Tuesday, December 09, 2003
There are just so many stupid shmuck-types in IT.
This observation isn't about any single event or anyone in particular. It's reaction to having a bunch of these guys walk by me while I was eating lunch today.
These guys all look alike, dress alike, talk alike. They all over-spend alike, tank IT projects alike, sit on their hands alike, complain that work interferes with their ego trips alike, insist that everything else in IT is inferior to their own half-assed, vanilla, 49% broken installations alike, talk about the evils that end users do while their own incompetence practically invites security threats, performance and reliability problems alike.
They have a distinct gait when they walk. If they all wore tap shoes the sound would be as distinct as a horse's gallop. That sound should strike fear into the hearts of CEOs, CFOs, Project Managers, End-users, and decent IT staffers everywhere. If technology could feel physical pain then this is the sound it would make when you tortured it. When technology sleeps at night this is the rhythm behind the soundtrack that plays in it's nightmares. This is the sound of broken, over budget, mismanaged, and ill conceived IT projects, this is the sound of being out of pace with good sense, either 2 steps behind good IT solutions or a 1/2 step in front, absorbing all of the costs of IT but reaping few of the benefits.
These guys are just plain assholes. They abuse whatever power they have to their own end, they push technology solutions rather than offering unbiased insight and guidance. They cling to bad technology to protect their own limited knowledge or jump at whatever the salesman brings to door. They're secretive about what they do because they don't know what they're doing and they think to themselves that producing little or no documentation and implementing amatuerish hacks equals some perverse form of job security.
How did something (the modern computer and networking) that started as the creative pursuit of big thinkers end up inspiring a generation of narrow minded, whiny, button-pushing idiots? I guess you can't blaime these idiots themselves but people hire these guys, I don't know why, and here's as good a place as any to lay the blaime for 20+ years of mediocre IT implementation and poor management.
In fact there seem to be a lot of companies out there who specifically look for these guys. I once worked with a very good Network Manager by the name of Henry Feldman. He is currently attending NYU Medical School (I think). This is the type of guy who everyone should want managing their infrastructure. He understood the technology he was responsible for and made decisions that were in the best interest of the infrastructure and the organization, even if those decisions led IT away from areas of personal interest or led away from the familiar. These are traits you find in people who build bridges with IT while everyone else is busy building walls. I had a lot of respect for Henry Feldman as a Network Manager. Henry started with the company before I did, but my understanding is that they never hired Henry as the Network Manager. He started out doing something different and gradually moved into the role because there was a need and because of his abilities. When he left the company for medical school they started looking for shmucks to hire as his replacement. When one shmuck couldn't do the job they turned to a bunch of schmucky consultants. And nothing was ever the same after that. I think this is a pretty common scenario. Good people seem to just happen somehow while companies hire for schmucks and smarmy business management types with little or no understanding of IT.
I could say that people like this and the organizations that hire them get what they deserve but IT doesn't work like that. It's all one big pool and if you get enough of these guys pissing in the water it's unpleasant for everyone.
2:28:01 PM
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