Life in the mouse bunker

Life in the mouse bunker

I was concerned by the story Scarcity of experts hampers
computer networking growth published in The Jakarta Post on Aug.
21, 1997.

The explosive growth we have seen in the datacoms business is
just foreplay. Wait until the banks here start automating their
front counter and back office operations. Wait until enough band-
width is delivered to the doorstep of offices, homes and
factories. Computer experts will then be extremely valuable in
the labor market.

But for now, spare a thought for the networking guys. Ever
tried, for example, to pull out wires, install the modem and
configure your TCP/IP to hook into the Internet? Networking guys
do similar things for a living.

While the "bean counters" (also known as accountants) have
nice offices, company perks and are invited to bank parties;
networking guys, usually, work in a bunker where people dump
their servers, hubs, modem banks and the UPS (hence the nickname
"computer mouse").

They are called "bozo" and "incompetent" when the network
fails, which appears to be the only time people remember them.
Now for the real killer: I do not think they have much savoir
faire with girls either.

Who would like to hang around with guys who fill entire
sentences with acronyms, read Network World for fun and spend
their nights troubleshooting LANs? Not many. And Novell wonders
why those guys are scarce.

Companies have to give them nice floor space, a few perks and
invite them to parties too. There, you can ask them how to get
faster connections with Internet, connecting by proxy.

And for the girls: if you ever hear a guy in a lift saying
things like: "Forget CMOT and CMOL over LLC. SNMP2 runs over
TCP/IP, IPX and OSI. Proprietary TMN has no chance." This guy has
a future.

OSVALDO COELHO

Bandung, West Java