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Kylemaul
Lovin' My Firefox
Premium Member
join:2001-03-30
Puyallup, WA

1 edit

Kylemaul

Premium Member

Supporting MS employees! No wonder...

Mod note: this was off-topic in the Roll Call thread, so it was moved out. It was a response to this post:Original Post

Why on earth should any (let alone 1,300) MS employee need an onsite helpdesk? Not downplaying your obvious skills gatorjoe, just find this ironically paradoxical. No wonder MS shite don't work worth a flying pig.

Time
Premium Member
join:2003-07-05
Irvine, CA

Time

Premium Member

said by Kylemaul:

Mod note: this was off-topic in the Roll Call thread, so it was moved out. It was a response to this post:Original Post

Why on earth should any (let alone 1,300) MS employee need an onsite helpdesk? Not downplaying your obvious skills gatorjoe, just find this ironically paradoxical. No wonder MS shite don't work worth a flying pig.
It doesn't work for the people who don't have the capabilities to use it. Stop bashing Microsoft just because they are a wealthy company.

Sunny
Runs from Clowns

join:2001-08-19

1 edit

Sunny to Kylemaul

to Kylemaul
You don't think all Microsoft employees are in development or IT-related positions, do you?

Kylemaul
Lovin' My Firefox
Premium Member
join:2001-03-30
Puyallup, WA

Kylemaul

Premium Member

Oops very touchy one I see...
You have to admit that it is ironically paradoxical that MS is not more self-sufficient when it comes to IT support, though.

Sunny
Runs from Clowns

join:2001-08-19

Sunny

If you're talking to me, not touchy at all. I just pointed out what you were missing, judging from your comment.

Microsoft has business reasons for hiring contractors, as do many other large companies.

GeekNJ
Premium Member
join:2000-09-23
Waldwick, NJ

1 recommendation

GeekNJ to Kylemaul

Premium Member

to Kylemaul
Why wouldn't ANY large (or mid size) company not have a help desk? Who handles HW problems, network issues, mail, in-house developed applications. Add/move/deletes?

Do you think each employee should call up the NOC if there's a line outage between 2 sites?

I'm actually sort of shocked someone participating in this specific forum would think otherwise!

TheOtherRay
Comfortably Numb
MVM,
join:2001-12-02
Denver, CO
Netgear CM1000
Asus RT-AC88

1 recommendation

TheOtherRay to Kylemaul

MVM,

to Kylemaul
The decision for a company to contract out services is based on many things, not just whether they can fill the positions internally.

But more fundamentally - why would any company want to pay good money to developers to fix network problems, or have project managers fix their own email problems, etc? Having an internal support staff is infinitely practical, and it keeps everyone else focused on their jobs.

heels_fan
1.20.09 The start of Socialism
Premium Member
join:2003-02-07
Columbia, TN

heels_fan to Kylemaul

Premium Member

to Kylemaul
we only have around 150 PC users in our office, and we have a helpdesk.

We have a couple of guys the work with in-house programming and software, and couple of guys that work with hardware issues. And most are pretty much crossed trained.

Now granted, this is there primary job titles, they do have secondary workloads when not busy with internal stuff

cowspotter
join:2000-09-11
Ashburn, VA

cowspotter to Kylemaul

Member

to Kylemaul
I work in a Help Desk enivironment in the same building as about 70 IT employees. I am always surprised when I go up to install memory or do any kind of work on their computer. I went to install a 256 chip in a laptop the other day and the person asked me "So, do I need to shut down?" Of course you do. It really solidifies the distinction between software developers and support employees.

Sunny
Runs from Clowns

join:2001-08-19

1 edit

2 recommendations

Sunny

Way to Impress the IT Guy

You reminded me of a favorite story. My son is a software engineer, income far beyond anything I could ever have hoped for as a sysadmin. He has learned by force (mine) how to deal with hardware issues, but he has never liked it.

On his first job where he could officially claim the software engineer title, he requested an additional hard drive from the IT staff. "No problem" and, when it arrived, they dropped it into his in basket.

He just happened to be at his desk at that time, looked at the IT guy in mock surprise and exclaimed, "What? You're not going to install it for me? At home my mother always does that for me!!! "

kraughl
join:2002-08-18
Woodburn, OR

1 edit

kraughl to Kylemaul

Member

to Kylemaul

Re: Supporting MS employees! No wonder...

said by Kylemaul:

Why on earth should any (let alone 1,300) MS employee need an onsite helpdesk? Not downplaying your obvious skills gatorjoe, just find this ironically paradoxical. No wonder MS shite don't work worth a flying pig.
Mod note: personal comment removed Many major companies have either full time IT departments or contract it out. Do you really think that Sally in HR can troubleshoot and fix her own computer? I have worked in an IT department supporting 7000+ users and over 50+ servers. I was recently laid off due to thinking like yours. The people in charge thought that we were over staffed. Well they are suffering the pains now. IT is an integral part of any successful organization.
bmn
? ? ?

join:2001-03-15
hiatus

bmn to Kylemaul

to Kylemaul
Being a programmer is far different than being an hardware (desktop) support guy or systems administrator... Its a totally different skillset with a totally different focus.

Case in point... I worked for a company that had two in-house developers. One developer thought that his computer was running slowly, so he went down to the admin and tech floor and stole our fastest workstation (built by a different manufacturer than his workstation). In his brilliance, he simply swapped the drives (loaded with Windows 2000) and expected it to work. It was funny when I asked him why he did that and his response "There shouldn't be any problems, so what does it matter." Noticing what he was doing, I simply responded by asking why hell he was reloading Windows on his system then if his plan worked so well and walked away. I quit not long after that and the company folded not long after that.