I think that it will be the small things that drive me over the edge in the end. The phrase that sticks in my head is
use the right tool for the job. It can be SO frustrating not having the tools that you are used to. In this case it's me using an older IDE (WSAD 4) which doesn't have the things that I am used to. Like (good) code formatting, some macros,
Junit testing (it doesn't have
Cactus either), or a new enough version of Java (so that I can use things like
JavaMail easily).
Then using other things that I am not familiar with like
Struts that are not supported in this drives me nuts. I just have to wait for my boss to get back on Monday so that I can sort this stuff out. And it doesn't help that my mouse is sticking. I am going to bring in an optical one tomorrow just so that I don't go crazy by Thursday. *sigh* And I have to bring in more music too... having only 3 CD"s isn't enough.
Listening to: Yann Tiersen - L'autre Valse d'Amélie
Tools are critical, yeah ... and they always seem to be about a year behind in a production environment. IT guys are hesitant about new tools ... and in places like the government there's usually a long approval process, which gets through only if managers really fight for it. Keeps the load off the IT guys I guess but it's a pain in the ass for developers that just want to try stuff out.
ReplyDeleteI guess you just have to understand the IT guy's point of view. If they let people install whatever they'd get a whole bunch of unpredictable problems. At least when they approve software they know what's going on people's machines. Besides that though, it's your manager's responsibility to fight for the tools his workers will need to do the job right.
I don't think that it is a problem with getting the software in at all. There are several people using WSAD 5, but I think that they just need to buy more licences. Right now we (meaning me) are using "unused" licencse from another group, but I think that all WSAD 5 licences are used up.
ReplyDeleteSince no developement has been done, my goup has not purchased anything yet.
I just really needed to vent when I wrote this. All the tutorials and "best practices" point to WSAD 5, and show how to do things in that. I'm compling my "wish list" for hw and sw for my boss on Tuesday (or Monday). Right now I am just spiking things out and trying to figure out stuff.
Yeah, sometimes at work I install tools that I'm not supposed to be using. Mostly because they don't really have some of the tools i would rather use. As long as you don't ask the IT people to fix it, or install illegal stuff, I don't really see why they would have a problem. I don't know too many developers who really need to contact the IT people anyway when something goes wrong. That's usually just a last resort.
ReplyDeleteThere are some things that the IT people do have problems with, like web based mail, and general sw.
ReplyDelete1) The problem with web based mail is that people are smart enough to use it, but too dumb to not click on viruses. That means that the network gets compromised.
2) The problem with sw that people download and install it that it can be bad, bad, bad. Like be infected with a virus. Or it can compromise security in other ways (Webshots: at the password login, if you hit cancel, it just lets you in).
Long story short: make sure that you trust the sw you install, don't run it off the network drive, and don't ask for help with it.
Yeah, I've heard that webmail thing. It's really frustrating not getting webmail sometimes. Most reputable webmail providers do have virus protection now, which is a pretty good idea. Although a good copy of norton or mcafee(i think) will scan every exe before running it. I know this only helps against known viruses, but if it's updated daily, you'd have to be pretty unlucky to get a virus.
ReplyDeleteI've often wondered if it would be good for the IT people to have different rules for different people. Certain people have the know how to keep their computer safe and secure from viruses and insecure software. The problem with this is who is qualified to have the extra freedom, and would other employees get cheesed off at the fact that some people get higher privileges than they do. Anyway, I think i'm rambling, maybe i'll do a writeup in my blog later about this.
"The problem with this is who is qualified to have the extra freedom.."
ReplyDelete*cough* licenses *cough*