Reply to: IT role hierarchy

[DieScum]

I'm in support at the moment and I do feel a bit ashamed about that term... thing is I earn more than most developers, have a cushier job working from home but technically I do still work in support.

The cash is the main thing.

That's the only hierarchy that counts.

[Drewster]

.......totally meaningless willy waving.....

I really like this phrase - I shall be using it a lot from now on

I quite like the thought that there is some other form of Willy Waving that isn't pointless/meaningless!

[NotAllThere]

The correct hierarchy is

Me
|
|
|
V
Everyone else

The trouble with support is that that is where they put people who can't do anything else. So the people in support are rubbish, so they're rubbish at their job, so support is seen as a place to dump rubbish. Rinse and repeat.

I've met a few support people who had phenomenal problem solving skills, but the status accorded them was so low, they went on to do something else.

You get the same with off-shore developers. Developer is seen as the lowest job. So anyone who's any good will go into management or business analysis. So developers are crap. So it's the lowest job...

It's strange that technical ability is so unvalued in our society. ( Not really, when you consider that non-technical people are running it ).

[Jubber]

At last clientco, it was:

Traders
Managers
Business Analysts
Programmers
Support

Let me translate for you ...

Crunts
Wanklers
Toosers
Nerds
Numpties

The only enlightened position is the self-employed director.

[SantaClaus]

At last clientco, it was:

Traders
Managers
Business Analysts
Programmers
Support

The business analysts were used as a buffer between the traders and programmers so the two never met, as techies were seen as the lowest of the low and not worthy of conversation.

Support staff and programmers were more or less equal as we were working on a legacy system that hardly needed any programming

[minestrone]

Which is higher up the tree - Win sysadmin or UNIX sysadmin?

Oh I would say UNIX, you cannot right click a 'ps -ef'

[Cliphead]

Which is higher up the tree - Win sysadmin or UNIX sysadmin?

[Pogle]

WRONG!

Shareholders
Board
IT Cost Centre

That's it.

Any hierarchy within the cost centre is totally meaningless willy waving. The only way to be a techy and make money is to abandon any hope of a career ladder and become a contractor.

I really like this phrase - I shall be using it a lot from now on

[suityou01]

1. Senior management.
2. Management.
3. Jnr managers/Team leaders of dev/support/project teams.
4. Analysts, developers, support, etc.. people who do the work.
5. Temp staff (as in agency, not contractors).

WRONG!

Shareholders
Board
IT Cost Centre

That's it.

Any hierarchy within the cost centre is totally meaningless willy waving. The only way to be a techy and make money is to abandon any hope of a career ladder and become a contractor.

[chris79]

1. Senior management.
2. Management.
3. Jnr managers/Team leaders of dev/support/project teams.
4. Analysts, developers, support, etc.. people who do the work.
5. Temp staff (as in agency, not contractors).

[gingerjedi]

This strikes me as a bit of a troll, but anyway...

1. Director
2. ...
3. Java Programmer
4. Tester
5. 3rd level support (not actually a role - gets carried out by junior programmers)
6. 2nd level support (triage - identify team responsible)
7. 1st level support (customer service, raise a support request)

This is reflected in grade/salary.

Ha ha... 3,500 posts later and I've been ousted as a troll by someone with 7.

It looks as though you have as little idea about support as I do about programmers.

[jkoder]

This strikes me as a bit of a troll, but anyway...

1. Java Programmer
2. Director
3. ...
4. 3rd level support (not actually a role - gets carried out by junior programmers)
5. 2nd level support (triage - identify team responsible)
6. 1st level support (customer service, raise a support request)
7. .NET developer
8. Tester

This is reflected in grade/salary.

Ahem, corrected that for you.

I'm obviously not a Java programmer.

I don't rate any of the testers I have come across. I wonder what it takes to become one? An ECDL? I would never hire one, I would rather write a functional testing tool and automate everything.

[scaryfast]

This strikes me as a bit of a troll, but anyway...

1. Director
2. ...
3. Java Programmer
4. Tester
5. 3rd level support (not actually a role - gets carried out by junior programmers)
6. 2nd level support (triage - identify team responsible)
7. 1st level support (customer service, raise a support request)

This is reflected in grade/salary.

[shoes]

business owners / contractors
|
V
permie employees


The rest is nonsense aimed at making permies work harder without giving them any more money.

[cojak]

I'm so high above you all I can see are worker ants.

HTH