Post AMh5GrsNIcAXeHrTeq by haxnet@fosstodon.org
(DIR) More posts by haxnet@fosstodon.org
(DIR) Post #AMckFbMAnkLE7evwLg by mike@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T16:06:10Z
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Coworker: Hey Mike, what's your desk phone number?Me: Uhhh......Me: <opens new email and reads phone number out of signature>Me: 480-555-1234Coworker: Thanks.Me: <goes and gets more coffee>Is it Monday? It feels like Monday.
(DIR) Post #AMcl7psL2LiCmzq6FM by RL_Dane@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T16:15:55Z
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@mike I used to have mine memorized, but that was a different decade. 405-280-something, I think.
(DIR) Post #AMclOYq3dH3SsDkQAC by mike@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T16:19:01Z
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@RL_Dane Me too, but I've been working from home almost 100% since 2020, and in virtually the entire time I've worked for this company I've had my desk phone forwarded to my cell phone. I've never wanted or needed to use it. We don't even have phones on our desks anymore since my company does that whole "hoteling" thing. If someone called me and I didn't have it forwarded, I don't even know how I'd answer it. I'd just get the voicemail in Outlook.
(DIR) Post #AMclWIW8COK6ZQ7HkG by RL_Dane@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T16:20:21Z
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@mike Man, IT has changed so much. I wouldn't even know my way around anymore 😆
(DIR) Post #AMclxBK33cA04gHfqi by mike@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T16:25:17Z
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@RL_Dane Yea, it's been a crazy couple decades. When I first started we had to install the networking stack into Windows 3.1 manually. My boss got hired because he was the only applicant out of over a dozen that had actually installed Windows 95 (it was pretty new in fairness). To support my clients I had to walk miles and miles a day to personally work on-site. These days I'm working in virtual environments hosted hundreds/thousands of miles away and I don't see anybody or move from my chair.
(DIR) Post #AMcn8btYhVHfczuJAu by proactiveservices@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T16:38:22Z
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@mike and yet I can still remember the phone numbers from at least three of my childhood homes, and weirdly, one of my ex's mobile numbers...
(DIR) Post #AMcnF9yCvKEz2zCkmu by mike@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T16:39:36Z
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@proactiveservices Oh, I'm admittedly terrible at that kind of stuff. I think my wife's number is about the only one I currently know. I've lived in my current house for 3-4 years now and I still sometimes have to double check my address.
(DIR) Post #AMcnP1dSlZHq5sCpQ8 by proactiveservices@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T16:41:30Z
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@mike I'm OK with my current address but turned up 14 doors up from my first visit today. I had walked my bike through their gate, locked up my bicycle and was just organising my luggage when someone said hello to me from the back door. It was not my customer.
(DIR) Post #AMcnflVC0FQsyoJsdl by proactiveservices@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T16:39:24Z
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@RL_Dane @mike you'd be surprised just how much hasn't changed. Diagnosis and second-order thinking skills are still as relevant then as they are today.
(DIR) Post #AMcnfm0k6wfaYf54oi by mike@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T16:44:31Z
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@proactiveservices Heh, I had to look up what "second-order thinking" meant, but I think that's probably something I excel at. I've always just considered it a combination of pessimism and paranoia. "How is what I'm doing now going to bite me in the ass down the road?" I just do my best to be lazy in advance.@RL_Dane
(DIR) Post #AMcoDfujHmpbUiQxH6 by RL_Dane@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T16:50:36Z
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@mike You started a few years before me. Does it feel a lot different to you, other than the technical changes? To me, IT became a lot more cutthroat, a lot less humane when I left. Could have just been the fact that I went from an old-guard IT shop to being outsourced to a horrendously soulless TLA company.
(DIR) Post #AMcpiYmLxp1oIRo5Gi by mike@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T17:07:27Z
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@RL_Dane It's hard to say. I feel like there's been a pretty noticeable bell curve to it. Yea, things are more cutthroat and less humane than they used to be, but when I first started I worked in the field for ~7 years before I wasn't in a basement or a converted closet. One of my offices literally doubled as storage. The paint fumes were horrible and I was gone in a year because I just couldn't stand it. Motivations have definitely changed since then. Technology was a big thing for a while, 1/
(DIR) Post #AMcpvTg0FItAEhzp4q by mike@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T17:09:47Z
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@RL_Dane but I feel like it's always been something the business part of the companies I've worked for would rather not have to worry about. They've been itching to get the nerds out of their hair for as long as they've depended on them. They were stuck for a while, but now the ability to have a technical product without having to deal with the nerds is becoming more and more possible. We've invented stuff to make ourselves obsolete, and the suits are jumping at the chance. 2/2
(DIR) Post #AMcqEupDX3FVwEZhEe by RL_Dane@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T17:13:14Z
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@mike Yikes. I felt the same way when my entire infosec team was outsourced -- something I wouldn't have expected in a million years. What kind of idiot outsources infosec? Apparently, the kind that doesn't want to deal with it, but only HAS to have it for legal CYA reasons.I'm in one of these weird positions where I'd love to be a programmer, but I have very little respect for modern programming tools and methodologies. Just so much lazy bloat. Again, all corporate-profit-driven. :P
(DIR) Post #AMcqJ8F7aS3Gi9hZLc by proactiveservices@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T17:14:00Z
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@mikeFrom what I've read they're jumping at the chance and after one major outage or DR catastrophe they realised the nerds were a pillar of the organisation. Ransomware has made this particularly salient. @RL_Dane
(DIR) Post #AMcqQytKEuz41aFXUG by birnim@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T17:15:31Z
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@mike be a true BOFH and give a wrong number 😂
(DIR) Post #AMcqTAYnpFNOnJh4Nc by mike@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T17:15:52Z
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@birnim Janitor's closet?
(DIR) Post #AMcqVOdWSh9J1uxmtc by proactiveservices@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T17:16:11Z
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@mikeYes it's a new term I came across recently - I found it on HN - I hadn't realised how relevant it was until now. @RL_Dane
(DIR) Post #AMcqYPyZwC6W3NFkB6 by birnim@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T17:16:51Z
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@mike just any other number, to minimize how often you get annoyed and distracted from fiddling with the computers
(DIR) Post #AMcqyhoKFeQ6tazZUu by mike@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T17:21:35Z
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@RL_Dane I studied Computer Science in college and the goal was to be a programmer. I paid for my education doing IT work. I ended up sticking with IT because it was more fun but now I'm getting old and those 2 o'clock in the morning phone calls just don't motivate me as much as they used to. Most of the "programming" I've been doing is just scripting and process automation, so I'm not sure I could jump back in to real development if I wanted to. I wasn't terribly great at it in the first place.
(DIR) Post #AMcrDpbfY5dhPyHhzs by mike@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T17:24:18Z
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@proactiveservices Unfortunately memories are short, and there's too much of "We won't make the same mistake next time!" in the corporate mentality. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic again, but I don't see the needle moving back in the direction of onsite IT for a while. If ever.Don't get me wrong, they'll always keep SOME. They're just going to want to get rid of most and isolate what they can't get rid of as much as possible.I hope I'm wrong about all this.@RL_Dane
(DIR) Post #AMctU7g0KhJ40DCzL6 by underlap@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T17:49:39Z
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@mike you are in good company. Apparently Einstein didn't bother to remember his own phone number because it was in the telephone directory.
(DIR) Post #AMdHIBUaiXNnGJi69g by nhr@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T22:16:25Z
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@mike I'm a little amazed to learn that there is an office where coworkers still _call_ each other...
(DIR) Post #AMdHcLXf3yZCDolCU4 by mike@fosstodon.org
2022-08-17T22:20:04Z
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@nhr I seriously doubt they're going to call me on the phone. I expect it was a form or something they were filling out that probably hasn't been updated since the mid 80s.I do get "calls" often though, or as they're often referred to, "voice meetings". They're usually done through Teams and not an actual phone, but same general thing. Many of our offshore resources really seem to like it.
(DIR) Post #AMdxdoCSCAFXT2DjA8 by chringel@fosstodon.org
2022-08-18T06:10:53Z
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@mike That‘s exactly the same I do all the time.I also look up our office‘s address from my company‘s website 😅
(DIR) Post #AMfZLja8AnUTgIe28e by nhr@fosstodon.org
2022-08-19T00:48:12Z
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@mike that makes a lot more sense :-)
(DIR) Post #AMh5GrsNIcAXeHrTeq by haxnet@fosstodon.org
2022-08-19T18:20:36Z
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@mike I do that lol