True tales of IT life: useless users, hapless bosses, clueless vendors and adventures in the IT trenches. Compiled over the years from the frontlines.
IT manager wants a group of staff members to interview a systems administration job candidate -- and it seems he has some, um, interesting ideas about competition.
This manufacturing company decides it's time to start sharing information between the warehouse and the factory -- but the biggest challenge isn't exactly technical.
Flashback to the days when the mainframe is king and timesharing is a huge boon for programmers -- who get more than a little jealous when they can't get access to it.
This oilfield services company's new email filter flags language that's not considered business appropriate -- but it turns out that depends on what business you're in.
Flashback to the glory days of CompuServe, when anyone could get an account, but not everyone could use their real names -- even if there wasn't a naughty word involved.
Contract programmer comes recommended by her employer and, after a brief technical interview by non-programmers, she's hired. How could that approach possibly go wrong?
It's a few years before eBay, and this IT shop is upgrading one of its oldest machines with external tape drives -- and some obsolete but expensive interface cards.
Flashback to the days when this programmer pilot fish is working on system software for large computers -- and one of the thorniest problems is knowing what time it is.
This pilot fish needs to install Skype on her home computer, but she's having trouble getting it set up -- it seems Microsoft really doesn't approve of her name.
First-time IT manager hires a new member for his team, but he doesn't work out well -- and in light of his glowing recommendations, the manager can't figure out why.
Applications programmer accepts a job in system software at an outfit that supports insurance companies, but he won't be writing applications -- or so he's told.
One of IT's jobs in this city government is to be the first-level gatekeepers of ergonomic policy -- though not everybody seems to believe that applies to them.
This new IT boss calls an all-hands meeting so she can get to know her widely dispersed staff -- and they get an early look at her critical decision-making skills.
Sure, we knew IT people have recruited animals from time to time to pull network wire through tight spaces -- but who knew it's been going on for a century and a half?
This database group's manager is out while recovering from surgery, and the remaining pilot fish has twice the workload -- but he finds a way to keep everyone happy.
Retailer's director of stores decides that every time a store employee gets an email, a copy should automatically go to the employee's supervisor. How's that working out?
A software-based simulator is this company's cash cow, but the project to update it is running months behind. Luckily, a senior software engineer is up to the challenge.
IT manager puts in an order with an ISP to boost the company's bandwidth and get a bigger block of IP addresses, and the hardware is installed -- so why isn't it working?
Pilot fish at a federal agency is visited by a user who can't access data he needs, and he doesn't just want the issue fixed -- he wants to know what went wrong, and why.
It's 2:30 a.m. when this data center pilot fish is awakened from a sound sleep by a call from an inexperienced mainframe operator -- with a show-stopping problem.
Mainframe database admin is responsible for supporting two divisions at this big bank -- and they're not on the same page when it comes to rolling out software updates.
User's computer won't boot, so this support pilot fish begins his troubleshooting questions at the beginning -- which, it turns out, still isn't quite early enough.
Pilot fish is interviewing for an IT job when he learns that many of the company's top technical staffers are actually consultants -- and that seems a little odd.
This programmer starts his career at a state agency, but soon moves on to a job at a company in the record industry -- which turns out to be much more colorful.
Pilot fish is new to IT consulting, and he does exactly what the senior consultant tells him to do. So why is he getting grief about how he fills out his timesheet?
Newly hired programmer writes a script to handle failover of a disk array automatically, and he works for weeks to make sure it really is automatic. Then what happens?
This data center's monitoring console is lit up like a Christmas tree when the staff arrives at work one morning -- but the power outage isn't their biggest problem.
It's the mid-1990s, and this recording studio is about to do some work for a VIP client -- one who really needs the studio's best practices when it comes to data backups.
IT support pilot fish at a research organization gets a call from a Ph.D. candidate who complains that her PC is slow. Turns out it's really not hard to see why.
It's a dark and stormy night when this IT pilot fish gets a call from an older customer with a departmental system -- and a fear that he has done some serious damage.
Flashback to the mid-1960s, when the Control Data 6600 supercomputer is the fastest thing going -- and for programmers using it, the console has one very creepy feature.
Pilot fish figures it's safe to store four pumpkins under the mainframe room's raised floor for a month before Halloween. What could possibly go wrong with that plan?
It's the late 1970s, and this pilot fish's personal data center contains a massive, three-cubic-foot monster of a desktop computer that seems to have a mind of its own.
At this PC company, call center agents can see customer credit card numbers right on their screens. But a supervisor's approval PIN? That's a carefully guarded secret.
Pilot fish is on-call for the weekend but he wants to spend time with a friend, so he gets a co-worker to cover for him. That's fine -- until something urgent comes up.
Pilot fish is a couple months into his new job when he's given the task of "re-skinning" an existing e-commerce site for a client. How much work could that take?
Sysadmin is tapped to take over the lead on patching this company's Linux systems, but something he needs seems to be missing -- in fact, almost EVERYTHING is missing.
IT pilot fish has been supporting a customer remotely through a VPN that's pretty solid -- except when it occasionally starts disconnecting him every 30 to 60 seconds.
This IT pilot fish helps users troubleshoot data problems in child-welfare investigations -- but all that sensitive information could put fish's welfare at risk, too.
Hurricane's storm surge hits this Gulf Coast chemical plant and inundates it, and in the aftermath there's lots of cleaning up -- and counting up the damaged computers.
This IT staffer is hoping his pay will go up after his annual performance review, but that depends on his manager actually doing the review -- and even that isn't enough.
This company's CIO has a shiny MBA to go with his limited grasp of technology, and he puts both on display in the weekly incident review meetings he decides to launch.
This pilot fish slips and takes a hard fall, but fortunately he's not badly hurt -- the damage is mostly to his pride and his mobile phone, which now has a new shape.
This company has had its share of IT death marches, so it launches a big effort to improve estimating and project delivery. The key: detailed metrics for IT project time.
Sales rep promises this customer a discount, but while it's on the sales order, there's no discount on the invoice generated by the ERP system. Who removed it?
This IT consultant isn't exactly well thought of as a technical professional -- but that doesn't stand in the way of a long and varied career at a big consultancy.
It's almost Y2K, and this small recruiting firm is converting its key systems to client/server and switching from Macs to PCs -- and there's just a bit of culture shock.
Pilot fish runs an IT support group that's announcing new PC power management settings, which will roll out on Friday -- so you know what's going to happen on Thursday.
IT security at this company has laptops really locked down, which isn't a big deal for most users when they're traveling -- unless a hotel has its own security ideas.
The servers in this computer room are having problems with their disk drives, but fortunately there's a simple short-term fix -- and, unfortunately, a longer-term agenda.
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