What are some things you think tech people presume others know, and know how to do? (lemm.ee)

submitted 9 months ago by ALostInquirer@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

130 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It's helpful to take a few steps back from time to time to reassess where we're each coming from on our knowledge of tech (or anything) to better communicate.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] stoy@lemmy.zip 18 points 9 months ago

I have worked in IT for 10+ years, IT support is 90% psycology, especially over the phone.

[-] spittingimage@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

True that. I got tired of the tech support theatre. Fix a problem in two minutes = unhappy user. Fix a problem in a quarter hour and make it look difficult = happy user. I just want to do my job and leave without any human interaction, y'know?

[-] stoy@lemmy.zip 3 points 9 months ago

I have only worked at internal IT helpdesks, and they have been very good with regards to that, but I get you.

[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

Then why do you have that job?

[-] spittingimage@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

I don't, any more. I switched to supply chain.

[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

How do you like it?

[-] spittingimage@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

The work's not exciting but the money's better and I'm sharing an office with people I like. So I think it was worthwhile.

[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

Glad to hear it. Excitement’s for kids anyway. I’d rather have the most boring job the in the world at this stage of life. People I like and good money’s just about perfect. Also, so long as I’m not doing anything wrong on the job: lying to people, screwing people over, etc.

[-] weeeeum@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Not official IT, but computer repair but I insist that the T in IT stands for therapist.

[-] sadbehr@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Agreed. For me personally, I've got 3 things I do to which helps me figure out the problem most of the time without demeaning the customer or implying that they don't have the knowledge.

1: Asking the right questions. My two most important and first ones are "What is it doing?", and/or "What is it not doing?". I find the question "what's wrong with it?" to be almost entirely ineffective.

2: Talking in an appropriate technical level to the person you're talking to. Eg, a 80 year old vs a 50 year old.

3: Using simple analogies. Eg. A CPU is like a brain, a motherboard like a body, a video card like legs to run really fast etc.

[-] stoy@lemmy.zip 2 points 9 months ago

I have also found that admitting to making the same misstake yourself from time to time really helps, unlocking their account? It's fine, it happens plenty of times for myself as well, especially since we at the IT team have four different personal accounts with different uses and passwords.

Regarding passwords, depending on what the user works with and if they use exterbal services they need to logon to, I will also offer to install a password manager for them, and set up the initial database while giving them a tour of it and how to use it, many users really liked it and used it ever since.

[-] rab@lemmy.ca 2 points 9 months ago

That's why I got out of a support role into an admin role as soon as possible. Did not sign up to be a psychologist.

this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2024

96 points (95.3% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26826 readers

538 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.