Read on enlightened one

Typically at a larger company, the IT department may have strict processes and controls for their work. Usually, it involves submitting a ticket for something to be resolved.

I had to learn how to work within this system so that it became productive for me. However, I learned some things along the way that made it easier for both IT and myself.

I learned that there are 4 stages for IT Harmony. I’ll describe my evolution where I become more and more harmonic with IT.

Stage 1: Complete Idiot

The programmer is trapped in an endless world of trial-and-error. They are dependent on those around them and will turn to them at the first sign of distress.

“Help! I can’t ssh into the VM!”

IT Solution: “You had a typo in the hostname.” IT doesn’t even let you type. They take the keyboard, type in the correct hostname, then walk back to their desk to work on bigger ticket items.

Remedy: Stop being dumb. Double-check your inputs.

Stage 2: Ordinary

The programmer is now aware of their surroundings. The programmer yearns for truth yet is limited by their experience.

“Help! I checked everything and I can’t ssh into the VM!”

IT Solution: “VM is down for maintenance. You didn’t look at your email stating that However were scheduling the maintenance at this time?”

Remedy: Learn to use ping to double-check if the server is even reachable. You may even use curl or wget to check ports and responsiveness. And you read your emails.

Stage 3: Cloud-Enterer

The programmer has the basic foundations for being productive. They march ahead with their knowledge where they meet the boundaries of the corporate policies.

“Help! I can’t ssh into the VM! I ping’d it and it’s there!”

IT Solution: “Our firewall blocks that port. Please submit a ticket and a justification for approval to open the port. We’ll also need a list of hosts that can access it.”

Remedy: You learn the policies and the processes of the company. Most importantly, you learn how the tools of IT work.

You learn the basic firewall toolkits for your OS.

You learn DNS and BIND.

You learn TCP/IP Networking.

You learn Linux/UNIX/Windows + Network Administration.

Stage 4: Connected

The programmer is in harmony with IT. The programmer does not do IT’s job. The programmer simply is able to identify specifically their issues thereby reducing the searching, guessing, and troubleshooting required by IT. The programmer is regularly invited by IT to partake in evening festivaties.

“Help! I can’t ssh into the VM! I used nslookup and got nothing. I tried dig as well. It looks like the DNS entry never got made for the VM!”

IT Solution: “Ah, we were trying something new with Puppet. Thanks for letting us know, we’ll fix it real quick.”

Remedy: Programmer is at harmony.