I had two goals when I started my work day: Upgrade a commercial software product and create a very complicated report. I will be able to get both done, but it has not been easy.
I started working on the software update first. It didn't take long to run into a problem and I knew I would. We have a complicated environment at work and one of the pieces of software we use didn't take this into account. That means we have to make some minor tweaks and modifications with the help of the product's technical support department. I got as far as I could and then put a call into support.
Since I was in a waiting pattern, I started collecting data for my complicated report. It would be nice if I could write a bunch of code and let the report run on its own. Unfortunately I have to gather the data for each month of a 3-year period by hand. Each month requires an increasing amount of computer time to run. While the first month only took 2 minutes, the last month is taking closer to 20.
At about the 6th month mark, I got a call back from technical support and we worked for a while installing the latest version of their product. Naturally there were times where the technical support engineer and I were waiting on the computer and so I would go back to my report and get data for another month or two. Eventually we got everything working. The only problem was that the upgrade required me to go back and set up all our user information again. At least I was able to hang up the phone and do that on my own while I continued working on my report.
When I started the day, the software update was my main focus. When I was waiting, I switched my focus to the complex report. Once I could continue with the update, I changed focus again. This cycle repeated itself throughout the day until the update was completed. Now I am working solely on the report. When you think about your computer doing multiple things at the same time, that is exactly the process it uses to switch between tasks. Now if I could only find something else to do while I wait for these final months of the report to complete, I'll be a happy camper.
Showing posts with label Technical Support. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Technical Support. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Technical Support
I have had a busy week at the office. There was a problem with our data warehouse and it was up to me to fix it. I knew I must have changed something but couldn't figure out what I did. So I called technical support.
Not all technical support departments are created equal. When I worked in Oracle's technical support many years ago, I got a feel for just how tough that job could be. You have to know the product intimately and for a product like our data warehouse, that can be a daunting task.
Amazingly, I got a live technical support representative on the phone and he stayed on the line until the problem was solved. His first questions was the same one I had been asking myself: What changed? I couldn't think of anything I had done that would cause the problem we were having. The rep set up a WebEx session so he could see what I was describing and we then started running through one or two exercises. It didn't take me long to remember that I had added something to the database earlier in the previous week and it took 5 days for that change to manifest itself. 30 seconds later the problem was corrected and the data warehouse was fixed.
The technical support rep never solved my issue. I was the one that discovered my mistake and was glad to figure it out as quickly as I did. However It sure was nice having someone else on the other end of the phone with which to discuss my problem. I'm sure it would have taken a lot longer to figure out if I was on my own.
Not all technical support departments are created equal. When I worked in Oracle's technical support many years ago, I got a feel for just how tough that job could be. You have to know the product intimately and for a product like our data warehouse, that can be a daunting task.
Amazingly, I got a live technical support representative on the phone and he stayed on the line until the problem was solved. His first questions was the same one I had been asking myself: What changed? I couldn't think of anything I had done that would cause the problem we were having. The rep set up a WebEx session so he could see what I was describing and we then started running through one or two exercises. It didn't take me long to remember that I had added something to the database earlier in the previous week and it took 5 days for that change to manifest itself. 30 seconds later the problem was corrected and the data warehouse was fixed.
The technical support rep never solved my issue. I was the one that discovered my mistake and was glad to figure it out as quickly as I did. However It sure was nice having someone else on the other end of the phone with which to discuss my problem. I'm sure it would have taken a lot longer to figure out if I was on my own.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
We Learn by Doing
My first job was working at a ski shop in high school. It was a fun job where I was around something I loved. Unfortunately it didn't pay that great and so when my Dad got me a job working for a small computer software company, I jumped at the chance. Little did I know that the company would grow become one of the largest software companies in the world. The company was Oracle.
My first year at Oracle was spent doing data entry. I had taken several typing classes in school and was a fairly fast typist. By the end of that first year on the job I was typing 120 words per minute. When you spend four hours a day typing, you get to be pretty fast.
Towards the end of the first year, I was getting pretty tired of typing all day and so the company moved me into Technical Support. That meant I answered a phone all day long and helped people with their computer problems. The only issue was that I was answering questions about Oracle on Unix and I had never even used Unix.
I shared an office with another technical support guy and he would listen to my half of the conversation. Then he would give me pointers on how to help the customer. It was a system that helped me learn both Unix and the Oracle database. For my first couple of phone calls, I would repeat what my more experienced co-worker told me. He then suggested that rather than repeating, I should also try some of the commands I was passing onto the customers. I gave it a shot and was amazed at what I discovered. I could now see the answers to some of the other questions I was being asked.
This past week I was given the task of teaching a quick course on how to use a new software program. There were several people in the room and one was a complete computer novice. I had her sit in the driver's seat as I gave instructions. Experience had taught me that having her control the computer would teach her more than if I input the information. I don't think I was completely successful in my instruction, but I'm sure she learned more than if she had simply watched.
When someone shows you a neat new feature or you see one of those Windows 7 ads, you might want to experiment and play around on your own computer. As Captain Kirk once said in an episode of Star Trek, "We learn by doing." That is especially true with computers.
My first year at Oracle was spent doing data entry. I had taken several typing classes in school and was a fairly fast typist. By the end of that first year on the job I was typing 120 words per minute. When you spend four hours a day typing, you get to be pretty fast.
Towards the end of the first year, I was getting pretty tired of typing all day and so the company moved me into Technical Support. That meant I answered a phone all day long and helped people with their computer problems. The only issue was that I was answering questions about Oracle on Unix and I had never even used Unix.
I shared an office with another technical support guy and he would listen to my half of the conversation. Then he would give me pointers on how to help the customer. It was a system that helped me learn both Unix and the Oracle database. For my first couple of phone calls, I would repeat what my more experienced co-worker told me. He then suggested that rather than repeating, I should also try some of the commands I was passing onto the customers. I gave it a shot and was amazed at what I discovered. I could now see the answers to some of the other questions I was being asked.
This past week I was given the task of teaching a quick course on how to use a new software program. There were several people in the room and one was a complete computer novice. I had her sit in the driver's seat as I gave instructions. Experience had taught me that having her control the computer would teach her more than if I input the information. I don't think I was completely successful in my instruction, but I'm sure she learned more than if she had simply watched.
When someone shows you a neat new feature or you see one of those Windows 7 ads, you might want to experiment and play around on your own computer. As Captain Kirk once said in an episode of Star Trek, "We learn by doing." That is especially true with computers.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
