Comments by jellomizer@slashdot

Great but now can we learn from our past mistakes of the 1990’s?
Mistake 1: Thinking IT is on top of the food chain. No we are not IT is on the bottom of the food chain we need to service everyone. You may get paid more then the other guy and you may be more skilled but who ever you are doing work for is your boss.

Mistake 2: Not being professional. You should not stand out as the IT Guy because everyone else is wearing business casual and you are in tee-shirt and jeans. It is unfair and wrong but it is the way it is you need to dress to fit in. Otherwise you make people uncomfortable if they are uncomfortable your job can be at risk.

Mistake 3: Saying No. They need to get the job done just not doing it because you personally don’t like it will not help anyone.

Mistake 4: Saying Yes. Being Blind to problems without brining them up in the beginning and getting someone else above you involved in a solution could lead you working on a quagmire.

Mistake 5: Thinking you are better then everyone else. Just because they don’t know the difference between USB and Firewire doesn’t make them stupid. Just because you do doesn’t make you a genius. Respect the people you are working with, and they will respect you back.

Mistake 6: Respect your boss. They are a lot of bad bosses out there also a lot of good ones. Even if your boss seems to be cut from Dilbert you should give him the respect that they deserve. For being in that position. It means things like not publicly humiliating them and when arguing your point try not to make it personal.

Mistake 7: Trying to change the world. Don’t try to change the world just try to make your work environment better. Put your feelings about GNU, Patents, Microsoft…. Aside and focus on getting your work done.

Mistake 8: Money doesn’t matter. It does always keep an eye on how you are effecting the bottom line. You can save 10 minutes a day in computation but the cost for you to make that change would take 100 years to recover the costs then it is not worth doing.

Mistake 9: Work should always be fun. If that was the case most people wont have a job. You need to do the annoying stuff as well as the fun stuff. They hire you to do the stuff that others can’t or are unwilling to do.

Mistake 10: You are separated from the business. Try to be involved in the business not make yourself a separate identity who just fixes the computers try to keep IT involved in the major decisions.