• CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    2 days ago

    Y2k was a victory lap that the general public and politicians laugh at because it wasn’t a problem. It wasn’t a problem because we fixed it before the world ended.

    This is something people should well remember about IT for certain and while I don’t have much authority outside of that field, I bet it extrapolates.

    In IT, though, the people that get rewarded and noticed the most are often the people that metaphorically set their own fires and then play the superhero in putting them out. All because they tend not to listen to others or take the initiative themselves to prepare. People that are not running around like their hair on fire are seen as “lazy”.

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      2 days ago

      In IT, though, the people that get rewarded and noticed the most are often the people that metaphorically set their own fires and then play the superhero in putting them out.

      You know, this is so true that I’m a bit ashamed to admit that my best moments at my current job have been when I correct mistakes I made. Example: I gave someone the wrong laptop when they started. I handled the comms like an expert. I made sure the exchange was smooth. The masterful handling of the mistake came from years of experience smoothing over things that weren’t my fault. It was a real opportunity to shine and it wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t fail to set a calendar reminder.

      When I do everything right, there’s no need for customer service skills.

      • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        2 days ago

        I remember reading a book years ago that was probably self-published, or maybe needed an editor? Anyway, I seem to recall him making some rather good points about how IT needs to do a better job of self-marketing what they do, because when they do it well, they are often punished for not being noticed, and boy did that ring true.

        He was also taking aim at M$ use at the time but was definitely swimming upstream at the time. IT definitely has hivemind/groupthink problems and at the time it was “no one gets fired for buying Microsoft”.

        It was the The Unix Guide to Defenestration

        And yeah, on a personal level, I’ve noticed the same and have to admit that I’ve often was noticed for something that was probably something I could have planned for/spotted earlier.