Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 20:49:29 -0800 From: Benjamin Krueger <benjamin@macguire.net> To: Anthony Atkielski <anthony@freebie.atkielski.com> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Anti-Unix Site Runs Unix Message-ID: <20020403204929.A2470@rain.macguire.net> In-Reply-To: <007c01c1db91$63596b70$0a00000a@atkielski.com>; from anthony@freebie.atkielski.com on Thu, Apr 04, 2002 at 06:30:02AM %2B0200 References: <322A2C5F-477D-11D6-8361-003065B4E0E8@carrel.org> <007c01c1db91$63596b70$0a00000a@atkielski.com>
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* Anthony Atkielski (anthony@freebie.atkielski.com) [020403 20:30]: > William writes: > > > The "premier support manager" manages a team > > of "Technical Account Managers". > > Yes, I know. > > > These TAM's are the people that you actually > > talk to about your "Premier" support problems. > > They provide the sales and logistic interface for Premier contracts; but > they don't actually provide technical support themselves (although they are > almost invariably qualified to do so, as they tend to be hired from the > ranks of regular technical support technicians). > > > If you look at the job requirements for the > > Technical Account Manager on the same page, > > there is no mention of a need for any sort > > of university degree. That means high-school (or > > a GED or perhaps nothing at all) is good enough. > > Correct. Microsoft has never been very interested in credentials; the > company tests prospective employees carefully with some thinly disguised IQ > tests, and uses intelligence as a key hiring criterion. Smart people are > hired; stupid people are not. And degrees and diplomas are largely ignored. > > > So hopefully you'll understand that I find > > your claims difficult to believe. > > The problems you experienced are not due to any lack of qualification on the > part of technical-support personnel; they are due to a total lack of > internal documentation for the products being supported. Technical support > at Microsoft, as at many other software vendors, is based on a > trial-and-error, shotgun approach to problem identification and resolution, > because none of Microsoft's products has ever been adequately documented, > even internally, and so nobody really knows how they work except the > developers, and even the developers know very little beyond the modules they > personally maintain. > > In other words, technical support fails because it is not given the > information to do the job, not because the technical-support people lack any > qualifications. Unfortunately, this sort of situation is not at all unique > to Microsoft; it is the norm, rather than the exception, in IT. > > > On FreeBSD on the other hand, I've found little > > nitpicky bugs here and there, and generally had > > prompt resolution once I actually got someone > > to look at the PR. *wink wink* > > The people looking at the PR were probably people who also wrote or > maintained the relevant code. At Microsoft and other large, commercial > software vendors, the chances of the developer of any code actually looking > at technical-support issues for that code are almost nil. Developers are > kept busy writing code, not supporting it, in part because this is more > cost-effective, and in part because developers who are forced to document or > support their code often quit. I'm curious (and annoyed. Please stop responding to every single email seperately. It's called a "thread" for a reason. More than one response per email please.) where you got all of this intimate information on how Microsoft's ranks work, because frankly it sounds like bullshit. I could be wrong, of course, but I trust that the many Microsoft parties, and friends I have working at Microsoft in positions ranging from Technical Support to Development don't lie to me when we talk shop. -- Benjamin Krueger "Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about." - Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Send mail w/ subject 'send public key' or query for (0x251A4B18) Fingerprint = A642 F299 C1C1 C828 F186 A851 CFF0 7711 251A 4B18 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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