I work in IT. So the lie is I know what I am doing, when all I do is google the error code and hope for stack overflow has an answer.
this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2025
34 points (100.0% liked)
Ask Lemmy
32162 readers
1829 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected].
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected] or [email protected]
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Knowing to Google the error code then making the error code stop is knowing how to do your job. That's my job as well so I wish you all the luck in the world.
30 years ago you would have checked the manual or read the documentation, not much different just a little faster these days
I was doing IT 30 years ago.
Back then you'd post a question on USENET and get an answer back from the guy who wrote the program you were asking about.
30 years ago, manuals were worth the read.
As someone who did IT 30 years ago, this isn't really true. Manuals weren't very good for direct troubleshooting except that they provided insight into how the device or software works. In my experience problems were mostly solved by people who knew what they were doing, with occasional reference to the old guy who had seen all the weird obscure shit no one else even knew was possible.
There was no manual for the windows registry for example, so when I needed it to not shit the bed on a new motherboard I had to dig into it myself and figure out that if I blew out the PCI bus enumeration windows would realize that it's gone and rebuild it with the new IDs and such for the new hardware on boot instead of looking for old IDs and eating itself when it couldn't find them.
Oh, man, finding registry info was like the Search for the Holy Grail (Monty Python style).
At one time I worked for MS, and was fortunate to stumble on some good tools for it (like an OLE browser, which is originally what the registry was designed for-it was actually called the OLE Registration Database on Win 3.1), and I acquired every resource kit I could find, and pored over them.
Yup, that shit was an arcane art known only to a few, and dared by even fewer. It was like writing modem initialization strings for US Robotics 9600 baud modems when they came out. The 9600DS/HST required an init string that, printed out on a standard dot matrix printer, was literally as long as my arm. Crazy.
Also I veeeery dimly remember something about OLE registration database.. but just that I've heard the name, I never messed with it.
It's hilarious that people think I'm some kind of problem solver for all of their random issues they send over. I've even told them when they send me their errors - I literally copy and paste it into google (and now bing b/c google is becoming cluttered with garbage). Some of them just can't wrap their head around just googling the error code or error string.
Maybe the one thing we can do is filter out the irrelevant answers, and choose the correct/closest solution, that way they don't have to wade into the mess
Knowing how to sift through the results, and read the good answers for key elements, is a skill. One that you improve with experience.
Yeah, it isn't like any one person can really understand everything about everything. There is just too much for anyone to know.
That's not a lie, that's standard operating procedure.
In November I somehow convinced a company to hire me as director of IT. Now I have 7 IT techs and 3 software devs under me. I had never been in a management position before (not even fast food or something like that) but it was like a $30k/yr raise so i took it.
I started off wondering how they hadn't figured out that I had literally 0 idea what I was doing. But I've started to realize that nobody in middle management has any idea what they are doing haha.
So, go and lie to interviewers. Worse case you get fired and you can lie to another set of them. Nobody cares and even fewer people actually understand what's going on.
This is a good job
only the ones i tell myself every day!
“you can do it!” “you’re an important part of your job!” “people like you!”
😂
Owie
My programs think they are running on windows. They are running in proton.
Am I tripping
I'm defintely not 3 ducks in a trench coat
There's this lie I keep telling myself that everything will be okay.
Oof
I love my job.
Well actually I don't. As soon as I get a better opportunity I am out of here.
I've told countless people that I like IPAs when I'm actually impartial to them.
My family still thinks they're calling me by my name. I changed the fuck out of that tragedeigh years ago.
No.
Hmmmmm.
Is this a lie?
No, it's a question.
I’m fine, everything’s fine…
My go to.
Ow
I'm fine.
I dunno. I guess the question is if I would ever meet anyone I told a lie to ever again. That's definitely not happening, so I guess I'm not maintaining them anymore.
Yes.
Anyone who says otherwise is (ironically) lying.
That's why privacy laws are so important and why the old "If you haven't done anything wrong, you shouldn't care about your data being collected by literally everyone" argument is bullshit. Because it's not about breaking the law, or lying about some big secret. It's about presenting to the world the you that you want to present to the world.
The most basic fundamental right is to be seen as we want to be seen.
Everyone...and I mean EVERYONE...has something that, if it were public, would change the way that others look at them. Maybe for the good, maybe for the worse. It doesn't matter. It could be that you're into midget porn. It could be that you anonymously donate a quarter of your paycheque to charity and you want it to remain anonymous for whatever reason. The point is, THAT IS YOUR RIGHT to keep that to yourself.
We get to show the world who we want them to see, either good or bad. And we all do it.
So yes, to circle back around. Anyone who says that they don't actively have any lies is lying.
I honestly forget who at this point, but I think a few people still believe that I met my wife during a brief educational stay in her home state, when in fact it was online and years later.