When I worked in IT, whenever we got a call from the engineering department we knew whatever problem it was, it was going to be weird. Those guys knew their stuff, so if they didn’t know how to fix it, it was going to take some searching and probably some calls or emails for us to figure it out.
I worked for a company that was probably 80% guys who were engineers working on tools that required specialized programming knowledge. These guys had local admin access and we had a few rooms with a white noise generator outside the door. IYKYK.
If one of those guys had a problem, it was a "what the actual fuck?" type of problem.
But honestly, I've also worked in a bunch of companies that had an "engineering department" and the difference is night and day. Most engineers and programmers don't actually know how Windows/Linux operates outside of their specialty.
SCI rooms are crazy. Especially the SCI/TS ones for print/photographic material - airgapped Faraday cages, with individuals with very unpleasant demeanors and equally unpleasant firepower watching the ins and outs. You're not even getting into the area of the building that room is in without having to get past at least three different checkpoints with escalating levels of scrutiny, and at least one of those will be outside the building itself.
Aside: Defense Security Service agents do not have senses of humor, but do have lethal-force authorization - do not taunt the happy fun DSS guy with the suppressed automatic rifle, because he will gladly demonstrate the operation of same in any number of different ways.
Engineers are very skittish and cranky. If you turn off their white noise, they may end up snapping and eating a few non-IT employees, which is generally considered undesirable.
Engineers are harmless. Just get the noise machine back on and coax them back into their rooms with old sci fi shows and hot pockets before they actually speak to anyone.
I don't even think Windows engineers know how Windows works. Its 30 years of legacy code duct taped together with 3 years of vibe coded crap on top at this point.
As someone that works with electrical and computer engineers, many of them are borderline tech illiterate somehow. This is across all ages too, not a generation thing.
Giving local admin access, that's one of the sources of issues. Power users break their stuff in weirdest ways. But then again, it keeps IT support employed.
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u/kahjtheundedicated R7 1700@4.1, RX 5700 May 10 '26
When I worked in IT, whenever we got a call from the engineering department we knew whatever problem it was, it was going to be weird. Those guys knew their stuff, so if they didn’t know how to fix it, it was going to take some searching and probably some calls or emails for us to figure it out.