fed up with IT departments

mzimmers

I know this attitude is somewhat unfair, but...I'm extremely frustrated with the security measures companies take these days. My company-supplied laptop doesn't provide me with admin privileges, and every time I need to install something, or configure something, I run into a roadblock and have to get IT assistance. Not only is it frustrating, but it's a productivity hindrance as well.

Are any of you running into similar experiences? Any suggestions for how to cope with the modern world of development within IT constraints?

/rant

artwaw

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artwaw

@mzimmers That's corpo style itsec done wrong. But it is easier to put all company hardware under similar, restrictive policies instead of developing a solution that would not hinder developers' need to tinker with the system.

SimonSchroeder

Well, as a developer you should be allowed to have admin privileges. I do understand IT's side that by default everybody in the company gets a locked device. Because normal people will always come first to IT if they have a problem and if this problem is self inflicted because of some software install or misconfiguration it is hard and time consuming for IT to fix it. Also, sometimes developers think they know what they are doing and mess up their systems (things like VPN come to mind). It can be very frustrating for IT to fix something over and over again because people believe they are clever (with respect to IT stuff).

At my current workplace we are too small to have IT (occasionally I am IT). At my previous workplace I really liked to have IT figure out everything instead of myself. There, we mostly used Linux and I don't like being responsible for configuring that. A lot of times we needed newer libraries or tools. Sometimes either way the most current/required version couldn't be install via the repository. A lot of times we needed to compile these ourselves. In hindsight this was a good approach that we had several tools and libraries in different versions in our department's folder. Also, the IT taught us how to use Linux modules which allow to load or unload a specific version of a tool or lib. It was a minor workaround which we would have to use anyway. Apart from that the IT provided laptops with a default installation of Windows. We had full admin access on these things. The IT would provide good instructions how to install and configure company specific things (like VPN). However, this also meant that you are on your own. There is no IT support when you mess things up (unless you can show that the IT's instructions don't work). If you want support from IT for your laptop they would reset it first so they know what they are dealing with. I wouldn't want to use such a device as my primary work environment. Also, that company has several rings of trust inside the network. If you want to mess with your own device you are a little more on the outside. Access to the file server needs workarounds like SSH tunneling.

We had close contact to IT and the people where really nice. There were weakly meetings of IT with one (somehow knowledgeable) representative from each department. This made it quite easy to talk to IT about your problems (like having to install everything through IT in your example) and acquire understanding of the other side's view. Though, sometimes this is also a majorities vote that other departments don't support your wishes. But, at least there is a way to voice your concerns and discuss them properly.

The best you can hope for in a company is structures to communicate and discuss your concerns (like the weekly meetings I described). Sometimes this is a long way to get where you want to be. If there is not (indirect) way you can discuss this with your IT I don't have any advice available. The most basic requirement from my perspective is good instructions for everything company-related so that you could actually manage your own device without running to IT to configure things like VPN, e-mail, printers, etc. If you have a chance to talk to IT try to see their point of view and maybe suggest having your device in a lower zone of trust inside the company's network (every device connected through VPN should already be inside the lowest zone of trust anyway).

J.Hilk

@mzimmers I can relate until recently, we had a very meticulous anti virus scanner that would lock up and check any newly created file, that included object files and any other auto generated files.....

That exploded my compiles times so far, that each time I could get and drink a new cup of coffee.

fcarney

I used to work for a gov agency which had these restrictions. I ended up doing less work as a result.

Now I work at a small company and I am treated like an adult again. People do occasionally mess up their systems here though.

The biggest issue we have is people getting viruses from hotel wifi while on travel.

Kent-Dorfman

I've been waiting for almost three years for them to allow me admin rights on my company craptop. I've been working around it by using my own equipment (work from home), but I've drawn a line in the sand. Several corporate issues have come to a head and I'm quitting in July after I take the long needed vacation that I believe they owe me. It's clear they are a bunch of dumb-a$$ kids and innept yes-men middle managers who are in way over their heads and the focus of the company has been to spend corporate welfare money instead of to succeed in our endeavour. I'm done. Will probably get out of computer engineering altogether and pursue my other interest as a "mechanic" for the mob.

Kent-Dorfman

@J-Hilk said in fed up with IT departments:

That exploded my compiles times so far, that each time I could get and drink a new cup of coffee.

Ha! On a good day, on a "clean" linux box that I personally set up, my builds take 30 minutes. Good ole gmake running thru an AUTOSAR code scanner, then compilation and unit tests. That's for the x86 build. When building for the ARM target it skips the scanner and unit tests. That build takes about ten minutes.

lakpio

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JessieJim1

@mzimmers You can explore virtualization software that allows you to create and manage virtual machines on your laptop, giving you more control over your development environment.