Surfing the Web on Works Time

Turgon

Many posters do so on works time using company equipment as opposed to posting at home at their own expense.

To what extent do your employers allow you to surf the web on works time?

royal

As much as we want. Just get your stuff done, do a great job, keep increasing revenue, and all is well. We're all about empowerment.

cgrimaldo

royal wrote:

As much as we want. Just get your stuff done, do a great job, keep increasing revenue, and all is well. We're all about empowerment.

Plus 1

Pash

no restriction as long as im meeting deadlines, i dont actually bother with websites like facebook or myspace, only ebay and techexams mainly at work

Tyrant1919

Same went for my time in the Air Force. As long as your @$%@ was done, it was cool.

dynamik

I think Pash brings up a good point of content. Anything I'm doing is IT-related. I might be on Safari or here, but I'm not screwing around with social networking sites or YouTube.

snadam

dynamik wrote:

I think Pash brings up a good point of content. Anything I'm doing is IT-related. I might be on Safari or here, but I'm not screwing around with social networking sites or YouTube.

ditto. Browse all you want (whatever the FW permits at least). As long as your browsing doesnt interfere with your performance and job, then its fair game. I usually have the troubleticket system in one tab, and TE in the next. Followed by outlook in my other monitor. That about does it for browsing for me

supertechCETma

Turgon wrote:

To what extent do your employers allow you to surf the web on works time?

That's my job.

Turgon

Personally its all good. Employers need to give IT staff some lattiude.

blargoe

Techexams is probably as non-work related as it gets for me.

Mishra

Only surf IT related sites except for ONE game forum that I post on.

Since I've been looking for a house that has been included in work time. >_<

coffeeking

Just started the job about 2 weeks ago. Everyone is real bussy with their stuff and have had a little time to show me what they want me to do. If didn't have access to the internet, it would have been real hard to sit around all day and wait for others to give me something to do.

Unlimited access, as long as its nothing harmful. TE gets a lot of hits form me in office. I have reading the forums more often since I started this job.

It is very important for me to have internet access since I am a newbie in IT and don't know a lot of things, I am learning that everyday, and can't expect others to show me every single step in a process, so I have to look up a lot of stuff on the internet to get an idea. I have been doing a lot of IT reading mainly.

It all comes down to the point that if your job is done and you are not doing anything out of the ordinary on the internet, you are allowed to use it.

royal

coffeeking wrote:

It is very important for me to have internet access since I am a newbie in IT and don't know a lot of things

No matter how good you are in IT, you will still use Google a lot as well as sites to reference something. Seriously, why memorize something just as long as you know how something works, and then know where and how to reference it at a later date. You can learn more by moving on to another topic since you know where to reference the information you just learned but didn't fully memorize.

undomiel

royal wrote:

No matter how good you are in IT, you will still use Google a lot as well as sites to reference something. Seriously, why memorize something just as long as you know how something works, and then know where and how to reference it at a later date. You can learn more by moving on to another topic since you know where to reference the information you just learned but didn't fully memorize.

I still think a good test of how good a person is in IT is to take Google away from them and then set them loose on a problem of some sort. Their approach to solving it without having Google available will tell you loads about them, whether they solve the problem or not. I know of some guys who just basically curled up and died when they had to solve problems without Google. I think I myself rely on Google too much, but if it was gone I would still be able to work at a problem in most scenarios.

hetty

undomiel wrote:

I still think a good test of how good a person is in IT is to take Google away from them and then set them loose on a problem of some sort. Their approach to solving it without having Google available will tell you loads about them, whether they solve the problem or not. I know of some guys who just basically curled up and died when they had to solve problems without Google. I think I myself rely on Google too much, but if it was gone I would still be able to work at a problem in most scenarios.

I have a crack at most things first and for the harder things leave it for google.

mog27

undomiel wrote:

royal wrote:

No matter how good you are in IT, you will still use Google a lot as well as sites to reference something. Seriously, why memorize something just as long as you know how something works, and then know where and how to reference it at a later date. You can learn more by moving on to another topic since you know where to reference the information you just learned but didn't fully memorize.

I still think a good test of how good a person is in IT is to take Google away from them and then set them loose on a problem of some sort. Their approach to solving it without having Google available will tell you loads about them, whether they solve the problem or not. I know of some guys who just basically curled up and died when they had to solve problems without Google. I think I myself rely on Google too much, but if it was gone I would still be able to work at a problem in most scenarios.

There are tons of other search engines besides google.

Pash

royal wrote:

coffeeking wrote:

It is very important for me to have internet access since I am a newbie in IT and don't know a lot of things

No matter how good you are in IT, you will still use Google a lot as well as sites to reference something. Seriously, why memorize something just as long as you know how something works, and then know where and how to reference it at a later date. You can learn more by moving on to another topic since you know where to reference the information you just learned but didn't fully memorize.

Totally agree with royal, i actually use a firefox addon called zotero and i have hundreds of useful techlinks snapshots there. I think your ability to use the right questions is the key.

snadam

undomiel wrote:

royal wrote:

No matter how good you are in IT, you will still use Google a lot as well as sites to reference something. Seriously, why memorize something just as long as you know how something works, and then know where and how to reference it at a later date. You can learn more by moving on to another topic since you know where to reference the information you just learned but didn't fully memorize.

I still think a good test of how good a person is in IT is to take Google away from them and then set them loose on a problem of some sort. Their approach to solving it without having Google available will tell you loads about them, whether they solve the problem or not. I know of some guys who just basically curled up and died when they had to solve problems without Google. I think I myself rely on Google too much, but if it was gone I would still be able to work at a problem in most scenarios.

Ive always considered google a last resort.

jamesp1983

My job doesnt care as long as you get your work done. I think they let us do it to keep us sane.

motogpman

I have been at this company for almost a year now, just hired on though. It is amazing how this company ran, no restrictions on useage. Since I came on, I have hed to bascially touch everything, to remove pirated software ( can cause companies legal issues), viruses, screensaver programs, ****,.... you name it, it was on the network/stored on servers somehow. It is amazing that any work got done. We locked everything down, cleaned or reimaged.... and our reporting from the managers was great. Amazing how bandwidth increases when 3/4 of your work force actaully works and produces. Production went up the roof, as well as people complaining of course, but after a few months of hammering the issue, people can see the impact they had when left to do as they please versus now. I think too much freedom is a killer.

I mainly use it for work related stuff, not to mention, I don't want any of my personal stuff floating around in case I leave or something. I leave that stuff for home, not to mention ( military term), we are trying to "lead by example." Profits for the company have went up, so that is good for everyone involved...job security. I study, research, and of course go to some IT related forums. Besides, I am too busy to really do more than that.