On Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 2:37 PM, Emmanuel Noobadmin
<centos.admin@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On 9/16/11, m.roth@xxxxxxxxx <m.roth@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Remember, even among those who studied, a) half of them were in the bottom
>> of their class, and b) too many are True Believers in the latest
>> programming (not the P word!) paradigm; y'know, recursion is the answer to
>> *everything*, or OO, or....
>
> Part of the problem is sometimes otherwise intelligent customers who
> heard of the latest buzzword be it XML/Ruby/Web 2.0/HTML5 start
> demanding that you use it for their application regardless of whether
> it's relevant or if they really know what it is about . If you try to
> educate them any other way, they start thinking you're outdated.
Well, you can always lie to those people. :-)
I had a situation once when a client asked me to implement something
fairly trivial, but insisted that I use C++ (overkill would be an
understatement here...). Namely, they heard from some "expert" that
all "real programming" is done in C++... Naturally, I implemented the
solution as a bash script, and just told them "sure, no problem, it is
pure C++". They had no interest (nor the knowledge) to check it, and
everyone was happy. :-)
I tend to develop a relationship with clients where they trust my
decisions, so lying to them for their own benefit now and then doesn't
hurt, and I don't consider it too unethical.
I also remember the situation where one client received that typical
"somefile.exe is a virus" hoax e-mail (Windows users, of course), and
insisted that I check and "disinfect" all machines on the premises.
There was no point in trying to explain that such e-mails are hoaxes
and that the issue is nonexistent. Instead, I just told him "sure,
I'll get right on it", and then did absolutely nothing about it. The
guy didn't know how to check the presence of a file himself, so
tomorrow when he asked me about "the threat", I just replied that all
machines have been disinfected and there is nothing to worry about
anymore. He went on to commend my prompt reaction to others... ;-)
There are lots of such anecdotes. Being a sysadmin is a social skill
as much as a technical one. ;-)
Best, :-)
Marko
_______________________________________________
CentOS mailing list
CentOS@xxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
