Mellenial/GenZ Users...?

[the86d]

This is how the conversation went, not actual quotes but very close:
"Your coworker was going to re-install windows for me... I need it, and he is on vacation."
"Why would he do that?"
"Excel crashed."
"... ... ... uh < 3 fast blinks > ... ... ... I think We will try something else first."

(We don't install Windows, we re-drop an image... if needed.)

I wonder if these people have been handed everything, and never had to buy Office themselves, as even Mac users at home that use Office, would have to buy it, right? (Unless their boyfriend handles all the "hard stuff" for them at home?)

They use the Office suite every single day, but don't know?

Is it anything outside of their job function is from here, |<----->| to here beyond them, with horse-blinders on?

In my IT spot, I've always gone WAY above, and beyond, outside the scope of job function, and frequently do other IT people's jobs too. A few key people where I work have been granted the ability to do other people's job function, as we need to get schtuff done.

Is it that their job is essentially copy-pasting numbers from one application to another, so they don't need/want to know anything outside of that scope?

It's like people don't want to learn ANYTHING, let alone the terms needed to communicate effectively regarding what a problem is, and they are just competent enough to barely do their job-function, and are essentially there just collect a paycheck doing the bare-minimum, if that.

I see this complete half-arsing in IT people's jobs too, not strictly just the user-base...
I am struggling to keep up, and everybody wants things now-now-now when something breaks, but I see these people casually strolling through their day.
/rant
Am I overreacting, or do you see this DAILY too?

[the86d]

The IT side of incompetence too w/blinders on [NSFW]:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDJGTGBgFc4

[G-forceJunkie]

News flash: Some people just want to do the minimum, get paid, go home and have zero interest or will to do/learn anything extra.

[MrFancyPants]

I'm a senior datacenter engineer/administrator so very little interaction with end users, fortunately. The bulk of my duties are network and server design and administration, VM server deployment and lifecycle management, scripting and system automation, storage management, etc. Get far up enough in IT and you get pretty detached from the end users.

However when I was starting out I saw similar things. I once had a school principal submit a ticket because her computer "crashed". I showed up and discovered she just couldn't log in to Windows because the keyboard was unresponsive. Turned out to be dead keyboard batteries.

I also had a superintendent submit a ticket because she lost a lot of emails. Turns out she was using her Outlook trash to store emails she wanted to keep. Explain that logic.

If you're going to work in IT you're just going to have to accept that most end users don't understand technology nearly as deeply as you do, and be accordingly flexible.

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[remusrm]

I'm a senior datacenter engineer/administrator so very little interaction with end users, fortunately. The bulk of my duties are network and server design and administration, VM server deployment and lifecycle management, scripting and system automation, storage management, etc. Get far up enough in IT and you get pretty detached from the end users.

However when I was starting out I saw similar things. I once had a school principal submit a ticket because her computer "crashed". I showed up and discovered she just couldn't log in to Windows because the keyboard was unresponsive. Turned out to be dead keyboard batteries.

I also had a superintendent submit a ticket because she lost a lot of emails. Turns out she was using her Outlook trash to store emails she wanted to keep. Explain that logic.

If you're going to work in IT you're just going to have to accept that most end users don't understand technology nearly as deeply as you do, and be accordingly flexible.

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Is not that they just don't understand it, they actually are ignorant. I have users that insist on using IE 11. The web apps require chrome or Firefox 53 or higher. Some think creating a shortcut on the desktop is the job of IT person!

[MrFancyPants]

Is not that they just don't understand it, they actually are ignorant. I have users that insist on using IE 11. The web apps require chrome or Firefox 53 or higher. Some think creating a shortcut on the desktop is the job of IT person!

I don't know what your position is where you're at, but if you're desktop level support or help desk, then what you're talking about just goes with the territory. I know because I worked my way up through all that. You can offload some of that by creating some basic help documentation on an internal wiki or self help intranet site, something like that.

What you have to realize is everybody has responsibilities and knowledge required to do their job, and many feel that even the most basic technology tasks are not their problem, and IT should just do it all. Some are more willing to help themselves than others. Depending on your organization you may or may not be able to push back on some of that.

If you have specific browser requirements you can force their hand by deploying a shortcut to Chrome and/or Firefox to everybody's desktop and restricting the ability to launch iexplore.exe via GPO. I wouldn't recommend that, but that's something you have to decide if it would help reduce requests for help.

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[the86d]

...Some think creating a shortcut on the desktop is the job of IT person!

It really is surprising that this happens... it makes you wonder how they got their job?

I had another person tell me her Outlook was gone, after I upgraded Office for her. I showed her where Windows applications actually are, and she started to tell me how "computer literate" she was...

I really wonder if they thought they'd get Macs, like at home, in the corporate env. @ 2-5x the cost...

It seems like the ones who know the least had parents that jumped-in buying them Macs, and they come into the workplace to just copy-paste data between Windows applications. Maybe a formula, and some formatting in Excel, but copy-paste is essentially their job (which I was doing back in Highschool). To me, it doesn't seem much different than the guy with a screwdriver, attached to compressed air, screwing clothes-washers together... and a lot of these people have degrees, but ask you to make Desktop icons.

It's unfortunate that most of my team is in another state, as is Corp. HQ, so I have limited options for movement up a ladder (if I don't want to move to a different state/climate, away from my parents that are getting old), but the pay is pretty-amazing for my job-description (although I do more than other teams)... and changing companies would cost me quite a bit of vacation, and most-likely way-lower pay, unless I could find another hourly that I do OUTSTANDING on OT with...

[local_nobody]

Some think creating a shortcut on the desktop is the job of IT person!

i feel like some of it is scope creep from the IT side. my workplace doesn't even (policy-wise) allow users to switch out a keyboard; that requires a ticket to IT for THEM to come change out a keyboard. in practice, it turns into people swiping any keyboard not in use because it take so long to get IT out (probably partly because they're inundated with simple little isht like this).

[billofrights]

It's not just millenials, though. I work in university IT and have for the past 13 years. I thought, foolishly, that when I got hired my job would eventually go away because as people grew up with computers they'd become more tech savvy. Exactly the opposite. The Apple-style trend of the increasing "Fisher-Pricification" of computers has eroded any kind of logical troubleshooting skills. I don't get calls that "My computer crashed and gave me a driver error, can you look at it?" I get "MY COMPUTER DOESN'T WORK." Ok, what's wrong with it? "It's just not doing anything."

[the86d]

It's not just millenials, though. I work in university IT and have for the past 13 years. I thought, foolishly, that when I got hired my job would eventually go away because as people grew up with computers they'd become more tech savvy. Exactly the opposite. The Apple-style trend of the increasing "Fisher-Pricification" of computers has eroded any kind of logical troubleshooting skills. I don't get calls that "My computer crashed and gave me a driver error, can you look at it?" I get "MY COMPUTER DOESN'T WORK." Ok, what's wrong with it? "It's just not doing anything."

At work, we've always called it "Gerberization", AKA "Puree-spoon-fed".

If I get a call from some legacy users direct, like the "It's not doing anything...", I always ask "Is the screen on, and do you see a picture? Well that is something, not doing anything is different... What is that actual issue, can I take a look at your screen (remotely) with you?"

My biggest complaint is the "It's not/It ain't doing nothing... (it just... [says it's doing something])" <head-plant/HeadDesk, press-Mute> "Expletive-Expletive-Expletive-turd." <Un-Mute> "The ticket here says it's [something'ing]..."

Most of the time, I just wish Helpdesk did their job, being the 1st tier firewall, but they can't even drop enough info in tickets to let us know a general idea of what the actual problem is, as they are part of the same half-arsing problem too... The running joke is the "Helpless-desk", even users use this term now.

[MrFancyPants]

Most of the time, I just wish Helpdesk did their job, being the 1st tier firewall, but they can't even drop enough info in tickets to let us know a general idea of what the actual problem is, as they are part of the same half-arsing problem too... The running joke is the "Helpless-desk", even users use this term now.

Sounds like it's a process issue then. In my organization if help desk escalates an issue and there isn't enough detail in the ticket, we kick it right back to help desk and tell them to get more info. If you are upper tier support, it shouldn't be your responsibility to get more info from end users to troubleshoot and resolve an issue. That's a huge waste of time and resources considering upper tier support is more expensive than help desk.

Sounds like maybe your management needs to grow some balls and clearly define the ticket lifecycle policy, and ENFORCE it. If help desk continues to escalate tickets with vague or incomplete info then it becomes a performance issue and is dealt with accordingly. Tech teams can only be as good as their management, which unfortunately isn't always effective.

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[the86d]

Sounds like it's a process issue then. In my organization if help desk escalates an issue and there isn't enough detail in the ticket, we kick it right back to help desk and tell them to get more info. If you are upper tier support, it shouldn't be your responsibility to get more info from end users to troubleshoot and resolve an issue. That's a huge waste of time and resources considering upper tier support is more expensive than help desk.

Sounds like maybe your management needs to grow some balls and clearly define the ticket lifecycle policy, and ENFORCE it. If help desk continues to escalate tickets with vague or incomplete info then it becomes a performance issue and is dealt with accordingly. Tech teams can only be as good as their management, which unfortunately isn't always effective.

Totem:

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We have gotten some changes recently, after some beaching sessions (due to turn-over?), during full-open-beach... but can't make too many waves in a LARGE Corp. env, even if your team is doing most of the work...
Even looking at AVG. Sysadmin pay-caps, (I am not officially, nor am I capped yet, it seems from my last 2 raises) I can't make waves... I've got kids, and I only work 13 miles from home.
"Suck it up, buttercup" is the motto, as of late.

[Scratch705]

i feel like some of it is scope creep from the IT side. my workplace doesn't even (policy-wise) allow users to switch out a keyboard; that requires a ticket to IT for THEM to come change out a keyboard. in practice, it turns into people swiping any keyboard not in use because it take so long to get IT out (probably partly because they're inundated with simple little isht like this).

this is the same for my workplace.

everything has to go through helpdesk/IT when it comes to computer/tech.

[The War Wagon]

Doesn't Generation Y, Z, 90210, LBGQTLKJBMHFGDJDKYHFLGVJHV even read Dilbert anymore?

[the86d]

Same user:
Weird issues, but user hadn't rebooted in 5 days... in a place where updates are pushed all the time. Rebooting resolved.

Later the same day: user got Outlook stuck where a folder wouldn't display contents, bouncing between folders "quickly" (Watching a click-click-click-click-click, to the next before view/population completed, I don't know why folders w/undesired info were being clicked on, as user was just clicking on random folders?) w/a 1.2+GB mailbox, and they didn't think to close the app, and reopen when the contents couldn't display. This is RARE to see, especially with an SSD, but really?

I am really glad my coworker deals with all the "Home-Mac users on Windows at work", as he is newer (compared to my time with the company), and like to feed the kids Gerber...