Tired of IT folks trying to run an engineering project

Don't you tired of IT folks trying to run an engineering project? They are completely different mindset..the way they think etc..I am sorry ...they just don't have that

I'm confused. No non-engineering personnel would be allowed to make any final project decisions where I work.

while I'm not sure about the op I can actually attest to some differences... now that I have managed both there does seem to be a different mind set between them...

Still, what is IT doing getting involved in an engineering project? Are they trying to tell you where to have a wire pull?

What I recall is the IT people tend to get in every software/computer/ issue that comes up in consulting and unfortunately the bosses sometimes listen to them and they can interfere.. But not directly in "engineering" stuff

I got fucked over Friday cause my IT guy didn't install Microsoft project like he said.. No one was In the office, those that had it installed on their laptops had taken them

Home...

So I spent 7 hours making a spreadsheet look like Microsoft project

Those IT people have their GED and Microsoft Engineering Cert. They are qualified to plug in a CAT6 cable, configure a network switch, install software, and create accounts. They can make it hell to people (real engineers) who are not nice to them, because they have admin rights. They are on a first name basis with the C-Level executives, since they are constantly fixing their laptops. The C-Level execs think they are great since they keep fixing their laptops and other gadgets for them. Microsoft Cert calls them engineers, so what else is there to engineering in the IT guy's point of view. They have all that past experience rebooting the servers at the local Giant supermarket and even at times installed new software. Now they think they can run an engineering project. How difficult can it be from the IT guys perspective?

Wasnt engineering related but back at my first job out of college we road designers were using a software called Caice, which was new and not very user friendly, the IT guy told our bosses that we could keep designing these projects in another software, Geopak, and he would write a program to convert it over to CAiCE when we had to turn the files over to the client (state dot)

We (engineers) said that was stupid we should just learn the software (& buy the software)

Well, mgmt side with the IT guy...

Result:

There wasn't a way to covert it, we spent hundreds and hundreds f hours of non billable time to redo the designs so we could turn the files over to the client in their required format.... Lost thousands and thousands.....

Somehow that douche didn't get fired and I think is still there today (20 years later). Maybe he has nude pictures of someone???

try having politicians run your project.

All right. I wasn't going to mention a few things that annoy me regarding my IT projects but today... this one takes the cake. We are renovating the print/copy shop and today they are removing the equipment. I ensured that everyone knew that the logistics of the machines was on them because I don't know enough about them. The manager called me because the equipment wouldn't fit through the door. Conversation goes like this-

"Hey there are people here to move the cutter and stuff."

"Yes, it's Monday afternoon."

"Oh, okay- I didn't know if you knew."

"Yup, but thanks for the heads up."

"It won't fit through the door and the hinges need to come off."

"okay."

"Do you want to talk to them?"

"not really, is that the only issue though?"

"I don't know, they are standing right here, do you want to talk to them?"

"No, just have maintenance swing by to help with the door and if they need anything else, they will be there."

"okay, so when will they be here?"

"after you call them and ask them to come."

"oh, can't you call?"

:facepalm:

Back several years ago when my wife and I bought our house we had some unpleasant dealings with "engineers" from a Big Cable Company (BCC). BCC decided to cut one of their cable lines and lay a new cable on top of the ground between my property and my neighbor two houses up. At the time the lots between me and my neighbor were wooded and nothing there so the exposed cable was fine on top of the ground. Then the builders came and that's when the problems started. After a few dozers running over the cable line my internet speed fell to about 13 Kbps. I called BCC and complained about it and got nothing but the runaround. I started moving up their chain of command complaining and filed a formal complaint with the BBB. They finally had one of their "engineers" call me to see what they could do. The "engineer" told me that the cable line shouldn't be my concern because it wasn't on my property. I laughed at him and he got very defensive and asking what was so funny. I told him that a real engineer would know where the property boundaries are and would know where their utilities are located. That "engineer" told me I didn't know what I was talking about so I asked him what credentials did he have to make that determination such as a surveying and/or professional engineering license. He didn't know what I was talking about and he hung up on me. I cancelled my service and went with a competitor for a few years until we got a few more neighbors down the street from me. When the neighbors started calling and complaining BCC finally came out and replaced and buried their line. I don't guess surveying is taught in Microsoft Engineering Certification class.

No surveying taught in Microsoft Certs, just reboot.

To get some insight on how discipline the IT people are where you work, just take a look under your workstation desk. Most likely it looks like a rats nest with no thought given to the equipment or cable placement. If you are lucky to have an outlet under your desk that is hooked up to backup power, there is a good chance the IT guy did not plug your PC into the outlet with backup power.

Our IT staff where I work are actually really good (overall) and not just some dim witted basement troll. Most have at least a bachelors degree in computer engineering, computer science, or something similar. They don't mess with me and I don't mess with them. They give me admin rights to do whatever I want which is about the only perk I have right now. However, in other places I have worked I can definitely relate to terrible support, horrible hygiene, and heavy Nazi type monitoring watching every key stroke you make. One of the IT douchetards at my last job had ungodly body odor and he received an anonymous interoffice envelope with a bar of soap. The little **** went crying to upper management and our VP was furious. It didn't help that I told him if he'd stop acting like a **** he wouldn't be treated like one.

Road Guy said:

Wasnt engineering related but back at my first job out of college we road designers were using a software called Caice, which was new and not very user friendly, the IT guy told our bosses that we could keep designing these projects in another software, Geopak, and he would write a program to convert it over to CAiCE when we had to turn the files over to the client (state dot)

We (engineers) said that was stupid we should just learn the software (& buy the software)

Well, mgmt side with the IT guy...

Result:

There wasn't a way to covert it, we spent hundreds and hundreds f hours of non billable time to redo the designs so we could turn the files over to the client in their required format.... Lost thousands and thousands.....

Somehow that douche didn't get fired and I think is still there today (20 years later). Maybe he has nude pictures of someone???

Click to expand...

Lol, I remember using CaiCE right out of school. I thought it wasn't too bad (compared to BEagle Point) but soon realized that I was the only one that wanted to learn it (and also the only one who used it regularly). I soon became the Caice guy where people asked me to do their simple tasks. It was horribly complicated to get a usable result.

The state submittal requirement was Caice but I have a feeling that they just converted it to a dgn/dwg once they received the files.

Meanwhile some software salesman was making good profits that year...

Working for IT people is silly, as is working for lawyers. I wish they would have taught a salesmanship class to all engineers so we could reduce some of these time wasting issues.