whereas the younger generation don't know how to write a sentence without resorting to cheezburger or text speak, don't know how to act at a concert if it doesn't involve holding phones up in the air to grab 2 minutes worth of ****** quality sound and shaky imagery and haven't got a clue about the worth of things because they pirate everything off the internet.
Computer literacy is still a huge problem
- Thread starter mrochester
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whereas the younger generation don't know how to write a sentence without resorting to cheezburger or text speak, don't know how to act at a concert if it doesn't involve holding phones up in the air to grab 2 minutes worth of ****** quality sound and shaky imagery and haven't got a clue about the worth of things because they pirate everything off the internet.
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All my problems have been with young people
The worst is when you get a user tell you 'I'm not very good with technology' when their job is computer based!! Like how the hell did you land that job if you don't know what I mean by 'close that window' or 'take a screenshot for me'.
Seriously Windows at this basic level has been more less the same for nearly 30 years.
This winds me up the wall - I don't mind even showing people and giving them a bit of help to get upto speed (even though they shouldn't really be in the job) - but when they refuse to even touch a computer and it is basically part of their job its not on IMO.
LMAO.... I'm a bit bitter at the moment as I'm not getting the pay rise I've asked for...
I have to deal with a high level of nincompoops..... most of the people I work with have degrees and PhDs...
It's the same everywhere.. but it doesn't stop us (IT people) from moaning...
we have them who don't know what they are doing but will listen.... those are nice!
we have them who think they know what they are doing but don't... those are a pain!
but let's be honest, even IT "people" have different levels, I've seen 50k a year techies failing to understand and use command prompt and basically typing letter for letter in to the prompt. There are some right IT muppets about!!!
The only real difference is experience, I've not used windows myself in over 10 years; I sometimes find it hard to find the option I need in control panel to resolve a 1st line issue, as they either moved or renamed the bloody thing. But it doesn't stop me from trying, nor be able to make changes to GPOs, server settings, so forth... and when i do need to google something; I can normally understand the results it comes back with.
I have to deal with a high level of nincompoops..... most of the people I work with have degrees and PhDs...
It's the same everywhere.. but it doesn't stop us (IT people) from moaning...
we have them who don't know what they are doing but will listen.... those are nice!
we have them who think they know what they are doing but don't... those are a pain!
but let's be honest, even IT "people" have different levels, I've seen 50k a year techies failing to understand and use command prompt and basically typing letter for letter in to the prompt. There are some right IT muppets about!!!
The only real difference is experience, I've not used windows myself in over 10 years; I sometimes find it hard to find the option I need in control panel to resolve a 1st line issue, as they either moved or renamed the bloody thing. But it doesn't stop me from trying, nor be able to make changes to GPOs, server settings, so forth... and when i do need to google something; I can normally understand the results it comes back with.
Man of Honour
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I am not really older generation (63 only) but
My first x86 computer in 1990 (age 38)
My first self build in 1993.
Frequent hardware upgrades in the intervening 23 years.
Wordperfect, Lotus 123 ................................Office 2016.
So cut the generalisations, I am more computer literate than 50% of younguns IMO.
I'm not far off you.
58.
First x86 in 1988
First build in 1989 and then went on to be a local PC Guru with another old guy.
Was given my Man of Honour by Spie because I spent all my time in Millennium/OCUK buying parts for new machines or upgrades.
Like I said above, all my main problems have been with young people just not getting it where older ones seem to digest it better.
There are exceptions, my 80 year old Dad is quite expert in Sonar Production Studio, Sound Forge, Photoshop and Corel Draw but he can't get his head around a file manager.
Try this site;
http://www.gcflearnfree.org/topics/office/
Has pretty reasonable tutorials on most basic to intermediate functions.
A lot of the time I find its down to smart ass know it all "IT gurus" who lack the patience and personal skills to adequately understand what the users problem is and help them understand how to solve it. Note "solve", not fix.
Most times I see people struggle with Excel or something similar and someone like the OP will fix it with a few lightning fast clicks. The poor user has no idea what just happened as it was too quick to follow. If you take the time to explain why a problem has occurred and how the user can solve it themselves it's much less likely to reoccurr.
Bit of empathy goes a long way... condescension and an air of superiority will get you nowhere.
/Salsa
Most times I see people struggle with Excel or something similar and someone like the OP will fix it with a few lightning fast clicks. The poor user has no idea what just happened as it was too quick to follow. If you take the time to explain why a problem has occurred and how the user can solve it themselves it's much less likely to reoccurr.
Bit of empathy goes a long way... condescension and an air of superiority will get you nowhere.
/Salsa
As an IT Ops tech I just don't have time to do hand holding. We're constantly understaffed (because people think IT just happens by magic and would rather hire more hot woman in finance). We run two large, complicated networks which are expanding all the time. The last thing we're going to be doing is teaching someone how to send an email, Google it.
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The issue is this...
Many IT people think they are a vital component to a business because what they do is special, not possible for others to do and without them the world would not work.
I was one once...then I lived a bit. What most IT people do is fix boxes, write code, make stuff talk to other stuff and help important people find porn on Google. Millions of people can do this these days, it's a commodity, they just think it's a unique skill and think they still work on the west coast in the 70's and 80's when most of them were not even born.
Tis a tough fact, but tis a fact
Many IT people think they are a vital component to a business because what they do is special, not possible for others to do and without them the world would not work.
I was one once...then I lived a bit. What most IT people do is fix boxes, write code, make stuff talk to other stuff and help important people find porn on Google. Millions of people can do this these days, it's a commodity, they just think it's a unique skill and think they still work on the west coast in the 70's and 80's when most of them were not even born.
Tis a tough fact, but tis a fact
The issue is this...
Many IT people think they are a vital component to a business because what they do is special, not possible for others to do and without them the world would not work.
I was one once...then I lived a bit. What most IT people do is fix boxes, write code, make stuff talk to other stuff and help important people find porn on Google. Millions of people can do this these days, it's a commodity, they just think it's a unique skill and think they still work on the west coast in the 70's and 80's when most of them were not even born.
Tis a tough fact, but tis a fact
Yea see how long a server farm lasts without people maintaining it. Or how long it takes some little scrote to hack in to it because you didn't keep on top of security.
Desktop support is just 1 area of IT. Those are just the guys that staff see most of the time, not the ones behind the scenes. We don't even have those these days, its contracted out.
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I am not really older generation (63 only
My first x86 computer in 1990 (age 38)
My first self build in 1993.
Frequent hardware upgrades in the intervening 23 years.
Wordperfect, Lotus 123 ................................Office 2016.
So cut the generalisations, I am more computer literate than 50% of younguns IMO.
Im 49 next week...
My first computer was 1980. My first computer program written was in 1979 at school on mark sense cards, sent to the coal board computer centre and processed by someone with a MASSIVE computer with 1k of memory that filled a small town.
It printed "house is ace" sort of. At that point I knew I was different, special my school called it. I am told that was a good thing by my mate Timayyy
Yea see how long a server farm lasts without people maintaining it
But there are loads of people who could look after it. It's hardly brain surgery, it's a maintenance job, like a plumber, electrician, it's not rocket science.
Well aware, I've been in the industry since leaving education in the early 80's
Do you know how to do it? Would you know what to do if a server cluster stops working or a switch breaks?
Yea you can hire people in when things go badly wrong, but prepare to pay 5 figures. They know your company can't work without IT, so they know you have to pay them.
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No, but I am not sure what your point is? Do you know how to fix and 747 engine? Could you do a heart transplant? Could you run and manage a team of people writing 100's of millions of pounds worth of business? Could you sell that server farm to the people who use it, or can you just fix it?
To my point, your value is reflected in how you are rewarded, not how vital you believe yourself to be because you know some stuff another person doesn't.
He sounds like a consultant already.
Consultant: Let user x have access to run job y.
DBA response: Please consider getting yourself a new job or provide exact steps on how user x will gain the correct permissions to run job y without compromising the current security model when they have absolutely no access and no training.
That's rubbish.
Your value is purely based on how obnoxious/slimy you are. Hence Sales make all the money, and IT who build the base, find the solutions to these people's air headed ideas etc, get a fraction.
You are totally missing my point. I never said these people were of no value, that would be foolish. I am saying there value is that of another commodity not of someone who was inventing Intel chips in the 70's. I say this as someone in the early 80's who was writing code that ran a business's manufacturing process, the only person doing it, when few did it and thought I walked on water and was special and you know what? I wasn't, others did it too, often better, but I still though what I did was unique. This is still a common mindset of IT people, usually the ones who fix stuff, not do the really clever stuff. As I say, I've been in the industry longer than most on this forum have been born I'd suggest, so no axe to grind, just over 30 years of growing up in the industry.