How do you deal with users

gorebrush

I very rarely have to deal with users, at all, and I love that.

Rosco2382

Thanks for the sound advice on some, and I didn't mean to imply people are stupid or ask stupid questions. It just gets frustrating on top of my other daily routines I gotta do. Once again, thanks all for the solid advice and I'll do my best to help and teach as best as I can.

About7Narwhal

I think we can all relate with the frustration. You need to learn how to deal with it or else you might come to hate your job. Every IT job will have those types of situations, be it IT to Public Sector, IT to Department, or even IT to IT. The IT to IT is usually the hardest for me to cope with when I get a dumb question, but for others it might not be so obvious... even if they are in the same field. lol Keep calm and carry on.

MAC_Addy

If you don't like dealing with users, then you've only got yourself to blame. You decided on this profession, so deal with it. Like others have said, if you want to answer advanced questions then go the route of educating yourself to a better skillet. If you're not doing that, and you're complaining still, then guess what? You've still only got yourself to blame.

I see a lot of people get in the IT field and instantly complain about the users. Well, it's the users that have helped you get a job. A lot of people don't know much about computers and are often scared of them too. So if you come in acting like an idiot then they're going to remember that for the rest of their life, and they'll probably tell everyone they talk to. You can get yourself a bad name very quickly by just one mistake.

My advice is this: don't complain about the users, don't be rude to users/customers, a smile can go a very long way, and lastly, if you exceed the users needs then that person will respect you (and they'll tell everyone they know how good of a job you've done).

elTorito

With extreme prejudice!

Kidding.

I try to be patient, at all times. Basically, not everyone can have the same affinity with computer technology as most of us here on this forum. If something technical doesn't click with an end user, I try to explain it to them using an analogy. If the same question arises more than 3 times, I make it a practise to write an instruction so that it can be added to the IT department's FAQ.

As you advance in your career, you'll likely be dealing less and less with basic questions anyway.

datgirl

I am an educator and a consultant, so the latter skill-set comes in handy when I am dealing with a difficult end-user or student. For the most part, I am quite patient with a user who doesn't know something or is having a problem. However, if the user or student isn't willing to put in the work to make an effort, then it becomes problematic for me.