what others think about us (IT People)

[kotjim]

Hi!

We are all in the same boat, constantly busy behind our screens. Occasionally, we might open social media on our screens, and if someone—whether IT staff or others—sees this, they might think we are not busy and not doing actual work.

How should we handle this situation? Could we place a small message on our monitors stating, "I am not doing anything unrelated to work. I am busy with my official tasks"?

 

[biostud]

Hi!

I work at a school as vice principal.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Hi!

We are all in the same boat, constantly busy behind our screens. Occasionally, we might open social media on our screens, and if someone—whether IT staff or others—sees this, they might think we are not busy and not doing actual work.

How should we handle this situation? Could we place a small message on our monitors stating, "I am not doing anything unrelated to work. I am busy with my official tasks"?

Ignore them. If it comes up, assuming they aren't your boss, ask them why they are harassing you instead of doing their job.

If they are your boss, tell them this is your version of a smoke break, and you need to let your brain spool down for a few minutes every so often or your job performance and attention to detail suffers.

 

[biostud]

Watch this series:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0487831/

 

[DigDog]

Watch this series:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0487831/

NO ! THE SECRETS ! THE SECRETS TO .. THE INTERNET !

 

[nakedfrog]

Some variation on this.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I work in a NOC, same idea, we don't look busy, but we're actually monitoring stuff, and take the odd phone call, make tickets, sometimes call other people etc. Lot of people assume if the phone is not busy then we're not busy. But we're still doing stuff, and there is also lot of "dead" time so yeah we might go on FB or Youtube but we're also still watching the alarms at same time. If there's no alarms coming in then we're not that busy but we still have to be watching the network.

Personally I just avoid doing stuff like FB etc when I'm at the office and others are around, as it's generally just a bad look. Especially with managers around. It's why I prefer night shifts or working from home. My desk is in one of the worse spots too, right by the main entrance and my back is to it so I get the constant in and out traffic and my screen is visible.

I've worked in IT as well as a server admin and it was similar, if there's no major projects going on and no major tickets or all your tickets are pending waiting on something or someone else, then there is dead time where it might look like you're not busy.

 

[BoomerD]

If IT peeps didn't surf the web during working hours...would this place even exist? It sure wouldn't be as busy.

 

[brianmanahan]

this is why i surf the web on my phone at work

 

[IronWing]

The more time IT people spend surfing, the less time they have to think up stupid shit to interfere with other employees getting their work done. So please, surf more.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Right here:

Hey IT Guys ... KNOCK IT OFF!!!!!

I don't care about your job security changes for the sake of changes to show off your fancy new tricks. I don't care if you learned a new code gimmick. STOP changing stuff that works!!!! Proton Mail for one has changed stuff about six times in the last year. Banks keep changing stuff. I got...

forums.anandtech.com

Leave things be. Don't do busy work changing stuff that doesn't need changing.

 

[brianmanahan]

Leave things be. Don't do busy work changing stuff that doesn't need changing.

if it were up to me i wouldn't do anything except security patches and upgrades. my life would be 10x less stressful than it is now.

 

[Lanyap]

This is what I use.

 

[Ajay]

Some variation on this.

Oh man, when we did network compiles on Sparc systems (like 50-60 distributed compiles running). Took hours during the day. 30 minutes on a weekend.

 

[Ajay]

IT was awesome, when we were often on the floor or at ppl desks providing support - we were seen as helpful. The more and more we sat in the lab doing everything remotely, not so much. Now most of the ppl I know are doing IT from home 80%+ of the time (they split a day a week on premise).

 

[Exterous]

If IT peeps didn't surf the web during working hours...would this place even exist? It sure wouldn't be as busy.

Hell we wouldn't be able to do our jobs without the ability to Google "this is happening. What do I do now?"

 

[brianmanahan]

Hell we wouldn't be able to do our jobs without the ability to Google "this is happening. What do I do now?"

it's crazy how much easier problems were to solve once once stack overflow came out

 

[Exterous]

it's crazy how much easier problems were to solve once once stack overflow came out

For sure. Although also comes with those 4 year old posts with the same issue as you but the only response is the OP saying "nevermind I figured it out" never to be heard from again

 

[nOOky]

Whenever you see that mouse hand go for the right upper portion of the screen you know they are closing out a browser window because they are screwing off. No one cares, it's okay to take micro breaks throughout the day. I get up every hour or so and actually walk around the building, sitting too long is bad for you.

 

[lxskllr]

I windowshade my windows, so it could be anywhere at the top of the screen :^P Not that anyone cares. I only do that cause I like a clean desk. I only want open windows on stuff I'm immediately working on.

 

[Zeze]

Hi!

We are all in the same boat, constantly busy behind our screens. Occasionally, we might open social media on our screens, and if someone—whether IT staff or others—sees this, they might think we are not busy and not doing actual work.

How should we handle this situation? Could we place a small message on our monitors stating, "I am not doing anything unrelated to work. I am busy with my official tasks"?

If you're doing work, who cares. Does your manager have nothing better to do?

This kind of mindset reeks of 90s.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

it's crazy how much easier problems were to solve once once stack overflow came out

Stack overflow is just complicated and slow chatgpt with more snark.

 

[Exterous]

If you're doing work, who cares. Does your manager have nothing better to do?

This kind of mindset reeks of 90s.

Managers with too little to do and/or can't performance manage. Or stupid company policies.

Do I know my employees are putting in a straight 8 hour block? No. But I don't care because the projects we need to do are getting done when we need to get them done.

I tell all my new hires (or if someone is getting close to a performance issue) "don't make me have to care about this. Neither one of us wants that"

 

[Zeze]

Nowadays, my SE managers are barely aware of what's going on thanks to the rigors of scrum.