re iinet support and Linux; was Re: [plug] FAQ - alpharelease

[BillK]

One thing worth keeping in mind:

two years or so ago i looked into doing afterhours helpdesk at an isp
for some income whilst studying.  Their documentation was a real
eyeopener - they were after waiters etc, people who had a good public
relations attitude, technical experiance was last on the list as a
non-essential!  Lets face it, many techo's should not be let loose in
public (me included!).  However the wages were minimal, and the
expectation that software would answer nearly all problem solving (as
if!).  In my view its not so much the people as the system put in place
to save costs/ration scarce resources (expensive, skilled people).  By
the same measure, windoze would be the vast majority of calls, and
Linux/Unix will always have to be passed off to "experts" - I also do
not see many Linux faults that I have had as being as easy to database
as windoze faults, simply because the system requires so much more
interaction in diagnosing some very obscure problems that often occur -
its just not feasable to do it to the same degree for a comparatively
small user base.

So dont un-neccessarily flame the staff, give em a go (tho there will
always be some that may need a bit of heat to get anything
accomplished!)

BillK

* No, I didnt apply for the job, the hours wouldnt have worked out - I
wasnt THAT desperate!