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Once upon a time I could write code and know exactly what it would do to every component involved. I understood complete systems, every bit of them from network to firmware. When something was going wrong, whether hardware or software, I could diagnose the exact fault single-handedly. I read the design spec for the CRAY-1 and understood it. I fixed corrupt discs by working how how the data was stored and writing low-level code to repair it.
Now I can't even network my home PCs to share directories securely.
When something crashes I bleat, reboot, and start again from the last save but with no idea of what happened nor how to prevent it.
It seems there are layers upon layers upon layers of interaction and complexity; I feel I could not live long enough to now be able to attain the depth of knowledge I had.
When I read NickFitz's postings of how "ABC does this differently from DEF because GHI was cocked up when JKL was specified so MNO does not work with PQR under STU circumstances unless VWX is set to YZ" I am aware he has lived and breathed his work non-stop for decades. Nobody should have to know so much to make a poxy web page render correctly. And anybody that does know so much should have two PhDs and a seat at two universities.
I meet experts in their field who have intimate knowledge ... of one product. Years of experience in, for example, using one testing tool or development language. If the supplier goes to the wall, they are of no value to the rest of the world.
And the really sad bit is that 98% of what I have had to learn became redundant within three years of learning it.
Yet the amount you need to know to be an all-rounder just grows and grows and grows.
Dammit, it wasn't this hard when everything was proprietary and every site had a different supplier's hardware and a different programming language.
You're not alone, MrNoMotivation.
Last edited:
17:09
