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