• my name is missing (unregistered)

    Please tell us who this is so we can avoid working there or doing business with them. I thought I had worked in a stupid place before but these folks (if real) are in a stupid place all their own.

  • Lyle (unregistered)

    I have the same situation. Only when I want to print a memo, I have to make my own paper.

    --Lyle

  • (cs)

    To Amanda:

    You need to buy weapons - lots of them - climb into the nearest clocktower and start pelting your DM with everything you've got.

  • corey (unregistered)

    How desperate does someone have to be to not quit a place like that on the first day?

  • (cs) in reply to Lyle
    Lyle:
    I have the same situation. Only when I want to print a memo, I have to make my own paper.

    --Lyle

    If you're gonna do something, at least go all the way..

    I have to grow my own trees to make my own paper...

  • (cs)

    If this story is true, it is hard to tell which is the bigger wtf.

    1. The IT in the office
    2. Not walking out the door on the first day.
  • Anonymous (unregistered)

    Look on the bright side, they can't know when you're slacking off at work by network monitoring.

  • fizzing whizbee (unregistered)

    This comment has version control. If you want to see a previous version, just look at any of the posts made by other people on other feature articles.

  • Sionnach (unregistered)

    So what is she technical manager of?

  • conservajerk (unregistered) in reply to corey
    corey:
    How desperate does someone have to be to not quit a place like that on the first day?

    You can't judge people unless you know all the details of their situation.

    I got my first job during the dotcom_bust of 2001. My first job was pretty bad, but not this bad. I feel for you. Stick it out until you can find another job. You'll eventually get where you want.

  • erissian (unregistered)

    Look, I've tried to convince Adama, but in the end it's his ship.

  • jtl (unregistered)
    1. Criminals can enter buildings through doors.
    2. Criminals are bad.
    3. Doors are bad.

    We shall remove all doors to protect the business.

  • Anonymous Cow-herd (unregistered)

    Never underestimate the bandwidth of your entire team brandishing 4GB USB keys.

    CAPTCHA: damnum

  • (cs)

    Sorry to have to give Amanda one more lecture, but these issues are exactly the ones she should have been asking about before she took the job. What on earth did she ask about during her interview?

  • (cs)

    QED: networks are bad. It's obvious when you really think about it! Therefore, there is no company network.

    Very wise. Never underestimate the cylon menace.

  • (cs) in reply to brettdavis4
    corey:
    How desperate does someone have to be to not quit a place like that on the first day?
    brettdavis4:
    ...which is the bigger wtf.
    1. Not walking out the door on the first day.
    I agree. If not a single word of this is a lie, then Amanda should be writing about this place in the past tense.
  • SomeCoder (unregistered) in reply to corey
    corey:
    How desperate does someone have to be to not quit a place like that on the first day?

    Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. Amanda, get out as soon as you can!!

    Just... Gah!!

  • yo joe (unregistered) in reply to brettdavis4
    brettdavis4:
    If this story is true, it is hard to tell which is the bigger wtf.
    1. The IT in the office
    2. Not walking out the door on the first day.

    More like walk out within the first hour. I call shenanigans on this article too.

  • Charles (unregistered)

    In 1989, we called it "sneaker-net" when running office to office with diskettes.

  • (cs)

    Stop reading this on the "Internet PC" (if there is one, heaven knows how dangerous a computer connected to a network as big as the Internet would be!).. You need to get out of there now!

    Wait.. THIS computer is on the Internet!! Why didn't someone tell me! OMG!

    pulls plug

    ...

  • Saaid (unregistered) in reply to yo joe

    If your description is true, you must have sent it from an alternate reality. I have some questions.

    1. What year is it where you come from?
    2. Do you know anything about Cylons or Skynet?
    3. What is the quantum mass of the electron in your universe?
  • (cs)

    Well, TRWTF here is Windows.

    (Ducks) No, honestly. This lunacy obviously started from the (correct) observation that early Windows platforms, networked to the outside world, were prone to viruses.

    For something that started out, I presume, as a small company, the alternatives of either (a) using Linux or (b) employing several full-time Windows sysadmins just so that you can get the illusion of security are unappealing. Thus, this mess.

    Of course, all that goes out the, ahem, window if they're working on linux in the first place. I hope they ripped all the networking code and wireless chips out of the "source notebook," though, just to be on the safe side.

    OK, so TRWTF is this daffy implementation of the traditional development/testing/production delivery model. Alpha? Beta?? Which fraternity did this loon go to? Does he have a clue what the terms are supposed to mean?

    Still, apparently they have customers who are happy with this, so it can't be TRWTF.

    No. I think, under the circumstances, TRWTF is that this place advertises itself as "A Web Company."

  • Lyle (unregistered) in reply to snoofle

    I figured the trees were implied as part of the paper making process.

    In fact, I have genetically engineered a tree species for maximum yield.

  • (cs) in reply to gabba
    gabba:
    Sorry to have to give Amanda one more lecture, but these issues are exactly the ones she should have been asking about before she took the job. What on earth did she ask about during her interview?

    If she asked about source control, they could have said that they use VSS. If she asked about the software deployment process, they could have BS'ed an answer based on 4 environments (which a rational person would assume to be dev, integration, stage, production or whatever your terminology may be). I think you'd look like a complete jackass if you walked into an interview and asked "HEY! Do y'all have a network?". There's simply a reasonable set of assumptions one should be able to make about an IT company.

    In certain job markets, like Michigan, IT jobs are few and far between at the moment. Some people would rather work in a WTF IT environment than Burger King.

  • cowgod (unregistered)

    i give props to amanda for sticking it out. if it were me i would do my damnedest to convince management that continuing with their current practices will land them out of business. after all, building a network from scratch sounds like fun (except for pulling cables, that sucks).

  • Blah (unregistered) in reply to jfp
    jfp:
    Very wise. Never underestimate the cylon menace.

    ROFL. As much as I like Galactica, it's so sad the key to wiping out the Fleet rested on utter BS.

  • floorpie (unregistered)

    Ahhhh... sounds exactly like my former gig... especially the SCM part. Amanda should take here 2 weeks notice today.

  • Dave (unregistered)

    To author this comment I had to type it on my desktop pc, but unfortunately my manager wont allow word on the desktop pcs since there are so many macro viruses. So ihave to use a usb key to take it to the MS office PC where i could spell check it.

    Now of course neither the MS office PC nor my desktop PC has network access so I need to take the file to the internet PC. However the internet PC is rather old and doesn't have a USB slot so I have to use save the spellchecked file onto my usb key and take it to my manager's laptop, which is the only one with a CD burner.

    I cant then burn the file onto CD to transfer onto the internet PC. Since the internet PC is rather popular I had to wait for an hour or so before it became available which meant that I needed to go back to the MS Office PC to spell check this new section talking about the delay for the Internet PC before taking it to my manager's PC so I could burn it onto another CD and finally copy it into the c:\slashdotposts folder. The slashdotposts folder has gradually feature creeped into holding comments for other sites. I was then finally able to transfer this comment onto the form and post it here.

    We do at least have version control however, a big stack of CDR's in a filing cabinet.

  • Ozymandias (unregistered) in reply to gabba
    gabba:
    Sorry to have to give Amanda one more lecture, but these issues are exactly the ones she should have been asking about before she took the job. What on earth did she ask about during her interview?

    Things relevant to an interview?

    Nothing that was exposed in the article appears to be something that needs addressed at an interview.

    In recent years, it has become fairly safe to assume that most companies would have things like "email access" at their computers.

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to jfp
    jfp:
    QED: networks are bad. It's obvious when you really think about it! Therefore, there is no company network.

    Very wise. Never underestimate the cylon menace.

    Or the Scilon menace. http://whyaretheydead.net/

  • Bill (unregistered)

    Sounds like a perfect service-oriented architecture. Partioned by function (e-mail, version control, etc.), weak coupling (no network cables). These guys are ahead of their time.

  • Bill (unregistered)
    "Viruses can be picked up via networks. Hackers hack in to computers via networks. Viruses are bad. Hackers are bad.

    "QED: networks are bad. It's obvious when you really think about it! Therefore, there is no company network.

    I like the out-of-the-box thinking. But in this case they should put the thinking back in the box and send it back for a refund.

  • Steve (unregistered) in reply to jtl

    OMFG

  • (cs)

    And I thought the company I just left (I submitted a big WTF story about them - let's hope it gets shown!) was bad, but this takes the cake. Why on earth she's still there is the real question.

    Why is it that fucktards like this company always are SUCCESSFUL in business, instead of being exposed for the idiots/cheapskates/frauds they are and go under like they deserve? It's like that episode of South Park where Cartman gets a million dollars and buys his own theme park, causing Kyle to question why God would allow that to happen when Cartman is an asshole and a liar, only without the good ending.

  • Thomas (unregistered)

    Yeeeah. No. Not buying it. Next.

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to jtl

    Don't forget the windows....need to get rid of the windows too.

    oh and ducts, cause criminals are always using ducts to gain access to important computer systems so everyone should have space heaters and no air conditioning.

  • Johan (unregistered) in reply to jtl

    Criminals are humans...

  • (cs) in reply to jtl
    jtl:
    1. Criminals can enter buildings through doors. 2. Criminals are bad. 3. Doors are bad.

    We shall remove all doors to protect the business.

    At least go all the way:

    1. Criminals can use radiation from your monitor to see what you are seeing by sitting outside of the building you are in.
    2. Criminals are bad.
    3. Monitors are bad.
    4. Criminals can use hidden microphones to record all conversations.
    5. See 2.
    6. All talking, or audio output is bad.
    7. Criminals can infiltrate the company.
    8. See 2.
    9. Employees are bad.
  • (cs)

    What a horrible place.

  • (cs)

    Please, please, somebody explain to them that thumb drives can spread viruses too

  • matt (unregistered) in reply to jtl
    jtl:
    1. Criminals can enter buildings through doors. 2. Criminals are bad. 3. Doors are bad.

    We shall remove all doors to protect the business.

    Or just install one-way doors.

  • (cs)

    After reading this I think I want to suffocate myself. Poor souls.

  • (cs) in reply to Sionnach
    Sionnach:
    So what is she technical manager of?

    The coffee-maker maybe. It problably has an embedded linux-os with a web user interface with a backend powered up by JSP and Tomcat.

    Addendum (2008-05-28 11:29): Or she is in charge of the "being-blamed-department".

    Or every every developer there is a "project manager" or "implementation manager". Some companies give every customer-facing employee some ridiculous manager title so the customer can feel important when in fact dealing with a peon whilst being over-charged.

  • (cs) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:
    "Viruses can be picked up via networks. Hackers hack in to computers via networks. Viruses are bad. Hackers are bad.

    Could have been worse.

    Viruses are written by Hackers. Viruses are bad. Hackers are bad. Hackers are people People are Hackers So People are bad People use computers Computers are bad.. .. snip.. a dozen logical steps The Printing press is bad, Ink is bad. .. snip.. a dozen more

    soloution: chalk, hieroglyphics and cave walls

  • Frunobulax (unregistered)

    Methinks Amanda protest too much... or some other half-assed Shakespearian pseudo-quote. Anyhow, the multiple bits of "I swear, this is all true--this is not a lie" somehow makes me more skeptical.

  • (cs) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:
    Look on the bright side, they can't know when you're slacking off at work by network monitoring.

    How do you slack off - no network, no internet, no running water, field latrines .... you are back to square one: reading the newspaper with emphasis on -paper.

  • (cs) in reply to erissian
    erissian:
    Look, I've tried to convince Adama, but in the end it's his ship.

    At least Adama had a valid reason: don't you remember all the mark 70 vipers being disabled by remote command to the QMP (is that the correct name ?) navigation software in their on-board computers.

  • (cs) in reply to cklam
    1. Criminals can steal computers from the office
    2. Criminals are bad
    3. Computers are bad Solution: All coding is to be done on paper, all compilations by hand, all will be transferred to a computer by a mainframe operator with top-secret security clearance and all papers shredded. All employees will be given a full-body cavity search for papers upon exiting.
  • Matt (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:
    Look on the bright side, they can't know when you're slacking off at work by network monitoring.

    BUT FOR THE LOVE OF $DEITY MAN! How do you slack off without the internets?

  • Ken B (unregistered) in reply to robzyc
    robzyc:
    Wait.. THIS computer is on the Internet!! Why didn't someone tell me! OMG!

    pulls plug

    ...

    Kids these days! Everyone knows that the right way to show that yo*^%^#%/@!)%$

    NO CARRIER

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