Why do you guys hate us so much?

[TonerMunkeh]

I will admit IT technicians get a certain stigma from copier engineers. After all, let's face it - about 80% of the IT people I deal with are complete shagwits who blame the copier / printer / fax rather than their network. That irritates the shit out of me. The best lines they come out with are things like:

How hard can your job be?
Can you not fix it?
What do you mean you have to order parts?

Obviously it's not just IT techs that say things like this, however some do say it with a certain venomous quality.

cboucher - you are in a VERY lucky position, you have experience of both so I envy you slightly, you know what you're talking about. You know to check the standard stuff before the service call goes in and I bet your supplier loves you, no wasted calls for silly network faults, just genuine ones.

Mind you, filling out the chargeable call form usually cheers me up a bit. The look on the customer's IT's face when they are presented with a bill for a couple of hundred notes is well worth the wasted call.

[Shadow1]

Don't you guys pay attention to management? We're all stupid, we suck at our jobs, we're overpaid, underworked, and we could be replaced by chimpanzees if only they made good scapegoats.

[Scott_Lewis]

Don't you guys pay attention to management? We're all stupid, we suck at our jobs, we're overpaid, underworked, and we could be replaced by chimpanzees if only they made good scapegoats.

Now you just had to bring that up.

Our service manager/tech decided he had had enough of being responsible with no authority. So, our store manager announced he would manage service as well. Nothing like having a 'service manager' whose only interest is in sales, couldn't care less about the extra needless work heaped on service caused by the sales people not following procedures like assessing access for machine deliveries, coordinating people actually being there for those deliveries and getting the network surveys done.

Today, we had a 'simple' delivery of a rental. Oh, by the way, they want printing and scanning. "They already have e-mail, so that is what we will do." Come to find out e-mail doesn't and hasn't ever worked. Well, 4 extra man-hours later after learning about the network in dribs and drabs we decided to scan to user box and get outta there. Oh, and to top it off we gotta work around the training that is going on while we are trying to get the damn thing setup/configured.

[Guest]

Nothing like having a 'service manager' whose only interest is in sales, couldn't care less about the extra needless work heaped on service caused by the sales people not following procedures like assessing access for machine deliveries, coordinating people actually being there for those deliveries and getting the network surveys done.

You guys get network surveys? Lucky...

That used to be a running joke among all the techs when I was doing the field tech thing.

Salesman: "Don't you guys just carry network cables and switches with you?"

[msaeger]

I tried IT for a short time and have no plans on going back.

The thing that I don't like about many IT people I have encountered both inside and outside has been the arrogance. I think IT is supposed to be there to serve their users needs but they act like they run the place. Like when they say no you can't put that printer on "my network" only this kind well it's not your network and if it's what your users want you should try to accommodate them. And yeah the calls for it can't be the network and the cable is unplugged or a password changed.

They come up with crazy restrictions passed off as security then don't inform the users that whatever they wanted disabled was IT's decision not mine so I get called when something doesn't work.

I also see places where everything has to go through IT so when a machine breaks they have to call IT first so they can take six hours to call us. Then when I get out an hour after the call comes it looks like it took me seven hours and they users blame me for the machine being down the whole day.

I have found many IT people that are intelligent and helpful in fact my largest account has a very good IT department. There are a lot of bad ones though.

[TheOwl]

I have recently been subjected to the "Typical" IT person with the chip on the shoulder, except it was a room full of them from different companies on a training session for a managed services solution.

The trainer did the whole go around the room and get people to talk about their background. When it came to me, I simply stood up and said "I don't have a single IT qualification and I am actually a copier tach by trade who has been stuffing around with computers for the last 12 years".

I swear that room got cooler after I sat back down with the cold shoulders I got from them all!

As it turned out a few of them knew their stuff, but the rest were out gunned by a copier tech and they didn't like it.

I am quite happy to sit here and bag out IT people all day because I am an IT guy as well as a copier tech. Yes, working in IT can make me get my panties in a bunch as well, but I don't take it out on every one else.

I have the best of both worlds, sit in my office and play around with my servers and then get out in to the field and fix copiers and printers.

I am sure there are other IT people that read this forum that have met those asshole IT techs and would agree. But to say all IT people are idiots is a bit of an exaggeration.

As far as IT vs Toner Heads, I can have a punch on with myself! And if I lose, then I switch teams. hahahahahahaha

[Mr Spock]

The thing that I don't like about many IT people I have encountered both inside and outside has been the arrogance. I think IT is supposed to be there to serve their users needs but they act like they run the place. Like when they say no you can't put that printer on "my network" only this kind well it's not your network and if it's what your users want you should try to accommodate them. And yeah the calls for it can't be the network and the cable is unplugged or a password changed.

They come up with crazy restrictions passed off as security then don't inform the users that whatever they wanted disabled was IT's decision not mine so I get called when something doesn't work.

I also see places where everything has to go through IT so when a machine breaks they have to call IT first so they can take six hours to call us. Then when I get out an hour after the call comes it looks like it took me seven hours and they users blame me for the machine being down the whole day.

I have had an account where they bought a fully configured machine (dual fax, print,scan, email) and IT said that I could not set up the email or scanning because of security issues. I politely explained this to the "local enduser" and that it was out of my hands. I got a call from the "regional vp" the next day asking why this was not set up as that is why they bought it that way. I informed him of my conversation with the IT department and he asked that I meet him on site the next morning. The next morning there were 2 new IT techs onsite and the old ones were unemployed. Two hours later it was up and running and everyone was happy.

I have had the IT/company help desk be the ones to call for service and most locations it is not that bad. There is one location that all the IT and help desk functions are out of state and that does delay the response time. I did get yelled at over one call that the enduser placed on Monday and the help desk did not place the service call till Wednesday. I have a vpn into our system and pulled up the service call info with the local user and his manager and showed them when the call was "created" in our system and that ended the yelling at me but not at the help desk manager. After that the local manager asked when the call arrived in our system to make sure that it was less then one hour as the "contract" stated between the local and corporate office.

No matter what the setup between IT and the enduser there will be good and bad experiences. It is how you approach the issue and how we (as techs) handle the situation. Now I will not place blame where it does not belong but I like to make sure I have enough class to do it right. As to who is better then it depends which side of the fence you prefer to be on.

As most have posted, it is a general statement not a specific person we take shots at. Now If you are a salesmen I think both sides (IT and techs) will agree they promise the moon and deliver less then nothing. And then expect the service staff (whether that is IT or techs) to fix the customer and make them look good. I try not to throw the salesrep under the bus at the customers office, but I will have a discussion with either my manager or his and then all civility may go out of the window.

[Eric1968]

I really don't hate the IT-department. When you cooperate with eachother everything runs smoothly. And don't forget : we as MFD-specialists are going to connect a device on their network, so they are in charge when it comes to networking issues etc.

Every time when we sell a machine we always contact the IT-department to discuss the various issues. I've never had issues with IT-people.

[Shadow1]

I have to stir the pot slightly - A large portion of the IT people I have to deal with are idiots, but there is a very simple explanation for that. The vast majority of IT Techs properly troubleshoot the problem, fix it, and I never know about it. This artificially inflates the number of idiots we perceive to be out there who call us because the machine is on a service contract and they think we'll come out and do their job for them.

BTW, I went in the other direction, I spent 6 years with a small company as a Jack of all trades computer guy before I got into copiers. I did Programming, Tech Support, Network Admin, Network Engineering, Custom Hardware Builds, Network Installs, Wiring, Carpenter, Electrician, Plumber, Janitor, Diesel Mechanic, and Receptionist (briefly - didn't have the legs or the rack for it)

[AverageTech]

I think IT people are great. If they know their stuff, they are a great asset to me. Way way less work for me. But there is a lot of want to bes, says a lot but have no idea what they are talking about. I think that is why loser or copier techs hate IT people.

[pacman]

I have to concur with a lot of these responses. Most, not ALL, but most of the IT people I've dealt with have been great. You get a lot who have a chip on their shoulder though who don't properly troubleshoot anything.

In my company, I wear many hats. Admin, receptionist, sales, tech, and IT. Primarily, I am IT but I know enough about the machines to do some basic and not-so-basic things. I started in this industry as a sales rep with an IT background. I had done tech support for UPS for a while right before that, went through my CCNA classes (just didn't take the final test), and now I'm in the process of getting my A+ degree.

The thing that irks me as someone WITH an IT background is the lack of basic troubleshooting skills or just plain laziness with some companies. Your MFP prints sporadically because you have a crimped cable. You can't ping it or print to it because the ethernet cable is unplugged. You can no longer print to it because you changed your router or your ISP and your default gateway has changed (actually, that usually just happens with end users running a basic network and they don't have an IT department).

Just because it's MY machine on YOUR network does NOT mean it is an issue with my machine.

[fixthecopier]

One of my customers has a computer lab with about 80 stations and a bizhub 600 that does about 6000 a day. We were talking about IT people today and he said when they have an opening and a long list of applicants with paperwork showing they are certified, he has a simple test. He disables the hard drive in a PC and gives it to them to fix. If it takes more than 30 minutes, you fail. Find it in less than 5, you probably get the job. He said he has an 85% fail rate!

[Setright]

Cboucher, you are choosing to get annoyed/seek amusement, rather than read what Schooltech has written very explicitly.

It is very clear that Schooltech is only citing own experience and contact sphere, not making a general statement about IT people with whom there has never been contact.

Even though I will incur your wrath/laughter I will add this:

Your reaction is the type of reaction I believe Schooltech would put under the umbrella of "socially inept". You take personal offense, and respond with an insult.


Trust me, I know what it's like to be tired of being generalised about. I am a complete and utter "car nut". I think I could be defined as a "car-autist", so great is my passion, so deep my understanding of the technical foundation, and indeed my advanced driver training. I live and breath cars. Especially Subaru :-)
Anyway, the constant association of scantily-clad women and cars really annoys me. I love women - don't get me wrong there! - but I don't see why they must be mixed with cars. It's corny and degrading.

My point? I let the masses believe what they want to about me and my passion, it's not worth trying to fight for the understanding of people whose minds are made up....and rigid.

And therefore, I don't chastitise faceless people on the internet, it's pointless.

HOWEVER, I do like to share my opinions

[Star]

As someone else eluded to: In the I.T. world, just as in the tech world, simple common sense troubleshooting skills are probably a person's best asset. And from my experience, the majority of our modern society does not possess this asset.

"Why to they call it common sense if is so uncommon?"

[Lagonda]

Why do I Hate Thee

How many ways do I hate thee?
Let me count the ways.
(with apologies to the Bard)





3 You make things over complicated. I can speak to anyone in the country by dialling a 10 digit number but I have to use a 12 digit IP address, 12 digit gateway address and a 12 digit sub-net mask just to print to the copier in the next room.

4 Not only complicated but you make things ridiculously complicated! If I want to use the printer next to me why does the job have to go via a server in another state or worse another country!

5 You put passwords on everything, never write the password down on paper then leave the company without passing the password on.





8 You get carried away with you own cleverness. You build state of the art systems, full of the latest gadgets and programmes that only you understand but wont go down to the front desk and ask the girl behind the counter if her computer actually does what she wants it to do!

9 You get paid more than me.

I better leave it there, the blood pressure is creeping up and the ulcer is starting to hurt.