I am a jelly doughnut (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} guyver3) wrote,@ 2009-02-14 18:48:00 |
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3 Years at FMT2
It is about 3 years to date since I first started working in the second Fremont facility at work. Originally it was just Sam and I waiting here for 8hrs/day to accept a customer shipment because they wanted to move in earlier than the facility was ready for. We'd read books, futz with things or answer tickets while sitting at a computer on a workbench in the colo suite reserved for company equipment. We did TK Noodle for most of our lunches, and in at least 1-2 cases, 4 days a week. The building wasn't 24/7 when we started letting customers in either. We were on-call for customer weekend installation reservations made during the week. Then we finally got a desk in the lobby and sat a support person there 24/7. The beginning of the facility was new and exciting, especially to basically be handed a blank slate and have some control over how stuff got done.
It was a lot of work, making sure every customer was handled and installed correctly. It got to the point where I didn't even see my desk for more than 30-45mins during a shift. This led to my ticket/work-order numbers being really high, but no phone calls which wasn't good when you are just tech support. About 1.5 years into it, I got bumped up to Network Engineering, and started handing the reigns over to new support people that would hopefully keep up the quality of work. Sadly each one I got trained and working really well, either left for another job or changed shifts to be a rockstar elsewhere.
Slowly the new crew has been building up at FMT2, but not to the quality that I'm 100% satisfied with. Cable runs are sloppy, if labeled. I can run, terminate, verify a working copper cross-connect in 6 minutes. It was taking some staff upwards of 30-75minutes. Really, 75 minutes, all because they couldn't crimp correctly so they would trim off the old crimp, and eventually made the cable too short and had to do it all over again. I still run the fiber runs because when I've asked some to do one, I'd observe some really nasty tugging or near knots.
The new generation of tech support in the company seems to think that the slightest amount of work needs to suddenly become contract-work. "Oh, they need 3 machines racked which involves putting together 3 rail-kits, we need to charge $/hr to accomplish this!" I hate that, a lot, because it isn't as difficult as they all make it out to be and usually only takes 30mins and a strong back or second pair of hands. The level of general technical knowledge doesn't make me happy either. Some really strive to learn and improve, which they do. The rest are just lazy, or have an air of superiority and need to be given reality checks, especially when they are caught talking completely out of their ass.
The expansion of the facility is interesting to watch and take part in. I'm curious to see lots plans put into motion, as well as solving some of the problems that I foresee. IPv6 has been really simple to pick up and run with, and I love working on the various aspects of it at work. I actually really enjoy trying to help people genuinely learn more about it, even if they aren't customers/users (shout out to #ipv6 on freenode)
However Sam is now gone, which for me makes the workplace poorer. However he left for a new great experience, and we still try and catch lunch once a week if we both aren't busy. I'm mentoring someone that can really absorb like a sponge, and work with it. It's odd being on the mentoring side of tech again, and it feels good.
It is about 3 years to date since I first started working in the second Fremont facility at work. Originally it was just Sam and I waiting here for 8hrs/day to accept a customer shipment because they wanted to move in earlier than the facility was ready for. We'd read books, futz with things or answer tickets while sitting at a computer on a workbench in the colo suite reserved for company equipment. We did TK Noodle for most of our lunches, and in at least 1-2 cases, 4 days a week. The building wasn't 24/7 when we started letting customers in either. We were on-call for customer weekend installation reservations made during the week. Then we finally got a desk in the lobby and sat a support person there 24/7. The beginning of the facility was new and exciting, especially to basically be handed a blank slate and have some control over how stuff got done.
It was a lot of work, making sure every customer was handled and installed correctly. It got to the point where I didn't even see my desk for more than 30-45mins during a shift. This led to my ticket/work-order numbers being really high, but no phone calls which wasn't good when you are just tech support. About 1.5 years into it, I got bumped up to Network Engineering, and started handing the reigns over to new support people that would hopefully keep up the quality of work. Sadly each one I got trained and working really well, either left for another job or changed shifts to be a rockstar elsewhere.
Slowly the new crew has been building up at FMT2, but not to the quality that I'm 100% satisfied with. Cable runs are sloppy, if labeled. I can run, terminate, verify a working copper cross-connect in 6 minutes. It was taking some staff upwards of 30-75minutes. Really, 75 minutes, all because they couldn't crimp correctly so they would trim off the old crimp, and eventually made the cable too short and had to do it all over again. I still run the fiber runs because when I've asked some to do one, I'd observe some really nasty tugging or near knots.
The new generation of tech support in the company seems to think that the slightest amount of work needs to suddenly become contract-work. "Oh, they need 3 machines racked which involves putting together 3 rail-kits, we need to charge $/hr to accomplish this!" I hate that, a lot, because it isn't as difficult as they all make it out to be and usually only takes 30mins and a strong back or second pair of hands. The level of general technical knowledge doesn't make me happy either. Some really strive to learn and improve, which they do. The rest are just lazy, or have an air of superiority and need to be given reality checks, especially when they are caught talking completely out of their ass.
The expansion of the facility is interesting to watch and take part in. I'm curious to see lots plans put into motion, as well as solving some of the problems that I foresee. IPv6 has been really simple to pick up and run with, and I love working on the various aspects of it at work. I actually really enjoy trying to help people genuinely learn more about it, even if they aren't customers/users (shout out to #ipv6 on freenode)
However Sam is now gone, which for me makes the workplace poorer. However he left for a new great experience, and we still try and catch lunch once a week if we both aren't busy. I'm mentoring someone that can really absorb like a sponge, and work with it. It's odd being on the mentoring side of tech again, and it feels good.
