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PHBs Getting "Secret" IT Training
An anonymous reader writes "As if all of us aren't already already aware of this, PHBs don't know jack squat about computer technology, and they won't seek any training from their own IT staff because that would be an admission of "weakness" so instead they are getting outsiders to train them in secret." Lucrative work for the secret tutors I s'pose. I guess getting tutored in secret is better than just floundering in ignorance.
I know of a systems admin doing the same! - posted anonymously to protect the guilty.
Floundering in ignorance isn't something that happens at /. every day.
I have seen the people that they hire when not in secret. Seriously, I had a guy in two weeks back to train me on my new I-series server. I helped him set it up then showed him how to connect to the internet, then I skipped the training in disgust.
Could someone please explain to this lowely Helpdesk Technician what the hell a PHB is?
No. Floundering in ignorance is much less destructive than "a little knowledge". A completely ignorant PHB says "make me a system that counts sheep". A PHB with a little knowledge says "make me a system that counts sheep, and it should use an ACID-compliant database and J2EE, and I think XP will be the way to go..."
Dilbert: "You have to hold the notebook upside down and shake it to reboot, remember?"
PHB: "Oh right, thanks"
I feel safer now.
"YOU'D BE SURPRISED by what they don't know" says the trainer.
No one who has ever worked help desk would be.
Based primarily on the experience of one tutor, they imply that there is this vast underground of executives secretly trying to figure out their e-mail. Facts, people, I want facts! Show me more than one over-priced tutor, or even 10. Anonymous surveys, large industries, etc. That would be real news. Not some journalist interviewing someone they met at a party and calling it news. ++
That's gotta fit into your schema somewhere
I guess getting tutored in secret is better than just floundering in ignorance.
I take it you haven't had the "pleasure" of your PHB embarrassing you by yelling "I know it's your T1 because our network guy teleported into the Baywatch hub and checked it!" at a Qwest network admin during a heated conference call.
For the PHB's here: It's 'telnet' and 'Bay Networks'.
What does it mean when your supervisor openly admits he has no clue what you do for 40 hours a week? I figure it's good job security for me... i think.
In secret though? craziness! My employer is too cheap to give me any training, so I doubt anyone else is either.
Best training I've ever done? An O'Reilly book... ANY O'Reilly book.
cheers-
Hard loop..... huh?
Dynamic Designs
Perhaps another reason "PHBs" might be heading to other sources than the IT staff is because the IT staff treats them with such contempt?
a good manager hires people that are knowledgeable in the field that they work. very likely, they will be more knowledgeable than the manager himself. the manager must then rely on input from these skilled people to make informed decisions. that is, if the boss doesn't know if A is better than B, he should ask the employees and find out.
if the boss does not know anything, and is embarrassed to ask more knowledgeable employees, that boss should be fired. making decisions based on your secretly-aquired knowledge that may be incomplete, wrong, or totally inappropriate for the given situation, is probably the worst thing you can do.
now, if the boss is an idiot, and the employees are idiots, well, you're probably going to be seeing some blood sucking consultants eating your company's money pretty soon.
I don't want my boss to be totally uninformed. I don't like working in a vacuum and I don't ALWAYS have the best solution. At times, believe it or not, my boss has some good ideas even though he's not as technically astute as I am in a lot of areas. Sometimes, being a little further removed from the problem can present a great solution.
God yes - you hit the nail on the head. When reading some of the posts on Slashdot, I wonder how some of these people can hold a job given their holier-than-thou genius-of-all-tech attitudes.
Get over yourselves. An informed boss can make better decisions and work easier. And, if you can help them in a way that doesn't involve humiliating them, maybe it will come back and reward you.
Am I the only one who sees Simon's fine hand in this matter?
BOFH fodder, indeed....
www.eFax.com are spammers
Consider GE, which instituted an internet mentoring program (Word doc) for its top executives, including former CEO Jack Welch.
You don't need a computer expert to teach computer basics, and the upside is that the lower level employees get executive mentorship, and the executive employees learn these tools while keeping connected to employees down the ladder. This, to me, is a much more sensible approach than seclusion, shame, and secrecy.Now watch me hit this drive.
"Okay boys, listen up. This is our new secret weapon. It's called Windows 2004. Anyone gives you lip, just install it on their computer, and watch the sparks fly"
I find it funny that a group that collectively has trouble with personal hygiene, getting a date, ever getting a second date, finding something to talk about besides computers, etc is down on high level executives.
So they don't know computer applications. They know finance, marketing, operations, negotiating, and a host of other things that mostly don't have anything to do with computers, but do have a lot to do with ongoing success.
One of the happiest, best paying environments I ever worked in had me reporting to a division controller responsible for operations accounting related to stores doing $200M in sales annually. She was almost helpless on all sorts of things computer related, but she could sign purchase orders faster than I could type and when HQ IS weenies got under foot her head would spin around, she'd spit nails, etc, etc, and they'd go back to guarding their silly little mainframe, while our mighty intranet continued to win the hearts & minds of the people in the field.
Instead of poking fun at them, maybe you should study them - they *are* the ones with the money/power/cars with power windows that work - you might just learn something.
I am very easy to get along with, but I don't have time to waste being nice to people who are being stupid. -Theo
I completely agree that people skills can set people apart. I just find a lot of techs pretty arrogant and condescending and it doesn't inspire a great deal of confidence in the people in the field. I don't mind that they don't have people skills -- everyone has limitations -- but the arrogance can be controlled.
ok, now I *understand* some people might still live in a cave and think programming the VCR is black magick, but here's my thoughts on this.
having worked under DIRECTORS OF IT that fit this profile, it leads me to ask the question. . . In a typical business model, shouldn't the boss not only know his employee's jobs, but be able to do them in most cases!? or atleast be savvy enough (i.e., we run Netware, yeah Netware XP) to hire a contractor. I'm not even going into the mcse stuff either (1 pci NIC + 1 driver disk + 1 NT box == particle engineering).
I personally take the stance that your superiors should alteast know how to operate they're own system and be computer literate enough to atleast receive a company-wide memo. we can't keep sheltering people like this. in the end it will end up, those of us who can. and the others that can't that will serve us. oh and those who can purchase those who can so they can too. IMHO.
When I was fresh out of college in 1991, I interviewed at Anderson Consulting (now Accenture, I believe). They showed me the typing room where all the secretaries were typing things. I thought it was a little primative.
When I talked to the partner, I asked where his computer was. He said that he had one sent up if he needed to do a presentation or something.
I could tell he just didn't get it.
Needless to say, I didn't get the job.
A tech support dude who can't type "acronym phb" into Google...
O that I lived to see such evil days!
T&K.
Political language
...and is more common than you think in management.
My boss told me that when he took his first CIO job (moving from an operations management job) that not only did his boss encourage and pay for an IT "coach" to give him a crash course in IT, he said it was pretty common for execs to use "coaches" for all kinds of things, including a fair amount of touchy-feely management subjects.
Look, I worked IT for a hundred doctors' offices in a major metropolitan area. Doctors are no more, and no less, computer literate than the general populace. Most of the docs I spoke with were highly intelligent, easy to teach, and interested in learning how to do new stuff.
So I really don't know what you're after, here. Smart people know how to learn stuff. Lots of docs are smart people.
Incidentally, most of those doctors' staff people were similarly teach-able. I think that the assumption that people are unable to learn how to drive a computer is due to the fact that lots of people are bad at teaching people how to use computers.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Of course they could give two buttons and just default to having them do the same thing via software
<PHB> Which one do I press?
<SecretTutor> It doesn't matter.
<PHB> What do you mean it doesn't matter?! There are two buttons! Why are there two buttons if it doesn't matter?!
* PHB throws mouse out the window
*** SecretTutor was kicked by PHB (fired)
Having seen it from both sides (Dad's a doc who dabbled in programming in college, I do web apps for docs), I'd say a lot of the blame rests squarely on IT's shoulders.
:-p
You can tell when the UI was done by a programmer with no usability training... things are just counterintuitive, non-obvious, etc.
Yes, some docs are computer imbeciles... but their job is to fix people, not to sit taking computer training. Make it Incredibly Freaking Obvious (TM) and it's easier for everyone.
It behooves everyone, however, to take the time to learn at least the basic operations of the tools REQUIRED to do their job. I think anyone would agree that this is a reasonable statement.
I cannot see any sane tech expecting an executive to be able to recompile a kernel, or tweak a protocol stack.. but honestly... It is nowhere near the shadow world of technology to learn to press the "online" button of a printer.. nor is it unreasonable to expect even an exec to learn that the cd-rom is not a cupholder, or to learn that the monitor is not the CPU.
Yes, others have skill sets that techs don't. However, the level of base ignorance, often willful, of the operation of the basic tools required in Marketing or Management is staggering. A computer is one of those tools. It is akin to a carpenter not knowing how to use a drill, a farmer not knowing how to use a tractor, or a mechanic not knowing where to put oil in a car.
Sure, the mechanic may not know how motor oil is refined out of crude oil, a carpenter may not know how to fix the motor on his drill, and a farmer may not be able to repair a blown gasket on his tractor... but they all know how to use those tools in their proper function, or they don't succeed.
Management and Marketing has some degree of contempt for technology, even though it is their lifeblood. They take it for granted, and as such, they treat techs accordingly. Techs look upon those people with derision because they spend SO much time dealing with RTFM cases. Techs are just as overworked as anyone else, and unfortunately, the problem Marketing and Management persons think it is beneath them to learn to use the tools they need.
M&M's need to learn to use computers, so I'm all for training, secret or otherwise. The less stupidity a tech has to deal with on a daily basis, the more sociable the tech will inevitably be. The rediculously arrogant on both sides need to be canned in a hurry, period.
The lack of consideration and social skills is not simply the domain of geeks, friend... They span the board.
Yeah, I have no social skills. I'm what you would call a dork or a nerd. But thats ok, because am not here to be please everybody.
You don't have to please everybody - but you will find that your life goes a great deal easier if the people around you like you.
If you recognize the fact that you have no social skills, then, if you are technically minded as you say - why don't you point some of your intellect towards social skills? I used to be in the same situation - a geek in highschool (and still today) I never talked to anyone, never went on dates etc. However, after I decided that I wanted to get better social skills my life changed instantly - for the better.
Right now I have a good deal of Unix experience in an enterprise environment - yet, I just took a sales job. Why? I want to be a better sales person. I want to understand all aspects of business so I can go into business for myself one day. As it happens I am selling computers, just something I happen to know about. I find it makes your life easier if you try to fix what you might consider weaknesses in your character. It has worked for me quite well so far. It is something to consider.
As far as the holier than thou attitude, yeah, so what? I'm choosy about the people I like and if I'm condescending its because a lot of people who're above me are there not because they're better than me but because they have the "Oh so called Social Skills."
If you are technically minded, you are likely logically minded as well. Technology involves solving problems - so does social skills. However, it also involves understanding other peoples feelings and empathy. A great book to read and begin to understand this is the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey. It would probably be worth your time to read, especially if you know that is is a weak area of yours.
You certanly sound angry at the people who have "Social Skills" so why don't you point a little logic of yours in that direction? It is easier than you might think.
I don't see the point -- as long as I do my job and get my stuff done, whats the point and the problem?
Whether you are employed or not quite often depends on your social skills. Really, if you keep pissing off the PHB, they will replace you, and if you have no social skills, you will never even see it coming.
You could almost rewrite that line by saying:
I don't see the point -- as long as I write crappy code that barely works, whats the point and the problem?
No, that is not fair to rewrite it like that - but it is an appropriate analogy for how other people might feel about your attitude. Most people see having social skills as an INTEGRAL part of getting along with co-workers. And, getting along with one's co-works is part of your job.
All that most "informed bosses" can do is kiss everyone's ass and pretend to know everything. And serve everything as sugar coated lies to the clients and investors.
Yes - and that is THEIR JOB They are in business - they have to be able to sell. You can make fun of the PHB's who can't use the computers (and there are many) but how many coders understand a balance sheet, and can sell their product effectively? You know, amongst the PHB's the last thing they want is an engineer near a client - engineers (generally) are not good salespeople. If you don't have good salespeople - you don't have a job and pay the bills. You are stuck coding free software (which is just fine) but you can't pay the power bill to keep your system running.
I would much rather not pretend to empathize with such people.
Part of having social skills would mean that you understand WHY they are doing what they do, so that you can in fact have REAL empathy for them. Not fake empathy. Faking empathy is not a socia
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
That would have worked a few years ago, when computers were still a bold new frontier. Think about the Old West--at first rugged individualist cowboys and adventurers are rewarded, because the place was so empty that ability to deal with nature was more important than ability to deal with your neighbor. In fact, people probably went out west because they couldn't stand their neighbors back east.
Think about how much of America was built by people who couldn't stand their old neighbors. Even the native americans must have really hated China at some point.
Then, as things began to get crowded, the same sort of business men and politicians from back east began to rise above everyone else, and the cowboy lifestyle began to decline.
It's the same with computers--first it was dominated by nerds like you (and possibly me...) who were really good with machines. But as there got to be more and more of us, and as the machines got more and more reliable, then yet another frontier starts to close, and making people happy once again becomes more important than making machines go.
Now, the mature thing for folk like us to do is to either find a new frontier, or accept the world as it is, and try to improve our social skills as best we can.
Yet before I do that, I'd like to take a moment to shed a tear for the death of yet another frontier, yet another chance to make the American dream a reality. The American Dream, by the way, is that one can improve one's own lot in life simply by doing a better job, through physical or intellectual effort, rather than by kissing the asses of whatever feudal lord happens to be dominating our lives at the moment. That individual worth could somehow beat out nepotism and favortism. A sweet, yet elusive dream
And before I allow Stockholm syndrome to completely overwhelm me, I lament how much of humanities effort is wasted in the collective solipsism advocated by so many people who reply to you--the opinion that physical reality outside humanity is of less importance than social reality within humanity. A society which believes that itself is the most important thing in the universe will experieince very limited growth.