Is IT getting too hard?

[Lockhouse]

As another poster has said - If someone asks me if I can do something I just say "Yes" and then figure it out.

I've been in this game a long time, learnt lots of stuff and have forgotten much more than I can remember. However the constant is that the actual application of that knowledge hasn't changed one iota. That's where the aptitude for doing this job comes from.

As soon as you say "produce some instructions for a machine to do stuff in a way you think the machine would understand" I would guess most of us would have a bl**dy good idea how to do that in a logical way that would be remarkably consistent.* No matter what the language.



*except atw.

[BrilloPad]

Only two things are important now in IT: quickness and cheapness.

WHS.

Offshore is the biggest issue facing us.

[Drewster]

As another poster has said - If someone asks me if I can do something I just say "Yes" and then figure it out.

I've been in this game a long time, learnt lots of stuff and have forgotten much more than I can remember. However the constant is that the actual application of that knowledge hasn't changed one iota. That's where the aptitude for doing this job comes from.

As soon as you say "produce some instructions for a machine to do stuff in a way you think the machine would understand" I would guess most of us would have a bl**dy good idea how to do that in a logical way that would be remarkably consistent.* No matter what the language.



*except atw.

I agree with you - so contrary to the original question : "Is IT getting too hard?"
- I often think to myself.. "If everyone realised how 'easy' this is then I would be out of work!".....
On the other hand with an IT career over 20years - "they" still think its hard so I am still earning! Boomed!

[expat]

As another poster has said - If someone asks me if I can do something I just say "Yes" and then figure it out.

I've been in this game a long time, learnt lots of stuff and have forgotten much more than I can remember. However the constant is that the actual application of that knowledge hasn't changed one iota. That's where the aptitude for doing this job comes from.

As soon as you say "produce some instructions for a machine to do stuff in a way you think the machine would understand" I would guess most of us would have a bl**dy good idea how to do that in a logical way that would be remarkably consistent.* No matter what the language.

I agree. Shame we have to work for people who don't understand that.

And before any agents or other dodgy types jump in to point out that the customer is paying so can have whatever they want and I'm a jumped-up numerical clerk for having the presumption to tell them I know better: what I mean is that I can do whatever it is that they want done, but they, or more likely their gatekeepers, don't realise that.

[Mich the Tester]

As another poster has said - If someone asks me if I can do something I just say "Yes" and then figure it out.

I've been in this game a long time, learnt lots of stuff and have forgotten much more than I can remember. However the constant is that the actual application of that knowledge hasn't changed one iota. That's where the aptitude for doing this job comes from.

As soon as you say "produce some instructions for a machine to do stuff in a way you think the machine would understand" I would guess most of us would have a bl**dy good idea how to do that in a logical way that would be remarkably consistent.* No matter what the language.



*except atw.

Indeed, and I have done my damndest to learn how to test whether the machine does exactly what has been requested in a consistent fashion without damaging the surrounding machines. If someone asks me to do that, I’m confident I can do it, whatever the OS, DBMS, network software or application. Whatever test methodology or project management methodology you choose, the skills required to analyse requirements and designs and then design a good test set are essentially the same. Yet every day I see adverts for contracts demanding testers with experience of <insert app name> version 1.5.2.7.d.3.7.34 service pack bollocks, some findings tool that’s the same as any other findings tool, some record and playback tool that works the same way as any other, various programming languages which the tester isn’t going to use, oh and despite having 5 years of DBA experience on Oracle, SQL Server and DB2, I get asked if I can write straightforward SQL statements. Then they demand experience of some query tool, when I know perfectly well that the query tool is just a graphical interface for SQL.

IT Managers and purchasers seem more interested in hiring tool monkeys who’ve done a one week course and got a certificate in some stupid tool that produces spaghetti code or predictable good path test cases than people with the hard won analytical skills to build, test or repair a complex system, and the result is tulipe quality systems delivered late and at twice the cost that’s necessary. So the numpty managers seek a way of making things cheaper; that’s easy, just hire cheaper tool monkeys from India instead of looking for the kind of skilled craftspeople who might show them up as idiots.

rant over; I'll do some work now.

[lightng]

Only two things are important now in IT: quickness and cheapness.

and plenty of it.

[expat]

oh and despite having 5 years of DBA experience on Oracle, SQL Server and DB2, I get asked if I can write straightforward SQL statements. Then they demand experience of some query tool, when I know perfectly well that the query tool is just a graphical interface for SQL.

The problem there is gatekeepers (mostly agents) who don't know that if you have 5 years' experience as a DBA, you will definitely be able to code SQL. How come people like that are doing the recruiting of the people who actually do the work?

It's the "Apprentice" mindset: it doesn't matter what it is or whether you know squat about it, you can blag and sell it and that's all that matters.

I shudder to think that I probably bought my house, car, and double-glazing from idiots with no more knowledge of what they were giving me for my hard-earned money.

[Mich the Tester]

The problem there is gatekeepers (mostly agents) who don't know that if you have 5 years' experience as a DBA, you will definitely be able to code SQL. How come people like that are doing the recruiting of the people who actually do the work?

It's the "Apprentice" mindset: it doesn't matter what it is or whether you know squat about it, you can blag and sell it and that's all that matters.

I shudder to think that I probably bought my house, car, and double-glazing from idiots with no more knowledge of what they were giving me for my hard-earned money.

I think it’s been demonstrated now that your savings, investment and current account are in the hands of people who don’t have the faintest idea what they’re doing with your money. However, I think the car industry do OK on this; the salesman might not know much, but the people building the cars in modern factories are no longer the fag smoking oily ragged ‘if it don’t fit then ‘it it with an ‘ammer’ types of the past.

[snaw]

Not too hard, technology is the same difficulty more or less. Expectations are greater however.

In my area (Networking/Security etc) it's not enough to be good at routing and switching. You need something else - security/voice/storage whatever. Any one of those areas is huge in itself.

I guess it's partially a maturing market, we're not all young guns straight out of uni and working in a newly emerging industry any more. People in it have got older, and with age they've got a hell of a lot more experience (Well those that still try to).

[chef]

I thought this thread was about Timberwolf getting personal with us all and thinking he was on a sex phone chat..