Commentary on Competence....

[KD8TUT]

A little venting here....

There's only a couple of things that I'm really good at. Computers, guitar, and maybe Software Defined Radio with an emphasis on "software". I'm one of those people with hyper competence in a few areas and admittedly high levels of ineptitude in everything else.

I used to enjoy talking with other technical people. But not so much anymore. Over the last 10 years I've noticed that some people believe they have an expertise which they really do not have, cannot demonstrate, but steadfastly defend as fact.

This becomes frustrating.

Recently I took a contract at an international manufacturer with office and plants all over the world. My boss is my best friend. He previously was my employee, so things have come full circle. And he's a damned good network infrastructure guy- and a good manager.

But we have this windows admin, he's got something like 15 technical certifications. And this dude cannot tell you what the transit path for e-mail is through the servers he is responsible for administering. He has no idea. The guy makes close to 6 figures a year for sitting on his ass and adding/removing domain accounts.

Two months ago he was given instructions to document the mail pathing in the company. Two months later I'm doing it. He should know this stuff cold- no thinking involved.

This boggles my mind.

On another front, several tech websites I've posted on over the years seem to have gone into the toilet. Once inhabited by computer experimenters doing interesting things like LN cooling, board modifications, BIOS customization, firmware hacking... they are now inhabited by a less capable set of enthusiasts.

One recent example is the release of the new AMD Zen processor and the upcoming Naples server processor. Both interesting topics to me. Especially since these parts are very inexpensive for an 8 core processor.

But the websites that have been reviewing these have only benchmarked media creation and games. Not that I'm against either media creation or games- I do both. But game benchmarks are such a bad way to figure out how much power a processor has. There's too much high level inefficient code used by game developers. But because these people apparently only play games- that's where the benchmarks are.

Never mind MIPS per core... virtualization... performance with 20 or 30 applications running. No let's argue about frame rate.

So... it pisses me off. Not sure I feel better... but at least I said it.

[WØTKX]

Yup.

Put me in the corner fixing old skool RS-232/482 devices and leave me alone.

I'm done arguing about spectrum surveys before deploying Ubiquity radios.

Pay me a living wage till I retire. That is all I ask.

Don't get me started, as my workplace is nuts.
Procedures do not replace critical thinking.

Driving a garbage/recycling truck seems like more fun.

[KG4CGC]

Yup.
<snip>

Driving a garbage/recycling truck seems like more fun.

Call me Fred Sanford.

[WZ7U]

It's a lot more fun than you can possibly imagine. Log trucks are x1000 on the scale.

[KE6KA]

Wait until you have to deal with an IT project manager with a degree in photography from a local university who got the job because he was really good at PhotoShop and someone thought he was really good with computers because he can crop a picture, and well, he got his degree from a local university, thus, he knows it all.

I went around in circles with that fool because someone needed a laser printer and there were three old LaserJet 4M printers collecting dust on the shelf that were scheduled to be collected for ewaste sometime during the last ice age, but are still sitting there in my way. I resurrected one by cannibalizing working parts from the one with a bad power supply, popped in new old stock toner cartridge and delivered it to a sales manager who desperately needed a printer, and had been waiting six months for this project manager to order one. It printed flawlessly. Anyway, the project manager wanted to make an issue about how I should never allow toner cartridges to be stored that long because they are "hella expensive and they dry out." The printers and the cartridges where stored there years before I came along, but somehow I got the heat about how expensive wasted toner cartridges are.

The incident regarding how I should have had him order a new ethernet cable to replace the one with the broker RJ45 instead of crimping a new RJ45 on the cable was just as dumb. And BTW, I did send an order for a new ethernet cable, printers, broken telephones, etc. The problem was it took three months before it would arrive and this genius photographer would always blame it on slow shipping, so I would just fix things instead of replacing them.

[kf0rt]

Seems like it's been headed that way for awhile. I know the hard-core techies are out there, but there don't seem to be many in management. I left my place of work for 31 years last year after putting up with that sort of thing for way too long. I think the answer in many cases is better management.

[N8YX]

...But we have this windows admin, he's got something like 15 technical certifications...

One may lay the blame for that mess squarely at the feet of MSFT. A+, MCSE and other "gotta-have-to-be-relevant-and-employed-HERE!" certs ... obtained through various "boot camps".

And this dude cannot tell you what the transit path for e-mail is through the servers he is responsible for administering. He has no idea. The guy makes close to 6 figures a year for sitting on his ass and adding/removing domain accounts.

Don't be hatin' on the playa, yo. Turn your focus towards his management.

Two months ago he was given instructions to document the mail pathing in the company. Two months later I'm doing it. He should know this stuff cold- no thinking involved.

Head thee over to my LinkedIn page and look at the certs I hold. Tell me which one you wouldn't want to be on the "bad cop" end of, especially if you're running a PCI or HIPAA-scoped infrastructure and can't dox (thus, you must GTFO).

This boggles my mind.

This industry dynamic has been predicted for, oh, the past 25 years by a number of people...myself included. Hard to deny we ended up here unannounced.


To an earlier point of yours: The IT industry has in fact become so specialized and focused that the days of the jack-of-all-trades are past us. As is the case in the electrical engineering/electronics world.

Find your niche and excel in it. Doctors and lawyers call this method a roadmap to riches.

[W3WN]

Call me Fred Sanford.

Sure thing, Fred.

[K7SGJ]

Yup.

Put me in the corner fixing old skool RS-232/482 devices and leave me alone.

I'm done arguing about spectrum surveys before deploying Ubiquity radios.

Pay me a living wage till I retire. That is all I ask.

Don't get me started, as my workplace is nuts.
Procedures do not replace critical thinking.

Driving a garbage/recycling truck seems like more fun.

Plus all you can eat.

[K7SGJ]

The IT/computing world is not alone with this problem. Anymore, it is this way in most every field of electronics, and even worse when you work for the government. I had a government position in the two way radio shop, and when they farmed that out, I found a niche doing component level board repair. I sold that to the upper bosses by showing a savings on repair of old obsolete equipment that would stay in service long past it's replacement date, as well as having to send a lot of stuff back to the manufacturer for repair. Very little documentation but some pretty slick diagnostic hardware/software tools. I was the only one doing this and the little prick I had for a supervisor took every opportunity to try to throw me under the bus. He would try to tell me how he thought something worked, and I would take great joy explaining, in as much technical detail as possible, how something really worked. Complete with drawings on the black board. It never fails that some fuzzy faced little asshole becomes a supervisor or higher, and believes his title instantly means he knows more than anyone beneath him, even someone who has been in the industry for 50 years or more. I remember when I was tasked with fixing his LED monitor. Naturally, I kept throwing to the back of the line. After I did finish it, I took it back and hooked it up. Just being a douche, he tried to give me some shit about how it took longer to come on than it use to. I told him I had to replace a tube and the new filament took a little longer to warm up, at which point I left his office, and had a very good rest of the day. What a dickhead.