But the web monkey that does the majority of the site can't.

Here, check it out:

www.cpeonline.com

Note: I'm a database guy with NO HTML ability, no sense of
taste or proportion.

Almost all the pages on this site are ASP. Even the majority
that should be pure HTML. This is because it was done by
a Front Page monkey.

The original guy takes care of the conference pages. Everything
else is mine since it is mostly database driven and I refuse to
let him touch it. He is VERY cheap. Of course.

He used to be a full time employee, who handled EVERYTHING
on their computers. Networking, WinNT servers, a bit of Arev
database reporting, Web site, List generation (MP, address
standardization, etc). Label printing and mail prep as well.

He also ordered supplies, changed the light bulbs, and plunged
the toilets.

He had an assistant who was much smarter than him, but no
experience. So he learned the worst, while introducing Linux
servers to their environment.

Their master Linux server, with the most disk, was a random
crap PC they put together, with no monitor or keyboard, on
the floor by the door when you walked into their office. Fans
totally clogged by floor dust. Filthy office. They would power
cycle it to reboot. This was the original Caldera Linux. This
was NOT a journaling file system.



Their primary NT box was joyous. 2 systems, no cases.
Side by side. The 2nd system was there just to hold disks.
DPT RAID controller connecting all the disks together.

No UPS. On a table. Next to a window. In direct sunlight.

Oh, and the office got really hot so they would open the windows.

A sudden rainstorm would occasionally blow through, sprinking
the open server.

The hubs were held to the wall by cable tension. Really.

So he left, and the 2nd in command got a battle field promotion,
and I answered the ad. I pitched myself as an off-hours part
timer, and it has worked out well for a few years.

The 2nd in command then left a couple of months later. So
I became their off-site CTO.

I hired their next 2 admins, and I'm pretty much in charge of
their systems. I revamped the network, replaced the servers,
supervised a move to a new location, designed their computer
room, made sure we had separate air conditioning, etc.

I setup their internet connection (DSL then 384K fractional T),
setup their email servers (qmail in, sendmail out from another box),
and wrote a bunch of Linux code for internal database reporting.

They have been running for about 3 years on systems I designed,
purchased, etc, without a crash or any data loss.

I had them buy a couple of Ecrix tape drives, and the production
database is restored and tested each month.

The inhouse admin takes care of almost everything so now
I'm the database guy, limited web stuff, mailing list stuff, and
all around tech question guy for the owner and execs.

All part time of course.

The original guy was maintained as the web master. Then about 2
years ago he disapeared for a few months, so I had to figure out
everything under an update deadline. This site had an online
course catalog the MUST be updated during a certain time to
match the mailed brochures. People use it for ordering.

So we changed as little as possible and did the DB update.
That means all the poor design and presentation choices are
maintained.

Then we moved providers when the old one crashed a few
times.

Now the current one has experienced problems. I know I'd
much rather work in Linux, PHP, etc, but as long at we use
the original guy for the conference pages, it MUST run ASP
code as well.

I tried it 2 years ago.

It did about 80% of what was need to be done.

And the remaining 20% was a pain in the butt since the ASP->PHP was not the cleanest code, so when I fixed the remaining code I had to get my head around the original crap ASP turned into crap PHP.

If it is not 100% seemless, EVERY TIME, I can't let him use it. He'll screw up and I'll take the fall.