The Hardware/Software Feud

[AlphaObeisance]

So recently my wife and I have put up the in laws and their friend up in our house to help them get on their feet. Turns out the guys both got gigs with my ISP as field techs.

It's been intriguing to hear how they feel about their IT departments of the past. They harbor a seemingly passive aggressive outlook on IT as if they're some kind of pretentious know it alls. But I digress.

I guess they wanted to "challenge" me and my skills by bringing in some dinky goofy little laptop (I hate laptops in general, waste of good hardware unless you live on the move) with 4GB of RAM. Said they'd given it to a whole bunch of IT "gurus" and they could "never" get it to work, it was always just slow as all can be, and they seemingly thought it funny that all the IT guys they'd had tinker with it "couldn't figure out how to make it work".

Told em I'd be happy to take a look at it, but if it's not functioning with Windows, taking light years to boot, and some more light years to load up the DE, I was going to do it my way.

20 minutes later (slow wifi connection), dude was running Arch Linux with KDE Plasma and was completely mind blown that the laptop was not just functional but it was legitimately responsive. Checkmate Mr.Field Tech guru

Moral of the story, if you're in IT don't be treating the Field techs like dummies, they know what they're doing too; just differently than you do. Secondly, field techs don't underestimate legitimate IT support. ESPECIALLY if they say they know Linux.

Side note, rumor has it my ISP desperately needs someone who knows how to manage Linux systems, it might be time to toss my hat into the ring; as apparently they don't have anyone that really knows how to use Linux (this is mind boggling to me coming from a fortune 500 ISP)

 

[The Duck]

(I hate laptops in general, waste of good hardware unless you live on the move)

I'm with ya there.

Have a couple of Windows 7 laptops upgraded to Windows 10 that run well the last time I used them.

I know a lot of smoke blowers who think they know everything about everything although when challenged don't know a thing.

The were a few computer field techs where I used to work that were pretty savvy.

Never under estimate anyone in the field as a good chance they've seen more than the average bear.

 

[AlphaObeisance]

I'm with ya there.

Have a couple of Windows 7 laptops upgraded to Windows 10 that run well the last time I used them.

I know a lot of smoke blowers who think they know everything about everything although when challenged don't know a thing.

The were a few computer field techs where I used to work that were pretty savvy.

Never under estimate anyone in the field as a good chance they've seen more than the average bear.

Yeah the disrespect has never made sense to me, especially the assumptive kind. I try to refrain from formulating any conclusions about an individuals skill sets until they've had an honest chance to prove themselves. And even after the fact, if I've found their skills lacking I prefer to try and assist (if I can) in improving their abilities rather than tear em down.

Humility goes a long way. I'm pretty good with Systems Administration but once Networking comes into play it's like I lose the ability to walk and have to crawl my way through configurations I typically can't seem to comprehend. I've been trying to wrap my head around the concept of reverse proxy for literally like 9 months now and for whatever reason I fail to comprehend it. I suspect it's a misunderstanding in regards to how subnetting works, but I figure I'll get it figured out one day lol.

Truth is, there's always someone out there that knows more. We can chose to take it personally, but I tend to prefer to seek out knowledge and understanding than considering it some kind of personal challenge. It never makes sense to me the whole "competitive" nature of things. Life in general really, seems everyone's out to compete over something.

P.S. I should note I walked dude through the entire installation process. Took the lazy mans route for time saves sakes. Told him if he wanted to learn the nitty gritty way of installing arch, we'd use my hypervisor (Proxmox on R730) and VM's for that. Main goal was just getting his laptop operational.

 

[The Duck]

I learn enough about OSs doesn't matter which to keep it updated, cleaned, and to constantly stay confused.

I'll usually sit back and watch and wait and see what someone else knows so as not to make a fool of myself.

 

[Condobloke]

Checkmate Mr.Field Tech guru

Love it !!