IT professionals - speak regular English please

[Count Zero]

I'm not even IT but it's my sad experience that computer users are often really dumb about it. Even otherwise fairly intelligent people seem to switch off their brain once they sit in front of a computer.
At my last job I sort of became "computer repair woman" because I knew control+alt+delete and used it once to restart a computer that had frozen up. After that, I was asked to 'repair' others.

My reputation grew even more when I repaired the copy machine by following the instructions on its display.

 

[Marc]

What used to get to me was the IT Department every few weeks would send emails telling every to not restart their computers if they had a problem; but when a problem occurred, and I called IT, I was told to restart.

If the system has blue screened for example, there can be information on there than can help diagnose a problem.

You restart that computer and that information is gone then you'll be getting grump when your computer crashes again.

And if people think it's bad when you the user gets an error message try it from the support angle. Windows for example with errors in the event log gives you the oppourtunity to look it up directly in the MS knowledge base. Only problem is vast majority of the time, Microsoft don't know what the problem is so how are we supposed to fix it. All I can say is thank $deity for search engines.

Though one problems with searching for technical answers is the clutter and duplication. I was searching for an answer on an Outlook problem last week. The same exact same question and responses showed up on 10 different websites as different search results.

 

[Holdfast]

Part of good communication skills is an ability to translate jargon seamlessly to ensure customer satisfaction, as well as solving the problem swiftly. In fact, it's eminently arguable that communication skills can actually outweigh technical ability in determining satisfaction; if they're treated nicely, customers can give higher satisfaction scores even if the problem isn't solved when compared to a surly experience that results in a fixed product.

If I was hiring an IT person who as part of their duties would involve interfacing with lay people, I would definitely want evidence of excellent communication skills and not just technical ability. However, such people in any profession tend to be rare, and so attract higher levels of remuneration. Many companies may make a strategic decision not to prioritise their IT services in this respect.

This is what I used to do for a living. And not just normal end users, I was working as a consultant to the investment banks in London so I had to translate tech-talk to bankers and banking business requirements back to the computer guys.

I was pretty good at it too Unfortunately I can't figure out how to put that on a resume as a marketable skill...

Are you kidding? That's HUGE on a CV. Definitely include it under the brief key achievements/areas of expertise/however you've defined in in your preferred format. "Extensive experience in front-office/back-office interfacing, aligning functional services successfully to deliver strategic goal X" or whatever it best translates to in your field...

 

[B.J.]

I've tried giving as much information about the error as I can from the get go and that usually leads nowhere. I will write an email with a long paragraph of the exact issue and everything I have tried and the hours of Google searching I have done to solve it and will get something back like, "Please unplug the system and plug it back in and let me know how that works." It can be infuriating.

Actually, in my experience, IT people are not particularly smart. They are not the paragons of intelligence you're describing here, spreading their manifold wisdom among us mortal men. Most of them have some idea about how their computer system is supposed to work, but are absolutely clueless about what it is used for. Many of them don't care at all about the bottom line, actually.

"Having the slightest damn clue what you're doing"? I know exactly what I'm doing, actually, and I know what IT does, but IT people certainly don't know what I'm doing, aren't interested and frankly don't seem to think it's very important. Which is a mistake in any business, because without any productive people around, tech support guys are useless.

In my opinion, IT people should learn what I'm doing, what's my purpose in the company and how they can make sure that I can get the job done. If they can't be bothered to do that, the least they could do is to get out of the way while I'm working. Honestly, I think things just work better if different people work together to achieve a common goal.

My coworkers and I have these problems a lot at work. Being engineers, we use a lot of very high-end software, and we know how it's supposed to work. When something goes wrong, we have to call the help desk, and it doesn't matter what you tell them or how specific you are, they'll frequently ask you to do stuff that has *nothing* to do with the problem, and won't move on until you do it. Several coworkers have also submitted their laptop to the service center for various problems, and the center will often send it back with the comment "we couldn't figure it out, so we just refreshed the computer." (BTW, this kills several days of productivity for us because we have to reload all those programs again because they're not part of the "standard package". Not to mention that it doesn't fix the problem.)

 

[Amaris]

No one ever used a CD-ROM as a cup holder for real I guess but this person just couldn't get it into his head that the shiny side of the CD goes down.. his wife was actually far more computer savvy then he was but he would have none of it..

I take issue with that, sir! I did have one customer use his CD-ROM tray as a cup holder. He figured none of his cups could fit because the drive was made in Japan, and they apparently use smaller cups since they're a smaller people. I kid you not.

 

[Guartho]

If I didn't have to burn DVDs a lot I might as well use mine for a cup holder.

 

[Amaris]

If I didn't have to burn DVDs a lot I might as well use mine for a cup holder.

Well, he was a little old man, so it's not like I held something like that against him anyway.

 

[trampledamage]

Part of good communication skills is an ability to translate jargon seamlessly to ensure customer satisfaction, as well as solving the problem swiftly. In fact, it's eminently arguable that communication skills can actually outweigh technical ability in determining satisfaction; if they're treated nicely, customers can give higher satisfaction scores even if the problem isn't solved when compared to a surly experience that results in a fixed product.

If I was hiring an IT person who as part of their duties would involve interfacing with lay people, I would definitely want evidence of excellent communication skills and not just technical ability. However, such people in any profession tend to be rare, and so attract higher levels of remuneration. Many companies may make a strategic decision not to prioritise their IT services in this respect.

This is what I used to do for a living. And not just normal end users, I was working as a consultant to the investment banks in London so I had to translate tech-talk to bankers and banking business requirements back to the computer guys.

I was pretty good at it too Unfortunately I can't figure out how to put that on a resume as a marketable skill...

Are you kidding? That's HUGE on a CV. Definitely include it under the brief key achievements/areas of expertise/however you've defined in in your preferred format. "Extensive experience in front-office/back-office interfacing, aligning functional services successfully to deliver strategic goal X" or whatever it best translates to in your field...

Thank you! I speak "business" and I speak tech, but I don't speak "resume"

I shall use that phrasing

 

[Captain_Nick]

Has anyone who ever doesn't work in the IT field but has to work with IT people noticed that some 'computer geeks,' have trouble speaking in layman's English?

Error codes for propriety software written programs always have message like 'exception error 22 has occurred.' What the hell does that mean? Also, when you call people in the IT department they speak in the same lingo. Another rant - why are these same people always reluctant to push the restart button but want to instead diagnose the problem with mission critical software rather than just fixing the problem to get things going?

Speak English IT people it helps 'interface,' [ ] with the end users.

Why don't you try filling your own head with knowledge instead of expecting your intellectual superiors to speak down to you the way a mother babbles to her newborn son?

 

[Sean Aaron]

My biggest problem with my fellow IT workers is they won't pick up a goddam phone. It's easier to send a terse email and not try to understand a problem. If you have an issue and phone the person and explain it in a rational way I'd say you have a better chance of getting a resolution than batting email about. Just a suggestion to the "fed-up" brigade.

 

[Captain_Nick]

Hear hear

As an office worker I can second that. Sending emails is not working in a 'working' kind of way. I ignore mine and I am not the only one. If you want something don,ep ick up the phone.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

My biggest problem with my fellow IT workers is they won't pick up a goddam phone. It's easier to send a terse email and not try to understand a problem. If you have an issue and phone the person and explain it in a rational way I'd say you have a better chance of getting a resolution than batting email about. Just a suggestion to the "fed-up" brigade.

We are not allowed to contact our IT support by phone. We have to send them an email, and then they call us when they feel like it.

 

[sojourner]

I work in IT and no, I don't try to learn every freakin' job in the company in order to "better support you". That sounds a lot more like you need training than IT help. If you have an error in Excel for example, I can help. If you can't make your formula work or that bar graph display properly then RTFM. Don't get me wrong, much of the time I do help with formulas and bar graphs - on a single case basis. But when it becomes obvious that some asshat has no idea how to use the tools to do the job himself and just using us in IT, well, you'll see yourself dropping to the bottom of the priority list pretty damn fast.

Some cliche's in IT are true. We often ask a user if he has "turned it off and on again". Why? because if it's a one-off occurrence, this saves everyone a lot of time. If the error starts to happen more frequently, then it's time to start looking for real answers. I too have had the "cupholder" calls back in the day. I have had people tell me their PC doesn't work only to find out they haven't turned the monitor on. I even had someone call wanting to know how the "foot pedal" worked. (the mouse).

As far as the tech babble, I pride myself on my ability to make the users understand what I am talking about using common frames of reference. I think I picked it up from TNG technobabble expositions for the audience. ("so it's like fill a balloon with too much air!")

 

[Sean Aaron]

We are not allowed to contact our IT support by phone. We have to send them an email, and then they call us when they feel like it.

That is crap and it sounds like something you need to make a fuss about and get changed. If the reason is they're too overworked then they need to hire more staff or get outsourced to a company that can provide better service. I've never worked in a company where that would be regarded as an acceptable policy.

IT support is a customer service job, the tail should not wag the dog!

 

[ITL]

No one ever used a CD-ROM as a cup holder for real I guess but this person just couldn't get it into his head that the shiny side of the CD goes down.. his wife was actually far more computer savvy then he was but he would have none of it..

I take issue with that, sir! I did have one customer use his CD-ROM tray as a cup holder. He figured none of his cups could fit because the drive was made in Japan, and they apparently use smaller cups since they're a smaller people. I kid you not.

See, that's the sort of thing I'd say to an IT guy just to see the expression on his face.

 

[Jim Gamma]

This is what I used to do for a living. And not just normal end users, I was working as a consultant to the investment banks in London so I had to translate tech-talk to bankers and banking business requirements back to the computer guys.

I was pretty good at it too Unfortunately I can't figure out how to put that on a resume as a marketable skill...

How about "facilitation of cross-discipline communication"?

On-topic... I'm the tech liaison between my organisation and a big supplier in Paris, and almost all of the communication is by e-mail - simply because it's easier for them to log a call in the user's own words.

I've finally trained my team here to send me screenprints automatically and do a little poking themselves to see what the extent of the problem is, as it helps me pinpoint it for the Paris supplier. We do have the occasional mess-up, but usually it all goes pretty smoothly.

Our own IT division here are... uncommunicative. We just had an e-mail at 14:12 saying "Could all users please quit system XYZ before 14:10 today because we need to do investigation into a problem?" Uhm... might've helped if you'd sent that twenty minutes ago and given people a chance to see the thing!

 

[B.J.]

We are not allowed to contact our IT support by phone. We have to send them an email, and then they call us when they feel like it.

That is crap and it sounds like something you need to make a fuss about and get changed. If the reason is they're too overworked then they need to hire more staff or get outsourced to a company that can provide better service. I've never worked in a company where that would be regarded as an acceptable policy.

It's almost the same SOP at my (rather large) company as well. If you call the help desk, you do get a human on the other end, but their only job is to log the problem and send it on to the *actual* IT people, who call back at their own convenience. What's even more annoying is that you then have to explain the entire problem again, and I don't know if it's because they don't read the report (which I've discovered is true sometimes) or if the first person didn't write it down clearly.

 

[Sean Aaron]

Yeah, a central helpdesk is common, but I think it's fair to ring up the case owner after giving the process a fair go and feeling like you're going in circles. Ideally it would be the person the ticket is assigned to making that move however, since it's apparently their job to fix it! There should be some kind of escalation path in place even if you aren't necessarily able to contact the person holding your call directly.

If nothing else be sure to fill out any automatically generated surveys at the closure of the call and vent there (constructively). Bitching at the water-cooler won't change things. Bring it up at the next general company meeting to talk about workplace satisfaction/culture/whatever. Presumably the people running the show care about the functioning of the company and if interaction with support staff is a big problem they'll want to sort it.

 

[Carpe Occasio]

I work in IT and yes, many users that I support are not too bright when it comes to computers, networks, etc (that's why there's an IT department,) but I like to work with them in person, I don't speak in acronyms (except for my use of IT here because it's in the thread title,) I dress like I'm headed to the golf course, if I don't know something I'll admit it, I don't put off minor issues and problems, and I chitchat about what interests them.

 

[Holdfast]

Thank you! I speak "business" and I speak tech, but I don't speak "resume"

I shall use that phrasing

Well, I appreciate teh vote of confidence, but don't use it verbatim; it's pretty rough around the edges and needs streamlining and personalising. But certainly it should be on your CV!

We are not allowed to contact our IT support by phone. We have to send them an email, and then they call us when they feel like it.

We had that system in a previous job of mine. Guaranteed to make one feel irritated and that nothing was being done, even if it actually was.