Kind of amazing

[AIXSPadmin]

As I have stated before, I work for a Fortune 500 company, and it must be the same at any large corporation. What I mean is that everything is so departmentalized. I am an AIX Sys Admin and if networking needs to be done, it goes to datacomm, if users need something it goes to IS Security. Even in datacomm they have a couple of people broken out for LDAP.

Planning for Linux they shelved the project because for the most part they put the OS with the hardware, (ie, AIX/RS6000, SUN/E10k, MS/Intel, etc.) well Linux is going on Intel but they don't have anyone that knows it on Intel, only Windows, and they can't give Linux to AIX/Sun because it is on Intel and they say we only support 6000s/10k's.

Besides that, a lot of people only know specifically what they work on. If you asked someone about LDAP or DNS you probably wouldn't get an answer because that is another department and they don't have to work on it.

Because of this, and my previous job where I did AIX, NT, Database admin, RPG, OCL, PC repair, networking, you name it; so at home I maintain a network with a firewall and run a DNS server and do things like Samba with PAM, and single sign-on with LDAP. I feel this keeps me better prepared and knowledgable in case I wanted a different job.

I guess if you only do one thing, you know it really well, but it is hard to believe that most don't really care, they are set in that "one thing," maybe just CICS application support on the Mainframe, or someone who just supports printing on the Mainframe.

Kind of amazing really that things really work at large corporations, because of this mentality, instead of fixing the problem yourself you need to involve 2,3,4 other people, and lo-and-behold sometimes someone will say, "maybe we should call a meeting," and then you get 6 people in a meeting to discuss something for an hour when you alone could have fixed it in 10 minutes. And afterwards they want a follow-up meeting to discuss what was decided to be done in the first meeting.

Amazing!!

 

[CajunCenturion]

Well, there's always politics Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[palbano]

And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream at the top of my lungs
What's going on?

4 non-blonds "what's up"
-pete

 

[rtrek]

That is just why some major corporations are gonna start imploding on themselves. Some are already starting.

 

[SamBones]

Amen, Brother!!! We seem to have walked the same paths! My first job in IT, I was the ENTIRE IT department! If it involved a computer, it was my job. Now, I work for a very (VERY) large company and have to deal with the same compartmentalization issues that you talk about. But on top of that, due to mergers and reorgs, issues that used to be solved with a single phone call, have to be handled by several departments. Sometimes it seems that half my time working an issue is just spent tracking down who I need to talk to (worse yet if I have to fill out a form or submit a ticket that disappears into some group's queue).

Some people consider their jobs "To Meet". To me, meetings are down time (almost). A meeting is to set direction, or decide an approach. It's when I leave a meeting that MY productive work starts! Remember, those that can't do, meet!

Like you, I've got a small lab/playroom at home with a lot of different systems and technologies (thanks eBay) where I keep my breadth! It's not just to keep me marketable if I leave this place, but it gives me a lot of background knowlege to be more productive when talking with these other compartmentalized groups.

 

[petermeachem]

The bigegr the firm the less efficient (I work for myself!). I did some work for ntl, the ntl guy said that the yspent around 80% of the time just running ntl and only 20% actually doing anything. I also worked ( as a contractor) for a firm that grew from 10 to 100 employees while I was there. You could watch it getting less efficient. I'd ban meetings completely. Utter waste of time.

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