My head asplode!

[snarl817.livejournal.com]

Yesterday afternoon, the backend tech actually asked me, "Can the DVD-RAM drives on these systems read CDs?" Last week I overheard him telling a customer that corrective service updates had to be burned to DVD-RAM, and that they couldn't burn them to CD. I told him THEN that this was incorrect.

It just boggles my mind...this guy is the backend tech and has NO clue as to how optical drives work. Come to think of it, he doesn't have much of a clue as to the products that we support. I'm actually frightened about the fact that I'm so far above the skill level of my coworkers, not to mention the customers.

Comments

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

Who does he know, to get a job there?

[snarl817.livejournal.com]

He's been with the company for much longer than I have. I started as he was leaving the support organization. He got tired of his job and came back...but I really don't think he's up to the job. He's ALWAYS giving customers the wrong information and incorrect answers (like telling one that they need to backlevel the system instead of simply installing the fix for the bug). He's CONSTANTLY pestering me for information and answers. And yet HE gets promoted to backend instead of me.

[gholam.livejournal.com]

Why DVD-RAM though? The media is expensive, slow, and not widely supported...

[snarl817.livejournal.com]

Long story. These systems are essentially appliances that run Linux under the covers. Because the people who designed them didn't know very much about what they were doing, they couldn't figure out how to use normal media, because of the additional layer required. DVD-RAM, on the other hand, can be mounted as a block device and written to like a normal filesystem.