nanog mailing list archives
Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support
From: "Todd Vierling" <tv () pobox com>
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 14:14:50 -0500
On Fri, Dec 26, 2008 at 2:01 AM, Mark Foster <blakjak () blakjak net> wrote:
Aside from the typical Degree or Diploma that tertiary outfits offer, there's not a lot of good ways to 'break in' to the Network and Systems Operations communities other than good ol experience, working-from-the-bottom-up.
I'm working in management of software engineering now, and in my experience, the only worthwhile candidates for hiring -- who have not gone through the self-teaching and self-experimentation phases that mirror working at a helpdesk on a small scale -- have progressed through exactly this chain. They have developed the necessary instincts to know when a bug could become a serious problem at 2 a.m. on a Sunday, instincts that are an absolute prerequisite to working on software intended to be used 24/7. In software development, new college grads can be OK for non-operationally-facing applications, but they tend to have high ideals, and just haven't "had their hearts broken" by business contradictions or operational emergencies yet. On the opposite side of the spectrum, those who have gone through only regimented software processes between school and the present tend not to be aware of operational impacts at all, as they've been shielded from that aspect all along.
So as you move your Tier 1's offshore, you cut off the channel by which people can gain experience and move on up the chain...
We're seeing this more and more as time goes on. What's worse is that offshoring of software development was becoming just as rampant, resulting in the double-whammy of "engineers" not knowing the consequences of their actions, and operations caught unaware when those consequences manifest as critical problems. Many businesses have at least partially learned from this mistake the Hard Way, by losing customers when there was no one capable of fixing a critical problem within 24 or even 72 hours. Alas, this hasn't been heeded by all of the market yet. All of the above is solely my opinion, and definitely represents an experience-diluted version of my personal ideals. While I generally agree from a business perspective that offshoring of operations can be a lucrative cost-cutting measure, the key problem in most such arrangements is that the operations and systems (hardware/software/networks as applicable) are not *all* offshored at once. When these bits do not exist in relatively close proximity to each other, communications between their responsible folks grinds to a halt. -- -- Todd Vierling <tv () duh org> <tv () pobox com> <todd () vierling name>
Current thread:
- Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support, (continued)
- Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Seth Mattinen (Dec 28)
- Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Martin List-Petersen (Dec 28)
- RE: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Skywing (Dec 28)
- Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Martin List-Petersen (Dec 28)
- Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Andy Davidson (Dec 27)
- Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Steven M. Bellovin (Dec 27)
- RE: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Richey (Dec 27)
- RE: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Frank Bulk - iName.com (Dec 25)
- Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Martin Hannigan (Dec 25)
- Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Mark Foster (Dec 25)
- Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Todd Vierling (Dec 26)
- Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Martin Hannigan (Dec 26)
- Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Matthew Moyle-Croft (Dec 26)
- Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Andrew Matthews (Dec 26)
- RE: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Tomas L. Byrnes (Dec 24)
- Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Matthew Black (Dec 24)
- Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Etaoin Shrdlu (Dec 24)
- Re: What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support Matthew Black (Dec 24)