what they were doing and it showed. When they left I felt quite sad, as I'd really enjoyed the day too, and i felt jealous too. Jealous that I feel unhappy coming to work, that I never seem to smile all day, that I work with miserable ****s all day. It made me realise that it's not the money, it's all about enjoying what you do. I don't anymore! :( :( <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

[Cleetus]

Yep, having a good group of people can mean the world. My favorite jobs have been when I liked and had fun with the people. Those have always been the hardest to leave, yet I always knew I had too.

I think the biggest reason I hate my current job is that I don't really mix with anybody here. Crap, it is 100 females and 30 males, all the males are on the super exec trac and at least 10 years if not significantly older than me. Nothing against the women, but I have nothing in common with most of them, and I really can't let loose at all. Not to mention my coworker who has probably the worst attitude of any tech I have ever met, yet somehow is loved by the important 3 people for our jobs, while everyone else in the co.(CEO, COO, CFO, all the exec VP's, the secretaries, the sales staff, and so on) can't stand her.

Of course, I am also hoping, that sense the bubble(the tech support side) is still bursting all over, that in not too long, things will change. Hopefully, a lot of people will have left the side of the industry, jobs will open up again, and someone like me with some good exp. will be prime choice USDA beef ready to be picked up by the best (not just highest $) bidder.

[Commander Klarg]

Technically, for me, there is no such thing as a job that I would *love*. A job is a job; I wouldn't have one if I didn't need one to make money to live. :rolleyes: I would much rather be able to do what I want, when I want, be it sleep, eat, play, work, whatever. An 8 to 5 job doesn't allow that.

Mind you, certain jobs are more tolerable than others. My current job is pretty good. I fix and administrate the PCs and network for an aluminum foundry. The working conditions out in the plant kind of suck right now (HOT!) but I'm mostly in AC'ed offices.

Cons:
Wear business casual when I sometimes need grubbies.
No budget; everything must be approved by on high.
Lots of old equipment.
Pay is less than I'd like.

Pros:
I am respected by my co-workers (gotta like it when upper management consults with you and takes advice to heart).
No real idiots, jackasses, or PC-phobics work here.
My own office. :)
No sick leave; if I'm sick, I stay home and get better. If my kid is sick, I stay home with him. If I need a doctor or dentist appointment, I go. If I need to leave early to pick up my son from daycare, I go. No questions asked.

I think I'll be here for a while. :)

[Stanley_Kubrick]

Been a local retail shop tech for two years now. Since this is my first real tech job, i have little to compare it to in that respect.

I used drive a Tug at the UPS hub in Ontario, CA, taking air containers to the planes.. that wasn't so bad... I also plowed snow one winter (that was cool too).

Every other job I've ever had has sucked: Best Buy (i am embarrased to say i even worked there), lots of waiting tables, lots of painting... all kinds of thankless sweaty labor...

Here it is great, I would like to quadruple my income, but I guess I get a fair wage for what i do, so no whining there. I work with 3 dudes: the owner and 2 sales guys, and we have a pretty good time together. So no whining there...

The only drag is dealing with the customers, like the (l)users who keep doing stupid stuff despite your warnings, then blame you beause they got KLEZ [again!!!!!] even though you told them you would be happy to install and update NAV if they wanted to buy it.

But you take the good with the bad. I like what I do, and save alot of money being my own tech, not to mention I have a wide base of music and software sources, so I'm saving money there too...

Being a tech is cool.

[jmani]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Then I remember working outside shoveling and pushing a wheelbarrow for $7.50/hr and no benefits or 401k when it was 101 degrees with 90% humidity. After that, I shrug, smile, and get up to change the backup tape on the server.

It's much lighter than wheelbarrow full of gravel.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I just finnished spreading 3 cubic yards of gravel in my side yard and along the back yard. It is not fun this manual labor. On a side note I have a house for sale north of San Francisco...cheap

[Outcoded]

Well, I'm taking a break from teching, gone back to working a supervisor's job in a conveinience store. I have a laugh, get paid, stop workign when I walk out the door till tommorrow. It's so much easier. Pay ain't great, but I've never really cared about money that much.

Oh, by the way, did I mention I'm suspended on full pay? :D :D :D

Paid holidays, love 'em! :D :D :D

[PuterGeekGirl]

I'm doin the tech thing for a company of about 220ish users. It was MUCH worse before they hired me some help. It was getting pretty exhausting supporting them all on my own.

We are a small enuff shop that I get to do some networking stuff (which is where I want to end up)..but big enuff that we are doing alot of upgrading and trying new things. So I am getting experience that I know I wouldn't in a large shop.

Most days I like what I do, but like any job, it has its moments! :rolleyes:

[Draggar]

Originally posted by Outcoded
Well, I'm taking a break from teching, gone back to working a supervisor's job in a conveinience store. I have a laugh, get paid, stop workign when I walk out the door till tommorrow. It's so much easier. Pay ain't great, but I've never really cared about money that much.

Heh, later on this week I'm applying for a PT job at Borders (Books & CDs) for fun.

[Outcoded]

Originally posted by Outcoded
Well, I'm taking a break from teching, gone back to working a supervisor's job in a conveinience store. I have a laugh, get paid, stop workign when I walk out the door till tommorrow. It's so much easier. Pay ain't great, but I've never really cared about money that much.

Oh, by the way, did I mention I'm suspended on full pay? :D :D :D

Paid holidays, love 'em! :D :D :D

OK, I'm back at work, it's starting to stop being fun here. Back to teching

[freddy]

ah , well new job ,it,s killing me ,,,,,,,,,in charge of a "off-licence" ,,,,,,i think u call um drug stores ,,,,2pm - 10.30pm ,,,wines bears cigarettes ,,,toffees , about 25% above minimum wage ,would,nt be so bad , apart from kids buying there penny toffees (singularly) with £5 notes ,, but get a lie in (or tommy-puter work ) in the mornings ,,,,wife (as of 4mths) is,nt happy ,,,,I need a new car ,,and bills keep piling up .

Its all dog eat dog in the UK ,,,,u try to do an honest job and charge an honest fee ,,,,but some $ick head will under price u ,,,,then someone will underprice him ,,,etc etc ,,,,and you feel like a monkey , getting paid peanuts.

PS the boss (at work) ,known him a long time ,,,lends me his spare car (and fuel) ,,,,untill i,m sorted

11.50pm now , just had my tea (dinner) ,,,and am drinking a glass (bottle) of paul masson , califonian red wine , knowing that I can relax till about 10.30 - 11.00 am tommorrow.

but at least a wage packet ,,,,,,,,,


FtF

[Fubarian]

To say this job is thankless is an understatement. I guess it goes back to that old thing known as 'fear of the unknown'.

At the tech place, people love to yell at us because they think we got something up our sleve only because they don't understand. When we tell them what was really wrong and why, they usually don't want to hear it, because hey, all those programs on startup, they didn't install it. They call 3 times in 5 days asking if its done yet, and its not due for another 4 days.

At the office, its "why is my excel slow", "what does (enter really really long, useless error message here) mean?", "why doesn't this work like it use to?" (maybe, just maybe because you bitched constantly about your computer running like crap, so we got you a new one, installed a more reliable OS so you'd shut up and quit crying, but no, you still piss and moan), "when you get a minute, can you (do a 5 hour job)?" -- Sure, of course, we have nothing better to do than to look at a monitor all day, nope, no projects, no data migration, no one else having any kind of problems.........:mad:

Its a lot like the electric company, they don't say a word when it works, but completely raise hell, kick and scream when it doesn't.

[TCV]

I work two tech jobs in Boston -- one as telephone tech for a company (my day job) and at night for myself as The Computer Valet.

My goal is to make The Computer Valet my full-time job. Essentially, it's a personalized PC-repair shop. I fix errors, build PCs, etc.

My day job is telephone technical support for a company that builds hardware and develops software for the printing industry. Some of it is standard stuff -- NT networking, PC hardware, Windows 2000, some UNIX networking, etc.

I don't particuarly care for telephone technical support. It's not that difficult, but most of the hard calls can be attributed to the caller not understanding that they are my eyes and ears. One step unstated turns out to be the card that makes the house fall, if you know what I mean.

I visit people as the Valet.

-Mike...

[Darksteel]

One problem is that while there are very good techs out there there's also some pretty pathetic techs who can get away with doing a poor job because the people who hire them never realizes they're doing a poor job. I mean it's not really a question of can they fix a problem, its whether or not they can fix a problem correctly, quickly, and cheaply. It's not hard to get a tech job, but it's hard to do the job well, but since good techs are the only people who actually can tell when someone's doing a good job it really doesn't matter what kind of job you can do because as the people who actually do the hireing can't really tell. For example, my friend's parents have this one guy do all their computer work and don't realize that the guy sucks at his job. He puts the wrong bios chips in mother boards, he has piles of cds in his house that get scratched up by his cats, he gives his customers copies of copies of windows, and he has just recently convinced my friend's mom that by adjusting a few options she now connects to the internet at 115k (on a 56k modem in an area where connections never exceed 28k). The guy's an idiot and they have no idea and it's that kind of crap that steams me and others who actually know about tech stuff. But anyway, its 3 am and I should probably wrap up this rant.

[Outcoded]

Originally posted by freddy
ah , well new job ,it,s killing me ,,,,,,,,,in charge of a "off-licence" ,,,,,,i think u call um drug stores ,,,,2pm - 10.30pm ,,,wines bears cigarettes ,,,toffees , about 25% above minimum wage ,would,nt be so bad , apart from kids buying there penny toffees (singularly) with £5 notes ,, but get a lie in (or tommy-puter work ) in the mornings ,,,,wife (as of 4mths) is,nt happy ,,,,I need a new car ,,and bills keep piling up .

Its all dog eat dog in the UK ,,,,u try to do an honest job and charge an honest fee ,,,,but some $ick head will under price u ,,,,then someone will underprice him ,,,etc etc ,,,,and you feel like a monkey , getting paid peanuts.

PS the boss (at work) ,known him a long time ,,,lends me his spare car (and fuel) ,,,,untill i,m sorted

11.50pm now , just had my tea (dinner) ,,,and am drinking a glass (bottle) of paul masson , califonian red wine , knowing that I can relax till about 10.30 - 11.00 am tommorrow.

but at least a wage packet ,,,,,,,,,


FtF

See, if you get it right, you get the evening shifts, and don't have to get up before lunch :D

[freddy]

one and a bit weeks now, having today off, worked sat 7am - 10.30 pm ,and sunday 2pm - 10 pm .

glad to say I bought a "fresh" car ,,a little peugeot 205 (diesel) ,,,cost over £150 to get thru MOT ,,,but sorted now.

still got a nice trickle of repetition work (tommy puters) and get them done in the mornings ,,,

for a change i am walking around with some money in my pocket,

things are looking up, - i,m going to let the monkeys work for the peanuts ,,undercutting each other .....the people who want quality work still come back to me.

I LIKE a wage Pkt.


freddy

[Fubar]

As Yoda would say, "Doomed we are in the corporate envirnment." As a techie you, like all of us, are doomed due to your understanding of technical matters. The upper eschelon don't understand AND DON"T WANT TO UNDERSTAND the details of what we do. As a manager, it is their job to see "The Big Picture" and not to get caught-up in details. Unfortunately, actually retrieving email, to them, is a detail. I have sat and explained things in simple terms only to have managers look dumbly at me and say "Now in english, please." It is the job of the CIO to truly interface with upper management and translate what the technical info means into what the management can understand. AND none of this will EVER change! Its not that they are stupid its just that they have different pressures to deal with. Try understanding the whimseys of the stock market some time and you'll see what they are up against.