New job...

[docskurlock.livejournal.com]

So I was recently hired to be the IT Manager for a company in Dallas. The former IT Manager left and took ALL of the information about the servers with him. Now, I know there is no code of ethics, but honestly, just because you're pissed, does that mean you screw the new guy over? What do you guys think?

Comments

[taleya.livejournal.com]

the guy's an idiot. He can get busted for theft of information, sabotage, and loss of income generated by the company every second you waste trying to work out wtf does what.

[docskurlock.livejournal.com]

I agree. Makes my job harder, because I have to go through everything and find all of the information that I can. Wish me luck!

[erika]

I got really screwed over by a company when I was working as their admin, but I didn't take any of the documentation with me. That's just above and beyond--I mean, you're mad at the company, not whatever poor sap they get to replace you.

I got my revenge by the fact that the idiot they hired to replace me knew nothing about computers, couldn't connect the new machines I'd ordered for them, and on the day I went to pick up my final paycheck, 2 computers were down and so was the printer. I had to stay and fix things or I wouldn't've gotten paid--at least they paid me another 40 bucks for my two hours of time.

[docskurlock.livejournal.com]

Hey, at least they paid you for your time. This guy left and I think he took a computer with him. A mission critical computer, I might add. That and he didn't leave the admin password for one of the servers either. So I'm still having to deal with that and most of my utilities aren't working for a scsi array, so I'm having to work my butt off.

[brownizs.livejournal.com]

Sorry to say this, but a company cannot hold your pay just because their systems are down, or the idiot in charge decides to bring them down to make it look like you are incompetent.

[erika]

Probably I should have written "wouldn't've gotten paid that day, or at least until the computers were fixed, which could've been awhile."

It was easier and more expedient for me to just fix shit myself than to wait on them to pull their collective heads out of their asses.

[annamaryse.livejournal.com]

It means you get to flatten the systems and start over YOUR way - from scratch.

[docskurlock.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I thought about that, but that would mean rebuilding the inventory and there's A LOT of inventory.

screw the new guy over?

[irishmasms.livejournal.com]

How do you know there was any documentation to begin with?

Re: screw the new guy over?

[docskurlock.livejournal.com]

Cause, uh, well.....

There's no server admin password, there's a computer missing, one computer that was supposed to be networked isn't, etc, et al. I mean, you could be right and there could be nothing missing and I'm just blind, but I seriously doubt that.

Re: screw the new guy over?

[irishmasms.livejournal.com]

I have seen worse. Add to that two HP printers that supposedly did not work (and were fine) with the sound card that had 'expired'....

Re: screw the new guy over?

[jecook]

Neat. I've been working with HP printers for a long time, and I never knew they made an option for a sound card for them... ::snicker::

I agree. the old guy sounds incompetant.

and the more stuff I dig up at this current place, the more my old boss sounds like it as well. But I can't go to him for questions, because he's slightly deceased. I also liked him on a personal level, (and he was well liked among the staff) so it's usually "[name],[name],[name], why on earth did you do it this way?" type of wailing.

Re: screw the new guy over?

[docskurlock.livejournal.com]

Yikes. I know I'm not in the worst position, but still. This guy left this place in a mess. Gonna be hell to clean up, but worth it, I think.

Re: screw the new guy over?

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Last time I was transferred to our organisation's UNIX team, they had no documentation on anything. Literally. I asked for some on Day 1 so I could start getting an idea of what was in their area of responsibility, and just got a blank look. And half of them knew some piece of mission-critical stuff but wouldn't tell anyone else. If any of them ever fell under a bus (and believe me, by the end of the first week I was tempted to arrange such a bus), it would have screwed over a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure in many, many bad ways.

They still didn't have any documentation (apart from what I'd personally collated) by the time they were dissolved and moved to another area. Fortunately, by that time I was doing something else.

Perhaps your ex-manager knew perfectly well that there was no documentation and no password repository, had advised management of this and been fired on the spot for being a troublemaker. It wouldn't have been the first time that's happened.

The frantically-grabbed replacements usually come in two flavors - the Oh-God-I'm-screwed type and the "You guys are screwed; It will cost $huge_budget to repair all your problems. Or it can all fall apart. Your call" type.

Perhaps he really was a dick. Or perhaps he walked for other reasons. Or was fired for other reasons. Who knows? If he deliberately wiped all the infrastructure information from every source (including all of the tech staff's brains) before leaving, he was a dick. But if there was never any information to begin with and he was booted before he could compile it, it's hardly his fault.

Re: screw the new guy over?

[docskurlock.livejournal.com]

Situation resolved. He spat the information out.

I hear you on that though. A lot of people find a piece of info and then hold on to it, so that their job is secure.

[lions-tambua.livejournal.com]

Incompetence has an 2nd name: IGNORANCE!
Someone who is COMPETENT and PROFESSIONAL make an dokumentation after he finished the setup and hands it to his BOSS. then he makes new dokumentation about everything he changes and hands it to his boss. then its the BOSS fault if any information is lost.
If the guy doesnt WANT to give those informations to anyone, he is everything, but not professional!