Journal handsomepete's Journal: Everyone else talks about work - why can't I? 3
Note: This journal entry is not interesting. I'm just having an off work day.
I work as one of four 24/7 operators[1] for a laboratory in the midwest. The hours are decent[2] if not odd (4 days a week, two 12 hours shifts, two 8s). Basically it entails babysitting servers and doing batch work/random other work. Having 12 hours on a Sunday to find something to do can come in quite handy - I actually got to learn PHP on the company dime to write an online document creation/tracking system (which they were planning on promptly replacing with QualTrax - why they decided not to tell me this is a mystery).
So anyways, they fired my boss about a month ago. I liked him a lot and miss having him around, but he got a fat severence(sp?) package and what sounds like a better job, so good for him. The good part of this, according to our new superiors, is that we are supposed to have our monkey-typing-on-a-keyboard jobs automated and we would get some schooling/training to be able to do desktop/server support type stuff. I thought this sounded nice since my Windows server skills are really, really weak, but I can be kind of naive and trusting. It's currently not looking too promising - the more likely outcome is that they'll automate our job (but it'll take at least another 12 months) and fire us. I'm willing to wait it out because I do like working here (and I have no degree or experience outside of the 2+ years I've been doing this and the 15+ years I've done it at home), but I'm finding it harder and harder to work at a small, friendly private company that has gotten on this streak of deceiving their good employees (my boss was the third or fourth in the past few months that had been fired without warning) and putting a positive spin on it.
Anyhoo, I'm working right now (which has thus far consisted of replacing 6 toner cartridges, trying to reboot a web server but discovering my permissions had been removed, running a few database backups, trying to find a good way to parse the subpar logfiles that Legato produces, breaking a Nextel phone, and fighting with a VMS[3] lockup from hell) and I just missed my window to run a backup, so I should probably stop.
Know what? With the exception of the past couple days, the KC Royals are playing pretty damn good. Yay.
[1] In a lot of companies "operator" is synonymous with "try and keep awake and play around on the internet a lot". I guess that's why they changed our job title to IT Support, then to Technical Support Specialist, then back to IT support, then to something else which I can't even remember now. And neutered our web access with Websense, which supposedly has a filter setting for abortion related sites. Most people just think of us as "The Helpdesk", so the title game is pretty ridiculous. I think it's just a tool to try and keep us complacent instead of wanting more out of our jobs.
[2] Except for this week since someone has gone on vacation and it's my turn to cover. That means working 96 hours over a span of 9 days.
[3] I love VMS.
I work as one of four 24/7 operators[1] for a laboratory in the midwest. The hours are decent[2] if not odd (4 days a week, two 12 hours shifts, two 8s). Basically it entails babysitting servers and doing batch work/random other work. Having 12 hours on a Sunday to find something to do can come in quite handy - I actually got to learn PHP on the company dime to write an online document creation/tracking system (which they were planning on promptly replacing with QualTrax - why they decided not to tell me this is a mystery).
So anyways, they fired my boss about a month ago. I liked him a lot and miss having him around, but he got a fat severence(sp?) package and what sounds like a better job, so good for him. The good part of this, according to our new superiors, is that we are supposed to have our monkey-typing-on-a-keyboard jobs automated and we would get some schooling/training to be able to do desktop/server support type stuff. I thought this sounded nice since my Windows server skills are really, really weak, but I can be kind of naive and trusting. It's currently not looking too promising - the more likely outcome is that they'll automate our job (but it'll take at least another 12 months) and fire us. I'm willing to wait it out because I do like working here (and I have no degree or experience outside of the 2+ years I've been doing this and the 15+ years I've done it at home), but I'm finding it harder and harder to work at a small, friendly private company that has gotten on this streak of deceiving their good employees (my boss was the third or fourth in the past few months that had been fired without warning) and putting a positive spin on it.
Anyhoo, I'm working right now (which has thus far consisted of replacing 6 toner cartridges, trying to reboot a web server but discovering my permissions had been removed, running a few database backups, trying to find a good way to parse the subpar logfiles that Legato produces, breaking a Nextel phone, and fighting with a VMS[3] lockup from hell) and I just missed my window to run a backup, so I should probably stop.
Know what? With the exception of the past couple days, the KC Royals are playing pretty damn good. Yay.
[1] In a lot of companies "operator" is synonymous with "try and keep awake and play around on the internet a lot". I guess that's why they changed our job title to IT Support, then to Technical Support Specialist, then back to IT support, then to something else which I can't even remember now. And neutered our web access with Websense, which supposedly has a filter setting for abortion related sites. Most people just think of us as "The Helpdesk", so the title game is pretty ridiculous. I think it's just a tool to try and keep us complacent instead of wanting more out of our jobs.
[2] Except for this week since someone has gone on vacation and it's my turn to cover. That means working 96 hours over a span of 9 days.
[3] I love VMS.
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Re:I did read it (Score:1)
Ah, no big deal. Thanks, though. Just one of those weeks. I'm 30 minutes away from finishing 5 straight 12 hour days and I'm so excited about getting out of here I'm getting flashbacks of the last day of school. But enough about me. How are you?
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