Comments on: Expert Advice http://andyparkes.co.uk/blog/index.php/2007/11/19/expert-advice/ Professional Geek Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:32:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: andyparkes http://andyparkes.co.uk/blog/index.php/2007/11/19/expert-advice/comment-page-1/#comment-337 andyparkes Fri, 23 Nov 2007 09:53:32 +0000 http://parkesy.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/expert-advice/#comment-337 Hi Vlad Thanks for the comment..Had a feeling this post would be up your street! In the UK we have lots of training companies that promise to take people with little to no computing experience and spit them out the other end with an MCSE In my previous job i was being sent for some Windows 2000 training, they had a choice of two local companies. The company where all the local professionals go or the "get your MCSE quick" company Guess which was the cheapest and guess where i was sent? Anyway i was on the course which was the third or fourth in their MCSE package so your expected to have a bit of knowledge by the time you get there. We were expected to work in pairs for the hands-on labs and the guy next to me couldn't even map a network drive or browse to a share! He had learned nothing over the previous course but he'd probably go to TestKing at the end of it and have a nice certificate at the end of it Frightening! Hi Vlad

Thanks for the comment..Had a feeling this post would be up your street!

In the UK we have lots of training companies that promise to take people with little to no computing experience and spit them out the other end with an MCSE

In my previous job i was being sent for some Windows 2000 training, they had a choice of two local companies. The company where all the local professionals go or the “get your MCSE quick” company

Guess which was the cheapest and guess where i was sent?

Anyway i was on the course which was the third or fourth in their MCSE package so your expected to have a bit of knowledge by the time you get there.

We were expected to work in pairs for the hands-on labs and the guy next to me couldn’t even map a network drive or browse to a share! He had learned nothing over the previous course but he’d probably go to TestKing at the end of it and have a nice certificate at the end of it

Frightening!

]]> By: Nick http://andyparkes.co.uk/blog/index.php/2007/11/19/expert-advice/comment-page-1/#comment-334 Nick Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:49:38 +0000 http://parkesy.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/expert-advice/#comment-334 It’s frustrating that IT is often considered “vocational” - instead of a profession in the US. I think part of this is due to the lingering hangover of the “dot-com-bust”… too many people who skipped the degree track because “they knew IT stuff”, and could make money without the degree. Flash-forward to today, and tell me this – have you interviewed anyone coming out of a 4-year degree program entering this profession recently? I haven’t – and I’ve been looking for people. Every single freshly minted “IT Pro” comes from a certification mill, or vocational school. Forget about the fundamentals for a second – even getting 50% of the fundies would be manageable… but these people have no ideas where the industry is headed… no informed opinions about how the landscape of the market is changing, all they know is how to add/remove users from AD, and click Next>Next>Finish. It’s frustrating that IT is often considered “vocational” – instead of a profession in the US. I think part of this is due to the lingering hangover of the “dot-com-bust”… too many people who skipped the degree track because “they knew IT stuff”, and could make money without the degree. Flash-forward to today, and tell me this – have you interviewed anyone coming out of a 4-year degree program entering this profession recently? I haven’t – and I’ve been looking for people. Every single freshly minted “IT Pro” comes from a certification mill, or vocational school. Forget about the fundamentals for a second – even getting 50% of the fundies would be manageable… but these people have no ideas where the industry is headed… no informed opinions about how the landscape of the market is changing, all they know is how to add/remove users from AD, and click Next>Next>Finish.

]]> By: Vlad Mazek - Vladville Blog » Blog Archive » Blogging Advice for Karl http://andyparkes.co.uk/blog/index.php/2007/11/19/expert-advice/comment-page-1/#comment-335 Vlad Mazek - Vladville Blog » Blog Archive » Blogging Advice for Karl Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:14:43 +0000 http://parkesy.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/expert-advice/#comment-335 [...] yes, all asshole, just not all the time.  Welcome to the club, Karl. Andy too. Thank you for making the SMB tech blogs less of a place for people to lie to one [...]

[...] yes, all asshole, just not all the time.  Welcome to the club, Karl. Andy too. Thank you for making the SMB tech blogs less of a place for people to lie to one [...]

]]> By: Vlad Mazek http://andyparkes.co.uk/blog/index.php/2007/11/19/expert-advice/comment-page-1/#comment-336 Vlad Mazek Tue, 20 Nov 2007 02:13:20 +0000 http://parkesy.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/expert-advice/#comment-336 No, you're not arrogant. People around you are just that f'n dumb. I don't mean to be arrogant when I say this either, but people often tell me I'm a genius when I do things that in my mind qualify for the lowest common denominator of employability in the IT field. The fact that folks consider basic troubleshooting, network essentials, adding and multiplying without a calculator and knowing subnet masks and routing topology... those happen to be the essentials as in everyone ought to know them. They don't, because people no longer enter the field training on the fundamentals but training on the problem solution. I am not sure what its like in UK but in United States IT is more of a "vocational school" type of a handyman course. Get your MCSE. Learn Visual Studio C#. People are cookie cuttered into being a system operator, visual designer, hardware / gadget repairman.. and when you only learn bits and pieces without understanding the whole picture you are building a castle on sand and you end up with stories like yours. Don't keep them up though, most people tend to be in the crowd you're talking about and they might not like you talking about them in a poor light. Thats my turf :) -Vlad No, you’re not arrogant. People around you are just that f’n dumb.

I don’t mean to be arrogant when I say this either, but people often tell me I’m a genius when I do things that in my mind qualify for the lowest common denominator of employability in the IT field. The fact that folks consider basic troubleshooting, network essentials, adding and multiplying without a calculator and knowing subnet masks and routing topology… those happen to be the essentials as in everyone ought to know them.

They don’t, because people no longer enter the field training on the fundamentals but training on the problem solution. I am not sure what its like in UK but in United States IT is more of a “vocational school” type of a handyman course. Get your MCSE. Learn Visual Studio C#. People are cookie cuttered into being a system operator, visual designer, hardware / gadget repairman..

and when you only learn bits and pieces without understanding the whole picture you are building a castle on sand and you end up with stories like yours.

Don’t keep them up though, most people tend to be in the crowd you’re talking about and they might not like you talking about them in a poor light. Thats my turf :)

-Vlad

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