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Uneducated IT Managers, and How to Deal?

Posted by Cliff on from the patience-makes-the-perfect-tool dept.

R.Mason asks: "I work in an IT department for a small to medium sized family owned business. The job is great, except for our boss. He simply doesn't know nearly as much as he should. Our team finds ourselves teaching him or explaining remedial things far too often. Even when his own computer is acting up, he doesn't know what to do with it and has us fix it while he sits and watches. He spends hours and hours on the most insignificant tasks as if he has nothing better to do. Is it ignorant to believe an IT manager should be a knowledgeable in technology as a whole? A person you respect and frequently learn from? It creates an extremely frustrating work environment, and our team doesn't know how to approach the problem. It's becoming too much to simply "put up with it." What advice do those of you in the IT field have for this issue?"

20 of 811 comments (clear)

  1. You know by Pope+Benedict+XVI · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's just about impossible to find a job working for someone whom you respect. You would not believe some of the stupid things my boss has done!

    1. Re:You know by Thuktun · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Pope Benedict XVI" wrote: You would not believe some of the stupid things my boss has done!

      I can't tell, is that blasphemy or not?

  2. On the other hand... by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 5, Funny
    I was self-employed for two years, and boy was my boss a turkey! :-)

    Bruce

    --
    Bruce Perens.
    1. Re:On the other hand... by PCM2 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Pfff, Bruce isn't even telling you the whole story. He had it easy. He was sleeping with the boss.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
    2. Re:On the other hand... by Overzeetop · · Score: 4, Funny

      Likewise, but I found the employees to be lazy, slashdot-reading, good for nothings.

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    3. Re:On the other hand... by FyRE666 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Tell me about it, when I worked for myself I got fired for sexual harrassment...

      --
      Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
  3. Dear Slashdot, my boss sucks... by new+death+barbie · · Score: 4, Funny

    Perhaps if you spend more time whining on /. everything will work out for the better.

    This is Slashdot. We're ALL smarter than our bosses. You don't catch us whining about it. Much.

    --

    It's supposed to be completely automatic, but actually you have to press this button.

  4. Contingency For Ethernet by Vicissidude · · Score: 5, Funny

    My rather verbose boss, head of IT, wanted us to come up with a contingency plan for ethernet. At first we looked at each other trying to figure out what he meant. Evidently, he wanted an alternative to ethernet that still provided networking just in case ethernet failed. We're not talking about a device failing or the network being down, we're talking about failure of the protocol itself. And he wanted us to find a way around that... Did I mention we were just a regular office of about 30 people with a sum total of 3 IT workers?

    1. Re:Contingency For Ethernet by composer777 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think that's called sneakernet. When the ethernet goes down, just write a protocol that has employees write the data to floppy/cd/whatever and then transport the data on foot. :) That should work for a small company.

    2. Re:Contingency For Ethernet by crazyphilman · · Score: 5, Funny

      Man, you've got no imagination!

      You should have gotten the other IT guys in on your action, and told the boss "Sir, you're absolutely right! We'll need a company credit card and a paid day off to go to CompUSA, BestBuy, and Staples and research alternative solutions!"

      Spend 7 hours drinking at the strip bar and one hour buying some wireless networking gear. Presto! Everybody's happy!

      --
      Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!
    3. Re:Contingency For Ethernet by ScrewMaster · · Score: 5, Funny

      I guess maybe I'm not geeky enough, but I just don't see how a bunch of IT guys sitting in a circle smoking some mediocre Mexican weed would help in this case.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    4. Re:Contingency For Ethernet by Taladar · · Score: 4, Funny

      Reminds me of Packet-over-Sheep (RFC 3203) or IP over Avian Carriers (RFC 2549; meaning everything from the Concorde to a pigeon)...

      --
      Linux is not Windows
    5. Re:Contingency For Ethernet by markana · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh, you mean Tolkien Ring? I'm afraid there was only one of those built (the prototype was lost in some industrial accident or something). Anyway, it was prone to failure in high-temperature environments.

      Nazgul-Net was a much better solution...

    6. Re:Contingency For Ethernet by jrockway · · Score: 5, Funny

      > Everybody's happy!

      No man, you've got this completely wrong. This is slashdot! We all know that if a slashdotter were given the day off, a credit card, and orders to go to a computer store and buy shit until the card is maxed out, that's what he would do! Are you really telling me that you'd rather see some girls take off their bathing suits instead of setting a up a massively parallel RAID-5 array of 300G SATA-150 disks!?

      If so, you fail at being a computer nerd! :)

      --
      My other car is first.
    7. Re:Contingency For Ethernet by sik0fewl · · Score: 4, Funny

      Are you really telling me that you'd rather see some girls take off their bathing suits instead of setting a up a massively parallel RAID-5 array of 300G SATA-150 disks!?

      Indeed! Just imagine all the pr0n you would be able to store on that machine!

      --
      I remember when legal used to mean lawful, now it means some kind of loophole. - Leo Kessler
    8. Re:Contingency For Ethernet by falconwolf · · Score: 4, Funny

      No man, you've got this completely wrong. This is slashdot! We all know that if a slashdotter were given the day off, a credit card, and orders to go to a computer store and buy shit until the card is maxed out, that's what he would do! Are you really telling me that you'd rather see some girls take off their bathing suits instead of setting a up a massively parallel RAID-5 array of 300G SATA-150 disks!?

      If so, you fail at being a computer nerd! :)

      No you've got to get two credit cards and two days. The first day you go to COMPUSA, Fry's is better, where you buy the hardware then take it back and set it up. The second day is spent grabbing some chicks and showing them what you did.

      Falcon
      --
      Should there be a Law?
    9. Re:Contingency For Ethernet by The_One_Ring · · Score: 5, Funny

      Working in a consultancy, I have to deal with this every day.

      I was once consulting for a firm that wanted to expand their organisation and communicate over the internet. I mentioned that it was imperitive that they use a firewall for security. The IT manager gave me a testy look and said "Well, that goes without saying, doesn't it?".

      Fast forward three weeks. I turn up for another meeting and notice a bunch of workmen demolishing the computer room. I ask one of them what's going on and he says that they are installing fire-rated dry wall to replace the existing dry wall!

      I walk into the meeting with a VERY large grin on my face and proceed to explain to the IT manager exactly what a firewall is. He turns bright red and then says to me "Well we were planning to fire-proof the computer room anyway!"

      --
      ---- Now, where did I put that knife.....
    10. Re:Contingency For Ethernet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, We all heard of VoIP. If ethernet fails, IPoV

  5. Jesus Christ... I can't believe you guys by ellem · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you had a problem with me you guys could have just come to me and said something.

    Oh and hey my DHCP is DNSing again.

    --
    This .sig is fake but accurate.
  6. Wireless Token Ring by AragornSonOfArathorn · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you take your laptop out of range while you have the Token, you get to keep it. If you collect 10 of them, you can mail them in for a prize.

    --
    sudo eat my shorts