[andrew tegala dot net]

Getting Back On Track

2010-05-18T21:05:00.001+01:00

After several months away, I am back. I am putting a focus back on my career and trying to move things forward even if some would dare to say I have taken several steps (if not years) back.

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

I consider myself both lucky and blessed to have made it through some rather difficult times in recent months. As difficult as it can be, I am trying to stop looking back and analysing the past, I can do nothing to change, what has been, what was said, what was done. I need to refocus all my energies on my new job, my new responsibilities and my future. This of course is much easier said than done, but I have a few ideas and am in discussions with family, close friends and colleagues on the next steps. There is a great deal to be done and time is not on my side. This is the moment - Carpe Diem!

The Next Chapter

2010-01-14T21:43:00.003Z

To say the last four months have been easy would be the understatement of the decade. In fact, since touching down from Valencia my life has been anything but a piece of cake. I thought the holiday would have given me the chance to recharge the batteries and come back with a clear perspective. Instead, I found myself soon deciding that it was time for a change.

Eleven days after making that decision, the result of a chain of events compelled me to make another more immediate decision. Back then, I was unsure if it was the right thing to do. Validation felt a long long way off. (If at all ever possible, would I come to regret this forever?)

I suppose my initial problem was I was naive to think I would be back in employment as quickly as before. Last time around, my spell of unemployment was a short lived two weeks. A holiday if you will. Even though there were so many more opportunities out there, it is just a shame that there were hundreds more applying for each position.

I got an interview, got complacent invested too much into this one opportunity and then had to go back and start all over again once the rejection came through.

I applied for a position back in mid November, one of several that day and it was quickly forgotten about. As I had not heard back from anyone, I assumed that it was just another case of a rejection. If you do not hear from us, you should consider your application unsuccessful. No news is bad news, so to speak. You can imagine my surprise to get a phone call around 10am on the first officially working day of 2010. I swiftly arranged an interview for the next day. When I only heard back to say that other candidates had been delayed due to the adverse weather conditions, I resigned myself to yet another rejection in waiting.

You can therefore imagine (or not) my surprise to finally be offered a position this afternoon. The fact it was via e-mail threw me a little but it was the news I had been waiting for and I walked straight into the lounge to share the news with my Mum and youngest sister.

A fresh start, a blank page, a new routine, new people and a new challenge. Yes you may have heard all this before, but maybe this time around, I will build a reputation for all the right reasons.

Feel Yourself Suffocating

2009-10-09T15:03:00.007+01:00

Sometimes I need to write very little in a blog post. All I need to do is recite the lyrics from a recent song. Little did I know on Friday 19th June, when I first heard 21 Guns by Green Day during the summer blockbuster sequel that the same words would be so reminiscent of the predicament I found myself in, less than four months later.

Did you try to live on your own
When you burned down the house and home?
Did you stand too close to the fire?
Like a liar looking for forgiveness from a stone

After the twenty one gun salute comes the deep reflection and analysis in the cold silence, but I shall save that for another day.

Geneva, Hong Kong and Newbury

2009-06-11T20:55:00.008+01:00

It is funny where you can end up after University. Never did I think I would find myself in deepest West Berkshire in the historic market town of Newbury. I had only heard of it from The Third Battle over the proposed bypass in the mid 1990s.

One friend D, has done extremely well for himself, since graduating DMU with a 1st in July 2004. He currently works for a very famous fashion house and the last I had heard he was in the former crown colony.

My other friend from Uni, V is now in Geneva although he was quite close to my current location, working for the other big employer in the West Berkshire town. However, I can only feel myself being rather shortchanged in terms of location. Newbury is not in the same league as Hong Kong or the capital of Switzerland.

Who knows where this job or my career for that matter might take me. I have made it no secret that I have a desire to travel and would have no problem if it was my job rather than a two week holiday that took me to the far flung corners of the globe. I remember talking to one of my well traveled bosses about the glamour of travelling in your job. He had spent a great deal of time in Europe and in Australasia. His comment was that although it may sound quite glamorous the reality is you spend a great deal of time in hotels, unfamiliar offices and airport lounges. Many which are quite a long distance from a exotic capital city.

The Comeback

2009-02-15T11:59:00.007Z

I have a great deal of respect for a number of people. Some immediately close to me, my family, friends and even some work colleagues. However, I perhaps have the greatest deal of respect for people out there in the media and living their lives under the microscopic gaze of the public eye.

If that alone is not easy, you can find yourself on the receiving end of some negative press and your career stall. What do you do? Do you lie down and take the public beating and just crawl away into a hole? Or do you go all out to prove your doubters wrong. I have always striven for the later, more so in recent years as I have both the desire and the pure motivation to come back all guns blazing. Even if that is perhaps not quite my personality and takes me way outside of my comfort zone.

There were two people that I wanted to mention in this blog post, mainly because both have been in the news in the past few weeks. Let me start with David Beckham, someone I am sure you will know, even if only by name.

Out of favour at his club Real Madrid (ironically by now England coach Capello) dropped symbolically by Steve McClaren in something of a gesture of grandeur. The ex-Manchester United player was for sure in a dark place. Particularly after confirming his move to the MLS, for his club manager to say publicly that he played his last game for the club. It was here that I gained the ultimate respect for the footballer. He continued to train alone at the Madrid training camp. His dedication to his sport can never be questioned. Indeed he turned it around, he was recalled to the squad, took the team kicking and screaming within grasp of the title. The fact that ex Arsenal forward Jose Antonio Reyes scored the winning goals in the final league match against Mallorca is not lost on me. However it was Beckham whom inspired the squad to get to that point.

It was for England, I feel that he made his greatest impact. McClaren had always said that the door was open on the midfielder but I thought he would never return to use him. I was wrong, he made the comeback in the friendly against Brazil (I was there!) and created the goal and continued to make a substantial contribution in the following qualifiers. Even the final match against Croatia, his appearance turned England's fortunes as he crossed the ball for Crouch to score and equalise. England were through to Austria & Switzerland for a few short minutes.

The feeling was that he would, re-create the magic from 2001, in the final qualifier against Greece at Old Trafford. It was not to be on this wet November evening in North London. However it was in Milan on loan from LA Galaxy that Beckham would prove that he still has something to offer England. The Italians, not an easy crowd to win over, fall in love with him. Just when you thought David was a washed up footballer, living the high life in a below par league in the California sunshine he comes back with a bang and some incredible performances and amazing goals and wins his spot back in the England spot as a starter.

The second person I would like to focus on is Jennifer Hudson. She came back from very difficult personal tragedy in her home life to take centre stage at the Super Bowl to perform the national anthem. A song, which I feel perhaps perfectly represents everything that should be in patriotic song for a nation. Deep stirring lyrics, story telling at it's best and a melody that is instantly memorable regardless of the arrangement and playable on almost any instrument.

We all lose people close to use during the course of our lives, but the circumstances of Jennifer's loss is almost impossible to comprehend. To lose so many of your loved ones in such a single moment is difficult to even bear thinking about. What made it worse for Miss Hudson, was that it was her mentor, her rock, the person she looked up to the most and was the keystone inspiration to her career.

I wonder how she felt, talking to the pitch at the Super Bowl XLIII at The Raymond James Stadium. It does not really matter because she pulled it off, with an audience of hundred thousand plus in the ground and many millions if not billions around the globe. I have the utmost respect for her as a performer, but now even more so as a human being. You have to keep moving on but never forget the people that got you where you are today. The public might doubt you, but your true friends and family always remain positive, behind you, supportive and caring. Making sure that the next decision you make, the next step you take is for the better and good.

The Penny Drops...

2009-01-28T20:29:00.005Z

For me, the penny did not drop until Tuesday 27th January. Sometime mid-morning I came under the realisation that I have so much to do but nothing immediate to look forward to. I then glanced at my countdown timer. Five hundred days to go. Could my dreams of South Africa be any further from me right now, on a gloomy, dull grey winter morning in West Berkshire?

The trigger for this was actually an e-mail I received from my line manager. The list of key priorities for the coming fortnight. I knew the majority on the list, that was not that shock. The surprise was I would have to also put on a new hat, while my colleague is off skiing. I thrive on pressure but sometimes there can be too much and yesterday I felt a sense of coming close to the edge, being shown the drop but still hanging on (or being held) for a short while before being thrown over the cliff!

The past few months has been extremely hectic and my feet have hardly touched the ground. I have had major milestones in my own calendar if you will, mainly personal outside of work. They were moving into my flat in mid October, my weekend in Wrexham in early November, my birthday in late November, Christmas and finally my ski holiday. It was only after my holiday could I truly focus on 2009 and the year ahead.

Looks like that moment has finally arrived. I know that the year ahead will be full of challenges but I am keen to meet them head on. I see no obsticles in my path, just opportunities. Plus, it is always great to have something to look forward to. Whatever happens, I will try my best to report it here, so you too can follow my truimphs and defeats.

They Wanted Callum Monks

2008-11-27T20:19:00.019Z

They Got Bradley Branning

All copyrights of the BBC and their respective copyright holders

L-o-S

2008-11-17T22:09:00.000Z

A colleague whom sits opposite me, received a long time service award today. Ten years, yes, a decade with the company. The date she started with the company, I had left school and was in my third month at college. In the decade that has followed, I completed my A Levels, went to University and also got the first two years of my career (somewhat questionable description) kick started.

During the mini celebration at midday, the discussion soon moved to the other 'long termers' on our floor. GH confirmed he had been with the company twenty eight years. My colleague, J, came in with a quick insightful comment. "You do realise that you have been with this company longer than some people have been born?" There was laughter all around. I had realised that with my twenty seventh birthday literally around the corner, I was one of the handful to have been alive less time than GH had been an employee.

When I was younger, I dreamt of these moments. Well maybe dreamt is the wrong word, looked forward to. I remember my Dad's boss got a gold engraved cigarette lighter for five years service and then a gold pen for a few more, eight perhaps. I have always wanted to work for the same company for a considerable amount of time. However, the modern working life has little place for loyalty and we as people do tend to get restless. Who really wants to stay in the same company for a considerable amount of time, let alone the same actual job. The benefit of larger corporations is there are opportunities that present themselves on a regular basis. I suppose, it is also very important to be good at what you do. Large corporation do eventually get rid of the deadwood (even if it takes a little longer). What am I trying to say?

I would love to be able to blog here in ten years time (in some kind of description) and celebrate ten years with my employer but I am not naive. I am realistic and know that I may be lucky to last half that? Why? Well I think that the reality is I will want a new challenge and who knows my personal circumstances may have well changed. (I live in hope).

Final Day Frenzy

2008-09-05T23:50:00.002+01:00

It was crazy as I expected, but I did eventually get out the door. As with all these things it is a rush to get everything done before the end of the day plus there is the extended lunch to say goodbye and wish me well in my new job. Although I was quite disappointed that by a twist of fate there were no members of the development team in (off sick or on holiday). Just the way it goes I suppose.

It was also all rather sudden when you consider I had two weeks off work before my final week and my colleagues were not informed until a few days into my holiday. Thankfully there was only a one month notice period in my contract, I am not sure how I would have filled out three months.

How do I feel after nearly four days service? Happy with the overall experience and how much I learned about a completely unknown industry. Thankful to the role lady luck played in dropping a fantastic manager and colleagues on the helpdesk which became the Dream Team. Not only this but the fact that I made some long term friendships, even with those on the "other side" of the sister company. However, I do feel a sense of emptiness. A sense of what could have been, what could have been achieved. If circumstances had been different, if the ship had sailed a different course. Never mind now, there is no point crying of spilt milk. I must concentrate on the future and my new role, new company, new colleagues and ultimately new lifestyle.

A close friend once remarked to me that the biggest regret of his career was staying in the same job (but more significantly same employer) for too long and the detrimental affect it had on his future aspirations. I did not want to make the same mistake, I had to move on, not just for career development but for my own personal development. It is time for the duckling to leave the nest.

On To The Next Rung

2008-08-19T12:55:00.004+01:00

I knew the day would eventually come along; when I would leave my current job but I never thought it would be in such circumstances. I suppose these things never pan out as planned. The official communication was sent out today but things have been moving very fast since the verbal offer was made to me on Tuesday 5th August via the telephone.

At times I have woken up and had to pinch myself, am I really leaving and going to this new company. It will take some time to sink in but with a start date around the corner (8th September) and my new boss already sending me work during my week off to my personal e-mail address, I feel myself hitting the ground running.

How do I feel? Apprehensive but in equal measure very excited, a new challenge, a change of scenery and a fresh routine. But am I ready? No, of course not! What I'm looking forward to most is a clean state. Being able to start "all over" as the Americans would say is such a great feeling or rather release. Although on the other hand having to 'prove' myself once again is going to be interesting to say the least.

It is really difficult to describe but when you wait so long for something to happen and then finally when the wheels are in motion, you feel a little taken back. There are plenty of things I need to get around to sorting out, one of which is the future of this blog. I will no longer be able to write so candidly about life in the workplace as I have before. Perhaps this could become a weblog for up-and-coming analysts. Ultimately I want it to become a useful generic resource, rather than the pointless waffling it has tended to be in the past. Stay tuned.

The Measure Of A Man

2008-08-03T09:28:00.003+01:00

What is the true measure of a man? Some say it is the level of shine in his shoes. Others say it is the quality of the suit he wears and I tended to agree until quite recently. Being out and about and meeting various customers and other business people in general I have discovered a new item. The watch.

Sure, it may just be another piece of jewellery with the main role of telling you the time of day but I feel it has ultimately a bigger purpose. It is there to make a statement.

It may be there to scream out, "I'm successful" or "I'm important" or even "I'm an extrovert!". There is a message there but it is not always easy to read. I wonder what my gold, rather simple Sekonda watch says about me? It was a gift from my friend Dave in November 2004. It is all about style rather than making a fashion statement.

The real question is though, which brand should I aspire to own? Omega, Swatch or the classic Rolex?

End Of An Era

2008-07-27T14:59:00.002+01:00

The problem with eras drawing to a close is that you never truly appreciation their departure until long after the event. However, when you look at it in the cold light of day, eras are based on people and not on anything else. People come and people go but it is always a shame and surprise to see some people leave. Particularly when you get to the stage when you think you are on the verge of building something good. Or rather building upon on the most successful years for my business unit.

Nothing lasts forever, as difficult it is for me to comprehend and with change comes inevitably new opportunities. Something you would think I would relish? If I had been more involved in the process, perhaps I would be but I feel myself to a certain extent relegated and sidelined.

We have been here before? History does repeat itself! Within two months of joining the help desk, both the 2nd line analyst and my manager had resigned and moved on. The Operations Director had the burden to replace the manager and then build a new team. Not an easy task - particularly when the first preferential candidate turned it down at the eleventh hour after initially accepting. However, in a stroke of genius, the second choice (sloppy seconds?) turned out to be one of the best managers I have ever worked for. Three years later, I find the parallels starling but very different decisions being made for very different reasons.

The opportunity came around for me to same my piece and give my twenty pence worth and I duly obliged however I feel that the majority of what I said fell on deaf ears. To be honest, that does not bother me too much, the main part of the process was for me to vent my spleen and get the 'issues' out the in the open. I have to for once in my life be selfish and consider my own future and not that of my employer.

My Dad once said to me that the CEO of the multinational I worked for lost little sleep over the fact I was working extra hours on his forecourt in leafy Buckinghamshire. He was more concerned with the price of a barrel of oil and dealing with the next shareholders AGM. I was under this foolish notion that the man at the top would from to time to action think about the little people on the shop floor. It was a very interesting life lesson. It was perhaps the moment I started taking less pride in my job and it became just that a job and not a career move. I solemnly pray that in that case it will not be a case of history repeating itself.

Running On Empty

2008-06-10T21:23:00.005+01:00

More and more I feel my life (well work which makes up a big chunk) resembles Groundhog Day. It is the constant cycle I find myself in, of getting up and dragging myself out of bed to getting ready, to getting into the office. Days are more similar than indifferent. Of course there is the odd venture out into the real world to see clients, attend courses and conferences but generally I find myself in the space place. Sat on my chair, tapping away on my laptop.

I find the gym a good release at the end of the day but that is only three out of five evenings. Plus there is only so much motivation and self estem the workout can provide. It is difficult to find any true motivation when you are ultimately just clock watching and waiting for 5.15pm to come around. Only to know that tomorrow it is the same cycle all over again.

This blog post is perhaps an early cry for help. I need a new challenge, I need to meet new and exciting people and more than anything else I need new direction and purpose. The main issue that needs to be resolved is will I find it here or elsewhere?

Narrowband

2008-04-30T19:18:00.002+01:00

You would expect a worldwide brand such as Hilton to provide broadband internet access in all their room as a bare minimum. You would be wrong to make such an assumption. Even though in their literature it clearly states that you can find a broadband cable in the bedside desk drawer on in the wardrobe. I looked around but even with a cable, I could not see a socket it for it anywhere. My television came with a small remote keyboard but it did not seem to work (even though it had batteries inside). I really needed to check my work e-mail and also have a little web time to give in to my cravings. To begin with I connected up my work N73 and used good old fashioned dial up. I remember the number for our ISP at work and entered it in. It connected! Fantastic! However, it was only at 9.6KBps! Painfully slow and not ideal for web surfing, although I did sign into MSN for a few minutes. VPN connected but I was not able to connect the exchange server. OWA was a little better but it took forever to load up all the images for all the menu buttons. I opted to disconnect. There must be a beter way. There was. I loaded up the Nokia software and clicked on the Connect To The Internet button. A wizard took me through a process of selecting my mobile network. Once I clicked on Connect, I was instantly zapped onto the 3G network and had a transfer rate of 460.8KBps! This was great, I was finally able to check my work e-mail, log into Facebook and give the obligatory status update and also check a few other personal e-mail accounts.

In this modern world we live in, there has grown a certain expectation. When we book into a hotel, we expect certain things. A broadband internet connection (wireless or otherwise) is a neccessity, just like warm running water.

The Bravery Of Idiots Is Bravery None The Less

2008-04-26T23:52:00.004+01:00

There was a sense of inevitablity when I was told. Even so, it still came as a bit of a shock. I bet if you had been there with a video camera, you would have picked up the surprised expression across my face. I knew it was serious, the moment I was taken outside for a "word".

Ultimately we all have to have sense of selfworth and act quite selfishly on some occassions and this was one of those moments. Not for me or you, but for the individual concerned. I do not blame them, golden opportunities are rare particularly in this industry. However, I only feel a sense of what could have been. There was so much yet to be achieved, so much to get done.

The saying goes that as one door closes, another opens and if this does hold true here, then I am wondering who will walk in. A friend's comment was this is a great opportunity for you Andrew, to not just consolidate my position but prove my worth (and not for the first time). The circumstances this time around are very different and although my influence may be greater, the holes in my experience are clear for everyone to see.

Only The One Requirement

2008-04-07T21:45:00.003+01:00

Professionally I am in a really strange juncture in my career. I have some experience but not near enough to move onto the next opportunity but by the same token I am perhaps too old to be slogging it out on a help desk. It is interesting to see the journey I have already taken in the past few years and staggering to think I am just four years into my career and there are sixty two (perhaps more) to go. [This would normally be the point I would link to my personal blog to cover work experiences prior to November 2004, but that is not entirely necessary!]

Instead I find myself wondering what the future holds. It would be extremely foolish and ungrateful not to appreciate the mountains being moved for my benefit. Maybe that comes across far too selfish, not for my benefit then, for my "personal development". Obviously I am not really in a position to divulge the details but changes are afoot. I would never been receiving this kind of special treatment at another establishment. Proof, that good solid service, loyalty and integrity are hard currency, particularly in smaller firms which tend to always have a large employee turnover (or is that just the perception from the outside). Throughout the past year, there have been moments when I have doubted myself, felt uncomfortable and even way out in the deep end but I have met most (but not all) challenges with a smile and determined outlook.

Having said all of that, I know I could have done better, much better. I have not just let myself down but my colleagues too. Some would say I am being quite harsh, considering the circumstances and the leap from support to the business intelligence arena. There is a saying that in life, there are no second chances. Maybe, just maybe I have got my second bite at the cherry.

What will I do? What will I change and more importantly how will I be judged? These for the time being remain somewhat ambiguous questions. Whose answers will be answered (I hope) over time on this blog. For the time being, I need nothing but willpower. Nothing more left to say but ladies and gentlemen, wish me luck!

Commit or Die Trying

2008-03-19T21:57:00.009Z

The title for this post sounds like the title of some gangsta rap, hip hop album. It is in fact the observation a member of the developement team made to me today. I was explaining my fear of running DTS (Data Transformation Services) particularly on live servers. (Maybe fear is not the right word, maybe relunctance would be more appropriate) He gave the typical gun ho response. If all else fails, wrap that code in a transact statement and rollback! "Andrew", he started, "you got to commit or die...commit or die trying...". I wanted to laugh but he was dead serious.

In a way I am glad I am quite far removed from the crazy world of development. Over in the commericial arm of the business there are just a few things that matter. Client meetings, chasing po numbers and raising invoices. Oh, we do fit in a little bit of work in between all of that but generally if you can organise the above three or at least two you are on the right track. I am glad I do not have any sales targets but then again I'm not a salesman (or person) so why should I? Does mean I miss out on the sales incentive scheme though!

It always has been a battle between the commericial pressures and the technical reality of what can be delivered. I do not think that is anything new for my workplace, I think it is the same story for organisations big and small across the globe.

The Dream Team: One Night Only

2008-02-20T23:37:00.000Z

When people leave your work place, you make a half hearted promise to keep in touch, to meet up and go out. It rarely pans out that way. The sudden realisation of going from seeing the person every weekday to merely picking up the odd status update on FaceBook is quite a bittersweet pill to swallow. They leave your local social radar and fall onto the fringes. However, I try and make an effort to keep in touch with some people. Some people you e-mail on and off, for a few months (or up to perhaps a year) after they leave but usually this pitters out as well. It is the rare few you keep in contact with and develop a friendship outside of work (which is usually better for both parties).

You can imagine my surprise this afternoon to get a call from Chris. Not sure why he was calling me (on my work mobile). I was due to see him on Saturday night for his birthday and once again next Wednesday for another colleague's leaving do. It was coming up to 4pm, I was in Newbury at a client site but leaving shortly. Concindently, Peter, my other ex-colleague from the helpdesk days was in Newbury as well. I explained I would give Chris a call back once I was in my car to arrange things. It was not exactly fair to be taking a personal call at a client site in the presence of said client.

While I do not miss the helpdesk, I miss working with these guys. It was a great team, everything just clicked and we worked like a well oiled machine. I might be overplaying it (just slightly) but it was a fun atmosphere. Subway on Fridays and silly games like trying to get as many songs by a particular artist into a support call. Classic moments. Now nothing but mere memories.

When everything is said and done, I look back and feel I am in someway responsible for the team disbanding in February last year. Perhaps I am, but nothing lasts forever, not even the Dream Team!

A Minor Milestone?

2007-12-16T19:47:00.000Z

Today is my third anniversary. Yes, believe it or not, it has been exactly three years since I started work with my current employer. Three years is a significant milestone, particularly as being so young in my career, this is the longest period of time I have ever worked for the same employer. I better qualify that statement, I did also work for a well known multi-national with a red and yellow symbol (no, not that one.) for two and a half years but part time employment, doesn't count does it?

So much has happened in that time, that this weblog along with my personal blog have only been able to touch the surface on events. Particularly in the last few months when I have just not had the time to dedicate to long rambling entries as I perhaps could in the past. I have always tried to make this log as spontaneous as possible so it grows to become a natural history of my work history rather than a story written with heavy rose tinted spectacles.

I had an objective when I started this blog. It was to cover life at work. Or rather how I fill my time between 8am to 5.15pm most weekdays. With hindsight, I have spent more time discussing the highs and lows of the workplace life rather than the work itself. I suppose I am kidding myself really. I wish I worked at the BBC, so I could write amazing posts about technology, internal developments and life under the umbrella department called, "New Media". The truth is that the only publicity I do really well is my own. :)

Comic Book Heroes

2007-11-10T19:13:00.000Z

Dilbert plays an important aspect of life at work. My manager would collect the comic on the back of Computing Magazine (and Computer Weekly) and occasionally find strips which related to all members of the one and only dream help desk support team. I need to dig them out and put them online for the world to see!

I was sent an e-mail to describe the 2nd Line Support guy, who left several months ago. He had created a dual monitor setup, thanks to a quad card and reusing an old support desktop machine (purely as a gateway to use remote desktop). We thought the following strip represented him perfectly, so I dropped him an e-mail. Particularly as he had done this all without the prior knowledge of our manager.

In return a few days later, my ex-colleague sent me an e-mail. However, instead of using the Dilbert mail facility, like I did, he sent me an e-mail directly to my work address. You might not know but I hate receiving personal e-mail on my work account. Particularly as I am sitting on MSN and can see any e-mails sent to Hotmail flash up, instantly! But before I head off into a rant, I will save that for a future post.

Yes, I agree that Dilbert describes my relationship with the internet very well. I would not say I am addicted, I just need to be online every single day. There have only been a handful of days this year when I have been unable to go online (when broadband was actually up and running). Twenty one days up to 6th June as I migrated from Orange to Sky (without the use of a MAC code!). I find it hard to recall the last time I went several days continuously without internet access. I struggle to even recall a day when I have not been online on my home computer.

For sentimental reasons, I kept hold of the magazines, now with the dream team, nothing more than a distant memory I thought it the ideal time to bring you all in on the joke. I scanned the strips in and have uploaded them over onto my FlickR account. However, there is a catch. Out of the three strips only two relate to members of the help desk. The wild card, relates to a individual featured in a post on this blog towards the latter half of last year. In fact, each strip itself relates to an entry on this blog. Shall I leave you to guess which each of them describes? In chronological order based on publication date.

Up All Night

2007-10-12T02:59:00.000+01:00

It is 02:59am on Friday 12th October. I am still awake, working on a project with a deadline of tomorrow morning (or rather more accurately speaking, this morning). Is it not just wonderful how everything was required yesterday!

Back To The Day Job

2007-09-12T23:16:00.000+01:00

I made a somewhat muted return to the helpdesk this morning. With Chris' departure last week, a colleague on holiday and a new system rollout, there was a shortage of numbers, so I offered to help out. It was strange being back on the phones, it was not as busy as I had been used to, plus was safe in the knowledge that an 8am start meant a 4.30pm finish.

My knowledge was limited on the new systems but I was quite happy to action, if not close all six calls I took in the morning. Would I be making a bold statement if I said I enjoyed it? I think because it was a change from my daily routine, I was back in a comfortable sofa chair and happy to do as I was told.

One of the tasks I used to hate, was having to contact all members of a team. Our manager would say, "Please contact everyone from the X team and ask them to do A,B and C!". While there were only about fifteen representatives to contact, it was not the ideal time of day, about 2pm. Most would be on their way home or already heading to the hotel, so my message would be meaningless. I raced through the list and contacted everyone, most I had to leave voicemails for. Those I did get hold of, were more than happy to comply with my request. The rest got back in touch over the course of the afternoon.

So much for a easy ride on my one day back. Apart from the mini crisis, there was not much I could not handle. However, I will be glad to be return to my normal job tomorrow.

End of the Dream Team

2007-08-12T00:44:00.000+01:00

What is the difference between good managers and great managers? Great managers, such as Sir Alex and Arséne, build great teams and a host of silverware. They then dismantle and build new ones. Even José Mourinho, doesn't have the luxury of having that achievement on his CV.

As soon as you start working, you realise the importance of team work. I think however (with all things) you need to experience the bad to appreciate the good. The first team I worked in and made a success was at my local petrol station, at the tender age of sixteen. My first job, many weekends spent serving fuel and stacking shelves. Oh the memories of good times, fun and laughter. (I worked with a mixed bag of staff, including a Scotsman with an extremely dry sense of humour!) What made that team? Well there was three of us, Lynsey, Daniel and myself. There was just a balance, everyone knew what was expected and got on with it. There was zero conflict, we pulled for each other. Funny, it would take me five years before I would experience anything similar again.

In February 2005, I became the longest serving member of the helpdesk, my new manager had been there a matter of weeks. He began the rebuilding process, in a similar vain to the knighted Scotsman and studious Frenchmen. But obviously on a much smaller scale. First came the return of a temp. Then came the arrival of the big man.

In a strange twist, I was given the MSN address of the Everton fan by a colleague and began speaking to him on 16th May 2005. (Had to dig out my work backup DVD with all my MSN chat logs). It broke the ice well as he did not start for another 3 weeks exactly, on 6th June. His personal message was "Dion has a full time job!".

The final member of the team arrived just over a month later, in July. To begin with he cycled to the office as he was yet to pass his driving test. I remember going to collect him from reception, he had just cycled in the rain and had disappeared to to the toilet to dry down.

So there we are, the members of the dream team. Our greatest achievement? Taking the call queue from the dizzy heights of 400 plus down to 36 within a year or so. However, it was not just the blitz on calls in the Track-It, it was overall raising the bar of expectation of the helpdesk. We went through several changes, taking over the provision of IT support for our own members of staff. Building the Virtual Server, creating Ghost images of laptops, writing up procedures, getting involved in a rigorous testing process. I could go, but I will stop here.

Easily the best team I worked with and will even go as far to say, it will be be a scenario never to be repeated again in my working life. We just clicked over the course of the first few weeks. We knew what was expected and we got on with it, even when times were tough, customers were annoyed and we had our adorable manager on our cases. I cannot paint a completely rosy picture, we made mistakes, we did stupid things but they were few and fair between. The lasting memory, for me at least will forever be having fun.

I will find myself the last remaining member of above described team, come 9am, Monday 10th September. Chris handed in his notice last week and in doing so, brought an end to an era. I can quite confidently say that the helpdesk will never be the same again. However, Chris also knows that he will never work for an organisation like this ever again.

Hardware

2007-06-18T00:18:00.000+01:00

I received my brand spanking new Dell Inspiron 640m laptop this afternoon. I had been waiting a while for the delivery but the actual upgrade itself came as a bit of a surprise. My previous laptop, a Dell Lattitude D610, was more than adequate for my needs but a new member of staff joining the company prompted the exchange. I am not complaining, anything but. I actually built and imaged the new laptop myself, while also getting the D610 ready for my colleague. There are few companies where I would be taking on such a technical task. It should (and in most cases would) have been done by the helpdesk. The most ironic thing was I was imaging the laptop, with an image I created, just over a year ago.

Blogging on this log has become very difficult recently. The reasons are two fold, firstly my job is not ideal blogging material and secondly I just do not have the same time to dedicate to a secondary blog. I am in two minds as to whether to continue or put this blog finally to sleep. Over the past few years, it has been a great place to dump my thoughts on work and chart my progress. However, now my personal blog over at T3G:2 takes up the majority of my time. I am sure there is space for a work log in my online portfolio but I think I need to careful consider it's purpose, the mission statement if you will. For the time being, the blog remains, while I consider the options.

The Perfect Commute

2007-05-08T21:16:00.000+01:00

I may be only a few years into my working life, but I already know the importance o the daily commute. Over the space of a few years I went from one extreme to another. Sit back, relax and let me explain. When I was on placement from summer 2002 to the following summer, I clocked up on average 600 miles a week. That is right, nearly fours hours of driving every day. I suppose, as it what was a year, it was acceptable and I had to just grin and bear it. My colleagues would comment that it must be soul destroying. My reply would be that it is in face character building. Then in June 2004, I started my first 'proper' job after University. The commuting time had not changed, just the journey. I now how to catch a bus into the town centre, then walk to the rail way station, catch a train into Marylebone. Then jump on two tube trains to the office. I would leave the house at 6am and return nearly 8pm that evening. Not much of a life, really.

Fast forward to December 2004, when I was only a month into this blog I had the perfect commute. My office is seven miles from my house, down a main dual carriageway and then around a few country roads and I am at work. The journey in ideal circumstances should take ten minutes. In fact, on 25th July 2005, I set a world record of ten minutes exactly. I know what you are thinking, as I live so close to work, I would make the most of it. Get up at 8am, perhaps even 8.15am and leisurely make my way into the office. Nothing could be further from the truth, if I fell into that trap, I would slowly become so complacent that I would get up as late as possible to be in work, just in time. Instead, I opt to get up early and be in the office early.

However the dream of the perfect drive was broken by the powers that be. Mainly the Highways Agency and local district council. Work began on the proposed expansion of the Handycross Roundabout in October 2005 and was due to finish in December 2006. I was not confident that the work would be completed in time and opted to avoid the junction completely as much as was humanly possible. My drive home would take me under the by-pass, over Marlow Bridge and through the village and over the M40. This added on average twenty minutes to my journey time. I longed for the work to be complete so I could return to my preferred route.

As Pav dropped me off home Monday lunchtime, I noticed a new sign on the by-pass regarding the exit for the M40. Could it be open? As we drove the half mile up the road, I could see the new filter lane was open. Fantastic! It was only five months late but I could once again begin using the by-pass for my journey home. It was quite a revelation and I looked forward to care free journeys home. Even though I was in the family 307 and not my beloved A3, I got home with no problems. Perhaps this was not the best day to judge. The evening after a Bank Holiday Weekend, there was absolutely no traffic up to the Handycross Junction, I literally sailed home. Brilliant. Amazing what the difference one filter lane can make. Thankfully it will also stop complete idiots stopping in my lane when they realise they should be out to the right to get onto the M40 northbound.

Business As Usual?

2007-03-04T22:24:00.000Z

Should I keep this blog running? My role has changed and I very much doubt there will be any more interesting entertaining stories to post. Plus there is also the Google affect. I am sure in the coming few months as I am introduced to my client portfolio, some of them will be brave enough to enter my name into the mother of all search engines, out of sheer curiosity. They may be bombarded with so many results that they close down their web browser in astonishment. Or they some may go the other way and actually bookmark both my websites and regularly check out my antics during those rock and roll weekends. (I can hear the guitar solo intro to Crazy Crazy Nights in the background!)

I think I may keep the blog running but stop posting as regularly as I have in the past. I feel it would be foolish to force myself to blog bi-monthly as I have been doing to date. Things will have to adjust. I would love to hear your thoughts, although I doubt that many people will actually get around to reading this post.

781 Days

2007-02-05T22:01:00.000Z

I had waited just over two years for this day. Perhaps in reality, considering the bigger picture, I had waited all my life. However, this perhaps is not the moment to reflect on life changing significance of my short career (so far). Instead let me try and explain what has happened. I have moved on and away. Although only a few metres away physically. What am I talking about? Have I taken some drugs? I have been promoted away from the help desk. I no longer am at the beck and call of over one thousand customers dialing a free phone number.

They say a support technician has a shelf life of between eighteen to twenty four months. This was the figure banded around at job interviews I attended in the city, some three years ago. To be honest, the job was coming to the point of making me feel demotivated. Same people, same old issues. No real challenge left. Sure, day to day could be entertaining, but I felt myself on an never ending treadmill. After one project was completed, another would come along and I was making no progress. Life was becoming very monotonous. Then, like a ray of light, an opportunity came to surface. Was I being head hunted? Were my true talents wasted on the help desk? No disrespect to my colleagues (whom I am sure will be one the few people to read this). I needed to a role which gave me change to grow and develop not only as an employee but a person. I will consider the help desk, my probation period.

So when the opportunity was discussed with me, I decided I needed time. I needed time to consider my options, weight up the pros and cons. After careful consideration I took it with open arms but perhaps somewhat closed eyes. Sure it is a leap of faith for both parties, taking me out of my comfort zone. However, ultimately it is a step in the right direction. The beauty for working for a small company soon become apparent. Plus, if I want to get back into something more meaty and technical I am sure I would be catered for.

The best aspect of my move has to be the freedom. This week, around 3.30pm - 4pm, the help desk gets busy and I do not have to worry about picking up the phone. A strange culture shock for me, considering I have a nature which has to be kept busy. I am sure I will get used to it? Oh I suppose you want to know my new top title. Well it came in three (as all good news does). First option was Sales Force Effectiveness Analyst, closely followed by Business Information Analyst (which I personally prefer ed) only for the MD to make a minor adjustment to Business Intelligence Analyst. Who I am to argue with the man who signs all the cheques!

Office Upgrade

2007-01-19T21:57:00.000Z

Working in IT, but also having computing, gadgets and most geeky things as a hobby means you are bang up to date with all the latest changes in technology and software. If I do not know something, then a friend will know or there is always the power of the web. This afternoon, I had my MD (of all people) showing me the intuitive features of Office 2007, specifically PowerPoint. Unfortunately only my manager has been truly been able to benchmark the productivity suite. I am just far too busy to be undertaking projects of such astronomical significance for the company IT policy. I am much more useful answering the telephone. Anyway, this topic got me thinking about my own personal upgrade policy, in reflection to a small/medium business considering the expense of migrating to the next version of the Microsoft package.

When I first got into computing, now some fifteen years ago, I always wanted the latest software. Even though my 386SX could only handle a certain amount of software available at the time. I would hate to try and explain to the kids of today, the numbers game back then. Hard drives were around 40MB in size, if you were lucky. Memory rarely went over double figures and if it did, anything above and beyond 640kbtyes was considered Extended Memory. Software? Well back in those a mouse was a luxury, not a bog standard requirement and you had to use the text based command line interpreter in the form of MS-DOS. Windows was around but if you saw a screen from Windows 3.0 or even 3.11, you would be shocked. Moving on, let me get to the point. The power of my machine limited my option on most software upgrades but I would try most things anyways and lost count of the number of times I had to format and reinstall Windows 3.x. When my built my second machine I became more realistic. Opting to stick with Windows 3.11 and do a manual upgrade to Windows 95 later. Yet I still would download and install absolute crap of the Internet (dial up at the time, remember those dark days people?). I even recall downloading and applying a X-Files Desktop Theme. Those were the days, even though I was not a big fan of the show and perhaps only watched a handful of episodes and never got around to watching the movie.

In recent years I have calmed down dramatically. I am much more fussy, actually that is the wrong word, much more particular when it comes to software and particularly upgrades. I only upgraded to XP in June 2003, nearly four years since it had be released to a mouthwatering public. I was so happy with Windows 98SE. It was stable, all my software worked, I could do everything I possibly wanted and even though I knew my Mesh was more than capable of running XP, I just did not want the hassle of moving across. I did eventually but it was a planned migration and not a shot in the dark.

The moral of the story is this. There will always be people that must have the latest everything, and that includes software (even more so if it comes from Redmond). I prefer to test out the software on a test machine and discover all the whether the software works for me, what features are useful, which features are down right problematic and how to disable them. The problem with Office 2007 and many other software applications, is that they have very much become the facto standard. Something tells me we will be spending the ten grand on the licensing upgrade. After all, most of our clients and partners will be doing the very soon in the coming months.

D'oh!

2007-01-11T20:31:00.000Z

It has become part of Christmas tradition, like the fake tree and tinsel. The annual secret Santa gift exchange. The benefit of working for a small firm means you can quite easily find out who got your mystery gift (well maybe sometimes). Somehow the thought of having such a ritual at my previous workplace just seems unthinkable with a total seven hundred employees with around fifty just in the IT department. At a medium size firm I worked for prior to my job in the capital, I was actually excluded from the secret Santa due my gender. Yes, it was females only. Which considering it was 2002, was down right sexist if you ask me! However I only briefly flirted with any thought of bringing case of sex discrimination to the tribunal.

Last year, you might recall, I received a book and over twelve months later have still to discover the name of the sender. Although I have a few ideas, I was never provided with any evidence to confirm my hunches. This year I received a true novelty item. A gem! Just a shame I will never use it as it was intended. In fact, I very much doubt I will use it at all.

Firstly I would never place anything like this on my dashboard. You know me, I am a minimalist. My car only carries what it needs to. I can recall when, soon after passing my test that I would spend fifteen minutes clearing out my Mum's mini with all the clutter before driving off anywhere. So, a big thank you to one of my work colleagues for getting me this but it will now just proudly sit in one of the cupboards in my room. Guarding my CD collection from my sisters' prying eyes.

The Perfect Office Day

2007-01-03T00:53:00.001Z

The title of this post perhaps surprises you. How on earth, could I, ever have a perfect day in the office. Well it happened today. I suppose I should start with the background. Today is referred to as Black Tuesday, the first working day back after the Christmas break and the Samaritans receive a peak number of calls and solicitors proceed with a record number of divorces. However, I was the complete opposite in terms of emotions today. Okay, I admit I was not looking forward to going into work. I expected a stream of voicemails, e-mails and other 'stuff' to action but there was nothing. Well nothing major. I was surprised. Usually after a prolonged break, the helpdesk usually has at least a few voicemails. We had e-mails but most of them were quite simple first time fixes. It was strange, surreal. Perhaps not everyone had returned and the real work would kick in on Monday 8th.

It would take some time to acclimatize back into the routine of work. However the company within the office, while somewhat sparse, did provide a great antidote after the festivities. My manager was particularly on form and kept the moral up, when at times all motivation was lost. There were many stories I could write up, but most would fit into the category of "You Had To Be There". However, let me have a go with this example. A field manager, in the office for a meeting, saw a photograph on my colleague's monitor and said out loud to the IT Team Leader, "Isn't that against company policy?" The reply, killed me, "I wouldn't know, different company". It was true, even though they were sitting together, they worked for two completely different companies. However, I only came to appreciate my day when I arrived into Marylebone station. Walking onto the main concourse, I came up against a hoard of people, just milling around. It was rush hour and they all had their eyes glued to the electronic red departure screen. In an ironic twist, I my mp3 player had randomly selected Patience from the 90s boy band, Take That. How apt! As I jumped down the escalator heading to the Bakerloo Line I had another picture ahead of me. At the bottom was yet another scrum for the escalator heading up. As I walked by, with a gleaming smile, I thought how great it was that "I don't have to do that anymore!". Then again, it has been over two years since I worked in the City. Thank God those days are behind me. Even if I miss the treat of a Chocolate Milkshake from the coffee stand every Friday evening.

What do you Burn?

2006-12-19T19:25:00.000Z

Sounds like a personal question but I am actually referring to a burning media, rather than any other substances (legal or illegal). Today I received my order from SVP of 150 blank CD-Rs and 50 blank DVD-R discs. Although I am going to focus solely on compact disc media for this post. For as long as I can remember, I have always purchased TDK discs as my preferred choice. Although in recent months I have perhaps deviated from the righteous path. Taking blank Sony discs home from work to build discs for clients, perish the thought. However, it was always a case of making do with what was available. Let me take you back some ten years when I first built a computer with CD writing capability. At first, like most people I experimented with discs from Staples, which were an inferior brand. However my Dad bought me a pack of both CD-R and CD-RW discs. I ended up having theses and using them for a while, even up to the start of University in 2000. However, it was when I bought my Mesh and got more regular Internet access, that I decided on trying a box of ten CDs (with cases in those days) from Dabs. It changed my buying habits forever and I have never looked back.

In July 2002, (the same time I started blogging over at T3G:2 ) I purchased a TDK Cyclone CD Writer drive, a match made in heaven. My friends thought I was crazy to spend up to 50p for a disc when most of them bought unbranded (or cheaper label) discs for a quarter of the price. This was not a major issue for me. The main issue was realibility and the ability for my audio CDs to last forever. I have never had a disc turn into a coaster in the three years I have been using the combination of disc and writer, more so in my new machine. So a few weeks ago, for the first time in perhaps as much as eighteen months, I had to order some fresh plastic. For too long I had been waited to find the odd blank CD lying around somewhere. It was time to order some more and to my surprise, the discs were relatively cheap. Well much cheaper than in my peak burning period, when I would write at least two, if not three CDs every week. However there was a problem. SVP were out of stock, but I filled out a form to be notified by e-mail when they had some back in stock. This was on a Sunday morning a few weeks ago, (10th I believe). Late on Friday afternoon last week (15th) I received the e-mail I had been waiting for, placing my order on that same evening and received my order in full this afternoon in the office. Not bad, considering it is the final week before Christmas. What to burn first? Well there is so many possibilities. Firstly that all important update to the Christmas album, and then let us not forget archiving all my mp3s albums onto DVD, then all my video clips and music videos. The list of "My Stuff" is endless, as you can imagine. At least I have somewhere organised to place all theses discs now, if they end up in the car or in my room.

Telephone Meltdown

2006-12-01T21:12:00.001Z

In my two years on the help desk, the phones have never been as busy as they were this afternoon. Crazy is not the word. The true measure of when we hit a peak period, is the fact that other members of staff (within the office) have to start taking down messages for us. Fifteen voice mails is the most I have ever had to go back and listen to. A staggering figure when you consider on an good night we get two or three messages maximum. Why was it so busy? I do not really know. The end of month has always meant an influx of additional calls. You could perhaps get away with sloppy admin for three weeks but at the last day of the month, you figures had to be perfect. Sometimes I am glad my job on the help desk is relative free of some the laborious red tape that is a necessity out in the field.

Confession time. I like it when it is busy, perhaps even more so the extreme of today. Why? I love the buzz? I love the idea that we are in demand. I love the notion that we have the answers. Correction, people think we have the answers to all their problems. When the reality is, we can only guide them in the right direction. When the phones are constantly busy, your focus has to be precise and your ability to think on the spot (rather than on your feet) highly attuned. You never know what the next phone call or voice mail you pick up will throw at you. The couple of hours cruise by and soon enough it is 6pm, time to go home and forget about it all. (Well at least until 9.30am, the next day).

I am sure there are people out there who will read this post and just laugh. "Busy? Stressed out? You do not know you have been born, son!" some of the responses back would be. I agree, relatively speaking, I work on a small help desk, servicing perhaps a maximum of 900 individuals. However that is not the issue at stake, as I do not dispute the statistics. There are help desks that fill room after room in high raised office blocks, in thousands of cities across the globe. The mean, lean and ever so keen corporate machine, with all the benefits that come with an infinite IT budget and all the bureaucracy that keeps every little soldier in check. Having seen the best (and worst) of both worlds, which do I prefer? Perhaps that deserves a well thought out answer and an entry all to itself. I have gone off on a tangent, as I usually do and should really get back to the programme.

I am sure my manager's mantra would be something along the lines of "Busy is good!". We on the help desk, would all of course disagree but he does have a point. The working day does fly by when your having fun on the telephone line. Then again, how often do you see him answering the phone? Not since the good old days of late Spring last year, when there was just me on the telephone from 4.30pm until the close of play. A great way of turning this company on it's head would be to consider a major change of roles at all levels and as one of the other managers mentioned months ago, everyone be re-interviewed for their job. That is, make a case on why their position should remain open. While neither option is ever going to become a reality, they are interesting thoughts, when you consider how people would cope with a complete change of scenery. Some would take to it like a fish to water, the rest would just drown like Miss Spears in that bathtub.

OOH

2006-11-27T20:33:00.000Z

The subject, for the uninitiated is the abbreviation for Out Of Hours. A phrase that goes hand in hand with any support position. In all of my previous employment, I have worked into the night or over weekends (in some cases both) to get the job done. Yet again, last week I found myself in the same predicament. All three of us on the help desk decided to stay late and get some work done. We had two major roll outs to complete and knew that the help desk call queue would suffer if we did not put in the extra hours. It was a productive evening, although the only highlight the Perfect Pizza on the expense account. Make that five pizzas on the expense account. Working outside of normal office hours does have many benefits. We could relax, switch on WMP and blast a variety of tunes, ranging from Lilly Allen to rock legends Queen. I use 'blast' in the very small sense of the word, the small speaker built into the Dell Optiplex SX280 is hardly decided for late night raves. Perhaps we need to invest in a Boynq Cubite USB Speaker Hub. In black of course!

If I am honest, my bread and butter work, answering the phone has really been low par in recent weeks. Not just because of all the project work that has been heading in our direction but the other distractions. Just other pressing demands that are made upon me to deliver goods ranging from reports, extracts and a laptop for testing. If I am honest work has been bit of a blur recently and at times I have felt I have just been going through the motions, doing at times the bare minimum and getting out the door promptly at 6pm. Suppose my job has become a job, rather than the career of a professional. Well then again, it never really was the most glamorous occupation in the world.

There is a quick and easy way (but not cheap) way to win friends and influence people. There is no need to attend a Dale Carnegie lecture or buy his famous book. My advice is simple and only two letters in length. K.K. The amazing doughnuts from the one and only Krispy Kreme. In what has now become an annually tradition, I bought it several boxes for my birthday on Thursday last week, at the astonishment of my work colleagues. Perhaps the biggest surprise was I surpassed my 24th birthday by buying twice as many doughnuts this year, 144 to be exact. By the time I got into the office in the morning, it was fast approaching 10am and I was half an hour late. Then came the logistical nightmare of taking all these boxes into the offices and then distributing them. I was surprised by one of my colleagues, as she had promised me that she would would put the date in her diary last year. Obviously she had forgotten but she was not the only one.

Some casual observers would say I had made myself the most popular person in the office. I would beg to differ. I could easily say I always have been the most popular person in my office, it was just that nobody knew I was.

The Bad Samaritan

2006-10-24T20:22:00.000+01:00

You have to be sympathetic. It comes with the territory, the job, the whole notion of being the voice on the end of a helpline. However there is a clearly marked boundary, which many of our customers have been ignoring. We are a technical helpdesk and we try and resolve problems with our software. No where in my job description does it state that I must offer a shoulder to cry on for the distressed individual whom has just had to say goodbye to a life long family pet. I appreciate it can be frustrating trying to get the software to work, particularly when you are new and completely unfamiliar with the system. Yet in the grand scheme of things, if I was in their shoes, the laptop would be out of the window. There are times when there are more important things than monthly territory plans and closing your weeks down. (I suppose that does not sound very heartening coming from me!)

I suppose what I am trying to say that at times my job borders into the relms of the Samaritians, rather than the clearly defined pitfuls of a bespoke CRM solution, VPNs, and SQL replication time outs. I found it difficult to be a sensitive human being at the best of times, so find myself completely lost for words, hanging on and trying to bring the subject back to their laptop computer. I mean what can you say? Apart from apologise and pass on your condolensces, you are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The person on the end of the phone still wants to have their issue resolved with the wave of the non existant magic wand.

Is this some joke? Some sick joke? Let us see how we can wind up the boys on the desk today? At times it feels it is a setup and you wait for someone to jump out of the cupboard and shout, "Got YOU!". Unfortunately that never happens. These calls are for real. The people on the end of the line exist. I suppose I have covered various aspects of my job but not put the spotlight on the most important part of the jigsaw. The people. The people I speak to everyday. There are some characters out there, just like in any walk of life. Perhaps food for thought for another less emotionally charged posting. So I leave you with the fine words of wisdom from one of our regulars.

Looks like your ‘Tweaking’ upset the Applecart?

Remote Laptop Idiot

2006-10-13T21:07:00.000+01:00

I love living dangerously. The clues are in my previous entry from just over a year ago. However 'nearly' running out of fuel is hardly work related, so this entry should hit the nail on the head. I left the office with a laptop, a Dell Lattitude D600. This gave me VPN access into the office, although our IT temp keeps referring to it in full, Virtual Private Network connection, which is a mouthful during the course of several support calls every day. I left my desktop machine on (completely out of character, as I ensure my machine is shut down every evening a few minutes after 6pm like clockwork.) As an office based employee, I have no need for remote access. It is impossible for me to work from home, although if many big companies can move their entire call centre operation to the sub-continent why cannot a helpdesk person work from home? It is a strange dilemma, but I feel on a matter of principle the situation should be thus. In the office I work, when I am at home, it is my time. I completely switch off. Well this evening I digressed from this point purely to get some urgent work done.

Here I was, in my living room, watching Monday's edition of Hollyoaks on E4, while connected to my wireless network, logged into my desktop and effectively sitting at my desk in the office. I smiled at the beauty of everything working, but knew I was apprehensive about the final part of the process. My colleague had been stuck in an all day meeting, so had only been able to briefly give me basic instructions over MSN during his lunchbreak. I understood what needed to be done and had access to the scripts I would need to run. It was now or never.

While I was at University I considered SQL to be predominately a command line based programming language. What did you expect? I had to a SQL trainer on Oracle. You can imagine I was rather surprised by the number of tools and utilities provided by that little known company from Redmond, Washington. While I do not doubt that all developers require fully armed GUI, it was a shock that so little time spent was spent swimming in lines of code. The heart of the system is Enterprise Manager, a console I was introduced to within the first month of joining the company and instantly took me into the realm of 2nd Line Support. Although it is very difficult to manage your SQL Server 2000 instances blind, it is possible to go without. This is the program which could be considered a double edged sword in our fight against the Evil Sresu. With the knowledge and training it can help you fix a numerous amount of problems with a SQL instance, from replication to suspect databases. In the wrong hands, well it could be a disaster.

Here I was, on a Friday evening, with an objective to save myself a bucketload of grief on Monday morning. Or I could cause myself a whole lot of grief by carrying out such an operation outside of office hours. I took the plunge. This was a risk worth taking, for it was only on a QC instance. What is the worse that could happen? Having spent over an hour and a half downloading a backup database from a client server, I had the simple task of disabling replication, which is in my opinion far too simple. Tools --> Disable Publishing. The next job was easy, a simple restore over the existing database. Something I have become accustomed to, since learning the trade some eight months ago. This was the easy part, believe me. For a moment I thought should I stop or should I go ahead and restore replication onto the instance. What was the worse damage I could do? I had the scripts and knew what to expect? Afterall I had seen several developers restore replication in the office. This was different. I was on my own, surfing dangerous waters to coin a phrase.

Well it kind of worked. Replication restored but I could not run any of the snapshot agents. Why? Well I soon discovered the answer, I had not changed one line in the script for a server. So it was trying to write files to a network share that did not exist. Oh no. Although I was concerned about the live server instances, a quick check proved they were all running with no problems. I could resolve this, with some work. Yet I decided against it. The demo database could wait until Monday morning, I was quite positive that one of the developers would easily be able to fix the problem within a few minutes, rather than me wasting hours trying to find fix the issue on a trial and error period. Knowing all too well that an error would mean going right back to the beginning, dropping replication and starting again. I could have done that, but just felt in my hands, I could potentially do more harm than good. The lyrics to a Green Day song come to mind.

Jobs minus Holidays

2006-09-22T22:44:00.000+01:00

I would have an entry in the Carlsberg Book of Pointless World Records (if such a publication existed) considering. I have 23 holidays remaining with no thought to use them before the deadline of 12pm Friday 22nd December, only 91 days and counting. In fact, I have taken 2.5 days holiday since I started with the company in December 2004. Quite a formidable, untouchable record, don't you agree? I recall mentioning this to a friend on MSN and her reply being that my employers must love me. Quite the contrary I am afraid. They think I am insane.

Across the water, my stance would be the same as the majority. (Although perhaps most would at least triple the amount I've taken) Having had the opportunity to speak to Americans living and working in the United Kingdom, you get to understand the reality behind the many myths. Firstly so few actually hold passports because there is so much to do in their own country. Secondly they only receive two weeks holiday each year and those that actually take this time off spend it with their family. Then if we consider my friend Nav, working in India six days a week with no holiday whatsoever. I feel I can deem myself extremely lucky.

Talking of Nav, I was the inspiration for one of his first blog entries on his now neglected blog. The thought of the entry came back when I discovered a link on the Guardian Newsblog, hidden in the corner sidebar in tiny point 8 text. 100 Jobs does exactly what it says on the tin, I mean webpage. The blogger, disillussion with his lack of success applying for jobs he was suited for has started a comic tale of applying for 100 jobs where is the most inappropriate candidate. There are some absolute jems in there. By the way, did I mention my second favourite Madonna song of all time? Of course, it could only be Holiday.

Cardboard Personality

2006-09-08T20:49:00.000+01:00

A personality must be a prerequisite for a job on a helpdesk, when ninety percent of your role is customer facing (on the telephone, I give you but nevertheless customer facing). Apparently I slipped through the cracks of our stringent interview process, which included an online SHL assessment. In the past people would say that I lacked an overt personality. I was shy, quiet or reserved. However, no one would be bold enough to say I had a cardboard personality. Now, I will be the first to admit that I could never light up a room with a smile and warm glow. I just never have been the life and soul, but I like it that way. People skills have never been high on my list of talents, yet let me for the record say they are something I am constantly trying to improve. In my previous job I was extremely nervous, but you could understand as it was literally customer facing, in an office of some five hundred with no telephone to hide behind.

My colleague deserves an entry all to himself, but I do not think I have the time (or the energy) to catalogue his comical moments. Most would be highly unsuitable for a family friendly blog, such as this. Let me put him into the broad category of office joker and leave it at that. He is the first person to actually say I lack a personality. While I will agree that my lack of vocal greetings at the beginning and end of the day, has left much to be desired but I have been making a effort. To be fair to him, his generation and my generation are a world apart, but while that does not excuse my rudeness it does shed a little light the differences between our world. Perhaps the best way to describe him, is one of those people that will say out loud what the majority of people are thinking. While this is not generally a bad thing, too much honesty can get you into trouble.

I take the comments on board, positive criticism is always worth hearing, although perhaps never this direct and harsh. Sure I have a monotonous tone on the telephone and can sound extremely despondent, although genuinely do not mean to do so. I come across as I hate being on the end of the helpline but I actually enjoy my job. Compared to some of the jobs I have had, this is the least stressful and the most rewarding.

Unfortunately a personality transplant is not currently available on the NHS and would bankrupt my company BUPA scheme. What are the alternatives? To try harder? To talk more? The strange thing is none of my work colleagues will know the Andrew that started college some eight years ago. If I have a cardboard personality now, I must have had the personality of a goldfish back then. There has been a major improvement, believe me. My fear would be on our company website, my manager writing some interesting biographies for the world to read. Perish such a thought!

Moonlighting

2006-08-24T23:54:00.000+01:00

Working in IT gives you the opportunity to moonlight. Thankfully moonlighting does not have the same negative connotations as it would in other professions. I have undertaken and successfully completed several jobs on the side (so to speak) although perhaps only a handful in recent times. There is always be a need for a so called 'IT Expert' with more and more people having sophisticated equipment at home. Just look at my friend's younger brother who is on a completely different planet. At age 10 I did not know what a computer was. He has a 19" TFT screen, 4mb always on broadband wireless keyboard and mouse, all under his bunk bed. While my friend is struggling with wired keyboard and mouse. Kids do not know they are born these days. Though I digress from my main point. My favourite task is being the Doctor, bringing computers back to life. I have done this only once before for a colleague at work, whereby I was well (if rather stereotypically) back in March 18th to be exact. This time around it was more than a simple Windows XP reinstall and reconfiguration. There was actually a job to be done, a mission if you will. I am not to sidestep a true challenge.

The patient, an old 450 PII Gateway PC about six years ago. The kiddies computer for a colleague who was subsequently leaving which meant it was against the clock, to a certain extent. The diagnosis? Originally my colleague and I believed the problem to be the powersupply, but rather then ordering a replacement powersupply, which was expensive and unnecessary, we advised the following. To purchase a new case and we could transfer the motherboard and components across to the new case. This would be a simple transplant process, nothing too fiddly. I was so convinced this would be an easy job I carried it out at work. Or rather started. The timing perhaps on my part was atrocious . My colleague left yesterday afternoon, but in a piece of comic genius the goods arrived on the same day from eBuyer (even though there were not expected until Friday). This coincided with my first Champions League fixture at Emirates, so I had to leave the office early. Nevertheless, I left the office determined to get the computer working no matter what it took.

Today I transferred the components but did not power up the machine. There were many reasons for this. Firstly was only a two man band manning the helpdesk for the day (and the entire week, as the record will show) so jumping to answer the phone did not help with my progress. Around 4pm I made the executive decision to take the machine home and work on it in the evening. I expected to get the machine up and running within an hour. How wrong was I to be!

I spent over two hours trying to get the machine working but removing components, I realised what the problem was. One of the memory slots was burnt out. Perhaps this had been the course of the problem in the first place. Back to the drawing board. Returning to my room and computer, I was despondent, annoyed with myself and looking for a way out, a solution. I jumped on eBay for an old motherboard but it was just not worth hunting down. It would take a few days to get here and then at least a weekend to get it all working, plus it would mean calling my ex-colleague and asking for more money. That was the last resort and I had one final ditch option, the last chance saloon if you will. I text my friend Dave, who had recently bought a brand new Dell desktop. Did he still have his old machine? He replied to my text instantly (which was rare for him) and explained he did! Result. I would pick the machine up on the way home on Friday, work on the machine over the weekend and take it from there. Another minor miracle worked, or so I hope.

Contradiction In Terms

2006-08-20T22:26:00.000+01:00

Last year, we started our own work Super League via the Telegraph website. This was my first foray into the world of fantasy football competitions and it showed. It was predominately for our division, although we did have a few takers from the sister company come on board. There is an option to create a computer generated 'auto-select' team which is what I chose. The reasons behind this fatal mistake was lack of time to the deadline and laziness in reviewing changes to ensure they meet the budgetry limit of £50 million sterling. My team on paper looked quite good but they did not total me enough points over the course of the season, even when I made drastic changes towards the 'business end' of the campaign. By April, I was so far from the rest of the pack I gave up and even forgot my pin code and never accessed the website during office hours. My motivation had completely gone. My final standing? Second from bottom, above someone who was purely taking part to be part of game and not taking a slight interest in the leaderboard. Over 500 points away from the eventual winner. So even with another league (on my own), it would have taken be a miracle to catch up.

All across this, my professional site you will find a phrase, my mantra if you will. Just a shame it is a complete contradiction to my performance in this fun but nevertheless highly charged duel with my colleagues. The nail in the coffin was that two boys whose total age just about reaches mine beat me (and it has to be added many other colleagues) further up the league. This year around, word has got around the office and we have 21 players. Bring it on.

This time around I opted to pick my own team with a good mixture of Chelsea and Liverpool players. Although I have opted not to disclosure my team publicly as it will give my adversaries an unfair advantage. I prefer to play my cards close to my chest, this year. The big kick off is tomorrow although I was tempted to tink further before the deadline of Saturday morning I have decided against it. Stick with your first answer was a common phrase at school, it still applies today. The managing director's team is called 'Bring Me The Winner'. Never has a name been so true. Just a shame I have gone from 2005/6 season, "Andy's Dream Team" to the masterful "Tegala's Terriers", which was actually recommended by a colleague as "Tegala's Tigers" but in the time I drove home and added my team online later that evening the wavelength we had been on, was slightly lost. As if there was not already a blog for everything, there is even a blog for the Telegraph Fantasy Football, imagintive title lads but keep up the great work.

Artificial Conversations

2006-07-20T20:32:00.000+01:00

Do I really speak to people? In the course of my job on the helpdesk, talking to numerous clients every single day, do I really actually take part in a civil conversation? Deep down the question I am truly asking is, are my conversations 'real'? Real in the sense of a sincere two way communication between two persons, rather than going through a predetermined agenda in a robotic like fashion. While it is perhaps harsh to single out particular people from particular organisations that you enjoy talking to. It is quite easy, looking back to distinguish between the proactive and passive discussions that take place. At this point I should perhaps interject with some amazing fact on the number of seconds I have spent answering the phone but there is no need. The reality is I spend a great deal of time on the telephone. Strange when you consider just a few years ago, you would be lucky for me to speak on the phone for more than five minutes. Amazing when you consider the transformation of the phone from foe to friend. Particularly now when at times I will rather pick up the phone to speak to a friend, rather than send them an e-mail.

How has work been recently? After the highs of Madrid, I landed back to England with a bump. While it has not been very busy in terms of call volume, the number of calls on the log has shot up, with us at times hitting the three figure mark. At times my motivation has dipped way below the normal expected level. I would be the first to admit morale has been suffering. Although somehow the team get through it. Well I say 'somehow' but I can actually give you exactly the reasons why. On one side we have the twenty-two year old in body, 1st line guy, trapped in his own little bubble from when he was around seventeen. Listening to Chris Moyles (either on the BBC podcast or radio player. Then we have my dearest colleague and beloved team member on 2nd line, who only has the need for some wakeup juice and hearty meal from the local friendly sandwich shop. What about Andrew? Just as Superman harnesses his energy from the sun, Andrew is powered by a 250ml, 30g sugar carton of the purple stuff.

The main problem with work at the moment is the lack of sense of achievement. You would spend a day on the phone, building laptops and fixing various problems, but the fact that the call queue is so slow to reduce in number, you feel at times you are facing an uphill struggle. Driving home and reflecting on my day, I do not feel that buzz of having got things done. Sometimes I wish I was a clog in a monster machine, just processing paperwork, rather than working on a helpdesk. Every morning I would see my work physically work from the in tray to the out tray. Then again, what would be the fun in that? For the first time in eighty four weeks I am actually considering my next step. The stepping stones between starting on the service desk and finding the next big break, will be a big challenge. I must be sure not to underestimate what the future holds but the clock is well and truly ticking.

I Will Dispense This Advice Now

2006-07-06T23:27:00.000+01:00

It is much harder to post an entry about work and technology. I thought, over time it would become easier as I would be able to reflect on the daily musings on the helpdesk and life generally in the field of computers, mp3s and gadgets. However I find myself struggling to find topics to cover and then at times feel forced to put something up, just to keep my sister site looking current and fresh. So today I decided to opt for a safe point of discussion. Advice.

In my twenty odd years I have already been offered a bucket load of advice from a number of people. Some related to personal issues, some related to work, sport, university, the future, even finance. Of all the discussions, perhaps there is only one phrase, on anecdote that remains with me so vividly to this day. Rather than repeat the English, the equivalent in Latin is 'Non Illegitimi Carborundum'. I will let Google do the rest, although a special clue is that it is also the title of a song by Kris Kristofferson whom you might remember from a recent vampire trilogy.

Perhaps the person you would least likely take advise from, is David Brent, star of BBC documentary The Office which focused on the employees of Wernham Hogg. Along with Stephen Merchant, he did some in-house videos for Microsoft, which have found themselves onto Google Video. They are absolutely hilarious, particularly the second clip when he offers advice on getting a new job and what methods you should use. I was a massive fan of the comedy series on BBC2 and have all episodes (including the Christmas Special) on DVD. It was just genius and as I had started working in an office for the first time, as the second series aired, it was truly refreshing to watch.

Respect goes hand in hand with advice. You only take advice from those that you respect. Yet in this modern, connected world, we can get advice from a number of sources and even personalised advice on message boards and forums related to our specific career or industry. It appears that anyone and everyone is willing to offer you their twenty pence. Just a case of if you are willing to be patient and take it all on board. I am just waiting for the advice that will finally motivate me to act.

Boom Boom Belgium

2006-06-30T00:20:00.000+01:00

Don't let the title, fool you, I was in Madrid with work on Wednesday and Thursday last week. A fantastic experience, when you consider I just answer the phones on a helpdesk, day to day. Someone must be doing well, I hear you cry. Let me firstly make it clear I was not first choice for this trip and rightly so. There were far more important people who could not make it, so I was asked, as a 'favour' to attend this client conference. While we saw nothing of the city and actual social time was quite limited, it was still a quality time away from the office. There was also perhaps an opportunity to get to know colleagues whom I only really speak to when dealing with the ongoing "open calls" on the service desk.

Why, was I sent some 800 miles to the capital of Spain? Why couldn't I have gone closer to home? It was with a team to specifically demonstrate some software. The software itself has been around since the conception of the company I work for, but until a few weeks ago, I only knew it by name. Simulation software is a unique area of computing. Just look at the results you get from Google. There is perhaps no field where you cannot use software to mimick real life. Perhaps most useful in a training environment. While I know little of how the simulation actual works, it was more the functionality and how to questions that I was in attendance for. Up close and personal technical support if you will. Although I had to be careful to only assist and not step over the line of advice. The language barrier was less of an issue, as most of the delegates had a good handle of English. The only problems occurred when we had to explain UK specific aspects of the model, but even so, the application to a certain extent is the same, even if the information infront of you is slightly different.

The group were divided into teams of three or four, representing their country, giving the event an international, World Cup flavour. (The locals were fuming at losing to neighbours France the previous evening.) There were many points that I could mention in this post, but perhaps the most memorable was the three man team from Belgium. They were so keen to begin anaylsing their results for the next round and left their machine with us, while they went to get some refreshments. On their return into the room, they went up to my colleague, pointing at the laptop, "Belgium Boom Boom?" He replied in his best English schoolboy accent, "Yes gentlemen, we have ended your third cycle, collated the results, loaded them onto the master machine and switched you over to cycle four." I wanted to burst out laughing, but the faces of our European friends perhaps summed up the difference between us on those living on the continent. Some things are just lost in translation. One thing the Spanish have got right, is the afternoon siesta. Something tells me, I would have great difficulty convincing my manager to add a sleep period to the team schedule. Though, if I get another opportunity to jump on a plane around Europe and beyond, I won't be turning it down. Just need to make sure I always have a valid passport ready.

Operation Telly

2006-06-15T22:03:00.000+01:00

Today (as if you didn't know already) was the day of England's second group B game in the World Cup, over in Germany. I could not get the time off and the option to perhaps swap shifts with a colleague never really occurred to me. To my surprise most of the football fans on my floor had opted to work late into the afternoon for various reasons. So in the morning, our Financial Controller asked how we would get to watch the game. Of the variety of plans hatched, the acting IT Team Leader, perhaps had the best. He was going to bring in his television from home. Great. However, when he arrived at 9.30am, with a small bag, we realised this would not be ideal viewing for a football match. Then our PA explained she could get an aerial from home and we could hook it up to a plasma screen in the conference room downstairs, only to discover there was no tuner device. Next plan? My colleague on the helpdesk explained he had a USB TV adapter and antenna at home we could use. He went home at lunchtime to get it. Hauppauge produce some fantastic kit, but their software is what lets them down, often not being as initiative as the hardware. Grabbing a spare support laptop from the cupboard, I booted it up, only to discover it was our test Vista machine, so had to grab an another laptop from somewhere. In doing so I logged onto the web, downloaded and installed the drivers. Plug and play, worked. Well kind of. Windows detected the device and installed the drivers. I then installed the viewing software, WinTV2000, just as I have at home. However, no image was being displayed. Actually no signal whatsoever. Adjusting the aerial did little to help, not a single channel was picked up. The Finance guy, kept asking me for updates and I kept responding with bad news. Then the IT guy walked through the door exclaiming, 'Plan B!' In his hand he had a 14" television video combi. We tried to use this but without the remote control, it was fairly useless, no functionality to tune in the channels. One of the developers hunted down a forum, where someone else had already asked the question. Can I tune in this television without the remote? There was no response. It was well and truly back to the drawing board.

Our accountant is perhaps the most outspoken person, no correction character I have ever met. He brings our office alive, with his candid moments often just by saying the most outrageous one line. He was frustrated now. Frustrated by the fact he could be missing a crucial game and there was no where to go, as his house was out of bounds until at least 7pm. He called one of the big boys in off the bench. His job title is 'Technical Architect' but it was Development Team Leader a few months back. He detests football, but was willing to help get the TV tuner working. Positioning the aerial outside of the window, another search to hunt down a signal failed. He gave up. We were heading for injury time and there were no more substitutes left. Or were there?

My colleague realised that he had a old PCI WinTV card and magically produced it, not from a black hat but a plastic supermarket bag. Right, we needed a PC. Off went my manager downstairs and within a few minutes bought back an ancient Compaq machine, which had been used by the development team a few years ago (before they were all issued with laptops) Ripping open the case, I dropped in the card and then dumped the machine on a spare desk, out of the way. Within minutes there was a scramble as a member of the development team, firstly downloaded the drivers onto a USB key and rushed his new 17" flat screen onto the desk with the computer. There were cheers of encouragement all around. Powering everything up, we logged in (eventually) installed the drivers and software. I slowly realised I had spent far too much time on this and returned to my desk to do some work, while the developer fiddled. I was merely a spare part now and you know the saying about too many cooks spoiling the broth. Meanwhile our IT guy and got another television from somewhere and began trying to tune it in. We were down to Plan D. He was able to tune in BBC2 and Channel 4 (which was showing Countdown) but no ITV1. Back to the drawing board again? Meanwhile, a member of management had found a site, which screened the games live for a mere sum of £3.85 and after careful consideration paid for his account. The final two options available were going to watch the game in the car of a colleague. Unfortunately one had left early and the other didn't have his BMW. While we had been trying to get the television up and running our developer had got the PC working and just needed to move the antenna to get a better reception. With perfect timing he tuned into ITV1, as the opening sequence was being shown. Shutting down and logging off we moved our kit over to the meeting room and hooked everything up to the projector. Not bad quality reception being displayed on a 48" screen. There was only one last thing to do, so we could enjoy the game. Release the blinds so from my seat I could look into the room and directly at the screen. Perfect.

It took us over three hours to get ourselves sorted. As my manager commented at the end of our successful mission, it would have been easier going down to Argos ad buying a television. How strange is it, that in 2006, working for a technology solutions based company it took us this long to come together with a master plan to watch a World Cup game. I am sure some other IT departments out there were far more inventive. Or alternatively you just pulled a sickie, but what would have been the fun in that?

Crisis In Confidence

2006-05-31T23:26:00.000+01:00

My colleagues on the helpdesk are great at winding me up. What was all the fuss? There was nothing wrong with a bit of patriotism in the work place. This could be regarded as yet another first (lost count of the number in 2006). My first official international tournament to take place while working in a professional environment. Sure there was Euro 2004, two years ago but that was different. I started working for the firm in London on the day England played Croatia in a must win final group game. There is an interesting story about catching the second half of that match on my personal blog. This is my first World Cup in the real world. Last time around, four years ago, I was in that strange limbo period having finished my second year (at University) and waiting or rather I should say preparing for my sandwich placement (it was scheduled to begin on Monday 1st July 2002). Feels like it was only yesterday, but here we are, days away from Germany 2006. It was perhaps a blessing that England were dumped out of the cup by the time I started my placement, as the office makeup was generally female and quite anti-football, although everyone knew which London team I followed. Football is well supported with my current office and my floor in particular (Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton, Spurs and now a Reading fan, make up the Premiership contingent, along with my self supporting the mighty Gunners). So I felt it my duty to buy a flag over the weekend when I was in Clinton Cards. It was more of an impulse buy, I was in the queue about to pay and saw the flag on display behind the cashier and just asked if they were for sale and then just bought one. As I walked out the store, I knew I would hang it somewhere around my desk in the office. The best time was yesterday as England were playing Hungary in a friendly. Even though the PA did comment that it was too early? Too early? There are, only nine days to go, love! But that is not outrageous comment regarding the tournament I have heard in my office. Another female colleague said, "Is there something happening over the summer?". Did I mention my Dad got me an England bear from his work place?

Right back to work. Yes, I actually do work in between counting down to the biggest sporting event in the world. (There is actually a iMac-shaped clocked that handles that taxing task for me). How is work going? It has been extremely busy and my colleague on 1st line has been taking the strain. There have been several rollouts taken place with extremely tight deadlines (turning over forty devices in a week and eleven devices in two days). Considering all installations have to be gone through a rigorous QC check, getting everything done and out the door on time is not easy. Particularly with the phone ringing constantly. I have to be honest and admit over the past few weeks, but especially the past few days I have really been below par in the quality of my customer service delivery. Sure, the numbers may look good on the Crystal Report but there are facts behind the statistics. I really want to get back to the bread and butter of my job. Answering calls, giving a great service and most importantly action things. Too often, I feel in helpdesk jobs, we find out what the easy tasks are and get those done and then avoid the difficult, more complicated issues for later. Hoping that either someone else will come up to the 'plate' or they will sort themselves out in time. In reality neither ever happens. You just get under pressure from all sides to look into the problem and get it resolved. Ultimately, the next few weeks will be a struggle for several reasons. The first one I have already mentioned, but the other is the holiday of the 1st line guy. While I know I can handle answering the phone, I feel I will be stretched. We shall see what happens. Expect the next update soon, then the subsequent posting sometime after 19th June, when normal service will be resumed. Why is there so little out there on the web for International IT workers day tomorrow. Are we just not as important as tobacco?

Final Destination

2006-05-10T19:44:00.000+01:00

Took me nearly twenty five years but yesterday I completed my tour of all capital cities in the British Isles. Many people will not see this as a major accomplishment, even a milestone worthy of discussion. I beg to differ. To truly be a citizen of the United Kingdom, should you not visit each location which considers itself to be a worthy member of what we call the unique makeup of our beloved country. I was even going to be clever and state that I have been to two cities in each country, but in the case of Ireland I have been to Belfast and Dublin but of course they are in across a border but technically the same land mass. I would have preferred to have spent more time in Scotland, but it was very much a whistle stop tour. Just like it was some ten years ago, when I drove up with my Dad to Glasgow. The scenery was amazing on our drive down to the client site and I had my Sony CyberShotU at hand to capture a few moments. I hope to be back again soon, to enjoy the breathtaking, tranquil countryside views away from the urban landscape I'm used to!

On my return to the office on Wednesday morning, I was handed my business cards by our wonderful (and always smiling) PA. Result! With six days to go until my seventh month with the company, I had finally landed. I had arrived. There is more, my manager handed me a mobile phone. Sure, it is only a Nokia 6100 but it was moving up from 1st Line helpdesk support. While of course I did ask our Financial Controller for an upgrade to the Nokia 6030, which is the standard device for the majority of users within our division. My request was declined. Then for my manager to also underline this rejection by informing the Finance department that Andrew is not to be upgraded under circumstances without prior permission from himself, in writing and including his signature on any request. Great. I felt more content, when I discovered that the development team have all been issued with 3100 and would have no option to upgrade unless you were high up the food chain, whereby you could request at your leisure, a Motorola V3 RAZR. Suppose it helps to be holding a position of some authority, you can usually get what you want. Or at least have the rules bent in your favour.

Silly Little Mistakes

2006-05-02T18:50:00.000+01:00

We are all human, even me and we all make mistakes, particularly at work. It may not be the biggest mistake in the history of computing but it was a mistake nevertheless. My colleagues were quick to point out that, "Worse things happen at sea". I was beating myself up about it for a while. It was stupid and foolhardy. There was nothing I could do about it now, the data was gone but I should have checked it. Then double checked. Not sure why I did not carry out the most simple of checks. There was nothing I could do to make it up to the user. Even sorry was not enough. For a few hours at least I wanted a hole to open under my desk and swallow me up in one big gulp! You must know that sinking feeling inside when you know that something bad, really bad is about to happen.

Worse Things Happen at Sea

Later that evening, as I drove home from work, I thought about it. I thought about the significance of all this data we carry around with us, on computers, PDAs, mobile phones. All this personal data? What is it truly worth? Afterall, you can't take it with you. It is afterall just pieces of plastic and metal. Sometimes I wonder why I spend so much time on my computer, building up a big library of meaningless stuff. Hold on, that is the point, it only becomes meaningless the moment you, the author is gone.

Apart from this minor indiscretion, work is going well. We are busy and have had some frantic afternoons recently, with deadlines looming to get laptops out of the door. While there is a minor calm at the moment, perhaps before the storm. I really need to decide on what I want to get out of this job and where I want it to take me. The thing is, for such a control freak individual, I have no idea where this road is going and at which stop I want to get off. Strange I know but rather keep all options open, time (for once) is on my side.

Out Of Office

2006-04-19T23:03:00.000+01:00

Spending the week, or be it four days away from the office was a strange experience. Slowly but surely I got used to not answering the phone. Although my colleagues on the helpdesk would say I rarely pick up any calls these days. Why it may be fantastic to be away from head office, there is still work to do and not an extended holiday as many would have you believe. Oddly enough, there is a greater pressure while being on a client's site. You have to deliver the goods and cannot hide behind the masquerade of the telephone. "I'll speak to one of my colleagues and get back to you." No such option. The job just has to get done. Your under close scrutiny, with almost every move watched and it is important to put yourself across in the most professional manner possible. The days do get rather tedious, building laptop after laptop then in the afternoon packing them ready for dispatch. Though I should not be complaining, many others from the helpdesk would easily have swapped placing with me and the ring of the phone was a distant prospect sixty odd miles away.

Premier Travel Inn was comfortable but hardly the lap of luxury. It met my needs for three nights considering I only really spent Monday evening in the hotel. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent enjoying the bright lights of the City and West End. Having Beckton DLR station right next door was great. You suddenly realise that no where across this wonderful capital is too far and with the monorail running until midnight, there will always be time to catch the last train back. Further details of my evenings are posted on my personal blog with a selection of photographs in a FlickR set.

The most satisfying element of the week was going in on Thursday to complete the job and the thank you from the client, just before I left to head home. A job well done and the last time I would be loading laptops for this team following the upgrade to our latest software release. (Which does not have a version number but instead two letters. Although technical it is 4!) It allows for live updates, so the software can be upgraded down the wire, rather all one hundred and twenty machines having to be sent to the office to be reloaded. While this may sound great in theory, I'm not sure what the reality will be in practice. The software looks great and is vast improvement on the predecessor but the true test comes out in the field.

Back in the office, I returned to reality with a bump on Tuesday. I suppose with little to look forward to, the motivation is at an all time low. Having spent a week out of the office and then a long weekend away, the prospect of returning to 49 open calls to resolve was what American's would call a major 'downer'. However, we pull ourselves together (without the aid or tea, coffee or my colleague's strange wake up juice!) Just getting on with the job, getting the work done, coming home and forgetting about it, until the following day. The fact my role has changed with a responsibility for internal hardware means I get a varied work day, not just taking support calls but also building laptops and creating images with Norton Ghost. A fantastic program, which I only discovered four years ago, when looking to find an ideal backup tool during my placement year. Only after accidently screwing up a restore did I eventually start pushing the program to maximum potential. If I hunt, I'm sure I can even find one of the Ghost images I created knocking around somewhere. Oh the memories.

The Arrival

2006-04-06T21:20:00.000+01:00

When have you truly arrived in a workplace? When you get your own office? When you get an award? When you get a pay rise? A promotion? Nope, it is none of the forementioned, it is when you get your own personal business card. It happened to me back when I was on placement. A client was in showing the managing partners a new add on to our office management software and exchanged business cards. He asked if I had a business card and of course being only an IP student, I did not. The partner replied in an approving tone that I would get some cards printed. Sure enough a few weeks later a three boxes of cards arrived on my desk and I was over the moon.

History has a strange way of repeating itself and on this occasion, following the client visit in Dublin, Ireland I handed over a complimentary business card to the MD, so he could scribble down a mobile number. The question was then asked if I had my own personal business card, which of course I did not. The urgency in his reply that if I was visiting clients I needed a business card with my name on, made me smile. The cards were ordered when I got back to the office and I expect to receive them in the next few weeks. I will of course upload an image as soon as they are in my hand.

Looking ahead, I have my first week away from the office, in the glorious Docklands and staying at the luxurious Premier Travel Inn Hotel in Beckton. My biggest fear was not how the software upgrade would go but actually not having internet access in the evenings. I have become so accustomed to my broadband that being without the internet cable will be like live without oxygen. I will have to fill my evening with something other than MSN, mp3 downloads and web surfing. This will be a real test of my willpower. People often say that my obsession with the internet is a psychological menace, purely developed in my head. I beg to differ, being without the internet, I feel disabled, cut off from the outside world, isolated, lonely and alone. When something becomes so much part of the routine, you no longer have to think about it, it becomes instinctive, second nature. When it is taken away from you, you feel like a part of your body has been cut off. Perhaps I am taking it too far and need to seek some medical help, urgently.

You know blogging is becoming mainstream (in a strange sense) when they are mentioned in the 10 o' clock news bulletin on Monday 3rd April. An equlivant prize to Booker but for internet blogs, which was won by a cook book or should that be blog? I personally think, a product or idea has only officially arrives when my Mum is aware of it. A few years to wait then.

Jet Set Help Desk

2006-03-31T22:21:00.000+01:00

If I had not taken this job, I would not enjoy the exclusive trips to the Royal Albert Docks and now Dublin, Ireland. Okay, I hear what you are thinking, not the most breathtaking destinations on the planet, but it is clocking up some miles on business. Even if somewhat modestly on Ryan Air and not quite British Airways Business Class. It is very important to go meet and great your clients, particular in my role, where I spend the majority of the time a faceless name on the end of the telephone. Also, carrying out some 'work' before the eyes of your customers is rewarding. When most of the time you are working remotely, in conjunction with IT departments all over the place.

I like getting out of the office, the change in scenery does me good. However, last week I was in the zone and closing calls for fun (almost) and really wanted to keep my finger on the pulse. The problem with these clients visits, most are unplanned or extremely last minute and there is often an urgency to provide a remedy for things you did not anticipate. You plan to fix five machines and soon discover, a table stacked with seven, with several other members of the office also experiencing difficulties with the software.

If I am honest, as I parked my car around 5am on Thursday morning, in London Luton airport car park, I hoped or rather prayed I would be able to resolve all the outstanding issues. There was always the feeling, a nerve at the back of my mind, that I would get stumped by various issues and have to call head office for help. Yet when we arrived at the offices, sometime after 9.30am, everything appeared to be going well. All machines we had been notified about where there, charging and I could start fixing them. My colleague would be the QC department and I scribbled down on the back of piece of paper all the issues as I came across them. It was going well. Too well in fact. After lunch, we had to clear up some configuration and confirm all the work carried out the previous week, was not a complete waste. Importing the data from the Access database into Excel met a side by side comparison could be made of what should and what is there. Thankfully everything checked out and it was down to the final checks of the administration machine to reload sales data. Then the machines were communicated once last time and the sales download confirmed. Then came to the final task of the day. Most companies have a head office person, a national manager if you will. In our case he had just come out of his meeting and was about to check the software on his laptop. All fine, I had checked it over and it was working now. No it was not. Attempting to run sales analysis report bought up a error. My colleague gave me a glaring look. I sat down at the desk and did not take my eyes of the screen. For a few minutes both my colleague and the client were overlooking my shoulder as I tried furiously to fix the problem. Repairing the software did nothing, registering various DLLs proved useless. What was the problem? I logged off and on with the local administration account and low and beyond it worked. Thank God. Now, how do I get this to work under the user profile which connects to a domain? My Windows NT knowledge is patchy to say the least. I was sweating, I was under pressure. The company PA popped her head around the door, to inform us our taxi was waiting outside. Great. I was under pressure and I had to get this done. Looking back, I live for moments like this. The adrenaline rush, that only another person with a great interest in technology would understand. You act on instinct and suddenly with every problem there are four or five possible remedies and you try a combination of them all to get the job done. Meanwhile I felt more concerned with my colleague, as the account manager trying to appease the client, prove this was a minor glitch and would be resolved before we left the building and country. We got there in the end, although it was touch and go for a few split seconds. As we got into the taxi, my colleague ripped off his tie and took a deep breathe as we took our seats on the black leather seats. The heart attacks are part of working life, particularly with bespoke software solutions, but I feel I earned my money yesterday. Was it worth going out and leaving the helpdesk to fend for themselves for a ten hours? It was, if only to put faith back into our ability to quickly respond to a potential disaster. Management will tell you that no business survives purely firefighting, I believe attending the odd fire does you the world of good. Everyone comes out alive, perhaps only me with my fingers burnt.

The Appreciation Society

2006-03-09T20:57:00.000Z

Employers should never underestimate the power of two simple words. I may not have a long work history but what I have learnt in a very short space of time is how different organisations treat their employees. Let us take as an example my placement year with a medium sized solicitors. Although my manager did make an effort to thank me from time to time, generally it came across as disgenious and lacking conviction. After a heavy week in the office their remedy would be buy everyone two bottles of wine, which although might appease the (how do I put this?) more mature members of the company, did nothing but leave a bitter taste in my mouth. It was the poor management skills and lack of leadership in a crisis that proved to the be biggest bug to bare. In any case, (as I was told at the time) company culture is a big monster and very difficult to change (if at all) from the bottom up. Being a year placed in industry, this was an ideal time to come to grips with the office politics of a modern work place. Experience comes from both good and bad.

With time you know how you like to be valued by your employer and your view can differ slightly from the colleague that sits next you. I am all for incentives, put within a frame work for achieving both short term and long term objectives, but there is something far simpler. I have been writing this entry over the course of a few weeks. Adding a few lines each time, removing several paragraphs and then coming back a few days later to amend. Coincidently we have had situations arise at work which call for a big commitment from all members of the team and perhaps I can use this as a prime example.

What is the best way to get attention? You escalate your grievances to the highest possible level of the hierarchy. By doing so, you feel you will get your issue resolved with the utmost priority. Personally I think it takes slightly longer as so many people at the top of the chain have to know about the problem, what happened, what went wrong, who did what, who was responsible. In any case eventually on the helpdesk we are told to explain the issue and why it remains unresolved. Many people wonder why I work on a helpdesk, speaking to people all day and dealing with the negative aspect of our products. This does not work, these issues are incorrect, this report does not show the right information, why has this still not been mended? To this day it remains the joy in hearing over the phone, the smile of a satisfied customer. Sure enough, not everyone puts the phone down happy but more than most do. Frustrations I sympathize with, but customers need to understand that we are here to help and not a final crash barrier for their bad day. Ultimately if I am frank, my job is so superficial it goes against my own personal constitution. Why should I assist a representative in gaining their £2000 bonus for selling twenty units of X, Y, Z. I am all for rewarding hard work, but sales is a field I could never personally agree with. While I agree with the capitalist economy, I disagree with commission (in it's many forms). Perhaps my views would be different if I was spending all day trying to see a particular potential lucrative customer. Right, now to cut a long story short and keep the content as cryptic as possible. The MD this afternoon thanked me for my time working on the calls of said client. He appreciated that it was a difficult set of circumstances and working an extra hour into my evening was duly noted. When you are valued from the top, you feel pleased that your work, (clog in the big machinery if you will) is more than a number on the business payroll.

The pressure does not look to be off over the coming few months. If anything else the next period until September will be the busiest for us on the helpdesk. Perhaps because the bar has been raised to such a level that we are now expected to work miracles. I might not quite be able to walk on water, but expect to pull my socks up, get my head down and close some calls.

Backup & Restore

2006-02-20T21:53:00.000Z

The title to this entry, sums up my life in the work place at the moment. I make a backup of a database, I restore a backup of a database, my colleagues work on it, carry out testing and then the circle starts again. Suppose it is to be expected as part of the landscape as I slowly take over more 2nd line responsibilities. Although I find myself stuck between a rock and hard place. While I am keen to spend less time answering the phone, dealing with simple 'first time fix' issues, there is a fear of the complex and critical problems which have system wide ramifications. The honeymoon is over, from here on in it will be a long hard struggle to the top of the mountain and I may not like some of the experiences along the way. Gone are the days of closing calls for fun and getting crazy statistics. Although I must admit I have an able (and sometimes willing) teacher who will do his best to bestow all his worldly knowledge onto his apprentice. Yet I find my confidence lacking, when my cursor is hovering over an execute icon, while connected live to a client server. Is it just me, but could this one click turn me from hero to villain in the time it takes for the DTS package to run!

Our Exchange server was upgraded last weekend, so we arrived in the office on Monday morning to discover e-mail still down due to numerous teething problems. For the next few hours, something strange happened. It was as if the clocks were running slow. E-mail has become the life blood of any modern business. Life grinds to a halt, with your outbox full of messages to be sent and you can only partly action support messages that have come in over the course of the weekend. Just imagine if I worked in academia and had to deal with a constant influx of pointless messages from students that missed a lecture. What we need is a strategy for dealing with e-mail, a company policy if you will. Some say that if an e-mail is important, the sender will either call you if you don't reply or send the original e-mail again, with some words such as, 'Has this been actioned?'. Personally I think my e-mail etiquette is quite good, I have only a few subfolders and tend to action as much as I can and delete all the joke, spam and unnecessary FYI e-mails. One of my constant irritations is someone who uses the subject heading for their whole message, believing that the recipients (usually the whole company) will not go as far as to read the full message by opening the e-mail. Although I think I could improve my use of e-mail in the workplace. As in life generally I tend to hoard messages and although use an archive pst. I have been warned by IT for not keeping the size of my mailbox down. Although archiving mail does come with several problems, particularly when you want to get to a specific e-mail from a specific date. I have three CD-Roms full with PST files from my last two work places and tend to keep copies of all my e-mails, just for my records. Why? I don't really know. Maybe years in the future, I can come back and laugh at that silly joke e-mail that went around the office in April 2003. Perhaps someone knows the best strategy for dealing with e-mail, it will be greatly appreciated. I will however, not expect the answer of deleting everything once it been actioned. There must be a a better option than that simple methodical approach.

That Time of the Month?

2006-02-09T23:17:00.000Z

The morning had hardly began, when my manager looked over at me with a thumbs up and said, 'Well done?'. Not knowing what he was referring to, I did not have time to check my mail as he had asked. I was busy, trying to manually uninstall an old version of Cisco VPN from a colleagues Dell laptop. Then install the latest edition of our own home cooked brew VPN. It was clearly evident that what this laptop needed was a re-image, or better still sent to that small place way up above. Nevertheless I battled on against, the Symantec firewall, broken network port and crazy software installation, to get it eventually up and running. I had tried to quickly sneak a peek at my Outlook Inbox but couldn't see anything new. My desktop machine was playing up and as stubborn as I am, have refused to rebuild it. Even with three of my colleagues commanding me, pleading with me to do so. Then I saw the message from the Marketing Assistant. Perhaps this was the perfect way to end some thirteen months with the company. (I make it sound like I'm leaving next week, which of course, is not the case) For me personally, this is a great accolade as appreciation for my achievements and contribution, not only to the team but the company as a whole. Yet, I felt it unnecessary to make a big song and dance about it. The announcement would not be made public knowledge until perhaps early next week, so I had some time to reflect and choose my prize.

It may be an American import, but I think more and more companies are taking the time to recognise and reward their people. Long gone are the days when it was only the prepubescent teenager (yet to start shaving) working at a well known fast food establishment, with his cheesy grin in a photograph on the wall. Although looking at the funny side, you need to consider some of the dreadful employee evaluations (they are all true, honest!) and of course a fantastic collection of cartoons. Although I very much doubt I will be raised (physically) onto a pedestal, with the a member of management, coming around and throwing posies at me. Later this afternoon, I received congratulatory follow up e-mails from the Operations Director and then the Managing Director. Sure enough, as a Spurs fan, he couldn't resist dropping some Sol Campbell note as a post script. Tottenham fans, just don't know when to give it a rest. Taking stock of the day, as I left the building to go home, I realised that I am happy here. Unlike in my previous job in the city, when I was running to lifts to escape jail as quickly as possible. Sure enough, working in London was a great buzz, and a fantastic experience, but it was never going to be easy ride with an almost two hour commute. Here I have made friends, learnt a few things (inbetween answering the phone), the luxury of a seven mile, fifteen minute journey and perhaps most importantly developed as a person. What does the future hold? I seriously do not know. Perhaps difficult for to comprehend, for a person known to be such a control freak! Consider the picture from a year ago, when I was looking seriously looking for the exit. Just as my manager and colleague before me had done. How things change. No, let me re-evaluate that comment. How people change things for the better. Perhaps finally with this entry I have qualified the quote over on the top right.

And finally, in more important news, the call queue has hit the new record breaking barrier of 41 (as of 6pm tonight) and a few more closures will mean the treat of Subway for the whole support team. Even I never thought I would see the call queue so small, when it was at the dizzy heights of 450, in the middle of last year. Perhaps tomorrow a double celebration. Although of course, we are fully focused to not to let the impossible dream, become a grim reality.

Impossible Dream

2006-02-01T22:17:00.000Z

From time to time, my role changes from dealing with support issues on the helpdesk. I am currently involved in the release of a brand new product to a client. I use the word 'involved' very loosely for I am not hands on occupied with the technicalities, but more a backseat support / training role from the end user perceptive. Nevertheless, an exciting time in the office (as must be any new product launch). Even new product is not a precise definition. The software release is actually just the complimentary handheld version of our V3 Windows edition. Based on the SQL CE engine, the release is a breakthrough from our original handheld solution based on the now legacy Pocket Access. By removing the laptop connection completely from the equation, you have a completely independent device and all the power in the palm of your hand. The latest PDA devices with a range of wireless connections will be able to communicate directly to the SQL server, which alone is quite revolutionary. The user interface has also been vastly tweaked to make searching and recording calls a breeze. This is a leap forward not only our product but our company. Expect an exciting few months ahead as we roll out this product and begin offering the option to our existing (and every expanding) client base.

Quite certain I have mentioned this before, but in any case, let me once again cover the topic of the impossible dream. A dream of a member of the management team, that he has been put on this planet to create the perfect piece of software. Well, it would be unfair to give him all the credit, I think he believes that his development team have the task of making us, support guys unemployable (or at the very least redundant). My belief is that this will never happen. Even if the software was without any holes, bugs, faults, crashes and runtime errors, an end user would still want to speak to someone on the end of the phone. Love it or hate it, you need technical support in some shape or form. What I find astonishing is to find companies out there called Perfect Software? I mean, talk about shooting yourself in the foot! Did they not learn anything from the Master? Perhaps the closes example we have of software that does the job which is bug free and life critical is the space shuttle. Something tells me that our development budget is modest in comparison to NASA. Perhaps what is required is a change in attitude rather than company procedures. Yet, even if you crack the code to produce the holy grail of CRM software, you will always come up against a brick wall. Those beautiful, wonderful always unique end users!

While I may be well settled in my current there is never a bad to update the CV. Sure enough it has been offline from this website since August and I really need to get my act together to put it back live. Perhaps I seriously need to look at some of the key words used and replace them with something that will not hurt my career prospects. Considering the above, if I do suddenly find myself with a product that can support itself I will need to find another position quickly. It might even mean venturing back into the City. How I have enjoyed the bliss of fourteen mile round trip commute.

Jump Ship

2006-01-15T20:57:00.001Z

People will always have their reasons for leaving a company. Sometimes, you could not care less and are quite happy to push them out door and wave goodbye, sarcastically from the car park. Yet, with certain special individuals, it is a major loss to see them depart for waters or in this case continents new. Of course, in any work place, you must keep some level of equilibrium and not have favourite employees / colleagues. Can I push my neck out and state, that they were one of the more approachable members of the development team? I've said it now. If it is politically incorrect, tough.

Something he said in his leaving speech, made me think. The first few months where a nightmare. I can agree with that, but like me, he had taken the decision to stay and it was worthwhile, in the end. Three years is perhaps an admirably length of service, particularly considering the constant changes in the bespoke software industry. Nothing ever stands still for long, particularly in the technology sector. Everyone must have a self-determined shelf life before they decide they need a new challenge, a change of scenery or just deal with something different instead of the same old issues, with the same old people. My personal opinion is always leave knowing that you made a noticeable difference of great benefit across the company and they are duly noted and appreciated. Was the work by my colleague seen in this light? Of course, not only this, but he got a big group of girls from the other side of the site to come over and wish him goodbye. Indeed, I would describe him nothing more than friendly, courteous, consistently helpful and always wearing a broad smile. He will be missed in our office, if not just for his work input but his entertaining and at times charming nature.

Booked my appraisal with my Manager for 15th February. This is the first official appraisal of my professional life. I will not include the appraisal I had in March 2003, back when I was on industrial placement, I am sure that was a walk in the park compared to some of the questions I will face next month. Preparation is the key to success, so expect me to providing as much documentary evidence to substantiate my case. Then again, should not my work on the helpdesk speak for itself along with the statistics and surveys? Personally I am looking forward to the opportunity to formally reflect on the last fourteen months and look toward the future.

Sick and Tired

2006-01-05T22:22:00.000Z

A new year begins, a fresh start, a new chapter, a blank canvas. So how shall 2006 begin? In need of some inspiration, I looked back at my entry from January 2005. Strange how, twelve months on, the words on the screen paint so well the picture of a young man wanting to impress in his new role. Little did I know some of the challenges that lay ahead, a few months after I wrote those words. So, how do I feel, knowing what I know now? I am glad I took the decision to hang on in there and see the light at the end of the tunnel. My original manager, whom I should be thankful for actually recruiting me, would often comment, that things will get better. While they may not have stuck around to see the change, I kept the faith. The belief that things would improve and that this job would become much more important than answering the phone. To date, this blog has focused on where I was heading, now a year on, I can change direction (if only a gentle step, rather than leap). Concentrating on the here and now will mean I get a clear picture of what potential opportunities lay ahead.

January is a month we put off to the back of our minds. Letting the festivities of Christmas drown any conscious knowledge of the work that waits for us, silently in the office on our return. No wonder, 1970s Scottish pop band, Pilot dedicated a number one hit single to the first month of the year. The return to work, as expected as been, how do I put this, uncomfortable. (Even for a model employee like myself). Although I suppose having something to fill in the space between weekends is useful. In all honesty it has not been busy these past few days, I expect the phones to melt from Monday onwards. Shame, I just roped myself into a two day client visit in Central London, is it not?

Talking of the future, did you see Newsnight last night? They have a feature for the next few days, so the title is slightly misleading. Geek Week, celebrating twenty five years since the ZX81 the reports look at the future and how technology will indeed, continue to transform our lives. The inspiration was that on the other side of the pond, people have the determination to chase a dream alone, knowing all to well the bridge between success and failure. Particularly in the IT sector when a slight error can make all the difference. Think this not Revenge Of The Nerds but the invasion of the geeks. Yes, take note, the girls are coming to a work place near you.

A special note to Carmen. No, not that Carmen, or that Carmen. But this up and coming Carmen. Please come to me to have your website designed, the current effort just does not do you or your music justice. Note to webmaster, never use DM templates for your professional work!

Robots In Disguise

2005-12-23T21:57:00.000Z

My nickname on the helpdesk is 'robot'. This was coined by manager, although he will never confess to doing so. Over the course of the year, it has just stuck. The origins of this are based not only on my uncanny ability to not take any of my annual leave allowance. (Well technically that is a lie, I took 1.5 days of the 24 available.) But more so on my religious conviction to take my lunch at 1pm sharp, and have my Ribena and cheese sandwich. Sure, it may somehow have been missed from the discussion so far, but I am a creature of deep rooted routine and habit. Nevertheless, there is a twist in our tale. In time honoured tradition, we were informed of the annual secret Santa. Sure enough, I signed up, hoping it would give me the chance to have to be imaginatively with my gift selection. To get back to the point, this is not about me. Well actually it is. Never mind. During out Christmas lunch meal on Wednesday, at a local restaurant and bar, I was handed my gift. It was a quite a large package, which deceived me to begin with. Beforehand, I had assumed we had to wait for the big day, but I was then duly given permission to unwrap the present. There was a big box of chocolates, a selection. Then I noticed another something in the bottom, it was rectangular and black. It was a book. Sure enough, someone somewhere had picked up on this nickname and turned into a joke. Funny, although one of my colleagues considers the name quite rude and nasty, I am indifferent. I personally do not care and let these kind of things go over my head.

Then again, perhaps I am part of the first wave of the invasion. If that is the case, would not Santa have been better off sending a copy with the rest of my colleagues so they know which signs to look out for. I will be reading the book, page by page, chapter by chapter and making changes to my behaviour to make sure I am not detected any further. (I also need to discover the identity of my secret Santa, which shouldn't be too difficult...) First step, stop drinking Ribena at lunchtime and take some holiday! When will the Transformers movie coming out? If I would ever consider myself a robot (in some strange parallel universe) it could only be Optimus Prime. How I miss my childhood!

Some Breathing Space

2005-12-02T22:05:00.000Z

I already had this entire entry pre-planned in my mind before I loaded up my account on Blogger. Just a few minutes ago, I read the daily cartoon over at Doug. Classic, but such a shame it could only apply to me in an alternative universe (where I don't have internet access or it just does not exist!). It got me thinking that all anyone needs to know is my full name. They can simply Google It (image of cheesy 80s thumbs up!). Recently this phrase, has become the mantra of the helpdesk, to the extent that even other platforms are converting. One of my colleagues mentioned to my manager that when you put Andrew's name into the search engine giant, hundreds of results are generated. My manager, not being one to take the word of a subordinate, went to try this out for himself and was surprised to discover it the gospel truth. Although the total number of results generated is 341, only about the first five results actually amount to anything. Proves that my self obsessed search for fame can back fire on future networking prospects. Then again, people that know me in real life, perhaps see me as a quiet, reserved and focused individual. Just a shame you can find out so much more from the web.

Now back to our regular programming. Pressure, we all deal with it different ways. Over the past week, I have been under the kosh, a little greater than usual. As if the month end was not enough to contend with, I was to an extend a one man band operating a two man sub. Or so it felt like for parts of the week. While I hinted at some of the frustrations of this job in my last post, the reality is I am just helping a salesperson make their target (in essence) and perhaps that fundamental objective is against my true beliefs as a human being. In any case, with the chips down, it was once again a time to be counted and make sure that I give more than my best.

The work Christmas party is just around the corner, and while not too keen on the theme or venue, I have talked my colleagues on the helpdesk to come along. If one of the directors has his way, it would be all blue. At the end of the day, a party is what you make it, so I might as well go along and celebrate my year with the company. (After spending sometime consulting the survival guide!) And what a year it has been. As expected (I am male, of course) I have been extremely lax on making arrangements for the evening, having to be constantly nagged by the organisiers via e-mail to confirm firstly my attendance and then my transport. I might not be able to guarantee you much from the work Christmas do, but I can guarantee it will be different.

What A Difference A Year Makes

2005-11-24T21:12:00.000Z

While this blog was only just beginning to find it's feet a year ago, the author was going through a transition period. At the time, I felt uncomfortable to put my full emotions on the page. There are subtle hints over on my personal blog, but little devil in the detail. Now, a year on, I can finally put together how I felt, coped and survived that period often referred to as being inbetween jobs. Being unemployed is not a great experience, quite quickly it dawns on you that you need a job and that money does not grown on trees (or from your parents). Perhaps my previous experience had put me into a false sense of security. Or was I just lucky beyond belief. Then again, not many people are offered a job after their first interview since leaving University. Perhaps my luck had run out and this time around, as a lesson I would have to hunt high and low for a job. After the initial week, my lack of progress cause for desperate measures, I started applying for jobs where I was perhaps over qualified. Well perhaps my job hunting did not steep so low that I would be sending my resume to a global fast food conglomerate. (Although can confess to applying for a job at my local Asda store, only to be rejected when I was 16!)

Thankfully, things changed. Reed did finally start working. As the second week of unemployment was coming to a close, I applied for as many suitable (and minor unsuitable) jobs on the recruitment site. Not knowing then, that this e-mail confirmation would later change my life (forever?)

Placing aside my birthday, my aim had always been to find a job before Christmas. Yes, I know rationally speaking this is the opposite to what people normally say (I'll find a new job in January is often heard in December!) My life had changed beyond recognition and I was lacking the focus to truly understand. Applications went out but I never had a reply, the agency contact was either busy, out of the office or on annual leave. This did little to help my predicament and I seriously was considering throwing the towel in but preserved. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.

There are people out there that believe that everything happens for a reason and that fate ultimately foretells our destination. I tend not to agree with such philosophies, opting to remain in control. Yet, as always eventually everything pans out as you want. Whether I should put this all down to the man upstairs or the strange constellations in the sky is another matter. I often find true reflection in the lyrics of the songs I listen to.

Top Drawer

2005-11-03T22:02:00.000Z

What difference the change of season makes. November comes along and I suddenly feel the motivation to not just work, but take my role to another level. I suppose, the reality is that I am just getting on with it. Any job requires that skill at some point in time (usually from day one). Being super sufficient is one thing. Helping a frustrated user to resolve their on going communication problem is a completely different ball game. After all, at times there is little explanation we can give for their constant problems. While I prefer to not get involved in the blame culture. At times it is inevitable, but you help as much as you can. Will my eagerness continue way into this month? Time will tell. I often wonder what the motivation is for people in other jobs (particularly sales) but I never really look back to consider my own. Perhaps the satisfaction of helping others, even if somewhat superficially.

E-mail is fantastic. I tend to make great use of e-mail, particularly in my personal correspondence. Yet what I find most annoying is those who never reply. There is no real reason for doing so. Though, the moment we step into the sphere of work. Everything changes. Even the most anti-technology people you've ever care to know, become e-mail junkies, living off every sent item, every attachment and ping of Microsoft Outlook. Other interesting observations are the way in which people send tactically messages, copying in various managers and other 'powers that be' to increase impact. Some people need advice on writing sensibly others though, need to get life away from their Blackberry. Although, if I am honest, the handheld device from RIM is worthy of an entry all on it's own. My organisation has chosen not to put in place a Friday amnesty. The so called experts can say what they like, I know for some people, life would without e-mail would be just as bad, as life without air. Not sure if you suffer from this strange 21st century disease? Read up on the signs and then take the long hard road to recovery.

Strange how a year (has almost past) since I had completed my contract and was desperately searching for a job prior to Christmas. So, how have things changed over the course of the year? Perhaps something for me to ponder for my next entry. What is the true measure of how far we have come on this journey?

Andy Gray, the ex Everton forward and now Sky Sports commenter used an infamous line during his commentary of Wales versus England, a few months ago. It is perhaps the only way I would describe my personal performance over the past few days. Then again, as I have already stated, there is plenty of life left in the month.

Horses For Courses

2005-10-25T19:06:00.000+01:00

For some strange reason, all my external training has taken place close to race courses. Over two years ago I was in Towcester, Northamptonshire. Now I find myself in Ascot, on a dreary wet October morning. I left home late, or so I thought and was putting my foot down on the M4, hoping I would make it on time. The traffic was moving steadily, but it did little to calm me down. I was hoping that after the main roundabout bottle neck, it would be plain sailing. Afterall, I was heading away from London, the congestion and the smog. Junction 8/9 of the M4 was busy, but as I peered down to the M4 westbound, the traffic was at a standstill. I looked at the clock, it was coming up to 8am, I was going to be late. By the time I got onto the motorway, it was raining down hard and visibility was poor, though the traffic was moving. For a spilt second my mind wondered back to work. How strange I felt at this time on a Monday morning, when I am usually making my way into the office.

Those of you unfamiliar with the sport of horse racing (and I include myself in that selective group) may be unaware that Ascot Race Course is currently under redevelopment, to open next year. Taking a wrong turning at a roundabout down the highstreet, I was actually able to see the impressive grandstand currently under heavy construction. Firstly, let me make one thing clear. I do not believe in gambling, particularly on horses. Even if it is described as the Sport of Kings. In July 2004 I attended my first race meeting at Newmarket and although I found the whole experience entertaining the betting aspect did not appeal. Perhaps one day I will come back to Ascot for the races. Who knows?

While flirting around with casual queries in SQL under strict instruction from my colleague, I have never got down to the nuts and bolts of the tool. This was the main motivation for my attendance on this introductory course. To begin with I was nervous, so much to learn and at times drowning in the knowledge of others writing queries instantly. This is a useful 'tool in my armoury' as the instructor included at the end of the course. Everything slowly but surely has fitted into place. Confident of going into work tomorrow and getting out of the database the data I need and not just garbage. Perhaps this confidence also requires a quick purchase. For reference only, of course!

As I left for the second and final training day this morning, I noticed my low fuel warning light come on. Not to worry. I would fill up on the way back home, particularly if the course ended early. But stubborn as I am, I drove all the way home, with very little (if any) fuel in the tank. There were a few scary moments. I got stuck on the by-pass in heavy traffic, only to discover a car broken down in the fast lane. Then as I approached Handy Cross another vehicle broken down in the adjacent lane. I was running out of time and was worried that I would have to either call out the RAC or (more likely) call my Dad to bring me some diesel. As always, living dangerously I got to the BP petrol station in time. Just.

Coasting

2005-10-08T18:39:00.000+01:00

By my own high standards I have been coasting this week. While the level of phone calls has been low, this is no reason to take such a laid back attitude to work. Even on Friday, I tried to sum up the courage to make the extra effort to close calls. Then again, with the weekend around the corner, the general mood in the office was lacklustre. The pressure and intensity from previous months has disappeared and my job has become far more comfortable. Yet at times I still find aspects frustrating and there is always plenty to keep me busy. Though, with a determined and focused mind, I battle through. What I really need to do, after a below average week in the office, is dust myself down and come back with a response to make a difference. Even if only to prove to myself that I am better than this. This is the moment to step up to the plate and be counted.

This week for the first time since I left University, I have been thinking seriously about my future. What I want to do and where I want to go. As noted right at the beginning, this is merely a stepping stone onto bigger and better things. Although for the most part, those "things" have remained undefined and blurred. I tend to look at other people who have "made it" with envious eyes and hope to follow in their footsteps. The management IT position within a prestigious organisation, brand new blue 325i and travel abroad (all expenses paid) is the dream. Though for people whom I know, this is a reality. For as long as I can remember, I have no true direction in which I want to go. While this laid back view on the future, may have washed for many years in the past, here and now, in the big scary world, I need to start taking tough decisions head on and making some difficult choices. Perhaps in January the penny will drop. I am not getting any younger, even if I always think I have time firmly on my side.

While one great opportunity may have disappeared, my Dad is quick to remind me that it is 'their loss' not mine. I did my best, it was 'they' that made the mistake to not see it. The next big window of opportunity is just around the corner and no matter where it takes me and how I get there, every step of the way, I put down my thoughts, feelings and emotions on this blog.

Back to Basics

2005-09-24T21:44:00.000+01:00

Sometimes we place ourselves into difficult situations, when perhaps the easier option is to do nothing. Do I really want to change the lifestyle I have now? Do I really want to start a new routine, when this one has become so comfortable? Thankfully, for once, the decision left more in my hands, than in the lap of the Gods. I do not regret going ahead for the opportunity, even if perhaps I have been avoiding, ignoring all such opportunities since January this year. A dear friend, summarised the situation, in a single double edged phrase. "You've been there before Andrew, you know what to expect". Enough talk of what could have been, let us concentrate on the here and now

This blog is slowly drifting down an awkward path. It was originally created to capture the foundation of knowledge which I gain from the workplace. Yet, it has become more of a social commentary on my life in the workplace and has come to overshadow, the main objective, purpose of this online journal. So, how do I get back on track? I think it is a case, of going back to basics.

People I meet, often ask me what I do. It was only this week, when I truly considering my role and my place within the greater scheme of things in the company. I work on a bespoke support line, supporting some 900 field users. My role is more technical support than helpdesk. The level of calls of the how to nature are few and far between, in comparison to the 'has my data gone through to head office' calls, which I receive at least once a day (if not more often). My working hours are 9.30am until 6pm, although living so close to the office, I tend to arrive very early, up to an hour beforehand and have often been known to stay late into the evening, (7.30pm on Wednesday last week). Our busiest period is from 4pm until 6pm, mostly concentrated on Fridays or the last day of the month. The level of knowledge of end users is varied, but generally they are not computer people, so at times you are explaining even the most simple of tasks in layman terms. Yet there are times when I feel full sympathy for the end user because there is little I can do or say to resolve their problem, apart from ask them to attempt to 'transmit' their data again. Sure, I wish my product knowledge was extensive, rather than so broad, but the best part of bespoke software, is many issues get forward back to external IT departments. Having said that, there is always the case of 'blame' being pinned on our software and the problem being laid directly on our door again. This is part and parcel of life working closely with external clients.

Overall, I am happy with my career and life at the moment. Yet, I feel in years to come I will come to regret living so close to my job and still living with my parents. The creature comforts of home lull me into a false sense of security. Something drastic needs to happen for me to get my act together, and finally after twenty four years flow the nest, for good.

You Don't Know What You've Lost

2005-09-13T21:43:00.000+01:00

Last time around I was in the fire of the cauldron, rather than in the heat of the flames. Thinking about it, literally blows my mind. Is it really five years? The pre-University era, before the real world, I find myself in now. Oh, where did the time go? Sorry, once again I digress. Yes, the threat of blockages at refineries across England and Wales had meant a major shortage of fuel across my local petrol stations. Andrew, as always had filled up the previous week, only to have to drive some two hundred miles to the Midlands at the weekend. No matter, I would have plenty of fuel to last me for the rest of the week. Little did I know that panic buying would ensue, drying most of the local petrol stations in my area. Let me start, somewhere else. On Tuesday morning, as I pulled into the car park at work, my fuel warning light came on.

Nothing strange there, I was hoping this incident would have been delayed by a possible twenty four hours, but it did little to make me lose my cool. I was going to see how far I could push my car on the reserves. After all, it was not as if I was traveling a long distant and I do now have the beauty of full RAC membership. What did I have to worry about? As the working day drew to a close, I had an e-mail from a member of the managing committee offering the following advice for the fuel shortages.

You either ignore such messages or take them to heart. Busy as we were (and would be for the rest of the week) I focused on work and let the reality of lack of fuel in my tank, drop to the back of my mind. With the welcomed return of Champions League football to the television schedule, I was keen to watch Chelsea in Europe. Yet, at half time, I drove to my local BP garage (which is nearly one and a half miles away). I am a creature of habit, with the greatest brand loyalty in the world. I only used BP fuel. Pulling up at the small garage, I was surprised by the lack of cars on the forecourt. This only meant bad news, all the hoses were covered up with white plastic bags (obviously run out of official 'out of order signs'). I went to speak to the attendant, someone whom I've come to know over the past two years. "They ran me dry at 2pm today and I don't expect another delivery until tomorrow night". He was surprised at my dedication to travel 18 miles to the next BP station to fill up. I drove home, knowing I would pass at least two other filling stations and the raw desire for fuel meant I had to put away my brand loyalty. (I felt much like Dr. Brown, in his quest for fuel) One was packed with a queue on the main road of two cars. I headed back up the hill to home, there was no way I would be served. I passed an Esso station (technically speaking my local, being only 0.34 miles away) but the lights were on, but no one was home. I rushed home to catch the second (uninspiring) half of the Blues versus Anderlecht. I would drive to die another die.

On Wednesday, I finally filled my car up with fuel (on the way home mind) and I'm sure that I could have got away with driving most of the week without any trouble, but it was not worth risking it. Not in the current climate. While most people were hunting around for the cheapest price at the pump, I put the best juice into the beast, but paid through the nose for such a priveledge.

What is the moral of the story? Just like your mother told you to always wear clean underwear, (you never know when there could be an accident!) I'm sure not so far behind, your Dad always said, make sure you have plenty of gasoline. What I find most amusing about this article on BBC News Online, was the same people complaining about the panic fuel purchasing, will have their company Audi A4 on the drive, brimming with fuel. Now I have been part of two protests, the original from September 2005, as a weary eyed petrol assistant, staying onsite over night to help keep the petrol flowing. I'm sure no chief executive over at Royal Dutch Shell Group lost any sleep over it. If anything, they must have noted a true increase in the dividend as they slept. This week, I have noticed how much we as a society rely on petrol and how much it has become a resource we take for granted. Sometimes we should stop and think, there is not an endless supply. Humans in their very nature become complacent after a while. We like our creature comforts. Just a shame, it will take something much bigger than these two recent incidents compared to wake us up from our stupid. When the oil does run out, please leave a message on my blog (I am sure it will be preserved in some shape or form) and let me know what the world is like to leave in. In second thoughts, that is an totally unimaginable place, even for my creative mind, somewhere I never hope to be. For future generations, I wish you good luck. An alternative is needed and not a minute too soon. Meanwhile, we continue to be slaves to the rat race fooling ourselves into thinking that life is actually some adventure!

While the Cat's Away...

2005-08-17T22:29:00.000+01:00

You know how the saying goes. The moment the boss' back is turned the workers start slacking. While on a week's holiday, you would think the helpdesk team would make the most of it. The fact that other members of the hierarchy were also away, increased the opportunity for despondency. Yet, there is no fear for such things. I am focused and in control. Working hard, even with the absence of a heavy number of calls to the desk, meant we could focus on our mission, our target. By the time my first full month was over in this company, there were over 400 calls in the helpdesk call management system. (A tenth of which lay in my personal queue!) It seemed like a endless task, with a heavy influx of calls. Like being on the Titanic, with only a bucket of water to throw the water out, to stop or rather delay the inevitable.

Thankfully we had found a captain to turn this sinking ship around. For far too long the burden had fallen upon me to cut the number of calls pending. Management is a difficult role. There is a heavy expectation for results, while in the same vain, you do not wish to lose the motivation and banter of your team. What is my manager like? Probably the best manager I've ever worked for? Probably.

Unfortunately, having met our target of less than a hundred calls in the system, the goal posts have been moved. The job enters a new era, with a greater emphasis on closing calls in the required SLA. While I have nothing against such a system, I feel there will be additional pressure to make sure we reach a minimum standard, which in my case is 75 per cent. There is also going to be much more performance analysis beyond the simple numbers game, it will slowly move into a target driven exercise. The saying goes with great power comes great responsibility. I beg to differ, as I am living in the reality and not the world of a comic book hero. With great responsibility comes greater accountability. The next few months will be interesting. When is the next Bank Holiday, Trig?

Boys Will Be Boys

2005-08-02T20:43:00.000+01:00

I have worked in quite a few offices, in the handful of years in the so called, 'real' world. None match the atmosphere of my current workplace. Everything has fallen into place, in such perfect fashion. The dynamic of an organisation is based more on the employees than purely the industry it operates in. Working for a small law firm with a predominately female makeup, ladies of a certain age, gives the impression of perhaps an organisation, rather stuck in the mud and reluctant to change. Then taking a contract role at one of the biggest law firms in the world, with over 600 employees, advising prestigious clients with household names, clinching multi-billion dollar deals. All while you replace their aging Compaq for a brand new HP d530.

So here I find myself, part of a fresh, up and coming help desk team. All of us, around the same age, recently departed the corridors of academia, filling in the time between weekends, answering the phone. A sense of camaraderie, has built up quickly over the past few months, as we learn to work with each other. Sure, we focus on the task at hand, but still have a laugh and a joke. As the saying goes, work and no play make Jack a very dull boy. The reason, boys will always be boys simple. The road less traveled is frightening and requires some intelligence and maturity (something we try to avoid for as long as possible).

While I do fancy myself as a bit of a smooth operator, when it comes to the crunch, I can rarely pull it off. Even today, when I got back into the office, beaming with a cheeky grin, which said everything it needed to. Sometimes, even I cannot believe the lucky hand the man upstairs deals me. Have I finally landed on my feet? The phrase perhaps befitting, is the motto of this log. Maybe I should be more grateful of the opportunities that have come my way, rather than forever consoling myself in those that got away.

The lesson of the day is simple. If you want something go for it, no matter who or what obstacle may stand in your way. You never know whom you may meet. You never know which door may suddenly open.

Say Cheese

2005-07-15T22:02:00.000+01:00

This will come as a bit of a surprise, but I do not like having my photograph taken. Let me put this into context, a casual candid snap while on holiday is fair enough. Images captured in my work environment put me off balance. I hate the idea of being watched while at work. Someone wanting to record the moment is even worse. Yesterday we had a photographer in taking photographs of our division. This included a mixture of individual, team and then company photographs. Why, I am still quite unsure as to the reasons behind this, I'm informed my image will not be used on the company website. For this I am glad, for our company website, has cheesy photographs, which could have been taken in 1982. The last company I worked for, blue chip corporate, strongly focused on security, my photograph was taken for my identity card on the first day. I had to carry this with me while on the premises and it could be checked by security at anytime. While here, I do not have that big brother style eye watching over me, I do wonder what the purpose was of these photographs. Many companies, big and small, have opted the same approach as schools and colleges, to display a rogue's gallery in the reception area, with the names of at least the managers. Some companies include everyone, other companies only include those Employee of the Month. Stay tuned, I will keep you updated on the situation. You never know, I may even upload an odd photo on here.

This job is the one thing I have left, with myself in control. For the rest of the time, I have to compromise with others on what I want. Work does fill in the time between weekends, but as those weekends themselves are quite empty, what is left? I suppose having a focus, is not a bad thing. It can be the motivation, the springboard on to bigger and better things. Whatever happens, I will document it here, somehow.

Work has settled in the past few weeks, with the emphasis changing from quantity to quality. Closing calls within the agreed SLA rather than just a sheer numbers game. I do not see this as added pressure, just a need to keep all parties well informed and be aware of when to escalate calls to the relevant colleague. There is more of an urgency to follow the right procedure, than to get the job done as quickly as possible (which they expect you to do anyway!) The long term aim, I believe is to stamp a personal management style on the service desk function. So, no matter who the client is and which flavour of our software they are using they can expect the same level of service. While I feel this is an achievable objective, I feel it will only come about with a change of culture 'downstairs'. As a wise friend has often told me, cultures, in their very nature, are big monsters and can not be changed over night. It will be at the end of this process, this translation that I will know if this is a company I want to stay with or perhaps move elsewhere. Perhaps when that point in time comes, I will have the required experience under my belt, to move on without much fuss. Taking into account recent events, would London be the ideal destination for me? Andrew, enough of this defeatist talk, We Are Not Afraid!

Sounds Like A Maverick

2005-07-06T21:24:00.000+01:00

Reserve judgment? Do we truly ever do that as human beings? No, I think not. I think we hide behind the pleasantness of social interaction, not wanting to offend. If we were more honest with each other life would be a much better place. Yet, this blog is not the place such things of great importance to the fabric of our society. No, this is just a simple trip into the professional (for the lack of a better word) world of my work.

Driving home this evening, I was pondering the comments made by the Development Manager. Could it ever be possible to create perfect software? Software that maintained itself, that was 100% idiot proof, safe from corruptions to the operating system or the installation of other software? If this ever came about, my position as a support person would be extinct. Defending myself, and the support function I argued that developers were not doing a good enough job, for the software still had around 150 outstanding calls, there was plenty of work to be done. The thought stemmed on toward a life beyond support (some would argue after). What do I want to do with my life? How did I find myself in IT? These are just some of the questions I have been asked this week. The honest answer to them all is I do not know. While most will know me as ultra control freak, when it comes to the unseen future, I have no idea of what I want to do and where I want life to take me. Suppose, I have been following this almost purposeless path since I left school. Is it such a bad thing? Some would argue, that without a goal, man has no need to breathe the air of this planet. You just need to appreciate than while some of us know from a very young age, what their mission in life is, for the rest of us, spent our entire lives trying to find our own.

A client contact made a surprising comment or rather judgment, before actually meeting me (which she did do several months later). It was the first time I had heard such a phrase, "Andrew is either really arrogant or extremely shy..." As she left to return to her office, she made up her mind, that I belonged firmly in the camp of the reserved individual. Never want to give the impression to anyone, particularly just over the phone that I'm a bit of a maverick.

My manager was trying his best to motivate the team, and was quick to remind us all that there is no 'I' in the word. Sure enough, cheeky alec over here had to say, but there is 'me'. Having said that, I feel a sense of relief, a small burden lifted off my shoulders, with a second line analyst starting this week. While the majority of the time I was able to deal with the support calls, occasionally I was stretched. New blood brings with it new energy and the desire to continue to build on the achievements of the past. So, after a four month wait, the support desk, is back to the number to the level of man power, it should be. The numbers game continues for a few more weeks, but my focus now moves to providing the high quality service. I know that I am capable of delivery.

The Numbers Game

2005-06-27T20:43:00.000+01:00

Sometimes, I sit back and wonder, if I am more than a mere statistic in the office. My manager continues to praise me for the number of calls I have closed, almost like a football commentator giving on the fly vital facts, of calls closed, opened, ratios and best performance of the day, week, month. This month has seen my most successfully to date, as these graph below, clearly demonstrates. [Larger version available over at FlickR]

I hate targets and performance related pay and anything associated with having to reach a certain point before you can even whisper that you have achieved anything. I cannot think of another job, that so much of the administration is done by the person who is also expected to come up with the majority of the answers. So you are drawn into a vicious circle whereby you continuously increase the workload, with the finish line nowhere in sight. Yet I must not grumble, at the turn of the year, there were some four hundred calls in the backlog and we were logging calls to a close ratio of over 8:1. Things have improved and we are constantly hitting the targets as placed upon us by senior management.

My competition, if I can be as harsh to label it so, previously was almost non-existent. When a young man has images of sandy beaches on his mind, he will never truly focus on work, and I was able to capitalise on this by consistently closing more calls than him. Now, with only twenty one days on his 'time served' sheet, I find myself coming up against someone who is up for some healthy rivalry.

To spice things up further, my Manager decided to offer some beer, to the member of the help desk team that closed the most number of calls on a given day this week. There was no doubt in my mind, that I was going to win. You were afterall, talking to the guy that had closed down eighteen calls in half a day, last Wednesday (in the absence of any major encouragement from my line manager.) Of course, I won, but not my any considerable margin (one call). This was a warning, that the days of sitting back and letting things just sort themselves out, in their own accord, were well and truly over. Perhaps, this is just what I needed, a fresh challenge. Someone who is going to fight, in the least confrontational way, for each phone call, PC install, PDA rebuild and voicemail return. I will not flounder.

As always, I will meet each upcoming trial with ambitious dedication. Sometimes I need to keep reminding myself that there are thousands of worse products I could be supporting. There are also millions more of dead end, meaningless jobs I could find myself in (contracting anyone?) I must learn to be more grateful for the hand I have dealt, rather than hoping the next deck will prove more worthwhile

Six Month's Graft

2005-06-16T18:37:00.000+01:00

Today is a milestone in my career. Exactly six months ago, I started this new job, in unfamiliar surroundings, trying to get my head around the concept of a sales based industry. Those first few months, proved the most volatile, with personnel changes and a major learning curve to overcome. Now, looking back, I can only find some lyrics from Blue, to summarize, how I feel right now. "And we made a lot of sacrifice, Undid a lot of ties, Fought a lot of fights, To get where we are now, Just don't ask me how". It is never important to look back at where we have been, but to look forward at what we have yet to become. This thinking always brings out the best in me.

My job is not perfect, I am happy to admit, to anyone who may ask or care to listen for that matter. Yet it is the willingness to make an effort to be that catalyst for change, which keeps me going. My motivation? On my desk there is a photograph of my family, standing before the Taj Mahal. Need I say any more?

Last night was my first 'official' work outing with my division or should that be office family? You never know exactly how to play the game here. Once a few of your coworkers have tasted a drop of the amber nectar, they change. Most people just start talking to you more as their friend, rather than a manager, with some authority over you. Others tend to use the opportunity to melt into themselves and let the others do the talking. Role reversal, if you will. You discover that the quiet, focused individuals, suddenly have a life outside of work and tell you in detail their adventures rock climbing last September in Australia.

For as long as I can remember, I have taken great pride in meeting new and exciting people. Yet, in their professional guise, they lack that reality, that sense that they are actually one of us. Nights out like this, brings everyone down to same level and you enjoy each other company. You would not take it to the level that you are suddenly great friends with these people, that just would not work. Yet, you slowly come to the realisation of some home truths. I was trying to be clever and quite the final words of Tim, from the Office Christmas Special, 2003, but cannot find the exact words used. Anything less, will be criminal offence. Perhaps someone will be kind enough to add it as a comment and finish this posting as elegantly as I have started it.

I am one of the lucky ones, ladies and gentlemen. I have been blessed to be in full employment almost from the moment I left university, with only a total of fifty three days unemployment, which includes a three week search when I arrived home June last year. To this day, there are people with first class degrees from world class universities, still hunting for jobs, two sometimes three years after graduation. Pity those souls, for I lost my motivation within a few weeks. Life becomes a spiral and you slowly find yourself falling into a world of self pity and low, very low self esteem. That story, however, can wait for another day. For I am sure there are many more 'in between' job days to be clocked onto my speedometer. Plus, the experience of being made redundant, don't want to miss that off my 'to do' list! ;)

I Will Survive

2005-06-04T16:14:00.000+01:00

So, I survived the four days on my own. To be honest, I was perhaps exaggerating the task and there was only one moment when I thought I could not cope. It was Tuesday afternoon, the phones were busy, I had several jobs to get done and could feel a headache coming on. Yet this was not the moment to pass out, this was the moment to prove myself. Slowly the heavy throbbing in my head subsided and I was able to come back and focus on work. Did I prove myself? Well I still feel that this was not the greatest of obstacles to be put ahead of me. I met the challenge, yet there is much more to come.

Without wanting to reveal too much, there have been a major background change to the other division of the company. Unexpected, the news took me by surprise, for at first it went against everything I thought the company I worked for, represented. While new to the industry, I am in the dark to the big hitters, but that is not to say, I feel a rash unconsidered decision has been made. While there is no noticeable change to operations, perhaps over time the climate will change. Having witness similar events for companies my Dad worked for, I do, on this occasion hold some hope. For once, this will be a change for the better, opening up a whole new group of opportunities. I will try my best to keep you posted on events, but do to the commercially sensitive nature of proceedings, I may have to keep my insight brief and hypothetical.

What do you think of recruitment agencies? Well, I expect your opinion will be on the whole negative and I tend to agree. Several have suddenly come out of the woodwork, so to speak. One, as recent as this week. Funny how they were silent, before Christmas when I was desperately hunting high and low for job. What suddenly makes them think that I will decide to jump into bed and take any of the positions they have to offer. While I am the first to admit my job is not perfect, there is nothing, right now that can take me away. Sure, there are days when I wish I was doing something more productive, challenging, less client facing and with greater responsibility but I have to appreciate where I am on the rung of the ladder. While the top looks far far away, looking down, I see a long way to the ground. Why would I leave a job after six months and start all over again? Why destroy all the progress you have made? My mind is set. Experience is crucial and I have more to gain here, than eyeing up some dream job in the City. As uncertain the future is, I have to focus on the present and what there is to gain, to achieve here.

All my life, people have asked me, Andrew what do you want to do? What do you want to become? In the years since I have left school, the answer to that question has become more vague and ambiguous. The honest answer is I do not know. I have always been an opportunitist and tried to make the most of the position that has landed in my lap. For example, back in the dizzy heights of 2002, when I was looking for a placement, I was offered a job I did not really want and was holding on for another job, while more suitable for me, never came through. Despondent, I was, yes. Though by the time July came around, I knew I had to take this challenge on and show those doubters wrong. The stage was set and my second big break came and went. Working in London for one of the biggest law firms in the world, was a dream come true. The reality that hit home, eventually, last June. At the height of Euro 2004, I came to discover the harsh truth of working in our capital. Inflated prices, expensive travel costs and long days. Looking back, I do not know how I coped for those five months and kept on smiling. Then again, even now, I do not know how I drove 600 miles a week during my placement year. Why the opportunity never bore fruition, the experience alone was a God send. Note to self, never contract again!

For My Next Trick

2005-05-27T22:50:00.000+01:00

A posting at last, and well overdue. How has work been? Each week appears to blend into the next. The working week has never passed by so quickly, and it is not as if the job is repetitive in any sense. Weekly tasks can be rather tedious but they do not bother me. Work is the one constant that consumes all my energy at the moment and I remain focused to the cause. If I keep plugging away, I may eventually get the breakthrough that I have long for. Until then, it is simply a case of binding my time and meeting each challenge with unnerved ambitious dedication.

My next test is as soon as Tuesday next week. Four days covering the help desk on my own. While this should not pose a major problem for a man of my ability, there are many things to consider. Firstly this is my first official opportunity to prove myself. In early January, I had to work two consecutive days on my own, due to the ill health of my colleagues, but that was more of a case of playing on my ignorance as a new member of staff. This time around the goalposts have moved, drastically. While measures have been put in place to help me cope during the busier periods of the day, I sense that the job will, for the first time become almost unbearable. What I fear the most is not being able to deal with all the calls I receive. The burden of expectations falls heavily upon my shoulders, as does, for once the responsibility.

I hear Ron Grainer's original theme tune to Tales of the Unexpected playing in the background as I write this. I may not know what Tuesday will bring but I will be sure to report back everything in seven days time. There is nothing more to say, apart from wish me luck. Not sure if I can seriously pull this one out of the hat! Even I have limits to my powers!

Manic Monday

2005-05-16T18:41:00.000+01:00

Coming into the office, there is the realisation that yet another long working day and week lie ahead. The first thing I do is switch on my PC. Taking a few seconds to boot, I usually login and within a few minutes am catching up on e-mail, looking at my call backlog and putting on my headset. This morning was different, for I was confronted with this screen.

Never before had I seen any PC boot up, with Wingdings font to replace the standard system font, Tahoma. After a discussion with IT and my Manager, I finally got my PC working. Rebooting did not work, and attempting to switch the regional settings did not appear to work either. By going into the Control Panel and viewing the Fonts folder, legible text started to reappear. A final shut down and cold start did the job. Otherwise, I saw the patience of my colleague really being tested with me not helping out answering the phone. Online and oncall, I was back, as I should have been some fifteen minutes before. Later, I would have to get to the bottom of this problem, but that can wait until later in the week. For now, a quick spyware check with Adaware will suffice.

Mondays in their very nature are hectic. Even though I come into the office at a regular office hour, there is always an atmosphere of strong dedication around me. Fingers tapping away on keyboards and the phone being answered in a overtly heavy tone, with the caller trying to disguise the frustration in their voice. The Support mailbox had twelve unread messages waiting, yet there was also the tedious administrative tasks that involves creating various reports and charts. This morning felt as if it would last forever. Problems and major issues to resolve did not help ease the burden of the day. Thankfully, I had a special weapon to get me through the day. Firstly there were some e-mails bounced back and forth between myself and Nazma. Busy day, friends got me through. Then later in the morning, an e-mail from HP. I had been thinking of when she would find the time to reply to message, if ever. So, therefore was presently surprised to hear from her. Then, the early afternoon period after lunch, when you do tend to find yourself slacking, I catch up with another friend on MSN. Then again, perhaps I should not be admitting, some of my misdemeanors within the workplace, in such a public domain, even if I tend to disagree with some of the figures. Please give me some credit for my questionable work ethic.

Skype the Limit

2005-04-22T22:21:00.000+01:00

A few weeks in, my then Manager handed me her Dell Axim X5 PDA, explaining that she had no real use for it. Delighted with this first major prize from the workplace, I tried to make the most of my new toy. Even purchasing a Compact Flash Wireless Card from eBuyer. Only one man could dent my dreams and it was only a matter of time before Hussein gave me his fifty pence of wisdom. Without bluetooth or built in wireless, "Andrew you have nothing more than a large glorified mp3 player." :(

While I cannot doubt the device was from a bygone age, it did still serve a purpose and was adequate with surfing simple web pages and using my MSN Mobile. There are times when even I, get bored of sitting on a desktop machine and want to switch to something more portable. :)

This Thursday, without warning one of the founding fathers of the company, came upstairs, a rare event, which meant something signficant was about to happen. He mentioned X30 and then, in the next instant, two boxes were bought up, with DELL in bright blue printed on the side. My face lit up. My birthday had come almost exactly eleven months early. with wireless built in, bluetooth, the possibilities were endless. The improvement from the X5, was clearly visible from the overall design, size, weight and packaging.

To describe our development team, as just a group of programmers, staring ot their PCs, and rummaging through line after line of code, would be disrespectful. Therefore, it is more fitting to refer to the whole downstairs team, minus a few managers, as our R&D section. Here, working with the cutting edge technologies, to roll out the next wave of mobile solutions of our product. I came down and saw some of the new software, currently in development and was amazed. GPRS would be utilised, as well as WiFi if within range of a hotspot. The killer features though, are the ability to transmit automatically, whenever either one of this transmission modes is available. If not, data is queued and sent as soon as connectivitiy is obtained. From a support perspective, a whole new architecture has been considered, which is unique for portable CRM solution. Self installing software, from standard media (such as CF or SD) which also include the data for the user. Should anything happen to the device, everything can be easily transfered to another device, with no need to have the software reinstalled on handheld by a member of the support team. Oh joy! Yet, before I get carried away, all these projects are pending and not near the finished article and everything I have mentioned is still very much a theory or concept. The reality, will be far from the beautiful plans in the minds of our R&D team.

On Friday morning, one of the directors came over to my desk and told me to download Skype for my new handheld. Explaining that he had been using it on his Dell laptop, but it was far from practically portable. Taking this advice, I downloaded the program, installed and ran it, creating myself an account. For some reason, I was not able to gain access to the wireless network in the office. So it would have to wait for me to get it sorted at home. Thankfully, it did not take me long to connect up to my wireless network, if with the guidance from the web. So, here I am, about to begin a new adventure, care to join me?

My Desktop

2005-04-08T21:10:00.000+01:00

The original computer I was given, when I joined the company, was a rental. While I had no problem with this to begin with, it was an aging Compaq and I had been rolling out far superior d530 machines by HP in my previous contract roll. As time has gone by, the limitations of the computing resources before me, became quite clear. The specification was just not adequate for the demands of a frontline support role. My Windows XP kept freezing and crashing, with every byte squeezed from the available 384 mega bytes, and almost full 18 gigabyte drive. Every so often it would have a go slow moment, which you could compensate for but it was when it completely stopped responding that you found yourself hitting the reset button.

What I needed was a new PC, but what I needed first was a masterplan. Consulting IT, I decided to go for the rental replacement route. Within a few days, this was overruled by a member of senior management and the decision taken to purchase outright brand new equipment. My eyes lit up (as they often do in such circumstances) and I begin drawing up my dream specification. While I am not too keen on Dell they do make exceedingly solid laptops and their service is way above the rest of the industry. The difference in cost between the rental machine and the brand new Dell was noticeable, particularly when you took into account the removal of bundle software packages from Bill.

If you consider that this machine now takes up around a quarter of the space of my last machine and does not have the temptation to be showered under a mountain of paperwork. The case is unique, small quiet and discreet (apart from at boot up). It is also very cool (in comparison to the 83 degree plastic melting d530) and you hardly notice that it actually on.

What do you think of when you look at this desk? All the signs are there, of a conscientious, dedicated employee, taking pride in a clean, professional work area. Such a shame, that you all know the reality behind this illusion. Maybe it is time you asked too, some deep dark questions?

In other news, work bloggers (are they referring to me?) have been advised on some guidelines to protect their online journals and more importantly the subject they discuss - namely their job! Shame that I forgot that the first rule is to remain anonymous. You could not see me, leaving a piece of cyberspace I call my own, without placing my name somewhere on it. Although there has been less limelight on work blogs over the past few weeks, with other more pressing issues taking the headlines on our news networks. Fantastic to see even the BBC taking on the great ambition of a blog as part of their coverage of the Electon.

Regime Change

2005-03-21T21:18:00.000Z

Even before I left for the journey for work on Monday morning, I knew today would be different. There was a sense of anticipation, hoping that my imagination was working overtime and that the day would come out on top. I pulled into the car park, to not a single space available. It was a few minutes past 9am. There was no option, I just had to put up into one of the bays, blocking in two, if not four vehicles. Looking out of my car, I looked across the valley at the picture postcard view. It did not feel the same, as it done, during my first interview. Was this just a taste of things to come? Taking a long deep sigh, I headed into the office.

Overall there was a buzz around my block. The hustle and bustle of people moving into their new working environment. Crates, boxes, and totes were being unpacked, with the majority of the hard labour of the office move (servers & furniture) having taken place on the preceding Saturday. Making my way to my desk, I found some document in a bright blue plastic wallet. Taking a seat, I quickly filed through the paperwork, a car park plan, new details following the office move, including a fine system (which warrants a blog entry in it's own right) and a chain for my access key fob. Yet, what caught my eye the most, was my name. Yeah, I know anything for vanity.

Placing the folder to one side, I booted up my PC, knowing that today was going to be a busy day. With the arrival of the rest of the company (be it the business division) would mean changes. New procedures, everything done by the book, having to conduct yourself in a professional manner. The honeymoon was well and truly over. Results were crucial now, needing to give the performance of a high quality support desk. From now on in, I have to up my game and show them all I am made of sterner stuff.

My previous manger, left only three working days ago but her legacy lives on. She did have big ambitions for the helpdesk. One of these was the purchase of wireless headsets to let us, support analysts roam free around the office and not be tied down to our desks. My original headset with poor audio reception, looked as old as the performance it gave, while taking calls. Although you could just about hear the caller on the end of the line, it was often difficult for them to hear you, even after adjusting the mouthpiece to be within touching distance of your front gums. Finally, a few weeks ago, my manager ordered the new Plantronics devices. Having already been unimpressed with the performance of the Nokia Bluetooth wireless headset at Christmas, I had high expectations for the device. The CS60, which sounds like a name more suited for a Swedish car than a telephone headset. Having now used the product for several weeks, I have to say I, it has surpassed all expectation. At last I have the ability to multitask, like only a man can! :P Taking a call, talking a user through some simple steps, while working on a laptop, in the other side of the office. The freedom, is truly life changing, and my 9 to 5 becomes less of a desk job. I can get up, and chase developers (downstairs) while still having the user on the end of the line. While we have not got the automatic headset lifter in place yet, I am sure once we work out the perfect way to place it under the handset (without the change of the receiver falling off) we will be there. Then, I will be operating completely handsfree. For now, I am enjoying the wireless world.

Don't Nobody Go Nowhere

2005-03-17T20:47:00.000Z

Moving forward but building upon many of the issues raised in my previous posting, I found myself in a very strange world. Each morning I awake, looking forward to going into the office. Why is this? The people I work with are a crucial factor. In a very short space of time, I feel I have not only become a respected and valuable member of the team, but the technology division of the company. For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed helping people, providing them with the assistance they require. There is nothing more reassuring that to hear the words, "Thank you" after spending an age speaking a frustrated user, trying to get their software to work. Job satisfaction comes two fold, in this arena, from your immediate colleagues but also the sales personnel, managers and head office contacts.

The week began with a site visit on Tuesday over in Oxfordshire. My time working away from the office, gave me the opportunity to come to terms with exactly how the industry operate. Of all our clients, this was one of the smallest teams with a handful of reps covering the whole of the United Kingdom. Size is not everything (no matter what your girlfriend/partner tells you) the experience of visiting a client and meeting representatives in the field, is always worthwhile. Luckily I was accompanied by a developer to ease some of the burden. The task was quite straight forward, installing V2 of our software onto a half a dozen laptops and two desktop machines. The most difficult task was obtaining the passwords to gain access to Windows. Although I had been hoping for a laid back day, the prospect of returning to the office as indeed we did for 3pm was a slight shock. My hopes of visiting a shopping village in the heart of the English countryside, where somewhat dampened.

My working hours have been extended, to provide some relief for a new client, who rolled out in the final week of February. Most of the companies I have worked for, I have gone the extra mile and mucked in with some extra hours. In my last position, this became, not a bone of contention, but barrier to perhaps permanent employment. Back then, my working hours were extended to ten hours and my door to door day was almost fifteen hours. The journey was the killing machine, grinding me down, on weekly basis, especially when there were delays. Now, I have nothing to worry about, with an average journey cost of £2 per day, covering seven miles. Although I will be carrying out detailed research on my exact mileage expense in the coming months. Tonight is a case in point, I came onto the dual carriageway, put my foot on the throttle and cruised at 70, all the way to a stop at Handy Cross. That just would never be the case when I left the office at 6pm on the dot, or if I was working the earlier shift and finished at 4.30pm. Although I have come to realise that as tempting the prospect sounds of an early shift, you never leave at 4.30pm, because the phones are just about to get melt. The late shift, just works for me at the moment. I get to drop off my Mum and sister at their respective schools, and cruise into work with plenty of time to allow for delays building up on the M4. Maybe in the summer, when the weather improves, I will want to make the most of the day. Then again, maybe I won't.

Today was an average day, if there is just a way to describe working on a help desk. Everyday is different and I learn new things almost with every call I take. At times I feel I am overwhelmed with calls, all at sea with no sign of a response to my distress signals. Then there are moments, when I feel confident, in control and actually know more than the people I'm speaking to (as always should be the case). With various technical glitches taking place, as would occur with any major move for a company, I found myself yesterday afternoon and for the best part of this afternoon taking calls on a company mobile. Not ideal, but at times I was frustrated with the situation, with every message I picked up, users explaining their problems, almost pleading for a return phone call. For every call I took or returned, there were another four to six voicemail message left. I only have two hands you know, I thought to myself, staring at the 6310i. Falling into a spell of despondency, I seriously considering, is this truly the job for me?

Instead of continued fire to fuel these negative vibes, I just got on with the job at hand and watched the final few minutes tick away on my Windows system tray. As I locked up and left for the day, the cool breeze hitting my face for the first time, since the morning, giving a small sigh of relief. One of the managers, was also heading for his car for the journey home. After asking how I was, he entered into a quick conversation of how I was finding this on the support desk. His final words, brought a smile to my face. "It's worth sticking it out Andrew, and several doors of opportunity will open for you." For a split second I tried to take in what had just been said, before giving my response, "Don't worry, I'm not going nowhere". Suddenly my meaningless pondering, just over an hour ago, melted away, to be replaced with a warm glow of what tomorrow may bring.

Less Swings More Roundabouts

2005-03-06T22:30:00.000Z

It has been a while since I posted, finding the process of juggling two blogs extremely difficult. Particularly as my personal blog is the full on, unrestricted experience, therefore taking up much more of my time. Another reason, or rather excuse is the fact that little has been happening at work to warrant a posting. Although, let me give you a quick roundup.

Not only have there been changes in the office location. Personnel are also moving on and that is not a reference to the Human Resources department. It is a sad moment, when an employee decides for whatever reason to leave their job for another. While you always have to respect their decision, the sense of loss is evident from the first day, they are no longer on hand for support. As human beings, I think we tend t to rely on the experience, wisdom and even judgment of our colleagues. Although I am learning a vast amount about the software everyday, the knowledge that there was always a cheerful figure to turn to when the going got tough, was reassuring. Particularly when you have an angry, frustrated representative on the phone. However, we learn to cope without them and move on. With one departure, brings forth the arrival of another, although even I am beginning to believe in the curse of the Help Desk. In terms of the move, my office space, has only been beamed up a single storey, with a new larger desk, 15" TFT screen, new keyboard, and a workspace, in the form of a free desk next to me. Now all I need to do, is convince the IT department to sign me off a new desktop PC. Will keep you posted on these changes, as for it is not until the final week of March that move is finally completed.

Returning the focus back to work. Yes, I do actually carry out some task while in the office. The situation I find myself in now, is difficult to explain. If I was a firefighter, my job would entail constantly putting out small scale fires, while the towering inferno burns in the background. At times, I feel I know less than that people I'm speaking to, which is frustrating. Adding to the difficulty of leavers, as noted above, it is not a simple of case of transferring the call to another member of the support team. On Thursday 17th March, I will not only be the longest serving member of the desk but with that label, the most experienced. Just do not ask me how, I find myself in this double edged sword scenario. While it is great to be at the focal point of such great responsibility, it may be a case of too much too soon. Time is what I need. Time to learn and understand. While this working on a helpdesk, is in itself a learning experience, sometimes I feel tied down to the red tape. Can you name another industry, which is as bureaucratic? Where you create the work for yourself, by physically logging the call on the computer and watching as your open calls, jump from a measly twenty, forty, then seventy, then over one hundred. There is no problem following standard procedure, but at times, there is no documentation, so you are discovering the rules as you go along. Is bureaucracy such a bad thing? Sure, systems need to be in place and the details need to be recorded. Yet, in my current circumstances, with an totally unmanageable call queue, I afford logging yet another call unless it is completely necessary, or I know it can easily be passed onto a colleague. When I try to go through systematically and try and close closes (should that be proactive in resolve the problems) I find the following dilemma occurs. I will close a handful, maybe five old calls on a good days, only to find myself logging at least double that number into my queue. In which Western civilization is that progress?

Virtual PC

2005-02-04T21:42:00.000Z

Friday, came around, as it always does. Although today, the final day of the working week was different. The decision had been made to act, and I was going to follow through with my plans. Something had to be done and I was not alone in holding such a strong opinion. The alternative which had been suggested, even used at times was impractical and time consuming. Yet, I had a workable solution which could give both support and the testing element of development some much needed assistance.

Virtual PC is a Microsoft product, if by brand name only. The original technology was designed by the Connectix Corporation, which was then eaten by the Seattle computing giant. The software emulates multiple operating systems on one host PC. In essence you can have Windows 95, 98, ME and OS/2 running on a standard Windows XP system. (All dependent on available hard drive space). The beauty of the software is that it is completely independent of the host, and therefore gives you the freedom to manipulate the configuration with no risk of damaging other programs or settings of the host computer. If you are wondering what I could do a Virtual PC, let me explain.

Version three of our software is built on SQL architecture, leaving behind the world of Visual Basic and Access. A minor SQL database running locally on the user's laptop thanks to Microsoft Database Engine. The nature of the product means it can only be exist in one instance on the operating system. This would be fine, in an ideal world, if each client release was identical. Of course, this is not the case, and each client has a slightly different version customised of the product. Therefore, if customer A calls with a query on a report and I have customer Z software installed on my PC, there is no other option. I have to manually uninstall the product and then install the software for customer A, then look into their query. There had to be another way, an answer.

Well, until I find that answer, this will have to be patch. My plan is to create a base image of Windows 2000, updated with Service Pack 4 and then install a copy of v3 for each client into their own Virtual PC. This will take some time, but I the objective is to be able to load and access a working version of the software on my PC within minutes and be able to replicate exactly the issue the end user is experiencing. With some way to go, as this personal project takes place in the background, in between answering calls, reconfiguring Personal Digital Assistants, loading laptops, and beginning the laborious but nevertheless necessary task of documentation.

In my hunt around the web to discover more about Virtual PC and it's rivals of which there are many, I came across this blog by a member of the Microsoft development team. Useful resource to note the limitations and upgrades to the software. In time, I will stumble upon other sites that will aid me in my project, but for the time being, this journal is enough. If you think of anything, let me know.

Ready for a Sequel

2005-01-27T20:06:00.000Z

Although I was more familiar with mySQL than it's older more sophisticated cousin, SQL I knew the potential potency of the technology. Apart from a basic trainer at University, today was the first time I gained some valuable hands on commercial experience with the back end of our software. My colleague, decided this morning was the ideal time to install SQL server, spending several hours installing and customising Enterprise Manager. Thankfully, the whole process, although time consuming is less complicated than it sounds, I was up and running with full administrative rights. Finally, I would be granted access, given the power and the ability to sound slightly more informed when it comes to the latest version of our market leading software.

Following on from my last entry, weblogs have suddenly once again, come back into the forefront of the media. Particularly online journals such as this, which give an insight into the life of an everyday office job. Now that more and more employers are becoming intuitive, to both the positive and negative consequence of such open, candid reporting from the frontline. Providing a motive for my blogging is difficult. I fell into the routine of updating my personal website, and then over time, emotions, views, personal thoughts and deep reflects started to come across in my writing. As a purely natural process, you can chart, quite visibly the move from a 'latest updates' page, to a comprehensive, roundup of recent events in my life.

Not exactly sure, when or why I decided to create a work based blog. I opened this Blogger account in July 2003. This was promptly after I had finished my work placement and had a brief rest bite before beginning my final year at University in September 2003. At the time, my personal site was in dire need of a makeover and I was hoping to incorporate a dedicated journal, rather than hard coding my own HTML. In the end, I opted to go for the fully customised approach. So the site, http://tegala.blogspot.com (which no longer exists) was left neglected for over a year before the birth of this blog. Not sure why I started writing a second blog (who would really want to double their workload, when they can just about handle the original personal diary). [T3G:2] was getting filled with too many technical entries, alienating many of my readers. This way, I have a home for all my computer related thoughts, reviews and experiences. I think I just need to give this log the opportunity to develop, grow and gain popularity. Then I can judge what course it will take in the months, years ahead. As a great man, Abe Lincoln once said, "If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance".

Talking Telephone Numbers

2005-01-10T21:23:00.000Z

I came into work this morning as usual. Checking the Support Mailbox and then turning my attention to the voicemail messages left over the weekend. Six had been left, with two standard calls looking to chase up support issues that had been logged in the previous week. Then the final four came as a shock. All reps usually leave messages with their full name, rather than a title and a surname. The voice of Mrs. Harris and Mrs. O'Donnell sounded unfamiliar, even to my fresh ears. The content of both calls bought some much needed humour to a dull, wet and windy Monday morning. Both women sounded elderly, possibly living alone. The calls originated from the Lancashire area and inquired as to when electricity would be returned to their homes. They were cold, and Mrs. Harris was sure the policeman had told her the power would return by 2pm. Her call had been made at 4.30pm.

How can this happen? Well apparently our freephone support line number is close to within a few digits to a BT support number. I do not recall my Manager mentioning anything about fuel suppliers. Just waiting for the next installment from the strange world that is the wrong telephone numbers. Stay tuned.

Life of Riley

2005-01-06T17:24:00.000Z

I have been able to observe at first hand the life of a developer. In my previous employment, trips down to the software house were rare and mainly for training purposes. The developers were tucked away, in a dark room towards the back of the building. This came as quite a shock in the second week of my placement, when I was being introduced to all the people behind the office management software. Guided around the building, I was not even introduced to a single member of the development team. Their 'home' was pointed out, and in a extremely geeky attempt to be humorous, was told, "don't worry we feed them". This was my one brush with programmers until now.

The nature of the business I work in, does not allow for a similar approach, with defined roles and employees shoeboxed into their designated area. Support and Development are very much intertwined, heavily rely upon each other. As a consequence, we find ourselves in the same room. So, given an opportunity to observe the development team at close hand, I have deduced the following. Developers are overwhelmingly speaking male. Although this is changing, it is a slow process. They give the impression of independent thinkers, happy to be left alone to their own devices and to be quite honestly, just get the job done. Eyes transfixed upon their individual computer screens, with a few literally plugged in and listening to their CDs / MP3 collections. The business operates a smart come casual dress code, but even this is taken to the limit, with the team wearing to a degree whatever they like. This high level of concentration gives the aura of the untouchables and I was apprehensive to walk over and ask them questions. Preferring to jot down my query in an e-mail, knowing all to well that it would be a few hours before I received a reply and I needed an instant response. Putting a brave face, I headed over to one of them and asked my question, being over apologetic for disturbing them from pressing projects. To my surprise, they were very friendly helpful and gave me the time I needed to understand how to resolve the issue. This small episode proves many things to me not just as an employee but as a person. Never judge a book by it's cover and more importantly, looks and previous prejudice can cloud us from looking at each case entirely on merit.

Now my work blog is beginning to grow, although, I have yet to hear any response from readers, I think it is important to clearly give my writing a purpose. Just to reinterate, the obvious if need be. Mandatory in the wake of recent events, more closer to home. With unshaken determination, I will attempt to uphold the privacy of my employee, work colleagues, and associated employees. For this reason, no real names or locations are given. All observations are my own personal thoughts and not at all the views of my employer or fellow employees. Although giving any corporate style disclaimer on my blog feels so uncomfortable and unnatural, it is essential in the current climate. This blog is not a trade secret, but then again in the same vain is not open public knowledge. Unlike other job blogs, this is not written anonymously, mainly due to the fact that I am constantly craving some sort of publicity, even if in such a shameless self proclaiming fashion.

Let me know your thoughts on this blogging genre and of any blogs you recommend I should read.

Haunted by Insomnia

2005-01-01T21:50:00.001Z

It was the night before New Years Eve and I could not sleep. Attempts to drift off casually with Up All Night from Five Live on the stereo was proving unsuccessful. So after a few minutes thought, reaching over for the remote, I switched on the television. At this small hour, BBC News 24 was broadcasting with the nightly slot from across the pond. Only a show from America could be called, World Nightly News but unfortunately the main anchor for the show, Peter Jennings was replaced by a female colleague. The final slot was regarding a subject very much close to my heart. Never have I consider myself to be part of an online revolution but it is amazing when you consider how far the media ecosystem or more commonly referred to blogosphere has come. There was a statistic that was mentioned, which opened my eyes to the significance of these online journals, they are much more than just a passing trend. All you need to do is look at some more detailed analysis.

Where as I feel my personal blogging has not changed the world and will never deliver some of the greater good, it is satisfying to know the power of my fellow band, referred to as citizen journalists. To understand the truly historic context of this blogging revolution you have to turn to Time Magazine. Would you believe that they named, President George W. Bush as their Person of the Year, the American Revolutionary. Second place may be the first loser, but for bloggers, the mere thought means some inroads are being made. Scrolling down the list, I personally noted several points which have proved over time to be genuine. If this is just the beginning of the revolution, just wait to see what the future has in store. As it becomes more apart of our daily lives rather than a separate chore.

So the new year brings me back down to earth with a bump. Reality check. Back to work on Tuesday. The holiday is over and with it, any extension to my honeymoon period in the office. Nothing more than I expected, if I am honest with myself. I intend to bury myself in my work, keep myself busy, make friends and ultimately prove myself. I have been here before and cannot under estimate the scale of the task that lies before me. I will do my utmost best and all the trials and tribulations will be documented here (if somewhat edited to save any unnecessary embarrassment). My original aim of creating this new log was to have a professional outlet for my career aspirations and personal development. Leaving the path free for all personal ramblings to be posted on my personal blog.

Do you make New Year Resolutions? I never bother, but I want to set some targets or goals for the coming year, which I will be able to provide evidence for on this blog. If you have any serious worthwhile suggestions, feel free to leave your comments.

Real World Real Christmas

2004-12-27T19:24:00.000Z

Several years ago, during a Christmas now anything but a distant memory, my cousin Susan said something. It was one of those moments, when the words spoken meant little at the time, but ring so true now, several years later. Unable to recall her exact words, her train of thought headed in the direction of the fact that, "when your working, you'll only get two days off at Christmas". I ignored this comment, well maybe ignore is too strong an objection. I allowed the comment to drift above and beyond my apprehension. At the time I still had major mileage left in the old excuse for Christmas in the form of two weeks away from school. Then of course there was college and University. No need to think about Christmas holiday beyond those simple two words. A celebration of a birth and time away from teachers, books, PE and dreaded exams.

Now look where I find myself. This is my first official 'real world' Christmas experience. Lucky for me, being in the private sector and working for a generous enterprise, I do not have to return to work during the 'in between period' before the New Year. If you discount my experience on placement, which thankfully followed a similar pattern.

Christmas has changed. Nolonger can I reside in the knowledge that I am guaranteed a set number of days away from work. The real world waits for no man and for once I find myself eager to join the Rat Race. Maybe because now finally after hunting high and low, the dream job lands comfortably on my lap. Some people are lucky, they land the perfect position within a few weeks. For the rest of us it takes time, trials and many tribulations.

This discussion took me to along another train of thought. What does Christmas mean to business? Ultimate the work still has to be done, regardless of the time of year. The atmosphere around the office does change, although I have only had limited exposure to this. Colleagues, whom usually appear to be set in their grouchy ways, have an air of excitement even charisma about them. (Shame it only lasts three weeks before the holiday). Sending Christmas cards, an annual tradition which would appear at face value, to be the most simple of tasks. Yet it becomes a battle to see who can send the most elaborate or most expensive. Then we move onto the final element, the Christmas party. Hmmm. The less said about that the better. However, I would like to point out that my firm has taken a fresh approach of making this social event for employees only. Not sure if this from a financial or the ugly result of a feud during a round of office politics.

With the new year, days away I have a few wishes. That 2005 brings with it success and hope for the future. Life has changed but for good reason, so let us make this final transition as simple as possible. Allowing the focus instead to be on the job the lies ahead, full of challenges and uncertainty. All the best to you and yours as the final few hours of 2004 pass us by.

Some People

2004-12-21T21:21:00.000Z

So work begins to quicken to a heavy pace and I find a collective of my colleagues neatly lined up on my MSN list. Strange. What will be stranger, when I am having conversations with employees based at the other side, rather than those sitting across from my desk.

Moving into a new industry brings with it many pitfalls. An unknown territory always feels insecure. Regardless of the context, we always feel uneasy when driving on a new stretch of road, or walking through a new shopping centre. Particularly when everyone else seems so well at home. Comfortable is the world I would use but when you realise that the office itself has just been converted from a barn and technology thrown in with the people fending for themselves. They refer to the real world as a being a "jungle" out there.

Along with coming to the terms with the striking way the business operates who also have to understand the various aspects of the business. By 'business' I am referring to clients, the very people I will be supporting over the coming few months. Over the past week I have only started to realise the grave importance of my role. By taking the calls, I would be the bridge between the business and the client. Unlike before, when all my customers (such an inappropriate description) were internally based, now I would rarely make face to face contact. Although I will miss this aspect of my previous position, I know that I have to make the most of the opportunity before me here. I see a long hard road ahead and there is only one person able to meet the challenge with not just ambitious dedication but to surpass all expectation. Above all, one crucial element is key to aid me achieve my goals. Positive Mental Attitude. No matter how bad and inreversable a situation becomes, I will have to tell myself. Look where I've been and just look where I'm heading. For once, the future is bright, if not orange, then of course, maruno blue. Always hold dear to your heart the thought that, "Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it".

I began answering the telephones today. Starting anything is always a daunting prospect, particularly when you are still trying to find your feet with the product. Users asking me questions about the product? How do I cope, when I know so little about the product. Then my manager departed the office at 4.30pm and I was left very much to my own devices. For a while, all was quiet and I hoped that the phone wouldn't ring, anxiously watching the clock to tick over to 6pm. Then, it rang. Within a split second my mind switched into over drive. Hot out sheer nerves but seeing an window to prove myself rather than continue to doubt my own ability. This was an opportunity for me to prove myself. The more I spoke to clients on the phone, the more my confidence would grow, as would my speed and exposure to dealing with various support calls. Not sure why I was so apprenhensive about this to begin with. Yet I notice the same reaction surface once again, as it did some six months earlier (to the day!). There is something about being new that puts you in an extremely difficult situation. You want to develop your skills and product knowledge knowing your barrier is only time. You are also cautious to the fact that you want to do things by the book and more importantly correctly.

Just as I am finding my feet and learning many things, not specific to the job but more general to the life in a new position. I stumble upon some very useful advice. Plenty more were that came from, even if hunting down the home grown material is a little more tiresome. Just my luck that such priceless reading is never close to hand the day I need it most. I don't know, some people, just don't have the luck.

Case of the OS

2004-12-18T20:31:00.000Z

Evolution is an interesting process, in or out of the technology realm. Watching technologies be replaced before your very eyes, is perhaps the most revealing. The best example of this is with everyday consumer formats. In the computing world, there is something more important than hardware that needs to be updated every few years and brings with it, several blessing and pitfalls.

Software, in this world dominated by one man, one vision and one unbelievable way of doing things. (Not always the decision of common sense.) Perhaps if the Big Blue had been slightly more picky about their bed fellows then we would have had perhaps a different story than the one written.

Looking through my more recent, IT related employment history, I see the devil at work. Let us begin with my industrial placement, where I find myself coping with tantrums of Windows 98 some four years after its initial release. Fast forward two years later, I find myself working for the biggest law firm on the planet and my biggest assignment to date. With the new position came not just greater responsibility but a new operating system. My exposure to Windows 2000 had been somewhat limited to this point. Of course, a few friends at University had preferred the stability of this compared to the latest offering from Seattle. When you look deep down at some of the more integral features, the differences are purely cosmetic.

Now the wheel of evolution has turned once more and I am working on Windows XP. Having a standard platform across both my professional and personal landscape makes life much easier on several levels.

Yet to be quite honest, I am still only most comfortable back on the old 'not quite' 32 bit environment. Perhaps because over the years, I was able to rummage around the arteries of almost each byte. Nothing can beat raw desktop experience. (Even if it does effect your quality of your eyesight!)

A New Dawn, A New Day

2004-12-16T22:37:00.000Z

You know you have arrived at a firm that takes a rather unorthodox approach when you are advised to install and sign into MSN Messenger. This becomes more understandable when you consider the globe as merely a Big Blue Ball. For me this was not an easy task, afterall I had a secret identity to protect. Also there is also the difficult of having a virgin installation of the IM client, which looks like.

Then of course, I have to spend twenty minutes fooling around and reconfiguring MSN Plus. Without the sponsor program of course. Then MSN 6.2 becomes much more bearable.

(These are the actual 'live' images from work, rather than recreations I had stored previously.) Now, just what is the appeal of bespoke applications?. From a support point of view, I was rubbing my hands at the thought of supporting one product and a finite set of issues. Somewhat shortsighted but never the less, not too far from the truth. Maybe open source is not quite, open sesame!

Please note for future reference, when I am signed into MSN as 'Andrew' it is a clear indication that I am at work, so therefore refrain from communicating unless your request is urgent. Normal service resumes when of course, the man behind the mask, returns.

Situation Vacant

2004-12-09T16:52:00.000Z

Position filled.

Like The Stars

2004-12-08T19:27:00.000Z

You Still Keep On Shining Down Your Light On Me

For a change, luck is on my side as I have been invited back for a second interview following on from last Friday. Some positive feedback for once and an opportunity finds itself at my door. How different and unique from my last position. Looks like my imposed holiday will have abruptly come to an end. Not a minute too soon.

When Words

2004-12-08T11:21:00.000Z

Sometimes, I listen and wonder if this man is for real. Words alone, are not enough.

"I am not pleased," said Mourinho. "I cannot be pleased when my team loses because I am a professional. Only stupid people don't understand that I want to win every game. The difference was that motivation, desire and self-belief which Porto had."

The Hunt Continues

2004-12-01T15:51:00.000Z

Been hunting sixteen days with very little success. There is never an ideal time to be looking for a job but the last few months of the year are extremely quiet. The jobs that are available require at least three years of extensive experience, which has been my main obstacle. Having expanded the scope and avenues of my job search the response has still been somewhat limited. Early phone calls with the promise of exciting roles, have failed to deliver any results. Not all bad news though. I have an interview on Friday and have just found out I have another interview later on the same day. Maybe, just maybe lady luck is looking down on with me smiling eyes.

It's Showtime...

2004-11-24T16:23:00.000Z

There is nothing more satisfying than getting something finished. Be it an difficult as a A Level assignment, or simple as cleaning the car. One of the greatest sayings to come from my Dad has to be "Get Things Done!". Finally, after months of work I have uploaded my new website. Well it was actually "work" getting in the way of me finding time to work on the site. c00at v3 has become andrewtegala.net. I know it still needs a little bit of tweaking here and there, but the major factor is the site is live and ready for all those visitors. It is funny, that just as you get your job search into 5th gear, this happens. Time to discover the origins of that so called, Murphy's Law. If anything can go wrong, it will. Glad I'm trying my best to make sure such sayings don't always ring true. If you want to contact me directly with any comments or recommendations for this blog, please use my new address but remember to remove the necessary.

New Kid In Town

2004-11-19T15:42:00.000Z

Welcome to my new blog. This is my second blog, but my first entirely focused on the world of work. The subject area will be namely IT, though of course, I shall in time digress into other areas which are commonplace in every workplace. A warm welcome to all my new readers along with all the 'old guard' whom follow me regularly on [T3G:2]. Let us see what the next few days bring.