WTF has been around long before the internet usage of it. I was using it in the coast guard sending Morse code, probably been in use with military communications since there were radios.
I started in the civilian world as a contract help desk worker for Union Carbide. Since I had military experience as an all around tech but with only limited Windows experience I took it as an opportunity to expand my knowledge of the WinWorld.
I worked the graveyard shift with one other person then eventually by myself. Not many calls in the middle of the night unless it was from one of the overseas plants so it was a good time to read through help files and past case calls to see what resolved it. We were given pretty good leeway to try and solve issues and our 'leads' would add solutions to the help files regularly.
After 9 months I felt I had learned all I could there and took a lower paying job elsewhere as a PC/LAN techinician doing hands on support. That lead to becoming the director of network admin when my boss retired, which led to my current position with a federal agency. So in my case, yes it was a launch pad, had I gotten comfy I would have been laid off eventually because Dow Chemical bought Union Carbide and kept their helpdesk elsewhere and shut down the Carbide one. And pay was decent for helpdesk, $20 per hour in 1998 was good scratch after earning E5 military pay, especially with overtime a regular happening, just didn't have any bennies from the contract agency.
I was a radioman in the Coast Guard, we had to go through regular checks to make sure all our equipment was TEMPEST approved. Every 18 months ships go through 'Refresher Training' - all manner of drills and combat readiness training including radio and electronics. A favorite story about ensuring that things were TEMPEST approved was a navy ship that was tracked for days because of the microwave in the chief's mess, every time they popped up some corn the microwave was sending off spurrious emissions. The story is dubious but was amusing for coasties at least.
At least the discovery of TEMPEST was probably less disastrous than whoever discovered HERO - Hazards of Electromagnetic Radiation to Ordnance! Whenever loading ammo we had to secure radios/radars.
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Instead, we have the TSA providing asinine rules
Fixed that for you. DHS and TSA are the ones running security.
Corporate sponsorship is by Union Aerospace Corporation, what could possibly go wrong....
Don't make them prove the pen is mightier than the sword. League of Extraordinary Barristers to the rescue!
WTF has been around long before the internet usage of it. I was using it in the coast guard sending Morse code, probably been in use with military communications since there were radios.
I worked the graveyard shift with one other person then eventually by myself. Not many calls in the middle of the night unless it was from one of the overseas plants so it was a good time to read through help files and past case calls to see what resolved it. We were given pretty good leeway to try and solve issues and our 'leads' would add solutions to the help files regularly.
After 9 months I felt I had learned all I could there and took a lower paying job elsewhere as a PC/LAN techinician doing hands on support. That lead to becoming the director of network admin when my boss retired, which led to my current position with a federal agency. So in my case, yes it was a launch pad, had I gotten comfy I would have been laid off eventually because Dow Chemical bought Union Carbide and kept their helpdesk elsewhere and shut down the Carbide one. And pay was decent for helpdesk, $20 per hour in 1998 was good scratch after earning E5 military pay, especially with overtime a regular happening, just didn't have any bennies from the contract agency.
I was a radioman in the Coast Guard, we had to go through regular checks to make sure all our equipment was TEMPEST approved. Every 18 months ships go through 'Refresher Training' - all manner of drills and combat readiness training including radio and electronics. A favorite story about ensuring that things were TEMPEST approved was a navy ship that was tracked for days because of the microwave in the chief's mess, every time they popped up some corn the microwave was sending off spurrious emissions. The story is dubious but was amusing for coasties at least. At least the discovery of TEMPEST was probably less disastrous than whoever discovered HERO - Hazards of Electromagnetic Radiation to Ordnance! Whenever loading ammo we had to secure radios/radars.