Don’t tell anyone we have been hacked

hacker comic

I had a boss tell me once that the company was hacked, but he told me not to tell anyone we had been hacked.

Now at that time, my duties were not in security. Still, it bothered me when people asked me to do unethical things, but what could I do? If I said anything I am sure I would have been fired.

The people in the company probably don’t know to this day, but it was one of the reasons that working in that company was difficult. I shared before that sometimes you are asked as an employee to do things that are against your moral code. Only you know what you can live with, but it adds stress to working and knowing something that should be shared so that resources can be used to fix it.

hacker comic
hacker comic

What I have seen in most companies is that IT doesn’t fully admit all of the things that go wrong. This is unfortunate because management gets a distorted view of spending and what is happening at the employee level. Some companies I have worked with were healthy enough, to be honest about what the experience of the employees was like. It directly leads to someone wanting to stay with the company or leave.

In many ways, being part of IT is like being part of every department in a company. We have to interface with HR and do HR tasks, we work with everyone to customize the experience so that things are as productive as possible. I like being a generalist and I also enjoy being a specialist. However, I like being a generalist more. It is fun to be able to pick up new tools, software, and ideas and be able to use them. It gives you a good feeling of contributing and when I have worked, I don’t doubt my contribution each day.

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Now this isn’t to brag, but rather to say that if I don’t feel that I am contributing I talk it over with my manager and try to find a way to contribute more. If the company is having financial problems as sadly many companies have issues, then it might be time to leave. I want to have meaningful work like everyone, and not just sit around and try to find ways to waste time. There was a study that showed that the average full-time employee only works 3 hours per day. And they wonder if people who are working remotely are getting anything done!

If your company asks you to do something you don’t feel comfortable doing like hiding the truth, it may be time to consider working somewhere else. I wish I had taken this sign to leave sooner.