View Full Version : IT meteorologists?
Trying to wrap my head around how a multi billion dollar company can have IT people who are about as good at their job as meteorologists are at predicting the weather.
BushMasterBoy
03-20-2019, 12:36
I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last nite....
RblDiver
03-20-2019, 12:41
I'm curious as to the details, but speaking as an IT person, a big part of it is because people do things you'd never think of, expect, etc. Then, because systems get so complicated, they're all woven together, so changing one thing might have an effect elsewhere you weren't anticipating.
An example of the first back from my video game testing days, in...I think it was one of the Call of Duty games, if you primed a grenade, then switched to the Javelin without throwing it, when you were killed you'd explode in a large radius around yourself. I mean, who the hell would think to do this sort of thing?
For the second, I don't think it was an actual scenario, but someone once described fixing software bugs like: "Fixed the stairs. Now the dog flies."
sellersm
03-20-2019, 14:27
Wow, talk about an edge case!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
LMAO. My uncle is in IT at the same company you are.
Delfuego
03-20-2019, 15:43
Comcast?
DireWolf
03-20-2019, 16:09
Trying to wrap my head around how a multi billion dollar company can have IT people who are about as good at their job as meteorologists are at predicting the weather.
I ask myself this very question on a regular basis...In many cases the question is rhetorical and the answer obvious (if a bit multifaceted).
I'm curious as to the details, but speaking as an IT person, a big part of it is because people do things you'd never think of, expect, etc. Then, because systems get so complicated, they're all woven together, so changing one thing might have an effect elsewhere you weren't anticipating..."
^^^there's often at least some of that involved, sure...that said, some things just defy belief or any semblance of logic...
If it's Microsoft and browsers, I think I've more than questioned how the hell they screw it up that badly. The only thing that's kept it to being questions is it's a hella long ways to drive from Montrose to go punch somebody out.
Remember the Microsoft anti-trust suit about making Internet Explorer part of Windows?
How the hell are they able to get away with Edge today? Not only is it the same thing, but with every major patch, it overrides your settings and puts itself back in charge.
ruthabagah
03-20-2019, 19:09
with every major patch, it overrides your settings and puts itself back in charge.
Sounds like my wife....
Delfuego
03-20-2019, 19:38
https://secure.i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03237/RIP_Internet_Explo_3237077b.jpg
Remember the Microsoft anti-trust suit about making Internet Explorer part of Windows?
How the hell are they able to get away with Edge today? Not only is it the same thing, but with every major patch, it overrides your settings and puts itself back in charge.
I've battled more times than I care to discuss trying to get my browsers working again after an MS patch. Just flat out fail to use DNS and act like there's no flipping IP stack at all. Recovery points, etc. don't fix it. Infuriating. Someone does need to class action MS on that shit.
I?m battling something wonky with IE. it started when they migrated my account from one server to another and all of the IT assholes just point fingers and blame each other but nobody seems smart enough to actually figure out the problem and fix it.
That's the worst. I'm going through a bit of that right now myself. I'm only potentially losing money every day they don't figure it out, so no biggie.
theGinsue
03-20-2019, 20:08
I?m battling something wonky with IE. it started when they migrated my account from one server to another and all of the IT assholes just point fingers and blame each other but nobody seems smart enough to actually figure out the problem and fix it.
That's the worst. I'm going through a bit of that right now myself. I'm only potentially losing money every day they don't figure it out, so no biggie.
That's because the IT guys are battling Microsoft and their bloated nasty code. I still contend that if Microsoft is the answer then it must have been a stupid question. Sadly, since it's the most prevalent OS for users @ home and @ work, it's usually the best choice for usability.
I?m battling something wonky with IE. it started when they migrated my account from one server to another and all of the IT assholes just point fingers and blame each other but nobody seems smart enough to actually figure out the problem and fix it.
What's IE doing?
Certain sites on our intranet that used to work just fine now won?t open and it gives me a message that says the site can?t be found.
Not sure if I said that right.
The IT people had me monkeying with the security settings to no avail.
I?m not sure it even has anything to do with IE but I think when they migrated my account they screwed up some of the permissions or something when they set me up on the new server.
buffalobo
03-20-2019, 20:31
Can't use another browser?
Probably nothing to do with IE. Sounds like someone screwed up the web server/s on the back-end. Throw some F5s/firewalls/proxies in between and it totally ups the fun level.
Yeah I was gonna say, sounds like DNS.
DNS would likely give you a "server not found", but the issue was stated as "site not found".
hollohas
03-20-2019, 21:37
We went through this recently at my office. I work for a roughly $25B company. We went through an email migration a few weeks ago that included some rather over-reaching mobile apps.
Long sorry short, it didn't work with Android. The many page readme/instructions they sent for Android users was all iOS screenshots. Seriously, they didn't even prepare for the migration properly by taking the time to test and make instructions for Androids. The half dozen IT experts that flew in to help our migration go smoothly couldn't figure it out. (Even though they said they'd done the migration at other locations).
Their temporary solution was to try every aftermarket email app in the app store until then found one that worked...kinda. But one that wouldn't sync contacts or calenders with Outlook. Ugh.
We went through this recently at my office. I work for a roughly $25B company. We went through an email migration a few weeks ago that included some rather over-reaching mobile apps.
Long sorry short, it didn't work with Android. The many page readme/instructions they sent for Android users was all iOS screenshots. Seriously, they didn't even prepare for the migration properly by taking the time to test and make instructions for Androids. The half dozen IT experts that flew in to help our migration go smoothly couldn't figure it out. (Even though they said they'd done the migration at other locations).
Their temporary solution was to try every aftermarket email app in the app store until then found one that worked...kinda. But one that wouldn't sync contacts or calenders with Outlook. Ugh.
Wow.
That's hard to fathom.
Was the vendor a top 5 or 10 consulting firm?
BTW, we just use the stock Android phone email app with O365 so I can't imagine what their deal is. It actually works well although I chose not to sync my calendar, contacts as I use something else that's not at risk of corp whacking my stuff.
DNS would likely give you a "server not found", but the issue was stated as "site not found".
I honestly can?t recall specifically what it says. Maybe it was server not found. I?ll have to look tomorrow.
Also, how do you take a screenshot that I can stick in an email? Might help the tech geeks out if I could send them pictures.
I honestly can?t recall specifically what it says. Maybe it was server not found. I?ll have to look tomorrow.
Also, how do you take a screenshot that I can stick in an email? Might help the tech geeks out if I could send them pictures.
Snagit if they're licensed for the paid version.
I like Greenshot for a free app and use it more unless I need to record screen video. Simple, easy, fast, lots of options.
On laptop or desktop it's just the PrtScr (PrintScreen) button between F12 and insert. Push that button and it takes a screen shot. Then paste it into whatever paint or picture app and save as a PDF or JPEG.
On laptop or desktop it's just the PrtScr (PrintScreen) button between F12 and insert. Push that button and it takes a screen shot. Then paste it into whatever paint or picture app and save as a PDF or JPEG.
That grabs the whole dang screen. Alt-Prtscn will also grab just the active window (mostly) but also dumps any cursor selection popups, etc. Snagit and Greenshot take over those keys and do way way way more much better.
I needed to update mine to get it working, but just prtscrn this selection directly to imgur and it puts the image URL link in my clipboard for pasting.
DISCLAIMER: Don't download software from random "found" sites. In this case, Greenshot is available FREE (for Windows) with no nag BS, directly from their site. https://getgreenshot.org/downloads/
https://i.imgur.com/FIapc9O.png
I downloaded it. Now it will sit on my computer forever, likely forgotten.
DireWolf
03-20-2019, 23:11
We went through this recently at my office. I work for a roughly $25B company. We went through an email migration a few weeks ago that included some rather over-reaching mobile apps.
Long sorry short, it didn't work with Android. The many page readme/instructions they sent for Android users was all iOS screenshots. Seriously, they didn't even prepare for the migration properly by taking the time to test and make instructions for Androids. The half dozen IT experts that flew in to help our migration go smoothly couldn't figure it out. (Even though they said they'd done the migration at other locations).
Their temporary solution was to try every aftermarket email app in the app store until then found one that worked...kinda. But one that wouldn't sync contacts or calenders with Outlook. Ugh.
^not suprising, doubtful any of them actually understood how all the pieces fit together...far more common than it should be.
I honestly can?t recall specifically what it says. Maybe it was server not found. I?ll have to look tomorrow.
Also, how do you take a screenshot that I can stick in an email? Might help the tech geeks out if I could send them pictures.
^if running Windows 10, should have the Snipping Tool installed already. Onenote also has screen-clipping and may possibly be installed already.
I downloaded it. Now it will sit on my computer forever, likely forgotten.
Since I only just now updated mine and got the imgur upload working, I'll be using that part much more. It was always kind of a hassle (on this board) to grab a screenshot to post. Even more so with the new upload size limits.
Thanks everyone.
I?ll try the print screen thing.
Our stuff is on serious lockdown so installing anything outside of a small group of approved programs is a no-go. They even revoked my administrative privileges on my machine so even updating existing software typically requires contacting IT and explaining why I need to do it.
Here?s the actual message I keep getting.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190321/8c7f19fe24b241593b28ff4a32b9ae44.jpg
Probably getting filtered. Haven't read anything but if your machine is on serious lockdown so is your 'net.
Probably getting filtered. Haven't read anything but if your machine is on serious lockdown so is your 'net.
Thanks.
Between all of the phone calls, emails, and a few people remoting in to try and fix this you?d think somebody would be smart enough to un-fuck whatever?s fucked up.
hollohas
03-21-2019, 08:06
Wow.
That's hard to fathom.
Was the vendor a top 5 or 10 consulting firm?
BTW, we just use the stock Android phone email app with O365 so I can't imagine what their deal is. It actually works well although I chose not to sync my calendar, contacts as I use something else that's not at risk of corp whacking my stuff.I have always used the native Android email app and I like it. They found a fix and I'm back on the native app finally. It was a pita for a bit because I spend most of my time out of the office and rely on my mobile device.
We're eventually migrating away from Outlook active sync to 365, but this was just a partial step. They added AirWatch to our devices. Something between the addition of AirWatch and the migration to a new, but temporary, Exchange server wasn't working with the native email app.
AirWatch has got to be one of the most intrusive apps I've ever seen. I'm going to have to get a 2nd phone...
Grant H.
03-21-2019, 09:18
Can't use another browser?
Not likely. It took a month, and getting the regional Superintendent involved to force corp IT to allow me to have a browser besides IE on a company issued laptop (I was an embedded contractor for a large O/G company, with their laptop for radius reasons). 6 months after I had approval and they put chrome (they wouldn't allow firefox, not for any actual reason, but because one of the corp IT monkeys had personal beef with Mozilla) on my machine, Chrome was magically approved for all corp machines and the rest of the team I was a part of was happy for a change...
Thanks.
Between all of the phone calls, emails, and a few people remoting in to try and fix this you?d think somebody would be smart enough to un-fuck whatever?s fucked up.
Not necessarily.
I'm curious as to the details, but speaking as an IT person, a big part of it is because people do things you'd never think of, expect, etc. Then, because systems get so complicated, they're all woven together, so changing one thing might have an effect elsewhere you weren't anticipating.
An example of the first back from my video game testing days, in...I think it was one of the Call of Duty games, if you primed a grenade, then switched to the Javelin without throwing it, when you were killed you'd explode in a large radius around yourself. I mean, who the hell would think to do this sort of thing?
For the second, I don't think it was an actual scenario, but someone once described fixing software bugs like: "Fixed the stairs. Now the dog flies."
The current state of millions of people spending millions of hours on multiplayer first person shooters is probably about as close as you can get to the theoretical notion of an infinite number of monkeys randomly hitting keys on an infinite number of typewriters.
That said, none of them have managed to recreate the works of Shakespeare yet.
Certain sites on our intranet that used to work just fine now won?t open and it gives me a message that says the site can?t be found.
Not sure if I said that right.
My favorite thing ever is when IE throws these kinds of errors when attempting to access another Microsoft product, e.g. Sharepoint.
Delfuego
03-21-2019, 10:03
Lots of conjecture in this thread . Also don't appreciate smack talk about IT guys (I am one). The old rule still stands, if you don't like it, fix it yourself.
That being said, my guess is TLS mismatch.
I?m not smart enough to fix it myself.
That?s why I rely on other people to do their jobs.
Sorry if me bashing on your chosen profession a little has offended you.
Delfuego
03-21-2019, 17:37
Takes more than that to offend me. I replace under-skilled IT guys regularly. But if your company only pays low wages to IT employees, they will only attract low end talent...
I have no first hand knowledge about the IT people but generally speaking my company pays all of its employees rather well. I?m guessing they likely make more than I do.
Perhaps it?s my general lack of knowledge of anything IT related that gives me cause to believe that some of them generally don?t know what they?re doing. Maybe they?re all stud ducks and it?s just a lot more complicated than I think it is.
You'd be surprised how little most IT folks make. Most organizations see IT as an expense.
But IT people know computers and stuff. That?s Silicon Valley type money.
Silicon Valley type money isn't really "IT".
Ray,
I had the same issue at work when they made some big IT changes (that never do anything positive, only gum up the works). Not necessarily the same message, but this site was blockd due to some of their general keyword filtering.
After about 2-3 weeks of not being able to access the site from my work computer directly, or through bookmarks, one day I clicked on a thread link that was in one of my notification emails from the site. VIOLA!! It accessed the site without issues and allowed me to navigate around the site. After 2-3 weeks of accessing the site that way, I found that it must have become "recognized/accepted" and now I can access it via bookmark, typing in the url, etc.
If you get email notifications from the site, try that. May not work, but it worked for me.
Thanks everyone.
I?ll try the print screen thing.
Our stuff is on serious lockdown so installing anything outside of a small group of approved programs is a no-go. They even revoked my administrative privileges on my machine so even updating existing software typically requires contacting IT and explaining why I need to do it.
Portable Apps.
Check it out.
I have always used the native Android email app and I like it. They found a fix and I'm back on the native app finally. It was a pita for a bit because I spend most of my time out of the office and rely on my mobile device.
We're eventually migrating away from Outlook active sync to 365, but this was just a partial step. They added AirWatch to our devices. Something between the addition of AirWatch and the migration to a new, but temporary, Exchange server wasn't working with the native email app.
AirWatch has got to be one of the most intrusive apps I've ever seen. I'm going to have to get a 2nd phone...
Airwatch. I just threw up in mouth a little.
Lots of conjecture in this thread . Also don't appreciate smack talk about IT guys (I am one). The old rule still stands, if you don't like it, fix it yourself.
That being said, my guess is TLS mismatch.
No direct offense intended, but I'm an enterprise IT (primarily IBM Power systems and storage) dork and most desktop support dorks are useless dinks.
LOL
Airwatch. I just threw up in mouth a little.
It's been a while but I seem to recall that after the initial airwatch setup, you could go in and turn off the device admin access to your device.
That said, our O365 email won't run if you disable it. That's also the reason I don't use the android email app to sync contacts or calendar. I'm probably being paranoid that they could wack my google or phone contacts, but I'm assuming anything I sync'd going forward would be subject to wipe if they chose to do so.
Airwatch, like most MDM solutions, will allow you to unregister the device. You also lose any applications and data that were encrypted on the system.
No direct offense intended, but I'm an enterprise IT (primarily IBM Power systems and storage) dork and most desktop support dorks are useless dinks.
LOL
Like.
Delfuego
03-22-2019, 11:24
No direct offense intended, but I'm an enterprise IT (primarily IBM Power systems and storage) dork and most desktop support dorks are useless dinks.That's why they are doing (or still doing) desktop support. However, many dorks only know how to do what they do and have no idea how anything else in the chain works. Programmers, webguys, network guys, often are clueless what happens after they press enter on their keyboard. I have found high-level people that are as helpless as desktop users when it comes to what they really understand. They know their discipline and not much else. I don't have that luxury in my job. If it's not working I need to fix it, or find someone that can. I don't have the luxury to escalate to level 2/3 when I get stuck. VMware, Cisco, Microsoft, carrier connectivity, etc, etc, the buck stops here...
No direct offense intended, but I'm an enterprise IT (primarily IBM Power systems and storage) dork and most desktop support dorks are useless dinks.
LOL
And I'm desktop support. Definitely useless.
DireWolf
03-22-2019, 18:04
...many dorks only know how to do what they do and have no idea how anything else in the chain works. Programmers, webguys, network guys, often are clueless what happens after they press enter on their keyboard. I have found high-level people that are as helpless as desktop users when it comes to what they really understand.
Quoted for absolute truth!
gnihcraes
03-23-2019, 10:21
I'm old, did retail for years, dos, all versions of windows etc, moved into server support, hp xompaq ibm, netwok support, older cisco stuff. Had kids and needed more time at home. Its way easier for me to be desktop support now and know the network and server side. Heck, network support is shocked that i know something aboit what needs done. I'm also helping the server group on things some of them don't understand.
Share security? Hidden share?
Add a port to a vlan...
What do these certifications mean? I'm not up on the latest stuff, but the basics we all should know.
I like where I'm at mostly, 8-5 and being desktop, im not working after hours and can blame the others when it doesnt work monday morning. :)
Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
And I'm desktop support. Definitely useless.
I said most, and that's been my experience as a useless desktop guy on the receiving end of desktop support OR the next level support for something desktop blames on infrastructure that there's just no way in hell it could be what they claim. I didn't say all.
I said most, and that's been my experience as a useless desktop guy on the receiving end of desktop support OR the next level support for something desktop blames on infrastructure that there's just no way in hell it could be what they claim. I didn't say all.
I'm just joking :)
I'm old, did retail for years, dos, all versions of windows etc, moved into server support, hp xompaq ibm, netwok support, older cisco stuff. Had kids and needed more time at home. Its way easier for me to be desktop support now and know the network and server side. Heck, network support is shocked that i know something aboit what needs done. I'm also helping the server group on things some of them don't understand.
Share security? Hidden share?
Add a port to a vlan...
What do these certifications mean? I'm not up on the latest stuff, but the basics we all should know.
I like where I'm at mostly, 8-5 and being desktop, im not working after hours and can blame the others when it doesnt work monday morning. :)
Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
No doubt.
My current client called off their production cutover earlier in the week because the coding and system support staff couldn't figure out some issues they were having on their test system. I'm primarily infrastructure and systems and storage level stuff mind you but have done switch/route, WAN stuff, security, and too many other things worth listing.
Got down to the wire today on a "dry run" of production cutover after I had them hours ahead of schedule and folks were getting a bit flustered so I asked if the data errors they were getting that were blowing up the screens could possibly be an issue with the data itself. The error is rather generic and not helpful at all to debug. I say, "So have you actually tried looking at the data (table) outside the application? They look, Um, it's "masked data" that's not getting unmasked, as in it's column level encryption on SSN's in those tables that contain them and they don't have the correct keys. Duh. Oh, you restored an older version of the key management middleware and then upgraded it, and then later (keyword later) moved production data over without the keystore ro going back through that software migrate/upgrade? DUH.
Snip tool should be on Win10, unless they removed it in the deployed image.
It's good that they took away local admin, despite the pain for you. Updates should be tested before installation.
I agree with Delfuego -- sounds like a TLS mismatch.
Is it only you, Ray, or is it having an effect on everyone?
You mentioned "intranet"... is the site an internal site (a la sharepoint) or is it out at some other site (e.g, funnyjunk.com)? That would change the troubleshooting depending on the answer.
Sometimes, solutions found online are a rank violation of a company's security posture and procedure. For example, I had a person once who had some issues with a program. The vendor's supplied solution was the make the user a local admin. Sorry. No. No way. Solving beyond vendor recommendations... can get weird.
IT salary can vary wildly, since it's often seen as a cost (which it ultimately is). Some value that cost's impact more than others. It can vary wildly within teams, too, among folks who are literally doing the same work. Equalization isn't the answer as it rewards the suck and punishes the win. If someone is underpaid for their expertise and competence, they likely need to find another job.
All teams have individuals who suck at certain things. If a guy doesn't suck at certain things and is a total rock star, he is sandbagging in his position and needs to move up/on unless he is perfectly happy. I used to be of the opinion that if someone is below the rest of the team in tech skills they need to be gotten rid of. However, a lot of times those folks are GREAT with customer interaction and serve a useful purpose. I have one person who freaks out practically anytime they have to get into CLI and fix stuff. But usually, for us, that's a user level issue. Where they shine is they have intimate knowledge of circuit action teams in the area, know our vendors' help desk persons, and know how to really push our vendors into quicker and more decisive action. They can get answers about outages, best POC for a particular issue, etc., in 5 min whereas my more technical folks take 30 min to get no answer and we wait a day or two. They know all the teams in the area by heart and phone numbers, POCs, etc. Fixing issues at the Access level is actually very low hanging fruit for us. So yeah, they're not as useful as others who seem more "techie", but I'll be darned if they aren't a complete value add in ways we never had before.
ETA, because I can't resist: Yes, IT in this day and age is sometimes like being a meteorologist. Just no telling what the Cloud will do. [ROFL1]
It is just me having this issue. Everyone around me has normal functionality. I can?t remember if I?ve tried to log in on someone else?s computer to see if it works and I don?t recall if I?ve had someone else log in on mine.
I dealt with this over about a two week period last April and then just gave up because I was tired of dealing with it. Any time I needed anything done that I couldn?t do I?ve just had other people do it for me.
One year later and thought I?d try to get it resolved again using different people this time. Two days in so far and I?ll probably just give up again soon.
Oh, and I?m still on Windows 7 and running IE 11.
Oh, and I?m still on Windows 7 and running IE 11.
Probably not for much longer.
If it's only you having this issue, and this issue means so much to you, I would offer to re-image your system to resolve the issue. [Coffee]
The problem itself isn?t a huge issue as it only impacts a small portion of what I do. The fact that nobody seems to have a clue how to fix it is a bigger issue for me than the problem itself.
Maybe I?m just not wired right.
Delfuego
03-24-2019, 09:42
Share security?
Hidden share?
Add a port to a vlan
Per user (or group) permissions to access that specific share
.$ on the end of a share will "hide" it from browsing.
VLAN creates the security access (separation) at the switch layer 2 rather than at server permission level.
gnihcraes
03-24-2019, 10:28
Per user (or group) permissions to access that specific share
.$ on the end of a share will "hide" it from browsing.
VLAN creates the security access (separation) at the switch layer 2 rather than at server permission level.Share or per group or user permissions.
Your hired. But we dont pay much on entry level (which you seem to know more already!) and dont hire external for 2nd or 3rd level usually. We breed from within. Most of the problem we have. :)
Amazing how many cant do those simple functions.
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