Keeping it REAL
Doing what I do for a living, I run into more and more people who seem to feel that computer illiteracy is something to be proud of. I've lost track of the times I've been out on a support call and heard things like "Ha ha... these computers - I can barely turn this thing on". Words like that coming from people who work in front of a computer for the majority of their day just make me wonder how in the hell they got hired.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not talking about a little self-deprecation when the support geek walks in to solve a problem. That's just conversation.
No, I'm pointing the you-are-an-idiot finger at those who gleefully boast that they didn't know that they shouldn't open every email attachment sent to them from names they don't recognize. And not only do they not know better, they don't care to know better, and will blissfully continue to open those damn virus-filled attachments even after I explain why it's a bad idea and ask them not to.
Since when is it cool to have no interest in expanding your knowledge? Learning a little something? Personally, I'm happy to learn about almost anything - whether it be something I'm interested in or not. I can't remember ever being stuck in a bad situation where I knew too much about something. I just don't get it.
As Chris Rock would say... "Keeping it real... yeah, real DUMB."
Don't get me wrong - I'm not talking about a little self-deprecation when the support geek walks in to solve a problem. That's just conversation.
No, I'm pointing the you-are-an-idiot finger at those who gleefully boast that they didn't know that they shouldn't open every email attachment sent to them from names they don't recognize. And not only do they not know better, they don't care to know better, and will blissfully continue to open those damn virus-filled attachments even after I explain why it's a bad idea and ask them not to.
Since when is it cool to have no interest in expanding your knowledge? Learning a little something? Personally, I'm happy to learn about almost anything - whether it be something I'm interested in or not. I can't remember ever being stuck in a bad situation where I knew too much about something. I just don't get it.
As Chris Rock would say... "Keeping it real... yeah, real DUMB."
posted by steve at 11:36 PM
1 Comments:
Think of this as job security. I'll go into a little detail.
Way back in 1996, when I made my first website for a class, I thought I was something. By 2000, I was nothing. There were tons of designers and programmers that made my sad little skills seem like... well, the sad little skills they were.
Cut to 2006. Or rather, cut to 2006 in the shadow of 1996. Unlike in 2000, virtually no one I work with in 2006 is interested in Web or I.T. So I'm the - get this - IT support for my department, and the webmaster! Now, my technical insight and intuition pales in comparison to yours. But compared to the average bear, I'm quite computer literate (though beyond HTML, I can't program except in the most rudimentary way - okay, I can't program). In a lot of ways, my job to outsiders has all the romance of being Old Lonely, the Maytag repairman. The thing is, I've had enough bad jobs to know just how cool my current job really is.
And I think that's how you should look at it. You've got a damn cool gig with lots of job security. But even cooler - and I'm not being patronizing - you're working for one of the smartest organizations in the world, one which my wife and I spend money at (she more than I). I think in addition to looking at your new gig as the cool, "brainful" job that it is, take a look at the forest vs. the trees, and get into looking at the machinery of the corporation itself. You'll learn something new, seriously. And you like learning new things, right?
Look at it from the Macro level. How does company X stay on top? I would think that's fascinating.
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