How do you cope with incompetent people?
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Why do they need to know it when they can ask for urgent response pleaze.
I know the language. I've read a book. - _Madmatt
Quiet Practice Lead! I am going to have so much fun with that.
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane
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I am a nice guy. I help people that need it. But once it dawns upon me that the people getting the help are just idiots and/or lazy gits that just won't learn anything, I go nuts. I usually solve my "issues" with passive aggressiveness. Maybe not the best solution in the world, but it keeps me sane. How do you cope?
-- Kein Mitleid Für Die Mehrheit
Recently I seem to be doing their jobs for them. Fortunately they're vendors we're using due to a client's request. And the client is the one that gets to pick up the tab for my part time employment doing nothing but fixing and documenting the vendor's mistakes. I can also use those hours to explain exactly why the quoted work is going to be late, or why they're paying over time to get it done on time. Thus far I've managed to keep my sanity by effectively reverse engineering their errors in process to pin down(with about 75% accuracy) where they screwed up. After a battle over formats it's been rather refreshing that they can't even get things right in their own format, so what I think I'm saying is take your small petty victories where you can. As for being passive aggressive, I don't waste the time anymore. But I don't waste my time trying to help them out since anymore since I've cracked the same issue repeatedly for them and watch it roll back in next load. I write it up, document why it's an issue, explain what they need to fix for the future and how I'm fixing it right now, along with documenting any changes executed on our end to update their information. Draining enough without putting effort into it on an interpersonal level anymore. But once you get some templates down it gets easier, though when you can just use the templates replacing the specifics each time you run into the issue it gets kinda sad.
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It is getting harder though. There are so many people willing to work for so much less that people are coming to view software developers as a commodity. When in fact 9 out of 10 that I have met in-person couldn't code a single user contact database without help. I am lucky were I am right now, one of my coworkers makes up for her inexperience with, GASP, a willingness to learn, do independent research, and gosh darn it just make it work!
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane
I can't bill these people. They are so called 'partners' and 'customers'. :sigh:
-- Kein Mitleid Für Die Mehrheit
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Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:
However, dealing with smart and competent people when they are wrong has its challenges too
But the smartest ones are quite happy to admit they are wrong - eventually. I once had a boss who got into an argument over someone else about MS licensing. The "someone else" eventually got some proof from MS supporting his claim. My boss, who would never ever admit to a mistake, just said MS had got it wrong! :laugh:
Kevin
Kevin McFarlane wrote:
I once had a boss who got into an argument over someone else about MS licensing. The "someone else" eventually got some proof from MS supporting his claim. My boss, who would never ever admit to a mistake, just said MS had got it wrong!
That reminds me my former boss, from Palombara Sabina City: once he claimed that his spoken English was better than the one of the real English folks. :)
If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
[My articles] -
I am a nice guy. I help people that need it. But once it dawns upon me that the people getting the help are just idiots and/or lazy gits that just won't learn anything, I go nuts. I usually solve my "issues" with passive aggressiveness. Maybe not the best solution in the world, but it keeps me sane. How do you cope?
-- Kein Mitleid Für Die Mehrheit
Wood chippers[^] :cool:
Join the cool kids - Come fold with us[^]
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sadly, my blood is boiling as i am typing this exactly for the reason you mention back around 1999/2000 time fame, a whole lot of people got in IT via web development - they read the 'learn html(xxx) in 24 hours' books and got hired - the demand was that high paraphrased discussion with job applicant in 1999: she:i worked on an asp application at my last company mgr:what did you do? she:i was involved in its development mgs:yes, yes, but what exactly did YOU do? she:i xxxxxxxxxxx <-- don't remember exactly what she said she did, but it was not any actual programming mgr:so, you were in the team who put this together, but someone else did the programming... she:yes, but i was there and helped them out mgr:so, what are you looking for? she: 75k unfortunately there are way too many people in IT from that time who would be better suited in other area - manual labor* comes to mind... my life is 75% miserable because of these people what makes it worse is when they feel it a personal attack when you try to explain code that is not at their level of understanding - my expectation is that if you are in a certain position you should be able to understand certain concepts and function at that level it's not hard - be a logical thinker and learn how to step through code - when you come to a piece you don't know what it does, stop and investigate; if you don't know understand the concept, stop and investigate - when done, continue stepping through code when the person trying to explain it to you states things you don't understand it does not mean he/she is out to get you, it means you have need to learn more so much more to say, but i have a meeting starting soon - it did help, i do feel a little bit better, thank you for the opportunity- *even worse, some ended up in management - try to get logic across their desk...
Opium is my business. The bridge mean more traffic. More traffic mean more money. More money mean more power. Speed is important in business. Time is money. You said opium was money. Money is Money. Well then, what is time again? icalburner.net
Some of my favorite questions from co-workers of that era: 1. How do you tell if a number is negative? 2. The guy who couldn't figure out why he output the same line multiple times when reading from an array instead of a recordset. 3. The "architect" that thought dcom was enabled by just typing regsvr32 \\servername\path\dllname -Andy
I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon
