in reply to (OT) The Honest Cherry Bomb

I think the reason that computer people tend to be mean to non-computer-people is quite simple: It's so easy for us that we forget how hard it is for them. Moreover, they have the impression (sometimes false, sometimes true) that just trying things can cause lots of damage. Sometimes, we yell at them for not doing what would be obvious to us. Somtimes, we yell at them for doing what was obvious to them, and causing damage.

The other day, for example, my aunt had my cousin call me with a computer problem. She needed to take a test online, and it said not to use AOL's browser. She had AOL, and always used their browser, and didn't know what to do... so called me. Now, my aunt is a mainframe programmer. What was obvious to me (just run IE; it will just work) wasn't obvious to her. Moreover, she didn't want to experment, she wanted somthing that worked before the deadline was up (around 24 hours hence; mainframe programmers also have a longer sense of time because they're used to processing huge batches).

Now, consider somebody who doesn't know computers at all, and who has been yelled at before for continuing to run their computer when it stopped being so loud (because, unknown to them, it meant that the fan died). Whenever somthing goes wrong, they aren't going to try doing somthing -- last time they did that, they were told they were stupid and it would be much more to repair it. Instead, they're going to call you for everything.

Like so much, it's all about double-standards, an the subconcious expectation people have that other people are like them.

Warning: Unless otherwise stated, code is untested. Do not use without understanding. Code is posted in the hopes it is useful, but without warranty. All copyrights are relinquished into the public domain unless otherwise stated. I am not an angel. I am capable of error, and err on a fairly regular basis. If I made a mistake, please let me know (such as by replying to this node).

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Re: Re: (OT) The Honest Cherry Bomb
by logan (Curate) on May 29, 2003 at 00:13 UTC
    There's some truth there. See, I'm in QA. I write perl scripts for automating tests, but I don't know C or Java. Furthermore, while I have a college degree, it's in Film, not Computer Science. Recently, I had to write a script to chart server response times to see how they changed over time and if the amount of large latencies were statistically significant. Wow, that's a mouthful. While discussing the problem, the PhD assigning the task tried to simplify by drawing a Sigma on my dry erase board to illustrate the problem. To him, it was simplifying, but to me, it was a weird symbol I half-remember from the calculus class I got a D in 15 years ago. I had to ask him to take it down a notch. After some discussion in layman's terms, I got a bead on the task and set to work.

    By the same token, I often have to deal with a co-worker who refuses to learn new things or try anything new. I have stopped helping her because she won't learn. I find it monsterously frustrating. When she had to install some perl modules on a server, she asked me to do it. I referred her to the README, which she didn't read. Then I pointed her to the step-by-step instructions I'd written for installing perl modules, which she also didn't read. Finally, I offered to watch her do the install and guide her through it. Again, a negative. Eventually, I had to do the installs myself. I'm still courteous, but throw me a bone. At least TRY to solve the problem on your own.

    See, I don't mind teaching someone to do something, and I don't mind helping, but if they have to ask for help on the same issue over and over without ever trying to learn the how to do it on their own...forget it. I pride myself that if I go to a developer with an issue, I can say "I've tried A, B, C, and just in case, I backed up the config file before trying D. I'm out of ideas." I've found that demonstrating that I've exercised my brain and made a stab at it on my own gets me more and better help than simply saying "It's broken."

    -Logan
    "What do I want? I'm an American. I want more."

[reply]

      Oh, and now, consider that when sombody who doesn't have a friend to call calls the tech support line, if they tried to fix it themselves... doesn't matter. If they seem intelegent... doesn't matter. If they know exactly what the problem is, and what steps should be taken to fix it... doesn't matter. The guy (or girl) on the other end of the phone knows what's wrong too... doesn't matter. They have a script to follow.

      In other words, there's no help in narrowing down the problem in such a situation; unless you can /fix/ it yourself, time spent knowing what you're talking about is time wasted.

      Warning: Unless otherwise stated, code is untested. Do not use without understanding. Code is posted in the hopes it is useful, but without warranty. All copyrights are relinquished into the public domain unless otherwise stated. I am not an angel. I am capable of error, and err on a fairly regular basis. If I made a mistake, please let me know (such as by replying to this node).

[reply]

In Section Meditations