Working in IT support can be a pretty thankless job. No one really notices you until something breaks and then you get blamed for it. Otherwise, you are pretty invisible. It can be frustrating. If you’ve ever managed IT services then you are probably particularly familiar with the plight of the IT support team. Everyone has their own idea about what the IT department should be doing. But here are a few things that the IT people wish that you and everyone else would realize.
- They Can’t Do Magic
This might seem obvious. IT technicians are magicians. But you’d be surprised at how often the two career options are confused. Just because you are a hair dresser doesn’t mean that you know immediately why someone’s hair is dry. It could be the shampoo they use, it could be a hormonal imbalance, it could be the chemicals in their hair, it could be the weather or it could be all of the above. The same goes for computers. You can’t ask a computer guy what’s wrong with your computer and expect them to know immediately. They have to run tests and look things up and figure it out. - They Don’t Want to Fix Computers on Their Days Off
Just because someone works in IT doesn’t mean that they absolutely love fixing computers and want to do it all the time. Don’t ask your co workers to fix your personal laptop, cellphone, tablet or any other piece of technology. They are there to work on the office’s technology and then they want to go home and just leave it at work. Compare it to asking a co worker from the accounting department to do your taxes for you. Find someone else to do your personal work. - You Aren’t Getting Away With the Personal Usage
You can pretty much assume that you are always being monitored when you are on your work computer. You may think that you are getting away with the personal Internet usage, but they know. Just because they haven’t instated any kind of discipline yet doesn’t mean that they are oblivious. It might be that they are just waiting for you to slip up really badly or that they just don’t care. But, either way, don’t think that you are being sneaky and sticking it to the man. - They Get Just as Frustrated With You as You Do Them
You’ve probably heard people talking about the IT department. They might say that they work slowly or they act like everyone else is an idiot or that they just won’t do certain things that you wish they would. There are certain policies and rules and things that the IT support team have to follow just like you. They may not agree with the policies but in order to keep their job, the IT team has to follow them which means, so do you. - IT Rules Have a Purpose
Hopefully after reading this article you will be a little more appreciative and understanding of your IT support department. They are doing their best and are there to help you be able to get your job done properly. They don’t tell you how to do your job so try not to tell them how to do theirs. It might be nice every once in awhile to shoot the IT services manager an email and let them know that you appreciate everything that their team does for the rest of the office. It works both ways, appreciate them and they’ll appreciate you enough to make sure that your systems and hardware are in perfect condition at all times. For some reason there is an unspoken rift between the IT folks and other departments. Try and close that gap by letting them do their job properly.
