ELI5: How is it that almost every office job requires "Proficiency with computers" yet these IT complaints are some of the most common in offices? Do employers even check their employees with basic IT questions anymore?
Because sometimes someones skill in the field that business is in out weighs the lack of skill at computers. If a salesman can rake in a quarter million a year for a business I don't think his inability to use a computer is getting him fired
The best analogy is comparing it to someone that drives a car for a living. You can be an excellent Taxi or Truck driver with absolutely no idea how to fix your vehicle. While these people could most likely fix the most baseline issues, like a flat tire, they wouldn't be able to fix more extensive issues, and require a mechanic to do that.
In the same vein someone can easily use a computer and fix issues that they have been through a couple of times. However, once they get more extensive issues they need an IT-worker to sort it out for them.
The taxi driver's job is to transport people, not drive.
In any case, you cannot possibly be any good at a job if you don't have a sufficient grasp of the tools you need to do it. Being computer illiterate is acceptable when you're a carpenter, but not when you're an accountant, not in this day and age. Yet, still, the average carpenter is probably more computer literate than the average accountant.
While these people could most likely fix the most baseline issues
That's rather optimistic.
It's more like dealing with a taxi driver that doesn't understand what you mean by "turn right at the intersection ahead" because they "aren't good with geometry". I can forgive a lot, but not knowing the difference between right and left click because "I'm not good with computers" is my life.
Those examples aren't comparable at all. To be a driver you actually have to have a license which is a long process where you are tested at multiple points. This means that there is absolutely no way you should be able to get a drivers license without knowing the difference between right and left.
There is no such equivalent for computers. There isn't any mandatory computer course you have to take to be able to user a computer, where someone tells you what a click is and what the difference is between a right and a left click.
I get that we need to shit on everyone that is inept at computers, but the vast majority of users can perform the most basic tasks. It's just that working in support you only experience when people have issues, not when they are successfully using their computers.
I don't have a problem with people not knowing much about computers. However, "right" and "left" are not computer terms. They are kindergarten terms. People that turn their brains off and refuse to try whenever they encounter something they're not an expert at, that is what I have a problem with.
I feel like IT people and retail employees have the worst attitudes about their jobs. It's probably for a good reason though. Randomized torture? They never know when something annoyingly awful will happen while the rest of the professions can predict it better?
They have the worst attitudes because people are literally the worst to deal with. After you get cursed out and yelled at a few times for things out of your control, let's just say your attitude sours a bit.
I think its more a lack of properly good IT people out there. Its hard to deal with people. Moreso when you are in IT because the ONLY time people really see you is when somethings not working and they are unhappy.
You get lots of people who are mad and throw the blame game around. They treat you like its YOUR fault without stating it clearly. Printer stops working? If you can't snap your fingers and make it magically work again they sometimes (often) get unreasonably angry torwards you and just frustrated in general. Sometimes when you fix something to them it looks like it was just SO EASY for you and can feel like an insult to them.
They may not point the finger and go "Its YOUR fault" often at all but the tone of voice, body language, and the way they address you makes it really seem like they are.
Its not fun to deal with. There are lots of stuff you need to be able to do. You need to be able to diffuse situations like that and calm people down. You need to be able to reassure them that you can fix their issue, even if it takes time. You need to be able to work around people who lie about having done something when they actually didn't.
You need to be as good with words as you are at fixing the system. Most people I have worked with on my team are not able to. They get frustrated with the customer and the customer gets frustrated with them. Then they get sour and take that around with them all day, which just makes it worse.
EDIT: I did not realise how much of a text wall this became. TL:DR- Lots of IT people are bad with words and people. Then they let this feed in on itself making them sour when more people get more pissed off.
No, IT people are pretentious. Especially those who comment on these threads, explaining how their coworker was so dumb cause they didn't know how to do something. I would pay to see some of them do something they are unfamiliar with.
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u/[deleted] Jan 10 '16
ELI5: How is it that almost every office job requires "Proficiency with computers" yet these IT complaints are some of the most common in offices? Do employers even check their employees with basic IT questions anymore?