MartyConnelly
martyconnelly at shaw.ca
Fri Mar 14 03:29:01 CST 2003
This is usually done by management to avoid overloading the Tech with more work than he can handle. Rather than have the tech arguing that he can do it, they present him with a "fait acompli". Some techs wear too many hats, and management gets worried what happens if he disappears. Lousy management style never the less but I have seen it before. . I have got my own back on consultants when something like this happened. One day all these high powered DBA types appeared from nowhere with design plans to install all sorts of databases for personnel and inventory etc. They all wanted kudos for developing the latest hot IDS Codasyl database which was on the machine. No one consulted me even though I was the sole system progammer and also resident GIS expert. I looked at this and said I would have to purchase more memory and disk space for the Honeywell mainframe otherwise the GIS databases could not coexist. Heard nothing more for a few months, and was told to start installing the test databases. Where are my extra disks I said. Oh we are going to outsource the GIS to an IBM site. Before I could get my explanations out , I was turfed from the meeting for being too protectionist of my GIS system. These guys were all 2 or 3 levels above my pay grade and had senior department directors on their side. Boy were they pissed off when I got ahold of the assistant deputy minister and pointed out to him that the mainframe 5 year lease was being paid for by another government department for the express purpose of GIS research and where was he going to come up with the million dollars a year to make up the shortfall when these jokers turfed the GIS systems and the grant was cancelled. None of the senior IT guys above me had been there more than a year and didn't know how the mainframe was being paid for. Just pointing this out made me a lot of enemies. Jim Lawrence (AccessD) wrote: >Hi John: > >I know how you feel. At this moment I have found myself in the uncomfortable >situation of being the outside programmer coming in to build an application >for which the current IT guy was not even asked for comment. I did not find >this out until I started nosing around to get a status of the current >hardware resources. Someone, mentioned that they had an IT fellow that did >most of their inside work. I called the Tech, quite innocently and asked for >some information, on the system setup, only to find that the guy was very >hurt and angry. It sure isn't fair. :-( > >What would you do in my circumstance? > >Jim > >-----Original Message----- >From: accessd-admin at databaseadvisors.com >[mailto:accessd-admin at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of John Clark >Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 12:13 PM >To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com >Subject: [AccessD] OT but Access related...I've just got to share this > > >I have been fighting a battle for the past three years or so. My boss, >who is a politician, doesn't hold my job in high regard...I could get >really deep into explaining this, but I'll leave it here for now. >Anyhow, when he got the job in 1998, we made a decision to go w/MS >Access...we had FoxPro for many years, but there were many programs that >needed rewrote, and we also looked at VB. We chose Access for many >reasons, such as it was already on many of the machines, and I had >already begun learning it. Also, it seemed very flexible...good for >small, quick jobs, but also had capabilities for much larger projects. > >I am getting away from the subject, but I wanted to provide some >background. > >Over the past few years, we have found some programs in departments >that were written by programmer wanna-bees in those departments. When I >finally find these programs, I show my boss how pathetic they are...I >may not be a guru yet, but I think I write pretty decent >programs...especially compared to these pieces of shitaki mushrooms (got >that from watching Spy Kids w/my kids). > >In 1999, I had to re-write a program for our Pistol Permits Office. I >could write the program fine, but they needed to keep track of every >single change that was ever made to an account, and keep a historical >account. I had no idea how to do this, and my boss contracted with an >outside agency to help me. This programmer was suppose to "help" me >write this so that I learned as we went. This was a mistake on my >behalf, but I had had no training at all back then, and I had no >connection to any lists like this one. I also felt a little better, when >this programmer said that this was the hardest program that he ever >worked on, and he "had written some point of sales programs, and done >work for the border patrol." > >Since this time I've written several programs on my own, and I have >enjoyed a really good track record (i.e. not many calls after the fact), >which I probably just jinxed by mentioning this out loud. A couple of >months ago, I "accidentally" found out that our Risk Management >department had contracted outside for a new Claims Tracking program. I >had already written another small program for them, and as far as I >know, they were happy with it. Turns out the same programmer that helped >me came in to do it, and because he had known me, and wasn't aware that >this was a secret, he called me and talked w/me about this. > >He finished this program, less than a month ago, and today one of our >technicians calls to have me help with a network mapping >problem...network admin is one of my other hats here. They weren't >getting a Y: drive mapping, so their new Access program wouldn't work. I >recognized this mapping as one that we have programmed in the logging >script...any body that had old FoxPro programs had a Y: drive mapping to >the location of the FoxPro files, and this included them. > >It turns out that this "professional" programmer took it upon himself >to create a local mapping on these users machines...a big >"No-no"...which overwrites our network mappings. Our office is currently >in the middle of rolling out about 100 new PCs to those users who have >older ones. As you might be guessing, this PC was one of the ones >replaced. She had no idea of what mapping she had, so she couldn't warn >us, and we weren't notified, so we didn't know. The old Y: mapping for >FoxPro is really not needed any longer...by them at least...so I offered >to simply remap them via the login script. > >The tech returned to the office after lunch, and reported to me that, >"this guy did something with Windows files too!" Apparently, although I >can't think of what this would be, there were ties directly into the >Windows OS from this program (Registry maybe? I dunno). These new PCs >had Windows 2000 and Office 2000, and her old system had Windows 95 and >the program is A97. They loaded A97, but it still does not work. Now >they have to call this "professional" in...he'll be here tomorrow. > >I really think that I am at a level that I can compete w/this guy, and >that they should have given me a chance. It is plain stupidity to not >communicate with the internal IT staff. Even though I don't like the >idea of them outsourcing, I have no personal problems with this guy. He >is a really nice guy, and I have always been nice to him. We have even >spoke a time or two on our own, since he had been in here. > >Sorry for this OT, but I had to vent. You may not see my point here, >seeing as how many of you are independants, but at the very least please >tell me that you would communicate to avoid later problems. Or is it >standard to just get it, get paid, and leave the mess to the IT staff. > >Take care! > >John W Clark > > >_______________________________________________ >AccessD mailing list >AccessD at databaseadvisors.com >http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd >Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > >_______________________________________________ >AccessD mailing list >AccessD at databaseadvisors.com >http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd >Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > >