ch.1 safety and professionalism

Why does the author consider the term “nerd” and compliment?

It implies the person is smart

How dors the media portray nerds in a negative light?

They typically have social awkwardness and bad clothes

What do you need to show professionalism?

A professional appearance and to follow the proper ethical code

What do customers think when they see someone wearing casual clothing?

They have a casual attitude

Why do people expect you to take their business seriously?

They used their computers for very personal and serious business matters

What is the usual dress code for techs?

Business casual

What should you do if you’re invited to a formal dinner?

Wear formal attire

Hygiene?

Take care of it

What ethics do you need to be a good technician?

Honesty/integrity, dependability/responsibility, and sensitivity

Why are honesty and integrity grouped together?

They are not the same but they are closely related

Honesty

Tell the truth

Integrity

Do the right thing

What does this industry often makes difficult?

Being honest

Why is it easy to be dishonest as a technician?

IT technicians get a lot of leeway compared to most starting jobs

What may be one of the biggest temptations to lie?

Lying to your boss

What temptation for lying will be harder to avoid than lying to your boss?

Lying to the customer

What about goods and services your customers don’t need?

Don’t sell it to them

Techno-babble

The use of often nonsensical jargon and technical terms to intimidate and silence a challenge to a technical issue

What should you do if you can’t explain the problem to a customer in plain english?

Don’t create techno-babble and don’t be afraid of saying I don’t know

What do a lot of techs think saying “I don’t know means?”

That they are unskilled

What should a skilled tech be able to say after saying “I don’t know?”

I know how to figure it out and I will get the right answer for you

How should you treat anything said to you and anything you see?

As a personal confidence, not to be repeated to customers, co-workers, or bosses

Mike's rule of confidentiality

Unless it's a felony or an imminent physical danger, you didn’t see nothin’

Paying customer

Someone who doesn’t work for your company and is paying for your services

In-house user

Someone who works for the same company you work for and is not directly paying for your services

What is sometimes your job but not always?

To police in-house IT policies

What is an example of having to police in-house IT policies?

If you see a sticky note with a password on a customer's computer you say nothing; if you are in-house and see the same thing, you probably need to speak to the user about the dangers of exposing passwords

What kind of power do you hold when sitting in front of someone's computer?

You can do things that invade their privacy like read their email, browser history, what programs they used

Should you invade a user's privacy?

No

What could happen if you are caught invading a customer's privacy?

You not only lose credibility and respect, you could also lose your job