How did we hire him?

[onyxrising.livejournal.com]

One of our in home service technicians called tech support tonight.

He could not understand, in a computer which had never, in its life, had a working network card, why he wasn't getting an IP address. He really couldn't fathom, after twenty minutes of explaining, why he had to put the working hardware in before he could get one.

How did we hire him? Seriously?

Comments

[tullamoredew.livejournal.com]

in my 1st line days, we had a field tech call in asking how to replace parts, even though he is supposed to be totally certified on every screw in those servers, and all we have is a small flash presentation of what the server looks like. aaand those guys replace those parts so many times it should work automatically, no thought required... ack.

[bekscilla.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty certain that people don't need IT skills to get hired in IT.

I had to spend ages on the phone yesterday talking to one of our wintel/desktop engineers telling him what OU a particular account was in so he could find it. I've had to do that before with him - I'm not sure he knows how to search in ADUC at all.

Also, despite me telling him like 3 or 4 times that a particular site was having network issues right at that minute, he insisted on trying to fix a scan to folder issue on one of the multifunction units at that site RIGHT THEN

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty certain that people don't need IT skills to get hired in IT.

It doesn't help when recruiters specifically target people with customer service skills over IT skills for base-level IT positions.

Sure, there's some overlap, but the L2 and heavy hitter squads don't appreciate getting tickets which show a total lack of conceptual understanding about the products being troubleshot.

I've worked for one helpdesk team which started out only hiring people who had three years of large-corporation TS experience (or equivalent) minimum. A couple of years later, the budget started being cut, and the top-end techs started leaving. By the time I left, they were recruiting anyone who could wear a headset. We had a hairdresser, a deli assistant, a second-hard car salesman...

[bekscilla.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my service desk *was* external and when they insourced it, they hired a bunch of people based on customer service skills, not tech skills. I've lost count of the amount of time Wintel engineers have come to me and begged me to sort out calls where we've (we being my team) obviously done something stupid.

I don't know how many times I've had to tell people in my team to supply base troubleshooting in calls :(

[falnfenix]

my last job was quite similar. by the time i left we had one guy who was barely understandable on the phone (seriously, the kid was from Nigeria, and English was NOT his first language) who had never fixed his own computer and was still using AOL at home; another guy who, despite having an old MCSE, would break every computer he touched; a third individual who did the bare minimum to satisfy his daily requirements. #3 actually knew his stuff, though.

it was hellish.

[rbos.livejournal.com]

"despite" having an old MCSE?

[falnfenix]

the rest of the MCSE cert holders actually knew their stuff because they had plenty of experience in the field before the director forced everyone to get their MCSE.

mind you, they were requiring MCSE for TIER 1 SUPPORT. i don't know why, but they were consistently surprised that they couldn't hire anyone at the prices they wanted to pay.

AND they were shocked they lost me. bunch of bloody morons over there.

[jimbojones.livejournal.com]

I do freelance consulting and outsourced IT admin work. In the early 2000's, I used to frequently get asked at initial meetings where a company was thinking about hiring me, "do you have an MCSE?" "No", I would respond. They would make unhappy noises, and I would then ask a question back - "Have you ever worked with any MCSEs before?" "Yes," they would answer." "How'd that work out?"

Then there would be a thoughtful look on their part, and we would move right the fuck on.

[tuba-man.livejournal.com]

I prefer the past tense of troubleshoot as "troubleshat". It seems to be a more accurate description in many cases.

[melstav]

I have bought (new) computers in the last 8 years that did not come with a NIC, either integral to the system board or otherwise.

[onyxrising.livejournal.com]

Part of it was probably that it was a computer custom built to the customer's specifications. If you really don't want an integrated one, this can be done.

[natalie-i-am.livejournal.com]

You employers have taken the discrimination laws to new levels.

Not only do they avoid discrimination based on race/gender/sexual orientation. They no longer discriminate based on ability.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

It makes a fellow proud to be a techie...

[jimbojones.livejournal.com]

Corporate environments haven't discriminated on the basis of ability in YEARS. They do, however, frequently discriminate on the basis of $random_bulletpoint_some_HR_weenie_fixated_on.