Here is the video, it is a couple years old, so if you’ve seen it, then no need to watch again I suppose. Dude drops a lot of F-bombs so careful with audio and the language.
The basic summary is that he took a job at a company with about $30 million revenue. The previous IT guy worked for a month, the one before him a little over 4 years.
The equipment, wiring, locations, care of equipment was all messed up and he rants a lot in the video about how bad everything was, lack of documentation, no idea how this system or that system is set up, etc. We’ve heard these kinds of stories before. But the point of his video is to basically show how little care the boss/manager lady gave to the IT equipment. He rants about warranties expiring and needed extended, equipment being replaced, old system, lack of proper backups and so on.
The boss seems perfectly fine with status quo (things “just work” so why buy anything?) And she praises the lack of care of the previous IT guy (“he was so nice, he didn’t beg for stuff, he didn’t bother us with wanting new things or telling us how it’s all going to die” etc). While the man in the video is trying to do things rightly, cleanly, professionally, warranties, clean wiring, proper electricity flowing, proper backups, replacing old stuff, etc.
His main point is that if companies refuse to understand the importance of keeping IT equipment clean and up to date, documented, warrantied and supported, and backed up, then the IT industry is screwed. For example:
Praise to the IT guy who just “makes it work” on cheap old stuff, least cost.
Praise to the IT guy who “makes it work” with ugly undocumented wiring, I guess to save time and cost or??
Praise to he IT guy who keeps old crap running as long as possible, and just fixes major disasters as they happen. Rather than keeping things up to date, newer, and so on.
NO praise to spend extra time wiring correctly and cleanly. After all velcro straps and wire staples cost money.
NO praise to the guy who needs more and more disks for redundant backups.
NO praise to the guy who basically asks for ANYTHING AT ALL in IT equipment, during a time when everything is “just working fine” and not already broken.
So anyway, if you watch the video, do you find this attitude in the managers and owners of businesses you support? Are the jack-of-all-trades, mr. fix-it type IT guys getting all the praise while the guys trying to do things right and professionally are thought of as crooks or just wanting useless stuff?
I found his point very true when he mentioned how managers seem to think that professional equipment is built like consumer stuff, like buying a new VOIP phone system, you know just open the box, plug in the power and answer questions in a one minute setup wizard. Nobody seems to understand the complexity of professional-grade equipment, or the complexity of virtual systems, backup systems, redundant systems, and the complexities of integrating different systems together.
It seems like IT people, and even the equipment they beg for, are thought of as useless company liabilities, that annoying thing you “just gotta do” but wish you didn’t have to. And like he said in the video, all this crap I do is the VERY BACKBONE of your company, you have no company without this equipment! Nobody has a job if it’s down! And yet management can’t see this, buying a couple thousand dollars in basic backups is like, aw crap yet another useless IT expense.
What shocked me the most is how the boss was giving praises to the “bad” IT guy who had slap-shod work and cobbled everything together, but only bashed heads with the guy trying to do things right for a company their size.
In the end he basically said he felt like the boss treated him like he was just trying to con them or hurt them somehow, just by wanting proper equipment set up.
I don’t agree with all his thoughts, but that doesn’t sound like a fun job. When will companies begin to understand the importance and role of IT and the equipment they manage? No praise when it works, all blame when it doesn’t. No budget, constant fighting tooth and nail for every upgrade or replacement, etc.
Your thoughts on his rant?
