What Makes This a Job For IT?I've worked in IT support for a number of years in various companies. One of the recurring questions is what makes this a job for IT?
This is a scenario that often plays out in many IT support departments. Something goes wrong, and it's IT fault or problem. Even when something goes wrong, it has nothing to do with IT.
For example, earlier this week, an IT support ticket was raised by a user with a single line used to describe the problem.
"washing machine is not working"
Now, there are several things wrong with this user statement.
- Which washing machine? (There are two)
- In what way is it not working? No power? Won't start? No water? Clothes still dirty after the washing cycle?
- What has a washing machine got to do with IT anyway?
The only thing we can think of is that it has a three-pin electrical plug, so it's "like a computer".
Another case at my last company was when there was a power cut. Certain directors came into the IT office demanding that we do something about the power being out, not just in our offices but the whole street. A quick call to the electrical company and we had a prerecorded message stating that "we are aware of service interruptions in your area and are working to resolve the issues. For more information please refer to our website, HTTP blah blah blah". We were then told in no uncertain terms to "fix the problem asap". Again, when has the IT department remitted the electricity supply? Since we plugged our servers into the socket.
