el_richo

Conference call. Sounds very old school

Problem with our place is that we don't have "computer guys", or at least not openly. They all appear pretty silo'd and/or don't like sharing their specialisation.

I'm classed as "IT" by friends and family purely cos i use a laptop, play with gadgets, and work for a Tech company. I'm as IT literate as a pube.

That said, i could never tell the difference between the Architects, Systems Engineers, Consulting Engineers, Distinguished Consulting Engineers, Customer Solutions Architect, Technical Solutions Architect, IT Engineer, Network Engineer, Technical Marketing Engineer, Distinguished IT Member of Staff, etc etc

These are all titles that i've come across recently, although some could be incorrect cos it's off the top of my head.

I'd be pretty sure your "computer guy" would be all of the above

I think i'll start using that term from now on. That'll show the bunch of elitist buggers.

el_richo

Coincidentally, i just watched season 2 of The IT Crowd. I'm qualified now to deduce your comment as 100% accurate.

dbd33

We have video, but look better on the phone.

el_richo

Haha, you're not wrong. It's often difficult hiding your shock when the hot sounding colleague puts her not so hot life sized mug in front of the HD screen

DigitalGhost

That is something that you generally seem to find in larger-scale organisations from my experience, and in particular, educational institutions.

I work for a University at the moment and some of the people working there take the term 'sad elitest wanker' to the extreme. I've always been one for sharing my knowledge and documenting things, if only because it means that things don't have to grind to a halt when something goes wrong and I'm not there.

I'm getting a bit doubtful about the whole thing at the moment though and am actually considering retraining as an electrician instead.

el_richo

What i mean is, the folks all are silo'd in that they only touch, or are knowledgeable about, their own technologies. For example, our TelePresence guys aren't so knowledgeable on Data Centres. Our Data Centre guys aren't so knowledgeable on Video. Our Video guys aren't so knowledgeable on Physical Security. Our Physical Security guys aren't so knowledgeable core switching and routing, etc etc.

DigitalGhost

Yeah that's what seems to happen generally, especially in larger organisations and in particular companies which are focused around IT products and services and that's why I prefer working in smaller teams for law firms etc.

I don't think that it is ever in the interests of the business to be honest, especially when things aren't documented because it leaves no redundancy in times of critical incident but then again it's a very common strategy used by some independent IT contractors to basically make themselves indispensable.

Alan2005

I don't think this is what el_richo is getting at. Though, actually larger companies are more likely to document stuff in my experience. When there are only half a dozen people nobody has to bother because everybody knows everything everyone else is doing already. On the other hand when there are 1000+ you are necessarily going to get silos due to specialization. This isn't a bad thing.

DigitalGhost

I'm not too sure about that, I've worked in places which an IT department of around 50 people and absolutely nothing documented, but that could just be from my experience.

One thing that I have noticed is that documentation seems to be a reasonably new concept and so a lot of people who have been working in the industry for longer don't seem to want to bother with it. Again, could just be my experience though.

el_richo

The company i work for are pretty clued up with the IT stuff.

fowler71

I've lived in Montreal and currently live in Calgary so my statement is based on personal experience. Anyone who has been to both cities will understand what i mean. I've been to Dedmonton twice.

dreamer2626

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