what do you think about this situation

phaneuf1

I have a coworker sitting beside me in a helpdesk call center. He is a good guy and all but he seriously s*ck in IT.

Exemple:
He asks me how to install a printer on a client's computer.
I tell him you just have to install the driver from the website and it should be fine.
Him: how do I do that
me: go to hp.com and download it from there
him: im in hp.com website, now what do I do?
me: click on support and drivers:
him: I clicked now what do I do
me: well type the model name in the search field
and so on....
He wanted me to explain him step by step how to install a printer.
Is it normal?
He is not new, he has been here for 4 months.
I don't have the time to explain everything like that.
Download the driver from the maker's webstite should have been enough for most IT techs.
I don't know what to do. He needs this job. I would feel bad to tell my manager about it and he lose his job.

what would you do?

Legacy User

Sounds like your his help desk support.

phaneuf1

I have a lot of examples like that.
I explain him step by step and then I think he would be OK but NO!
If he gets a similar call and the process differ a little bit from what I told him to do, he will get stuck.
He is a script kiddie. He can't think. If its not in the KB, he gets stucked.
He can't think outside the box
it annoys me!

Akaricloud

If he's not able to perform his job then let management know. It's not fair to them or him to keep him in a position that he obviously can't handle. Maybe he could be trained more or needs to find a different career.

"Needing" the position isn't a justification to keep him in it but ultimately that isn't a choice that you can/should be trying to make. Management might be fine with training him some more and letting him spend many more years in the helpdesk but it definitely sounds like he won't be advancing anytime soon.

halaakajan

This reminds me of my classmate.

NetworkVeteran

phaneuf1 wrote: »

I have a colleague sitting beside me in a helpdesk call center. He is a good guy and all but he seriously s*ck in IT.

I don't know what to do. He needs this job. I would feel bad to tell my manager about it and he lose he job.

what would you do?

If you're not his team lead nor his manager, his job performance is not your responsibility. The only troubling bit in this story is the time he's taking up from your day.

Were you asked by your manager to train him?

If so, perhaps limit your help to 45min/day. If not, perhaps limit your help to 15min/day.

Beyond that say, "I'm sorry, I can't help you just now." If he tells your manager you are not helping, explain that providing so much help is impacting your ability to meet the other deadlines and deliverables your manager set forth. You are happy to accomodate your manager, but those deadlines and deliverables will need updating.

First, your co-worker is unlikely to want to raise the fact he needs excess help.

Second, your manager is unlikely to want your deliverables to slip.

Third, if they both want this, you're no longer spending your cycles for free.

phaneuf1

Were you asked by your manager to train him?

No I wasn't. And it ruins my stats

Repo Man

I always did the opposite. If you help enough people out you can just make it your permanent job and not have to answer calls anymore.

jesseou812

Your coworker sounds like solid IT managerial material with those type questions. Work hard to get him promoted so you can be productive.

J_86

jesseou812 wrote: »

Your coworker sounds like solid IT managerial material with those type questions. Work hard to get him promoted so you can be productive.

Ha ha.

Drovor

I would just keep the explanation to a minimum and if he wants more details tell him you don't have the time right now. Let him ruin his own stats, you can only help so much before it starts affecting your work. Might even have to take it a step further and let your manager know how it is affecting your work if it continues.

phaneuf1

The Team leaders are there to help us when we need them. But there are only 4 TLs (and they are kind of clueless) for the team of 30 techs. He would need one full time to help him all day. He had shadowing (call listening) more than anybody, plus the training, and it's still not enough. And then he asks me if I think they will hire him permanently. Are you kidding?

Slowhand

I think you should let him go to someone else for help, or possibly simply let him flail until a manager takes notice. One the one hand, most of us don't want to see a coworker completely sink. On the other, it's also up to each and every one of us to recognize when we're in over our heads and act accordingly. This guy needs to re-evaluate where his skills are, what he needs to learn, and go talk to his manager about either getting training or finding a new gig.

You've helped him out, but it's gotten to a point where it's hurting your performance. Let him know that you can't spend any more time helping him when you're busy with your own work, and let him figure out where to go from there. And honestly, he may just need a push to start learning things for himself. Who knows? Maybe enough times of being told, "type what you just asked me into Google," will help him realize he can learn this stuff if he really tries.

GoodBishop

Let me google that for you

Let me google that for you

undomiel

As someone who constantly has coworkers leaning on him to answer questions that they could answer themselves with just a little thought or a little research I feel your pain. Start not giving him the answer but asking him what he thinks the answer is. Give him enough to get him on the right track i.e. download the printer's drivers, but when he starts asking you step by step how to get to website, find the drivers, download and install them, then you need to start asking him what he thinks the answer is and where does he think he can find the answer. Stop spoon feeding him otherwise he'll never cut the strings. If you're having to do his job in addition to your job then it is something that your lead should be made aware of and you should escalate the issue.

cyberguypr

Yes. What undomiel says is the same approach we follow here. Do your homework and THEN come to us with questions.

ptilsen

Agreed @undomiel. Think of yourself as a mentor, not a human Google. Point him to good reference material or even assist him in phrasing a search. When it comes to really intuitive things like a web page with drivers, tell him that he should be able to figure it out. Giving him the answers doesn't help either of you in the long run.

Give this approach a try and see what happens. If he starts to become more self-sufficient after a few weeks or months, you've succeeded. If he is still clueless on something as simple as downloading a print driver, he's a lost cause. There are lots of smart people out there who could do the job better, and it's a disservice to them, to the market, and to yourself if you prop someone up who is not cut out for this career. In other words, if it gets to that point, tell your manager because he deserves to lose his job and that's not something you should feel bad about.