LOL even the mainframe console is toast.  As are all the monitoring tools/boards for everything. 

And while the network is 1/2 hosed..

SQL team = we are rebooting our servers that are effected.. bla bla sysadmins and their servers..

Um how about we wait until the network is up. Then get storage up. THEN worry about the servers..    idiots.

No, they really are that dumb. 

Tue Mar 16 2021 14:36:08 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

They probably have reboots to do and are taking advantage of the free downtime.

whoohoo got my monthly statement..  Full retirement pension date 3/1/2025.  So, i need to get this damned house paid off before then. ( and figure out medical, as i'm no where near old enough for medicare/care )

Finally .... light at the end of the tunnel... and its not a train. 

Went thru a system upgrade this weekend.  Anytime this happens i get to talk to hundreds of our tech users that i normally dont have to, as they are clueless..   and my opinion of the place drops even further.  Vendor switched browser support away from IE ( finally ) and we had a tech actually ask us "where did my bookmarks go".   Not end users.  Tech people.

Not all are morons of course, but the ones that are, i dont see how they find their way out of their bedroom each morning. ( i used to say "find their way to work on their own", but many are still at home )

80/20 rule. 

Mon Mar 29 2021 18:42:07 EDT from darknetuser

2021-03-29 17:25 from Nurb432
Went thru a system upgrade this weekend.  Anytime this happens i get

to talk to hundreds of our tech users that i normally dont have to,

as they are clueless..   and my opinion of the place drops even
further.  Vendor switched browser support away from IE ( finally )

and we had a tech actually ask us "where did my bookmarks go". 
 Not end users.  Tech people.

Not all are morons of course, but the ones that are, i dont see how

they find their way out of their bedroom each morning. ( i used to

say "find their way to work on their own", but many are still at home

)

I have also noticed that educated personal is not to be asumed to be knowledgeable anymore.

I mean, there are computer scientists that don't know passwords are supposed to be stored in hashed form.

Ya, my spot is also safe due to my skill set, but i dont want to be the last one left behind to deal with the mess.

Bad enough now that my app went to the vendors cloud. I really wish we could bring it back on site. At least id have visibility into things again. 

Thu Apr 01 2021 11:58:47 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

The more I learn about how many not-so-bright IT workers there are out there, the less I am bothered about the horror stories of IT workers being offshored, outsourced, replaced by automation, etc. I am coming to the realization that the people who write those stories are often people with only one skill (network administrator, storage administrator, server administrator, etc) and do mundane tasks, are not creative problem solvers, and can't do much else.

Perhaps I should rephrase that. It still bothers me, but it doesn't make me worry about *my* employability as much.

Here is the thing... my experience in large fortune 500s was that the not-so-bright IT workers were the ones most likely to be kept on. They don't rock the boat, they don't challenge - they just do what they're told no matter how ridiculous the request is, how insecure the result is, how unstable the platform becomes. They don't innovate - they follow directions. The problem is - this accurately describes the majority of H1B Visa workers in domestic IT - and they work cheaper than even *domestic* idiots are willing to work for. 

So, the brightest IT guys have found smaller companies and hunkered down there, with the subsequent sacrifices that tend to come with working for a smaller organization. There are benefits too, of course. I stayed managing the place in Ohio until the company was acquired by a Bay Area tech company. If not for the acquisition, I might still be there. Honestly - after that place, I just didn't look very hard. The problem isn't that I'm a one-trick IT pony - I think the problem is places are posting for Jr. MS-SQL DBA, with 5 years minimum experience in a technology that is only 2 years old, and they would prefer PERL, JAVA and CCSE/CCSA certification - for a starting range of $34-45k year - masters in Information Science a plus. 

The big technology bellwethers have all adopted critical race theory and social justice platform policies, as well. 

I think this wave will eventually hit the *nix world. Increasingly, the sites that return hits on Linux issues are written by East Indians - and the information is usually not very good. Sometimes it is... sometimes it is excellent. But more and more frequently I know even as I'm reading the howto that I know more about the thing than the author. 

Thu Apr 01 2021 11:58:47 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

The more I learn about how many not-so-bright IT workers there are out there, the less I am bothered about the horror stories of IT workers being offshored, outsourced, replaced by automation, etc. I am coming to the realization that the people who write those stories are often people with only one skill (network administrator, storage administrator, server administrator, etc) and do mundane tasks, are not creative problem solvers, and can't do much else.

Perhaps I should rephrase that. It still bothers me, but it doesn't make me worry about *my* employability as much.

I preferred smaller shops when i was younger.  Power to do things the right way. bigger risk if you screw up but bigger rewards if you dont. etc.

But as i have got older, i just want a quiet corner to sit in, not be seen or thought about and then fade out when its my time. I dont even want a party when i retire. just an email 'he left last week, so if you need help, call xyz instead' is good enough.   Not doing a great job yet tho, what i support is the 2nd most important application we have. with 30k+ users. So still pretty high profile.

Considering where i am at, i am surprised we have not been hit with the race training yet  They have recently created an entire agency for it.. but they have not DONE anything yet...

It will be a huge joke, and everyone will know it is. 

Thu Apr 01 2021 16:04:16 EDT from ParanoidDelusions

Here is the thing... my experience in large fortune 500s was that the not-so-bright IT workers were the ones most likely to be kept on. They don't rock the boat, they don't challenge - they just do what they're told no matter how ridiculous the request is, how insecure the result is, how unstable the platform becomes. They don't innovate - they follow directions. The problem is - this accurately describes the majority of H1B Visa workers in domestic IT - and they work cheaper than even *domestic* idiots are willing to work for. 

So, the brightest IT guys have found smaller companies and hunkered down there, with the subsequent sacrifices that tend to come with working for a smaller organization. There are benefits too, of course. I stayed managing the place in Ohio until the company was acquired by a Bay Area tech company. If not for the acquisition, I might still be there. Honestly - after that place, I just didn't look very hard. The problem isn't that I'm a one-trick IT pony - I think the problem is places are posting for Jr. MS-SQL DBA, with 5 years minimum experience in a technology that is only 2 years old, and they would prefer PERL, JAVA and CCSE/CCSA certification - for a starting range of $34-45k year - masters in Information Science a plus. 

The big technology bellwethers have all adopted critical race theory and social justice platform policies, as well. 

I think this wave will eventually hit the *nix world. Increasingly, the sites that return hits on Linux issues are written by East Indians - and the information is usually not very good. Sometimes it is... sometimes it is excellent. But more and more frequently I know even as I'm reading the howto that I know more about the thing than the author. 

 

Well, the companies I worked for were seen as ruthless meritocracies with great opportunity to turn the lowest ranking employees into highly paid C-level roles if they proved themselves in the 80s. 

But then California decided that other factors than performance were most important, and that performance and ambition themselves were signs of the toxicity of straight-white-male culture and society - and that most of the people who excelled in ruthless meritocracies that encouraged things like constructive confrontation were single white males. Corporate focuses started to adopt theories on the toxicity of this structure - and how it alienated minorities, women, LGBT and foreigners from achieving high ranking roles in the company structure. 

The East Coast tends to be later in adopting this kind of ideology - and personally I think adopts it with a little wink and a nod, in most cases. 

I mean, as early as the mid 90s, men in the technology industry in the triangle were already acknowledging that there was a catch-22 with working with women, minorities and LGBTs. Many you could be casual with - they were just people. But the proto-SJWs - you had to watch every little behavior that might be triggering or possibly offensive or misconstrued or misinterpreted. This in turn made them feel isolated and not included in the larger team. So you had to make them feel *welcome*, while separating them from the more casual comradery of the group, team or organization. 

And of course - if this is true, they the group culture *is* toxic and *is* hostile - it *is* infested with the kind of toxic white masculinity that makes PoCs and women and LGBTs feel threatened and persecuted and oppressed. 

If you don't change the culture, you alienate them with bigotry and discrimination and you're bad. If you modify the culture, it is proof that the culture is bad. It doesn't matter if there were women, Muslims, LGBTs, men - whatever in the group who were all getting along and joking and a great team. The one SJW proves that it is all bad because they can't fit the team if it doesn't change for them, or if it does. 

And so all the straight white men in the group get sent to sensitivity training at HR. 

This is working in the Silicon Valley Triangle or Sacramento in the mid to late 90s in technology - and it just kept getting worse. 

Any criticism of this ideology proves you are locked in the blind oppression inherent in the patriarchy. 

The cream doesn't rise to the top in this kind of environment. 

Mon Apr 05 2021 15:42:28 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

That really hasn't been my experience so far. With each acquisition, the cream still rose to the top.

We are just screwed. 

Wed Apr 07 2021 02:14:45 EDT from ParanoidDelusions

Well, the companies I worked for were seen as ruthless meritocracies with great opportunity to turn the lowest ranking employees into highly paid C-level roles if they proved themselves in the 80s. 

But then California decided that other factors than performance were most important, and that performance and ambition themselves were signs of the toxicity of straight-white-male culture and society - and that most of the people who excelled in ruthless meritocracies that encouraged things like constructive confrontation were single white males. Corporate focuses started to adopt theories on the toxicity of this structure - and how it alienated minorities, women, LGBT and foreigners from achieving high ranking roles in the company structure. 

The East Coast tends to be later in adopting this kind of ideology - and personally I think adopts it with a little wink and a nod, in most cases. 

I mean, as early as the mid 90s, men in the technology industry in the triangle were already acknowledging that there was a catch-22 with working with women, minorities and LGBTs. Many you could be casual with - they were just people. But the proto-SJWs - you had to watch every little behavior that might be triggering or possibly offensive or misconstrued or misinterpreted. This in turn made them feel isolated and not included in the larger team. So you had to make them feel *welcome*, while separating them from the more casual comradery of the group, team or organization. 

And of course - if this is true, they the group culture *is* toxic and *is* hostile - it *is* infested with the kind of toxic white masculinity that makes PoCs and women and LGBTs feel threatened and persecuted and oppressed. 

If you don't change the culture, you alienate them with bigotry and discrimination and you're bad. If you modify the culture, it is proof that the culture is bad. It doesn't matter if there were women, Muslims, LGBTs, men - whatever in the group who were all getting along and joking and a great team. The one SJW proves that it is all bad because they can't fit the team if it doesn't change for them, or if it does. 

And so all the straight white men in the group get sent to sensitivity training at HR. 

This is working in the Silicon Valley Triangle or Sacramento in the mid to late 90s in technology - and it just kept getting worse. 

Any criticism of this ideology proves you are locked in the blind oppression inherent in the patriarchy. 

The cream doesn't rise to the top in this kind of environment. 

 

Mon Apr 05 2021 15:42:28 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

That really hasn't been my experience so far. With each acquisition, the cream still rose to the top.

 

I think eventually this will start hitting the East Coast too - then start moving into the interior. I mean, it already has, compared to the mid 90s. I just think California is always WAY ahead of the curve in adopting stupid. 

Wed Apr 07 2021 08:54:50 EDT from Nurb432

We are just screwed. 

Wed Apr 07 2021 02:14:45 EDT from ParanoidDelusions

Well, the companies I worked for were seen as ruthless meritocracies with great opportunity to turn the lowest ranking employees into highly paid C-level roles if they proved themselves in the 80s. 

 

And these were MAJOR companies. The kind with 175,000 employees worldwide and $15 billion dollar warchests and commercials with dancing guys in cleanroom suits airing on prime time TV and superbowl spots. 


Companies whose SANS and backup solutions you almost certainly have or have had in your datacenters. 

I think that has always been the case. West cost out front trying stupid stuff..  delay.. east coast grudgingly following ... longer delay, Midwest, as we have no choice ( we think we dont anyway, as we really do, but we never just say 'no, that is stupid' )

Wed Apr 07 2021 11:02:24 EDT from ParanoidDelusions

I think eventually this will start hitting the East Coast too - then start moving into the interior. I mean, it already has, compared to the mid 90s. I just think California is always WAY ahead of the curve in adopting stupid.