Why Your IT Department Needs To Staff a Hacker 241
First time accepted submitter anaphora writes "In this TED Talk, Rory Sutherland discusses the need for every company to have a staff member with the power to do big things but no budget to spend: these are the kinds of individuals who are not afraid to recommend cheap and effective ways to solve big company problems. This article argues that, in the IT world, this person is none other than a highly-skilled hacker. From the article: 'To the media, the term “hacker” refers to a user who breaks into a computer system. To a programmer, “hacker” simply means a great programmer. In the corporate IT field, hackers are both revered as individuals who get a lot done without a lot of resources but feared as individuals who may be a little more “loose cannon” than your stock IT employee. Telling your CEO you want to hire a hacker may not be the best decision for an IT manager, but actually hiring one may be the best decision you can make.'"
On Staff? (Score:5, Funny)
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That's right, you won't! Someone else that's filling your shoes will, as you're busy at home updating your resume.
Re:On Staff? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't need a hacker on staff. I'll just leave a few ports open, like FTP, Telnet, HTTP, RDP, etc. They'll find me and I won't have to spend a cent on payroll! ;-)
That's like expecting your car's security will be improved by leaving the windows down in a well-visited parking ramp in an area with no security cameras. No, you'll just get robbed, and likely the inside will be trashed because if there's one thing criminals love more than a free lunch, it's shitting on someone else's hard work for thrills. There aren't many real hackers left in the world... it's all assholes looking for cheap thrills or cash. Those of us who still do it to teach ourselves about how these amazing little boxes of wires and boards work and make them do nifty things for us are about as plentiful as 20-something aged stamp collectors.
I believe "woosh" is in order.
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So the moral of the story is: don't leave your lunch in your car, and keep the windows up so some jerk doesn't come around and leave a complimentary air freshener in your car's interior.
Things must be slow at TED (Score:5, Insightful)
They must have had a slow day at TED and needed a talking head.
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No,
You all miss the point. The point, said in terms I speak, is that IT is a cost center in almost every company that has an IT department. By having a resident hacker, you have the ability to generate prototypes quickly, and switch IT from a cost center to a profit center. By doing this rapid prototyping, you have the ability to demonstrate to management the ability of IT to increase profit. This is a *good thing*.
To some extent, yes (Score:3)
But I do agree you need someone who can think creatively and not be locked into marketing speak anytime a problem comes up.
Re:To some extent, yes (Score:5, Insightful)
I think teh point of the original article is not to build your IT staff out of hackers-that-don't-shave-and-keep-swords-under-their-pillow. But having one in the corner that will recall you periodically that "we don't need a supercomputer, we can do it in excel" is sane for a team.
Re:To some extent, yes (Score:5, Insightful)
There's just one problem that comes with that, and it's called management expectations. I've been doing that sort of hacks for a while. Management says "we need an automated reporting application that gathers data from 5 different sources and displays nicely formatted reports on a web page, 24/7, every 15 minutes, but we don't have a budget for that sort of thing". I got an old desktop, installed Apache, installed an Office suite, created some VBA code that did all that. The reports were displayed best in IE only; under FX, the colors were a bit garbled but oh well, it was a quick hack. Right?
Wrong. Management wanted FX compatibility. I talked them out of it, but it took me longer than actually writing the damn code in the first place. Then they wanted historical data, so I expanded my script to do that. Then they wanted e-mails to be sent to them automatically because they were too fucking lazy to check the damn webpage. Then they wanted 2 more data sources included in the consolidated reports. Then they wanted reports customization.
We have a saying here in my country which sounds like this: "You can't make a whip out of shit and expect to crack it". But management expected just that. There's a pretty thick line between aiming for more and being flat out ridiculous. And needless to say, I am not a programmer and never been one, my job was different but I took this project to see what could I accomplish.
That's the problem right there: you do something with nothing and then they expect you to do just that and more of it indefinitely. So good luck in hiring a "just get shit done" guy. It's good to have one. But the temptation to abuse him is high and most management level dudes have no clue when they cross the line.
Re:To some extent, yes (Score:5, Funny)
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If the client is being shady with long term expectations of a software product they're paying you to build, you need to either make them let you participate in the planning, or find another client. There are software companies out there that understand why scope creep is a bad thing.
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Can do it in excel is never a sane option, that's an unmanageable nightmare waiting to happen. You going to email the spreadsheets around while your at it so everybody has a local copy of different old versions and it's impossible to reconcile them all?
Re:To some extent, yes (Score:5, Interesting)
I become very wary when the higher-ups start talking about fixing problems without spending any money. It's usually corporate-speak for "Do everything for nothing." Some things are WORTH spending money on. Some things you absolutely NEED to spend money on. And hacking together cheap solutions only makes it even more problematic when one of these situations arises (Expect to hear "Hey, why do you need a budget bump now? You did fine last year on next-to-nothing"). Corporate culture almost demands that you spend at least enough money each year to not shock the hell out of the boss when you really NEED it one year.
Not to mention that hacked solutions tend to be a fucking NIGHTMARE to maintain over the long-term. Think about the day your "hacker" leaves and his replacement has to come in and try to figure out his predecessor's jerry-rigged mess.
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Not to mention that hacked solutions tend to be a fucking NIGHTMARE to maintain over the long-term. Think about the day your "hacker" leaves and his replacement has to come in and try to figure out his predecessor's jerry-rigged mess.
QFT. While hacker != cracker, the submission is incorrect to say a hacker is a great programmer.
A hacker may or may not be a great programmer. What a hacker is, is clever. A hacker can get systems to do things they weren't designed to do. A hacker can repurpose tools to achieve novel results.
What a hacker does not do, is produce a solution that will be easily maintained.
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What a hacker does not do, is produce a solution that will be easily maintained.
Wrong, that depends on the hacker. To qualify as a great hacker, the hacks have to be good by this metric too. A lot goes into being a great hacker, but this much is always true: greatness is on more than one level.
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What a hacker does not do, is produce a solution that will be easily maintained.
Wrong, that depends on the hacker.
Also depends on who's following along afterwards. Even the simplest hacks will quickly confound pedigreed ponies who only know how to follow directions.
Most of the hacks I've managed over the years would (by design) be fairly simple for another hacker to figure out, but those MBA's running the department? Yeah, good luck with that, Chuckles.
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However, I see this with commercial solutions also. Either the new guy can't understand the current stuff, or he needs to mark his territory by replacing
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What a hacker does not do, is produce a solution that will be easily maintained.
This. A thousand times, this.
A well-rounded IT staff would be better off with more money for staying up-to-date with training and new technology than having someone dedicated to hacking together ductape solutions and bandaid fixes because the business doesn't want to spend the money/time on the right tools to doing things the right way.
Hackjobs are a nightmare to maintain, inherit or scale up, and they're usually a bit shortsighted when it comes to conditions the hacker didn't expect or think about. Y
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Corporate culture almost demands that you spend at least enough money each year to not shock the hell out of the boss
This is the kind of mentality that makes management keep cutting IT staff, and budget, annually. If you're dumb enough to let one person "jerry-rig a mess" that's the fault of management.
Always, always have at least two people on a project. Documentation should be reviewed for accuracy on a regular basis. Have people design a plan on paper first before any hardware purchasing happens. Have them stick to it so you have an idea what's going on. If they need to change paths, the paper plan should be updated f
Re:To some extent, yes (Score:4, Insightful)
That's why you don't want only hackers. Just one or two. When they create the amazing solution, then you get the other staff involved in documenting it and creating procedures around it so that it becomes a formal solution. That's also where you decide if it's a stop-gap, a prototype, a permanent solution or an abomination to be replaced yesterday.
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You quipped -
"What, why do we need a SAN? Remember how you wired those netbooks together for our web farm! Figure something out for us. KTHXBYE.'"
- I think the guy who got that line went on to invent iSCSI.
Not that I have anything against Fibre Channel --- as long as the buffer credits dont run out.
Re:To some extent, yes (Score:5, Insightful)
Agreed. Quality work is made by following processes and using checks and balances, not by trying to patch holes with someone who doesn't understand the whole picture.
One pfSense install later (and a call to corporate) and they were back up and running. Was it done with checks and balances? Approval all the way up the chain of command? A plan? A review? No. They simply said "Do whatever needs to be done and get it back online as quickly as possible." Done. At the next maintenance window, the pfSense 'hack' was replaced.
In the context of the article, the 'hacker' needs to be your 'go to guy' when you are looking for a brilliant solution to a tough problem. (And I'm not saying pfSense was some sort of 'brilliant' solution--I'm saying that it was 'brilliant' and a bit 'magic' to the IT-types at this company....which is why they are no longer Fortune 500)
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Re:To some extent, yes (Score:4, Insightful)
Agreed. Quality work is made by following processes and using checks and balances, not by trying to patch holes with someone who doesn't understand the whole picture.
Sounds like you're wrong about processes. Many people assume a process == bureaucracy. In all the large companies I have worked with, what you describe is covered by an Emergency Fix process, which basically will let someone dive in and fix things as quickly as possible without the usual chain of command overhead. However, once in place, there will be checks and balances applied after thee fact to ensure the implemented fix won't cause any security/maintenance.performance etc. issues in the future.
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GPP is -- or at least, appears to be -- talking about long-term supportable projects. You describe how to get a system back up in a pinch. That's not an apples-to-apples comparison. For something that is going to be supported long-term, GPP is right -- you will have the best product by doing it correctly. When the chips are down, however, and you need to put something in place for a day or two -- or even a month or two -- until you can get the equipment t
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Where I work "hacker" is a derogatory term for coders who write non-maintainable solutions.
Must suck to work there.
Just don't call them a hacker (Score:3)
To the general public, the term “hacker” refers to a user who breaks into a computer system.
FTFY.
Best not to go to your boss asking to hire a "hacker." And I sure wouldn't use that term in writing.
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To the general public, the term “hacker” refers to a user who breaks into a computer system.
FTFY.
Best not to go to your boss asking to hire a "hacker." And I sure wouldn't use that term in writing.
To be fair, I find the general public is often more informed than the media are.
Re:Just don't call them a hacker (Score:4, Insightful)
That's because the general public informs the media. It's like a game of Telephone, in which each link further from the source is more convoluted than the previous link.
Subject Area Experts >> People that work with the experts or have intermediate experience in that field >> enthusiasts/hobbyists >> selective public that will read an article on the topic from time to time >> general public that "knows a guy" >> media who gets it from a "guy who knows a guy" or reads a blog by "a guy who knows a guy" >> ... ad infinitum ... >> politicians
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I like MacGuyver, though it might become anachronistic as more young people grow up in the post-MacGuyver era. I was actually shocked the other day to learn that one of the new hires was born in the 90's. I guess it had never occured to me that someone old enough to work could have grown up completely in an era I consider so recent.
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I like MacGuyver, though it might become anachronistic as more young people grow up in the post-MacGuyver era. I was actually shocked the other day to learn that one of the new hires was born in the 90's.
That's a good point, but if you think about it, you're trying to sell the hire to management, right? Management at this time, especially at the department level, should still be old enough to recognize the reference.
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You're right. Telling management you want to hire a McGyver, troubleshooter or "general all-round developer" is fine. But announcing you want to hire a hacker is just a dumb move in any company.
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This is what I was going to say. What I can think of is to basically call him a MacGuyver. I mean, that's basically the role Southerland is suggesting the guy plays, right? Plus this term comes with a more positive connotation than "hacker" would.
I've worked some places where it wasn't MacGuyver, but B.A. Barabbas, as in "..get me a BBQ, a trash can and a tube radio, 'cause I'm going to make a server!"
Re:Just don't call them a hacker (Score:5, Funny)
but B.A. Barabbas
Is he the one who pities the fool who put Jesus on the cross?
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There's a balance (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm a big fan of standardized solutions from a name big enough to provide consistent support. That said, sometimes 2 hours spent writing a script is cheaper than 20,000 spent to your vendor to accomplish the same thing.
It's a balance, and it's up to the manager to determine the best financial choice.
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I'm a big fan of standardized solutions from a name big enough to provide consistent support.
If by standardized solution, you mean a piece of utter piece of shit and if by "name big enough to ptovide support" you mean Oracle, then sure.
Though you might want to add a few zeros to your figure of 20,000 if you want a big name.
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Nah, I can't say I agree with you. The problem we have now in IT is that we have really only given ourselves 2 possible solutions, unlike what grasshoppa suggests as a third alternative. It currently goes like this.
Big contract houses and huge pay outs for everything. This could be Dell or HP, with full board support, iLO licenses, insight managers, etc... Oracle and IBM have the same thing. It's a fixed price for everything, and you have to order from the catalog for them to support you. Need a 1 off
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Hard to say if you are the same AC as I responded to, even if Karma is broken it would be good to use your account so that people could know if this was a discussion or random posting. It does make a difference in formulating thoughts.
What you point at as option 3 is the same thing I pointed at, and assuming you are the same AC you kind of pissed on grasshoppa suggesting that very thing.
Now to your statement that small businesses never standardizing, I call bullshit. The reason they fail to have standards
MS-Access (Score:2)
MS-Access is the primary tool for quick-and-dirty specialized apps in most orgs I've been in. Sure, it scales poorly and needs a fair amount of babysitting because things break, but that's the trade-off. If a quick-and-dirty app grows in popularity or proves to be useful and lasting, THEN more formal approaches can be done to make a "real" version of the app.
Don't get me wrong, MS-Access has a lot of annoyances and quirks, but it's common enough that somebody is usually available who knows it and thus it's
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I've seen companies with 100% capex on software development.
That is _always_ a BS accounting trick. Makes the cash flow look better, also the capital expense is supposed to leave something of value (a working system) so it can be sold to investors as value, not an expense.
I blame the accountants/auditors. Any auditor that sees 100% capitalized development, 0% expensed maintenance, who doesn't immediately raise flags is worthless to potential investors. In my experience all auditors are worthless.
Bullshit (Score:5, Interesting)
One of the most annoying things I deal with at work is people who think they are "hackers". The best and brightest people follow the rules - that's why they are the best. They break the rules in great times of need. When a project blows up on the weekend and we are going to miss an SLA, etc.
The idea that you want to work with someone who spends their time trying to half-ass things to save themselves time is not only stupid, it's completely the opposite of what you want in a professional environment.
"Hack" in your spare time. Enjoy it, have fun. I know I do. My home-grown projects have none of the constraints my work does. But, don't do it on my company time.
Re:Bullshit (Score:4, Interesting)
The best and brightest people follow the rules - that's why they are the best.
Following the rules is orthogonal to greatness. Joan of Arc, Steve Jobs, Richard Feynman -- not big on following the rules. Alan Greenspan, Warren Buffet, W. Edwards Deming -- big rule followers. Each extraordinary in his or her own way.
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The best and brightest people follow the rules - that's why they are the best. They break the rules in great times of need. When a project blows up on the weekend and we are going to miss an SLA, etc.
The best and brightest don't follow the rules, they make the rules. Their projects don't blow up.
Where I work, the challenge is to take a $20 million project, and make it work for $10 million. Blowing up is not an option.
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Why didn't you just write "I disagree with the entire premise of the article", because that is what your words mean. And in the process you redefined the definition of "hack" to mean "write crap code". As if you didn't read the article, or have never met a real hacker. I hope you don't consider yourself one at this stage. By all means continue with the home-grown projects, but keep in mind that just being home-grown does not mean it has to be crap.
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I'm sorry. I thought writing "bullshit" would more than clarify that I don't agree with the author. Hacking has its place, but it is not in the work environment. Standards and procedures are a good thing for a reason. Being a "loose cannon" as the article says is a terrible thing in a work environment. Every time I have to work on some "genius hacker's" code I get pissed off. It might be the most brilliantly written thing in the world, but if it is "hacked" together - by the very definition of the wor
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The best and brightest people follow the rules - that's why they are the best
I think you are confusing "best and brightest" with "most conservative."
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If you have people who break rules so they can half-ass things, they may fancy themselves to be 'leet hackers, but they're certainly not.
A proper hacker does not half-ass. If anything, they tend to over-do.
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One of the most annoying things I deal with at work is people who think they are "hackers". The best and brightest people follow the rules - that's why they are the best. They break the rules in great times of need. When a project blows up on the weekend and we are going to miss an SLA, etc.
Congratulations! You've just described the majority of hackers I know. You do things "right" when you have time, and when the chips are down you just do whatever will get you limping down the road. This becomes a problem when you're not given time to do the job right to begin with, which is pretty typical of any job really. Then you have to get hackish. That's when you REALLY want that guy, because instead of just failing, he keeps you going until hopefully you get out of the hole you're in and can afford to give him the resources he needs to do things right again. Or, you know, you pull your head out of your ass and start giving him that time in the first place, if we're talking about a typical IT job that would be a more accurate description of what could happen.
IME, what happens is the hacker doesn't dig you out of the hole, he just keeps the dirt moving. Then he quits and moves to Florida, and the next poor sucker has to fix the problem that he (or management with insane time schedules) caused. My experience, of course, is as the next poor sucker. :-P
BURN THE WITCH! (Score:5, Interesting)
You're joking, right? A hacker is, by definition, someone overqualified for every job where the dress code includes the word "business" in its description. Why the hell would someone like that want to work for peanuts, creating miracles out of thin air with no budget? Because they find it challenging? Bitch, please -- we want to get paid, and if I'm working for a place that values IT so little they can't even come up with a budget for things that would (by your own definition!) render improvements to their infrastructure, what are the odds of promotion? A raise? Benefits? Answer: Zilch. Nothing. Nodda. Zero.
I know it's an unrelated field, and some of you will probably laugh, but when I was in school for graphic design (I already know enough for a degree in IT), one of the things my first teacher told me is: Don't work for free. You're not going to get any exposure, leads are worthless, and charity work doesn't get the bills paid. As a graphic designer, most of us are self-employed and it's essential we know to the nearest half-hour mark how long a project is going to take in billable hours. We need to make our own budget for every project, and everyone and I mean everyone is looking for free work or thinking they can do it themselves with photoshop.
IT is approaching the same commoditization of labor -- Many of us are "contractors" already, but eventually people are going to wise-up and become self-employed because contractors are paid shit and treated as such. Be ahead of the curve people: Don't work for peanuts, and if someone says "there's no budget for what you do," take the hint and move on.
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You're joking, right? A hacker is, by definition, someone overqualified for every job where the dress code includes the word "business" in its description. Why the hell would someone like that want to work for peanuts, creating miracles out of thin air with no budget? Because they find it challenging? Bitch, please -- we want to get paid, and if I'm working for a place that values IT so little they can't even come up with a budget for things that would (by your own definition!) render improvements to their infrastructure, what are the odds of promotion? A raise? Benefits? Answer: Zilch. Nothing. Nodda. Zero.
Oh, in the name of all that's Holy, this.
I've been that guy - tasked with the nigh-impossible, no budget to speak of, and oh yea, paid $10/hr to make it happen.
I got the job done every time, often doing more than was required, and typically for even less money than the meager pittance I was given for the project. Did it make an appreciable difference regarding my employer's attitude towards IT? You be the judge: I got fired for asking for a raise a week after finishing the most elaborate project ever for
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One of the major problems in I.T. is that when you work your ass off and perform a miracle that usually your employer is not smart enough (about I.T. or just plain dumb in general) and the very next day they ask you for an even BIGGER miracle instead of patting you on the back. Since everyone is human its not a cycle that can last for all that long.
I too have worked in areas like that. To be any good and have any longevity you've got to be mediocre.
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I have also been that person ($12 instead of $10, mind you). Thankfully I quickly realized I was selling myself short. I only made that mistake once, at the beginning of my programming career. Schools need to tell students about what decent market rates are or they'll do the same thing.
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I assume you've learned your lesson then.
Yea, the lesson being a good work ethic and genuine interest in what you're doing will fuck you over faster than a shady underling looking to steal your job (been there as well; joke's on him, that job sucked!).
If, in your professional estimation, you feel your work is undervalued, the budget is insufficient, or management lacks the necessary leadership qualities for you to do your work with a minimum of hassle... then do the minimum amount of work necessary to keep suspicion away and spend the rest of your energy finding another place to work
I still can't get over how having a strong work ethic and genuine interest in what you do is more harmful to a career than being one of those lazy, bare-minimum fuckers I often end up cleaning up after. That's what I get for being raised by people who felt it was important to instill a sense of pride
If your're good at something.. (Score:2)
Never do it for free.
http://youtu.be/uYMnAUGFuG0 [youtu.be]
Sage words.
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Why the hell would someone like that want to work for peanuts, creating miracles out of thin air with no budget?
The article did not say anything about working for peanuts, just not having resources... that is, not being in a position to command a dozen code monkeys to go write crap code based on specs concocted on powerpoint slides and design documents not worthy of the name. I am not sure I agree with the premise that a great hacker cannot be even greater by being able to farm out some of the work. But that is not the main point.
On the contrary, great hackers usually become widely recognized as such, to be in demand
Every IT department needs an English major, too (Score:5, Insightful)
yes tech writer but don't make the techs do the (Score:2)
yes tech writer but don't make the techs do the documentation. Let the tech guys do the tech work and the writer do the documentation work.
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Me? (Score:3)
I suppose I'm my department's hacker. One of the more fun things is I've begun repairing touchscreen wallmount PCs in-house rather than sending them out for repair at $350-$1000 each. A shame the money I save likely won't be rolled back into my salary.
You! (Score:2)
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This, but make sure you get other clients too. Your boss won't be happen when they inevitably realize they're contracting out to their own employee. Oh, and, y'know, make sure your plan is actually legal. The word "fraud" comes to mind.
hack repairs / MacGuyver fixes can end up down the (Score:2)
hack repairs / MacGuyver fixes can end up down the road being a big issues or just become some leftover thing that no one know why it's there and keeps it there even after what it was trying to fix got fixed so now it's just setting there doing nothing.
This can be even worse in places with lot's red tape where so one puts something in with little or no docs on it to get the job done.
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we don't have $500,000 or even $2k so the hackjob (Score:2)
we don't have $500,000 or even $2k so do the hackjob and I will be golfing with a vender the rest of the day.
Comment removed (Score:3)
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Eh. I find this is more of a stereotype than a reality. Sure, at the VERY top, you'll probably find more socially inept people, but you can still find some very smart, very agile hacker professionals out there, and in most cases those people are better than the ones at the top anyway.
Who would want this job? (Score:2)
Rory Sutherland discusses the need for every company to have a staff member with the power to do big things but no budget to spend
This sounds like the job from Hell. What qualified person would take it? It screams "cheap" – a company that thinks like this probably won't be too generous with raises and benefits either.
(Lots of IT staff, myself included, don't directly control any spending authority. But that's different than having "no budget to spend." What matters is that we get new equipment and/o
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Stupid Story (Score:2)
What a stupid story!
Basically the story says "You should hire a great programmer" - duh!!
Only reason for the story is the use of the word 'hacker'
Over generalization yet again. (Score:3)
To a programmer, “hacker” simply means a great programmer.
I have been programming for over 20 years and my definition of a hacker is some one who writes quick and very dirty code to fix a specific issue for a short period of time. In my experience hackers have a tendency to leave behind fragile, undocumented code that may or may not work in the future. Some hacks stand up over time but most fall down when run long enough. All hacks need to be eventually documented, tested and approved before they become permanent parts of the code base. The worst thing that can happen is to come across a hack a year later and no one know what it does or why it is there. In my experience most hacks need to be replaced as soon as possible.
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*raises hand*
That definitely would've made those debugging sessions a lot more fun.
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Always use antivirus and firewall while debugging :)
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Is that your way of volunteering for the role?
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Why Your IT Department Needs To Staff a Hooker
Now *that's* thinking outside the box on employee recruitment and retention!
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Look at your cow orkers. Do you want sloppy seconds after that? Would you even touch a woman with such low standards?
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The concept kind of negates itself. So even if you have no real use for a top of the line programmer ("To a programmer, “hacker” simply means a great programmer"), you should still hire one and have him/her sit around all day looking for exploits on your network?
1.) I'm not sure that hacker great programmer.
2.) Anyone ranking very high on competency for a specific field is going to be hard to find, let alone hire.
3.) Once you've expended all of these resources finding a laborer...what's their d
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edit: "I'm not sure hacker = great programmer"
Re:Quite obvious for security reasons (Score:5, Insightful)
It doesn't sound like that's what they're talking about.
I think they're talking about the "I'll just get shit done where it needs doing, by whatever means I feel most appropriate" type worker. In my work experience, that guy is usually the one that is just an OK programmer, but the only one in the building that actually knows how to work on his machine, too. He probably also doesn't much mind office politics because he'll blow right past it and deal with any fallout when the problem is solved. He may or may not have read the manual. He's the practical person more than the academic, if you're brave enough to stereotype like that. ;)
You wouldn't believe the supposed "really great programmers" I've seen that just throw their hands up when something goes sideways on their workstation, or sit on their hands for days over a management dispute. They're there for one job, to write textbook quality code for a single project, collect the paycheck and be out the door at 5:01 unless someone insists that he stay. That's it. If anything else happens that complicates that arrangement, it's like a train derailment.
I know, I'm being a bit obtuse about the difference where there's a million shades of grey... but it's something I've seen a lot and I agree with the general point.
Re:Quite obvious for security reasons (Score:5, Insightful)
True enough. If you really want to hire one, though, replace the name "hacker" with "troubleshooter" or "all-round developer". Management can understand why you would want to hire a troubleshooter, as opposed to a hacker who "just makes trouble".
Re:Quite obvious for security reasons (Score:5, Insightful)
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There is a difference. The hacker is an expert in haste and improvisation. When the network is down due to a failure of a nonredundant fiber interface, the troubleshooter is the one who leaves everyone working on pen and paper while a 24-hour urgent delivery of a new SPF is arranged. The hacker is the one who is trailing ethernet cable out of the window on the top floor and back in on the bottom to make a quick-and-dirty workaround that'll have the network somewhat operational again in fifteen minutes.
I beg to differ. The REAL hacker is the one who's been running on their own clandestine ethernet (possibly Internet) connection quietly for weeks or months, and simply turns it on for the rest of the company the moment he sees a connectivity problem. And that's ten minutes before anyone else realises what's happening.
At least that's what I'd do. (Hi, Boss!) 8^)
I have a problem with the 'no budget' part of the assertion, though. It doesn't have to be a lot, but a good hacker does need enough discretion to s
Re:Quite obvious for security reasons (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Quite obvious for security reasons (Score:4, Informative)
"To a programmer, “hacker” simply means a great programmer. "
I've been doing this since 1986. I have never, ever heard anyone, in a large company (10,000+) or small (11) one, call a great programmer a hacker. I have heard them call "hackers" irresponsible, self important jerks who have little regard for the fact that a company will out live the brief time of their employment and that those who follow will have to deal with their non-standard, obtuse, "brilliant" way of doing things.
It's not about You, it's about providing the infrastructure for the company to do business in a reliable and predictable fashion. All of the safeguards and practices developed over the years to provide stable systems, delivering accurate results argue implicitly against the romanticized definition of a hacker and certainly against the reality of your average hacker.
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What you describe is what I call the "Just get it done" attitude, and it's one I've personally had for a very long time. People with this attitude sometimes do get themselves in trouble (I know I have) but they're also the guy who can pick something up and poke at it for an hour or two and produce a result, which is a useful skill to have, particularly if the shit hits the fan.
There are a couple of problems with this type of person, and to be clear, I tend that direction myself and fortunately, so does my boss. I've seen cases where we've built circuits on a verbal request, but then the service orders never get put in and the customer never got billed. I've seen cases where we got a project 75% complete, but then the customer pulled the plug before there was a contract signed, or the requirements were changed so that we had to start over. I've seen cases where what was docume
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I'm not talking about a situation where I'll have a Career Limiting Move if the contracts aren't signed. I'm low enough on the food chain that I won't be the guy who gets cann
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Didn't bother even to read the summary?
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You're thinking of the wrong kind of hacker.
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... but in corporate IT all the I's are dotted and all the T's are crossed. You've got to follow procedures and get the proper authorizations and buyoffs for things otherwise you (the IT manager) will get hung out to dry if anything goes wrong.
In some shops, you'll get hung out to dry if you don't meet your deliverable date. You might have 6 weeks to deliver, but following process will take 6 months. Sometimes it's damned if you do, and damned if you don't. Your choice.
Ed Yourdon describes this in "Death March". Usually, if you get one of these projects, the only thing to do is polish your resume, you're going to get canned. Ed's advice is for the *next* manager. Before taking the already behind project, get firm commitments to bypass
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One of the problems I have come up with it that most microserfs believe that "you get what you pay for" applies to everything in the computing world. It doesn't. Some of the best solutions to everyday problems are the cheapest ones, and some of the shit that people like TrendMicro puts out are the worst and the most bloated.
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Both your defintions are wrong, nice going.