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Tech Notes: Error
Reporting from the front lines of IT, Sam Kome, Manager of Library Information Technology:
ErrorIt’s a well-known fact that IT folks never have any problems with computers. They enjoy a smug position at the top of the technology pile and look down their noses with feelings of glib superiority at ordinary computer users. A well-known fact... and complete rubbish. The truth is that the average Help Desk staff member uses the same sort of PCs/Macs, running the same applications as everyone else. Therefore they encounter the same set of irritating, inscrutable errors as everyone else. They may encounter them more often, in fact, due to prolonged exposure.
Hazards of the trade is what these errors are.
What then sets apart the professional informational technologist is not super IT powers, but instead extra practice and enhanced intestinal fortitude. When the going gets tough, the tough give the three finger salute*, shrug, and get back to it. Practice, or simply using computers a lot, instructs us to back up our work. Whether the copies are made to CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or an external hard disk drive; the important thing is to have copies of important documents. Practice instructs us to regularly use anti-virus software and a scanner like Ad-Aware or Spybot as well. These essential maintenance tasks will protect the PC (and your work) from catastrophic failures. Nothing can really prepare you for little beauties like this:
— Sam
* Jargon: Pressing those certain keys that force a PC to reboot.
— michael | February 29, 2008 08:49 AM | Random bits
Comments
Oh, no, it's even better -- IT folk get errors most people will never see.
I sometimes wonder if it's the reverse of the "mechanics effect" -- where you take your car to the mechanic and it suddenly works fine. The same is often true when someone calls for help with their computer -- the IT person shows up, and it's fine, or maybe they just sort of look at it and it starts behaving. But maybe there's a karmic balance in the universe, and the magic spent on making your computer work comes out of the IT person's computer-working-properly account, leaving them to scratch their heads about crazy behavior that sometimes just makes no sense at all....
Just kidding. I'm sure it's just cosmic rays, or electrical fluctuations. Really. Don't ask too many questions....
Posted by Claire on March 01, 2008 at 09:35 AM
The printer has not been working all damn week. Nothing I have sent has actually made it over. This is inexcusable and should be fixed immediately and worked on until the printer does works properly. This is rank sloppy service. So I hope you get on it first thing MONDAY morning. Let me know when it is working properly.
Michael Keenan
Posted by Michael Keenan on March 02, 2008 at 09:27 PM
