Locked Out and Left Out. First Day Back Software Dev Woes

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

Happy New Year, or not so much. I’ve just dragged myself out of bed for the first day back at work after the Christmas vacation hoping for a fresh start. I thought I’d come back to work with a new attitude and a more meaningful resolution than 3840 x 2160.

Here’s how it took the same amount of time as me entering my password to become disillusioned once again.

New Year, Same Old Same Old 

Here’s the thing about new beginnings. Sometimes they’re just old problems wearing a party hat. Today was a stark reminder of that for The Secret Developer.

“Rather than finding out what was going on in my team my day started with being locked out of my accounts. The New Year has begun in style!”

New Year, New Crisis

There’s something about being locked out of your work account that produces an existential crisis in a certain type of developer. 

“My first thought was I’m fired.

I know it’s not rational but I wouldn’t trust my current employer to tell me that I’m out of a job, I’d imagine that they’d just cut my access and then I would get a telephone call from my boss.

It’s not a nice feeling for a developer at all. This isn’t the first time this has happened to me though, IT support decides to lock my account every couple of months presumably to troll me.”

Am I Psychic?

“In this case, being locked out is the IT department’s bizarre New Year’s gift, the annual tradition of account lockouts. A bizarre ritual that leaves you questioning the very fabric of your employment during the one hour you wait for support to answer the phone.

On a long vacation previously I guessed I’d be locked out of my accounts. On that occasion I logged in on my own time and got the account working, taking up 1/2 day of my vacation. Never again am I going to give my time to the company to reward their incompetence.”

Conclusion

“So, here’s to all the developers out there dealing with post-holiday blues, locked accounts, and the endless quirks of tech life. Remember, tomorrow is another day — hopefully, when you can log in.

Oh, and before people start saying in the comments that I’m the problem? This issue also affected (today) one of my technical colleagues. They don’t lock everyone’s account but they lock enough of them to cause chaos. Nice of them.”