It is my opinion that, in any tech-related company nowadays, there must exist at least one trustworthy manager/administrator who understands IT. For example, I have an acquaintance working in the Penang Bayan Baru FTZ. For obvious reasons, I won't identify him or the company. Now here's the funny part. He was hired under the Quality Control department. As it turns out however, being a Computer Engineering student, he knew more about IT than the IT department of said company. Interesting. Apparently the IT departments troubleshoots computers by popping in a Windows cd and reinstalling Windows whenever a problem crops up. He mentioned several other routines of theirs as well, but I'm sure you get the idea.

So now, we have this manufacturing company with an incompetent IT staff. My acquaintance is now the most knowledgeable guy around concerning IT. And he's a trainee. In the Quality Control department. Gee. Anyway, his manager asked him to set up an office network for the department, and asks him at the same time if he thinks their data is secure. He gets this bright idea and goes -

"Not yet, you need a RAID too." (RAID = Redundant Array of Independent Disks, used for backing up very important data in huge amounts, usually for time-critical uses.)

Now, the RAID wasn't really neccessary, it just so happens that he had never played around with one before. Voila, his manager authorizes him to buy one. Sigh.

Another anecdote from the same guy - the company is paying thousands yearly in fees for Microsoft Office. When I went "WTF?!?!", he explained that it was for technical support. Wow. They have a dedicated IT department, and they're paying thousands in technical support for one of Microsoft's user-friendliest products ever. I just hate to imagine what other nonsense they're paying for too.

Now just imagine how much money that company would have saved by having hired an IT manager who actually knew his job. Enough to justify hiring the experienced, higher salary guy, I'm sure. But then, I probably shouldn't be writing this article. Otherwise, who would hire me to order all sorts of unneeded computer gadgets when I graduate? ;D