Silly network admins. . .

01000101 · Post by **01000101** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:24 pm

As I am trying to keep a professional aspect to this story, I will keep names and places anonymous, but anyaways...

Whilst running a very long thicknet cable from floor to floor of a telemarketing agency (we're re-vamping their entire network), I get a call on the mighty cellphone.

On the other end is a network admin of a decent sized educational facility having a near heart attack. I told her to calm down, breath, and then ask her obviously important question.

She informs me that her USB flash drive has died out... well I scratched my head and told her that they aren't very expensive and to buy a new one. Then she told me that she had a few years of business backup data on that drive.

I politely told her to just calm down and grab another backup and just make a copy on a new USB drive. seemed logical?

After a long pause, she sheepishly replied with... what other backup?

ghadosvhoqheiruqoih what???? no other backup??!?!?!?
WHO STORES YEARS OF IMPORTANT BUSINESS DATA IN ONE PLACE... and of all the places A USB PEN!!!?!?!?!?!

gah... well 30 minutes of backup etiquite later and a reference to a very nice data recovery agency (white room), I am back to running wires and they are a few G's poorer.

Thanks for tuning in to my general rambling. =)

Pe@cE

JackScott · Post by **JackScott** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:36 pm

www.worsethanfailure.com

It's a sad thing, but a lot of the industry is the same. I'm not a network admin, but it's amazing how many of my friends and colleagues lose data due to only having it stored in one place. I was recently on IRC while somebody was talking about how the best place to keep their data was their new iPod ("I can take it anywhere!"), then decided they wanted to install some software, so proceeded to flash the BIOS on it, with no other copies.

Rule #1: The error is not within the computer.

I've got sick and tired of telling people the same thing again and again, and them not listening. They'd rather not learn to fish (or make an Excel graph), they just want the fish (a finished report), over and over again.

Rule #2: For some users, there is no hope.

AndrewAPrice · Post by **AndrewAPrice** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:15 am

I know! A lot of (I'm not saying ALL) network administrators generally don't have much of an idea of what's going on other than how to set up their Windows/Novell server and how to mass-install programs across a network.

That's why I'm studying game programming. I know it's not a perfect industry either, but at least a great deal about how computer systems work (we focus on C++ for our assignments, and have entire subjects on 3d mathematics, network programming, physics, etc). It's a shame to see a lot of copy-and-paste coders making their way through, especially when I'm the one who's being asked to help them with their spaghetti's code

("I just want to add two objects" - freaking make an object class and make 2 instances off it, not copy and paste all the code twice and place it in one huge main class - real story btw). Thankfully, justice is served when we get our grades back

And also later when all the big companies come and steal the top students while those "copy-and-paste" coders (I should trademark that name) are left jobless and scratching their heads

Life is fair.

What baffles me is, I know programming degrees assume nothing (except an understanding in mathematics) and start from the basics, but it's surprising how many people in college haven't touched a compiler before. If they've chosen it as a potential profession and spend time and money studying, it seems foolish to dedicate your future to something you haven't even played around with yourself in your own time. It's sad when you see people who don't even try, when it's college and you chose to be there in the first place, and you're paying for it. It says how much some people take their futures seriously.

JamesM · Post by **JamesM** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:33 am

MessiahAndrw: your're wrong, they've touched one fantastic compiler! After you use it you will never use anything else (apart from maybe Web 2.0):

javac

(please note that I am doing my degree at a decent university and as such we have compiler courses, parsing, electronics etc

)

os64dev · Post by **os64dev** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 4:42 am

JamesM wrote:MessiahAndrw: your're wrong, they've touched one fantastic compiler! After you use it you will never use anything else (apart from maybe Web 2.0):

javac

(please note that I am doing my degree at a decent university and as such we have compiler courses, parsing, electronics etc )

The keyword being university here. Roughly translating as we get everything at a high abstract level and don't know anything about in depth details

AndrewAPrice · Post by **AndrewAPrice** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:59 am

JamesM wrote:javac

I'll quote someone's former signature from this forum (I forgot their name): "Saying java is good because it works on all platforms is like saying anal sex is good because it works on both genders." (I don't have a problem with Java, I just had to quote that

)

JamesM · Post by **JamesM** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 8:32 am

Just in case some slow people are reading this I want to make this clear: I was being sarcastic in my previous post. Java is a pile of wank.

There we go, all better

01000101 · Post by **01000101** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 8:41 am

bahahaha messiah, that is one bad @$$ quote.

but yes, it is sadenning to see such carelessness in such important roles. Digital backup is great, but if it is records they need to be both on paper and backed up on an ext. hdd or some other device, maybe a tape drive.

Alboin · Post by **Alboin** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 2:24 pm

MessiahAndrw wrote:
JamesM wrote:javac
I'll quote someone's former signature from this forum (I forgot their name):

That would be Bubach.