why not write a web-based application that can create, modify, list tickets, show clients their open requests etc etc etc, so, mostly for fun I start to write this up. After a couple of days of doing this, a remedy-admin type comes up to me and tells me that his boss is looking for somebody to do this exact same thing. Life is now really good. Alterior motives kick in and tell me that if I can do a good job on this, and get it done quickly, I can amaze the hell out of the remedy group and possibly end up with a job.

So, 4 days later, most of it done on my own time, I've got a good system in place, it accepts a (remedy) login id and password, stores that information in a session based cookie (ie: close your browser, have to login again). Brings up a list of all open tickets for the group(s) that you are a part of, allows you to view the details for those groups, make changes to the tickets, and save the changes. The HTML is pretty, it is pleasing to the eye, and is very functional. In addition to this, the code is very well commented, seperated completely (via HTML::Template) from the HTML. Uses CGI for the important parts (params), double checks everything that it can, errors are reported nicely, with a message stating what you may have done wrong.

And now come the problems.
First of all, people are very suspicious because this was completed so quickly - they obviously have not witnessed the power of perl before - so they start asking questions. All of which I am prepared for, and give reasonable responses to.
Secondly, the script is currently running on a linux machine that is sitting right next to me on my desk. This is a relatively base install of linux, with some minor tweaks (standard kernel recompile, kill services blah blah blah). It runs Apache. Currently on the box, Apache is not running mod_ssl.

The final decision from the management is that the script is not secure because it is not running SSL. Read that again, the script is not running SSL. They are demanding that it is removed from my teeny webserver because of this, and now will not use the code, meaning that they will spend the next few months attempting to replicate what I have already completed. Only to find out that their script or application doesn't run SSL either.

The thing that REALLY gets me about this is that no-one has talked to me about it. No one has asked ME about the code, other than through some very roundabout emails, and nobody thought to ask me whether it could 'run ssl'.

Definately time for a slapping of the upper management.

Thanks for listening to my whine. I really don't think that there is anything I can do about this, especially as a 'lowly helpdesk technician', but I definately think it's time to look for work with a new company.. but that's a different meditation...