12 Useful Things To Know About The IT Person In The Office
The IT person within an office is an integral part of keeping the machine, if you will, running. They fix all the problems worker drones can't seem to figure out on their own. The people over at MentalFloss talked with some IT professionals to get the inside scoop on what their day consists of, and their thoughts may surprise you.
The IT peeps know your password, but not because of access, rather because of your laziness. One IT worker explained most employees will never change their passwords from the default 1234 if not forced to by the workplace. It's because of this that so many security hacks occur in businesses.Â
Often the IT person is a one-person team and overworked for that reason. Rather than hounding them for results ASAP, you should understand the gravity of the situation they're facing.
Roughly 21 million Americans access porn sites on their work computers each month, according to the Nielsen company. The IT people suggest you stop doing that, now.
These issues are so easily fixed, the IT person just ignores them for the most part and lets the person eventually figure it out.
They're people too and want to be treated as such. If you want their best work, and for your problems to get their attention first, show them a little compassion, or heck, they'll just as easily infect you with a virus without you knowing it.
A six-year IT guy explained that at least half his help tickets were simply human error, and they just don't understand how to explain the problem at hand. Another IT guy from Oklahoma says that metaphors are the only way to explain what's going on to these types of computer-illiterate people.
if you just come clean about the mess YOU made, they can help you sooner. If you're too embarrassed and withhold obvious lies it only makes their job harder.
Simply being more descriptive and speaking their language goes a long way. If you want their help, you've got to help them help you.
When you're looking for an answer, do you go even as far as the second page of Google? No? Always stop on the first page, then give up? That's precisely why the IT person has a job. They look deeper into Google than you to find the answers to your problem.
It's a cliché, but restarting is usually the answer. Whether it's the whole computer or the entire browser (not just one tab), you should do this before calling the IT person. That's probably what they'll do anyway. It's half their job according to one IT professional.
An IT professional explained that once some bosses get to a certain point they felt they no longer needed to learn new technology. Some don't even know how to reset a password or check voicemail. But, on the other hand, for the owner of the company, no request is too big or small. It gets done.
If you do something on your work computer, you should assume someone else has access to it, i.e. the IT person in the office. Be careful what you send.