ceebeecates4: Edulog's fault. Any administrator should know to cancel the log in credentials of a terminated employee immediately. Additionally, even administrators shouldn't have the permissions to "erase backup servers".

/Sloppy security policies.

He might have slipped a logic bomb in years ago.

Ah, the combined stupidity of both employer and employee. Warms my heart, it does.

If he hadn't been greedy and taken their offer he might have gotten away with it and made some extra money too boot; they may have even hired him back if he did a good job. I'm glad he got caught though, what a douche.

I had the reverse happen. Looking after an ancient NT4 system that a small theatre used for tickets (it was one of those part-time 'when they call' things). I look at it, listened to the horrible noises coming from it on occasion and said "In six months, that machine is going to die, you need a backup solution and quickly. Do you want me to take some petty cash and go get a CD Burner or something?"

One long argument later and off I went back home having fixed yet another problem one of them had caused. Awesome. Six months later... *pop*. And when the firm they'd called in (as obviously this was my fault) lifted the computer up here's what they read on the piece of paper I'd saleotaped to the desk underneath it:

Has it really been six months already? *date 6 months 1 week prior*

Now if you ask the management of that small theatre my screwing around and malicious activity cost them thousands of pounds in data recovery and getting a new, more modern and secure system in place (why a theatre run by 5 people + 2 managers with no internet needs a firewall box I've no idea). If you ask the 5 people; they were warned it was going to happen and as there's no external connection and I hadn't been there in months how the hell did I make a HDD's motor seize?

Anyway, the moral of the story is: Don't believe everything you read. Especially not in a legal system that allows plea bargaining.

ceebeecates4: Edulog's fault. Any administrator should know to cancel the log in credentials of a terminated employee immediately. Additionally, even administrators shouldn't have the permissions to "erase backup servers".

If this was a medium to large company or a government agency I would be the first in line to call out the complete lack of governance at play here. But its a small company and a single IT guy can do a lot of damage.

TYPE COOKIE!

If subby thinks $100/hr is an exorbitant rate he has obviously never seen what some professional companies like Ernst&Young charge.

jayhawk88: You mean it's not a good idea to plan your career moves by reading old BOFH's all day? The hell you say!

BOFH: it's only a comedy piece, not a guidebook for computer admins.

I was in charge of my last company's backups for years so I'm getting a kick out of this. When I said I was leaving, I gave them "as long as you need" to transfer my critical tasks to other employees. Exactly none of them had been reassigned when I left about a month later. On my last day, I reminded the boss that, as of the next day, nobody would be monitoring backups, changing tapes, processing email archives, managing ftp accounts, etc. Nevermind the prepping new systems for deployment, keeping the printers tuned and fed, handling tech support calls, and all the other little things that fill the day.

They're still around so I guess someone picked up the work. Either that or they're not doing backups or archiving and just haven't had a catastrophic failure yet. At least I think they're still around. Hang on...Yep. Still there.

Sooo is this unlike writing unmaintainable and obfuscated code so that the only person that can make out what it does is the person who wrote it?

LiquidTester: TYPE COOKIE!

Thinks that's a good idea...

After leaving to go do something fun for a couple of years I got hired back as a perma-contractor to, initially, fix all the shiat ruined by the guy who got hired to replace me and the guy who replaced him, then to do what I did before for the same money for half the hours and no need to go in to the office or wear a suit. Life sometimes treats you right

MaudlinMutantMollusk: Uh... you mean this might not be a very good idea?

/asking for a friend whose retirement plan may have just gotten a wrench thrown in it

...I'm guessing this friend's initials are MMM? :)

bdub77: IBM? *reads article*

Nope.

/still a good guess

I BM
You BM
We All BM
For IBM

SpinStopper: And I don't mean the later bullshiat crap. I mean the iron filings and the waffle iron brilliance.

"Tell ya what Rhonda, why don't you come and fix it; it's a model three..."

jtown: I was in charge of my last company's backups for years so I'm getting a kick out of this. When I said I was leaving, I gave them "as long as you need" to transfer my critical tasks to other employees. Exactly none of them had been reassigned when I left about a month later. On my last day, I reminded the boss that, as of the next day, nobody would be monitoring backups, changing tapes, processing email archives, managing ftp accounts, etc. Nevermind the prepping new systems for deployment, keeping the printers tuned and fed, handling tech support calls, and all the other little things that fill the day.

They're still around so I guess someone picked up the work. Either that or they're not doing backups or archiving and just haven't had a catastrophic failure yet. At least I think they're still around. Hang on...Yep. Still there.

The last time I had a previous employer call me to come in and fix something I warned them about, I told them "you can't afford my rates." The owner was a miserly bastard when I worked for him, so I quoted him double my normal consulting rate. I never heard back, which was what my plan.

jayhawk88: You mean it's not a good idea to plan your career moves by reading old BOFH's all day? The hell you say!

It used to be.

Nowadays, there's a kind of disease of computer literacy among the average user. They're smarter than they used to be.

That said, it still ain't hard to *DUMMY MODE ON*, and once that's activated, you can pretty much use this or a tool like it to explain anything and get a user to do almost anything.

starsrift: jayhawk88: You mean it's not a good idea to plan your career moves by reading old BOFH's all day? The hell you say!

It used to be.

Nowadays, there's a kind of disease of computer literacy among the average user. They're smarter than they used to be.

I was gonna type a big old "my history of computing" post but I'll just settle for saying that, when I got started in IT back in the mid 90s, the percentage of employees with computers in the workplace who were "good with computers" was much higher than it is today. I expect we'll be back at those levels in another 10-15 years.

ceebeecates4: Edulog's fault. Any administrator should know to cancel the log in credentials of a terminated employee immediately. Additionally, even administrators shouldn't have the permissions to "erase backup servers".

/Sloppy security policies.

And the nerve of even CALLING him and asking him to come back and work just for a bit to bail them out of a jam. I promise you that if im ever let go from a company, unless I need the money real bad, I too will ask at least a hundred bucks an hour to come bail them out 3 days later.

/100 dollars an hour is NOT an out of sight IT administration contract rate. especially for emergency short term contracts where you have skills and insight specialized to the situation, such as server names, company policies and such. a lot of guys charge that and more as the base rate. Of course you have to be smarter than the guy who databombs his old company 2 days after he leaves.

Gergesa: Well this is one more reason for me to never piss off IT.

or any employee really. you should really avoid pissing off ANYONE you are letting go, they can all do serious damage, most of which you wont even know about.

100/hr is the friend's rate. :)

I do not think the computers actually burned.

HempHead: If subby thinks $100/hr is an exorbitant rate he has obviously never seen what some professional companies like Ernst&Young charge.

If it's $100 an hour for 40 hours for three years -- yeah, that's an exorbitant rate.

jtown: I was in charge of my last company's backups for years so I'm getting a kick out of this. When I said I was leaving, I gave them "as long as you need" to transfer my critical tasks to other employees. Exactly none of them had been reassigned when I left about a month later. On my last day, I reminded the boss that, as of the next day, nobody would be monitoring backups, changing tapes, processing email archives, managing ftp accounts, etc. Nevermind the prepping new systems for deployment, keeping the printers tuned and fed, handling tech support calls, and all the other little things that fill the day.

They're still around so I guess someone picked up the work. Either that or they're not doing backups or archiving and just haven't had a catastrophic failure yet. At least I think they're still around. Hang on...Yep. Still there.

So I guess the moral of the story is you weren't as important to them as you think.

Is this the thread where we brag about our rates, cause that would be shocking. This place is a font of originality.

SharkTrager: So I guess the moral of the story is you weren't as important to them as you think.

That pretty much is always the moral, and it kind of hurts the first few times you realize you ain't that special after all.

Once days before leaving a job in which there was no real replacement and wouldn't be one because funding had dried up and office was closing in 6 months anyways, server crashed hard, luckily it was just some bad RAM chips which got removed (no budget for buying replacement parts). I never heard back from them, but I prayed that they didn't have any major issues for the next 6 months or they would have been screwed (did have an incompetent tech at a sister office that could visit but they couldn't really pay for his time or parts).

CheatCommando: SharkTrager: So I guess the moral of the story is you weren't as important to them as you think.

That pretty much is always the moral, and it kind of hurts the first few times you realize you ain't that special after all.

Isn't that always the case? While everything is going just fine everybody will wonder why they even need an IT department. But those few times a year when shiat really hits the cpu fan, well, that's when they practically worship the ground on which you walk.

I distinctly remember that it didn't go over well with the board of my student association when I told them that they had at least learned the importance of regular back-ups after their hard drive crashed and the bookkeeping database was corrupted. The last back-up was 5 months old.

/but they were grateful that I managed to salvage that back-up

Vaneshi: here's what they read on the piece of paper I'd saleotaped to the desk underneath it:

Cool story bro, but I thought you Britishers were all about courret speeeling....

DerAppie: While everything is going just fine everybody will wonder why they even need an IT department. But those few times a year when shiat really hits the cpu fan, well, that's when they practically worship the ground on which you walk.

That's if they have a nickel's worth of sense. A lot of managers these days lack even that, so Vaneshi's story will be increasingly the norm.

When my mother ragequit her last job, she was the only one who had figured out their messy system but they basically gave her the "don't let the door hit your ass on the way out" treatment. She found out from some former co-workers that they had to hire FOUR full-time employees to replace her but HQ was still throwing their work back in their faces. They never so much as e-mailed her to try to bring her back. Not that she'd work for them for any dollar amount, but it goes to show that the #1 factor in promotion these days isn't merit, but ego.

A good IT department will have documentation of everything, backups of everything, and clear procedures on every routine occurrences.

Then there's what IT departments really have, which is a bunch of people who are unable to communicate how they fixed a problem, backups that are sporadic and random, and no documentation on anything.

We're working to change that though.

SharkTrager: jtown: I was in charge of my last company's backups for years so I'm getting a kick out of this. When I said I was leaving, I gave them "as long as you need" to transfer my critical tasks to other employees. Exactly none of them had been reassigned when I left about a month later. On my last day, I reminded the boss that, as of the next day, nobody would be monitoring backups, changing tapes, processing email archives, managing ftp accounts, etc. Nevermind the prepping new systems for deployment, keeping the printers tuned and fed, handling tech support calls, and all the other little things that fill the day.

They're still around so I guess someone picked up the work. Either that or they're not doing backups or archiving and just haven't had a catastrophic failure yet. At least I think they're still around. Hang on...Yep. Still there.

So I guess the moral of the story is you weren't as important to them as you think.

I thought I made it pretty clear that my work was the important thing as far as the company was concerned. If you're going to try to insult me, you need to do better than that. Most of my critical work was the type that can go unnoticed for months or years until that moment when something fails unexpectedly. It's like insurance. Doesn't seem important until you need it.

Mandapants: Vaneshi: here's what they read on the piece of paper I'd saleotaped to the desk underneath it:

Cool story bro, but I thought you Britishers were all about courret speeeling....

[encrypted-tbn0.google.com image 225x225]

You will never take our FREEEDOOMMMM!

jtown: SharkTrager: jtown: I was in charge of my last company's backups for years so I'm getting a kick out of this. When I said I was leaving, I gave them "as long as you need" to transfer my critical tasks to other employees. Exactly none of them had been reassigned when I left about a month later. On my last day, I reminded the boss that, as of the next day, nobody would be monitoring backups, changing tapes, processing email archives, managing ftp accounts, etc. Nevermind the prepping new systems for deployment, keeping the printers tuned and fed, handling tech support calls, and all the other little things that fill the day.

They're still around so I guess someone picked up the work. Either that or they're not doing backups or archiving and just haven't had a catastrophic failure yet. At least I think they're still around. Hang on...Yep. Still there.

So I guess the moral of the story is you weren't as important to them as you think.

I thought I made it pretty clear that my work was the important thing as far as the company was concerned. If you're going to try to insult me, you need to do better than that. Most of my critical work was the type that can go unnoticed for months or years until that moment when something fails unexpectedly. It's like insurance. Doesn't seem important until you need it.

i don't think it was intended as an insult, just that perhaps you over-valued your position.

either that or nothing has gone wrong yet. trust me - i work in IT and let me tell you - something has gone wrong, and they had to have it fixed and probably paid thru the nose to get it done, but they didn't NEED you.

frepnog: jtown: SharkTrager: jtown: I was in charge of my last company's backups for years so I'm getting a kick out of this. When I said I was leaving, I gave them "as long as you need" to transfer my critical tasks to other employees. Exactly none of them had been reassigned when I left about a month later. On my last day, I reminded the boss that, as of the next day, nobody would be monitoring backups, changing tapes, processing email archives, managing ftp accounts, etc. Nevermind the prepping new systems for deployment, keeping the printers tuned and fed, handling tech support calls, and all the other little things that fill the day.

They're still around so I guess someone picked up the work. Either that or they're not doing backups or archiving and just haven't had a catastrophic failure yet. At least I think they're still around. Hang on...Yep. Still there.

So I guess the moral of the story is you weren't as important to them as you think.

I thought I made it pretty clear that my work was the important thing as far as the company was concerned. If you're going to try to insult me, you need to do better than that. Most of my critical work was the type that can go unnoticed for months or years until that moment when something fails unexpectedly. It's like insurance. Doesn't seem important until you need it.

i don't think it was intended as an insult, just that perhaps you over-valued your position.

either that or nothing has gone wrong yet. trust me - i work in IT and let me tell you - something has gone wrong, and they had to have it fixed and probably paid thru the nose to get it done, but they didn't NEED you.

Where did I say they "need" me? You just don't get it. I said I gave them double the opportunity that most companies get to make a smooth transition and they didn't do it. That was the extent of my story. Go back and try to find any part of my original post where I said they'd "need" me or that the place would fall apart without me. I even closed with the assumption that the work must have been picked up and verified that they did, indeed, survive without me.

jtown: frepnog: jtown: SharkTrager: jtown: I was in charge of my last company's backups for years so I'm getting a kick out of this. When I said I was leaving, I gave them "as long as you need" to transfer my critical tasks to other employees. Exactly none of them had been reassigned when I left about a month later. On my last day, I reminded the boss that, as of the next day, nobody would be monitoring backups, changing tapes, processing email archives, managing ftp accounts, etc. Nevermind the prepping new systems for deployment, keeping the printers tuned and fed, handling tech support calls, and all the other little things that fill the day.

They're still around so I guess someone picked up the work. Either that or they're not doing backups or archiving and just haven't had a catastrophic failure yet. At least I think they're still around. Hang on...Yep. Still there.

So I guess the moral of the story is you weren't as important to them as you think.

I thought I made it pretty clear that my work was the important thing as far as the company was concerned. If you're going to try to insult me, you need to do better than that. Most of my critical work was the type that can go unnoticed for months or years until that moment when something fails unexpectedly. It's like insurance. Doesn't seem important until you need it.

i don't think it was intended as an insult, just that perhaps you over-valued your position.

either that or nothing has gone wrong yet. trust me - i work in IT and let me tell you - something has gone wrong, and they had to have it fixed and probably paid thru the nose to get it done, but they didn't NEED you.

Where did I say they "need" me? You just don't get it. I said I gave them double the opportunity that most companies get to make a smooth transition and they didn't do it. That was the extent of my story. Go back and try to find any part of my original post where I said they'd "need" me or that the place would fall apart without me. I even closed with the assumption that the work must have been picked up and verified that they did, indeed, survive without me.

That was the impression you gave.

So, they let him comeback and degauss the tapes? You don't erase "backup" servers. Unless, it wasn't a real backup system. Backup servers are meant to be rebuilt in a disaster and restored from an offsite storage archive.

meanmutton: HempHead: If subby thinks $100/hr is an exorbitant rate he has obviously never seen what some professional companies like Ernst&Young charge.

If it's $100 an hour for 40 hours for three years -- yeah, that's an exorbitant rate.

Consultants typically charge $150 - $200 per hour.

At least I had the sense of putting a delay on my logic bomb so it wouldn't trigger for 2 years, 1 month, and 6 days after my account was no longer in the directory.

Incidentally, that translates to December 21, 2012. Oops.

The best solution is to hardcode in your username to the system so that nothing can happen after it has been deactivated.