LOL. We make the boys set up their own video gaming systems and do whatever configuration is necessary to play whatever they want to play (we consider it one of the responsibilities of owning gaming consoles).

They're not really IT guys, though. Xavier is as creative a child as I have ever met. He is interested in ideas for games, but not really in how games work. Invariably every game he plays (or sees and wants to play) sparks a composition notebook (or de-composition notebooks, haha, which is what he marks on them) full of game ideas, stories, characters, imagined maps, toys and spin-off products, sketches, detailed plans for what abilities (and deficiencies) they possess.

I think your observation is dead on, and unfortunately the current crop of "video game design" schools lead kids (and parents) to believe that you make video games by sitting in an armchair with a controller in your hand, talking to a friend about which sound effect would be cool in which place.

Unfortunately you don't need a router to get an Xbox 360 online.  Just plug directly into the cable modem and off you go.  Setting up the router can most certainly be a problem, but mostly because you may not know the passwords to get into the setup for same.  If you have the passwords, Microsoft's own sites have plenty of walk-thrus that could get a 10 year old up and running in short order.  I would hope that their mommy and daddy know what they are doing and/or that they have configured their home network to be more secure than just something that the kids setup for their own use.

On our system, you do, terp, because we use static IP's. You need the router as the DHCP server.

On our system, you do, terp, because we use static IP's. You need the router as the DHCP server.

Ouch!  Cavtel tried that when I had DSL, and it sucked on both the customer end and the ISP end.  Why not just use Reservations?  You would still control the IPs, but at least changing subnets would be a lot easier and a lot fewer phone calls.

It's not my call! LOL!

And I only have a week more at this job. I start the new job on the 7th.

I think that is a symptom of society's general belief that IT people are a type of overpaid handyman. (Society has similar disdain for actual handymen who are likely also more skilled than we think.)

In general it seems that people assign a low value to knowledge they don't have and tend to have little knowledge of complicated subjects. Hence many complicated subjects are believed to be easy to understand if one has the time; which again means that an IT professional, to many, is simply somebody who had to the time to read a manual while others had more important things to do.

Learning how computers work is immensely difficult and most people realise it when they try and then stay away from the subject, using the excuse that they don't have the time to learn what is, they regard, an easy field.

From that grows society's general understanding that it is socially acceptable to know absolutely nothing about computers. I know people who refer to a monitor as the "computer" and the computer itself as the "hard disk". If I displayed a similar ignorance of, say, cars, and referred to the steering wheel as "car" and to the actual car as "radio", people would find my ignorance hard to believe.

There was a Dilbert cartoon many years ago where the secretary (or "senior associate") told Dilbert that "my oldest is flunking all his classes; I hope he can get a job involving computers" and Dilbert replied "carrying them?" which the secretary did not find amusing. That attitude is actually quite common.

Computer skills are not regarded as real skills and it assumed that anybody can learn them (which is for the mast part true) and that it doesn't take long and little effort (which is not).

A 55-year old acquaintance of mine recently told me that he was thinking doing something "in computers", and learn how to program; he asked me where he could learn and he wouldn't mind if it takes a year.

He was then surprised that my flatmate and I were watching a video podcast about the Cocoa platform (i.e. about programming). "I thought you can program already?"

I told him that there are several platforms and that after several years of studying one has to learn one or two and that it never ends.

I work with Visual Basic .NET and C# in the office and am constantly buying (and to an extend reading) books about C#, the .NET framework, and the Windows Installer (and if you think that has anything to do with installing Windows and clicking on "yes" to format the disk you are probably part of "society" and not of the IT skilled). In my free time I now study Objective C and Cocoa because I am very bad at memory management and pointers. (All my C programs either leak memory or were supposed to terminate after giving a result.)

Technologies that I try to stay on top of:

• .NET framework (except WPF)


• Cocoa framework


• Shell scripting


• Windows Powershell (if only I had the time, get it?)


• Active Directory as it is relevant for my IIS and SQL servers


• Microsoft SQL Server


• IIS 6, IIS 7 and Web servers in general


• Classic ASP and ASP.NET


• Build automation


• Source control


• Windows XP/2003/Vista/2008


• SOX

Technologies I try to comprehend in my free time and for fun:

• Mono


• Cocoa# (Cocoa bindings for C# and Mono)


• Python (if I ever get to it again)


• C


• REALbasic (for my home projects until I figure out Cocoa#)


• Interix (Windows Services for UNIX)


• DSLinux (Linux for Nintendo DS)



Those are typical subjects for an IT professional to study ALL THE TIME. I doubt that most people who hope for an easy career in IT would understand even all the words in the list even after they read the definitions.

In short: I agree.

Excellent points, Leauki.

I have always said, day one of any IT program should include the following 2 statements:

1. If you are looking for a 9 to 5 job, the IT field is not for you. Servers run 24/7, and consequently, so do administrators.

2. If you are looking for a career where you study 4 years and are done, the IT field is not for you. The computer field is dynamic, and if you're not willing to study the rest of your life, you'll quickly find yourself unemployed.

One of the things that makes the IT field so challenging is that a thirst for learning is a prerequisite. You will always be learning, and things you know today might not be true tomorrow.

Leauki,

I think part of the perception you point out, was the Computer mills. They talked about taking a class, getting a certification, and then earning "$75k per year" (this was during the Y2K run up). So people started looking at it like it was a cinch! If you can take a class and then be a professional, there must not be a lot to it.

I had some friends approach me during that time talking about going to one of those boot camps so they could make those kind of bucks as well. I tried to nicely explain to them that "paper certs" would not earn them that kind of money. Employers wanted to see that you could do the job, not pass tests. And the certs worth getting would not be achieved in a few weeks (with one exception, all of mine required a battery of tests - all with a long study path to them).

With Y2K over, I have heard less of these boot camps proclaiming easy money, but the perception remains.

The computer mills still exist, Dr. Guy, and many programs push certs over degrees and experience. Why? Because if a school can hand out a one year certificate without the student having to do any of the academic course load, it increases their enrollment (of the small class I enetered with in fall '06, I am thus far the only one to obtain my actual degree).

Unfortunately, trade mags don't help when they list average salaries related to certs. When someone sees the "average" salary of an A+ certified professional, they don't consider that those who are above average have been doing it for 20 years. They just see the $53k figure and think that's what they'll be making.

I make well below the industry average, but I guarantee you I'm FAR more valuable in the job market than some "Computer mill" grads with more certs than I hold, because I have job experience to back it up.

I think it all comes from the 90s when I the only difference between tech support and the user was I had a handy flip book from which to reference questions like, "is your modem plugged in?", "is it turned on?", which took care of 90% of online problems. :~D

I get laughed at a lot when playing Guitar Hero (although I do love the game), it seems actually being able to play guitar just gets in the way. ;~D

And I am not kidding. It is nearly too much for me and a lot of it is luck that I happen know what I need to know and am rarely asked for more. I am constantly studying to keep up with colleagues who have their own fields of expertise.

It's not easy and it is certainly not an option for people even dumber and lazier than myself; who are nevertheless often the people who think they can make easy money in IT.



I am on a strict 9-6 basis, but I had jobs that required 24/7. Here I am at a large multinational that follows the sun, i.e. has teams for all timezones. I am a contractor, hence have to worry only about the time I am paid for. But employees check things from home all the time!



It's not even that. People think that it isn't even the 4 years. They think that a one-year (or less) Web designer course is typical example of what is needed to acquire decent skills in a field of IT.



I worked in one of those, under contract, when I was in college.

It was ridiculous. The German government paid for those classes for people on the dole and lots of private companies offered classes that were essentially useless, like "Web design" in 2001. The "students" were completely flabbergasted when confronted with Java (not Javascript) and some refused to do anything because they could not see the relevance; and there went the only potentially useful part of the course.

Some learned how to use SAP (or rather one or two modules of SAP). That was useless too.

I taught basic Linux skills to those who already knew how to use a computer for Web browsing (most didn't).

It was a waste of money and I didn't make that much.

I am sure they do. They just do not seem to be as vocal as they once were. And your experience is worth a lot more than any paper from a paper mill (although many do want to see that paper as well). My friend is a very good worker, and is doing a good job. But he is the first to tell you that he has a long way to go before he is an expert in Cisco.

Hehe, I have neither degree nor A+ cert and make more than that.

But in general, you are right of course.

I was supposed to get a Microsoft cert or two but have so far ignored the urge. I did attend MSSQL programming classes and I think I actually know all the relevant stuff.

And my _real interest_ lies in languages, not computers or programming. Unfortunately that's also not a field where laziness helps.

I found that most IT guys (experienced such) have an interest outside IT that they are very good at. It's usually something where skills overlap, like astronomy or, as in my case, linguistics.

I really don't like my profession being treated as if it was "easy", but people do.

Back in the 90s, I was hiring network professionals. You would not beleive the number of paper certs we got applying. They "use to be" accountants and such and were downsized. And as part of the severance, the company paid for a retraining. They got it, and then wanted to start at the top (not totally unexpected as they had been near the top in their previous field).

But ask them one question not in the books, and they were clueless.

Dr Guy,

Yes. That was exactly the sort of people we got. But the school and that particular schooling system would have been useless for anyone.

I don't think anybody who didn't learn networks organically (i.e. playing with all sorts of protocols over a period of 10 years or so) will be able to make use of the books.