How Do I Describe Being Weird?
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@AVI-NetworkGuy said:
This is interesting because I always liken being an IT Pro to being a "doctor without the great pay" (not that all doctors make a lot of money, but you get my point). Along this same line, like doctors, IT Pros are challenged with "dumbing things down" to laymen's terms with people who have little to no technical knowledge of what they are discussing with you. In fact, I think they even have curricula in some medical schools that teach you how deal with patients in terms of compassion and speaking in a way that makes sense to someone who just doesn't know what you know.
I suppose my point is that it's always tough to figure out a way to tell someone that they are doing something wrong, or thinking along the wrong lines. I find that it's always best to first put yourself into that person's shoes and imagine how you would like to be addressed by someone that you know is more knowledgeable than you. I believe that empathy is key here. Once you can properly empathize with someone (and this, admittedly, takes some practice lol), the right way to say something kind of comes natural.
With this example, I would take a tact that is along the lines of telling the person that what they are thinking might work in certain situations, but for this, we likely need to go a different route and say something like, "Here are some ideas I have that might fit exactly what you need - let's discuss this and come up with the best way to go about this." This implies that you aren't totally brushing the person off or outright telling them they suck and shouldn't touch anything that plugs into a wall unless it's a fork (ok, just kidding with that one lol)
I like the analogy, but for differing points than stated. IT people, much like doctors, tend to think they are a lot smarter than they are, and quite often don't really understand the root nature of what they "practice" on from day-to-day. But, there is a myth that you have to be really smart to be in IT, so the myth perpetuates the arrogance in the field.
I'm not naming any names, just saying that it is a real thing that I have seen.
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Here is a good example: http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1293619-reliable-server
Beyond skipping virtualization, splitting arrays, RAID 5 + HA instead of RAID 10 with four drives and other basic issues... the big one is: thinking of skipping RAID for local "backups" on the same device!!
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No RAID at all for the OS? Damn.
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Another one today. I wonder why... http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1293618-sharing-mysql-socket-across-jails-in-zfs-filesystem-freebsd-9-3
Wants Jails but then tries to violate Jails. And fell into the "Cult of ZFS" trap.
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I can't even on this one!!
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@scottalanmiller said:
I can't even on this one!!
Can I add another platter to my hard drive for extra space? /sarcasm
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@scottalanmiller wow....thats all I can say. Although in the 90s I did have these on my 33mhz 486DX
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@BRRABill said:
@scottalanmiller said:
I can't even on this one!!
You had an even, professional response, though.
I guess that means he can, even! lol.
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Hey everybody, I started looking through SMB IT Journal and found my way over to start looking around here too.
I'm pretty new to learning about IT. I started a little while back, focusing on networking and CCNA study material. I like it but have also gotten distracted and taken a number of tangents off into other areas.
Do you all have any books or resources you'd recommend toward getting some basics down cold in any area? I'd like to work toward solid understanding and try to avoid learning in ways where I might end up drifting down any of these paths mentioned here..
I'm open to learning about any area. Networking, Linux and system administration have been some of the most interesting to me so far, and I keep sensing I'll be needing to start a base in programming too.
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To the original question, I know it just seems harder to get an idea across in some situations - when it feels like you've completely summed up what you're expressing and it's not getting you very far, where can you go from there?
It's fun in those times like you mentioned above, when you can just spit it out how it comes out and it works for everybody. It seems like you stay on the right track of trying to figure out why your senses might have started tingling, to express that.
During some bigger impasses, sometimes it's helped me to try to see what might be in the way of relating. Maybe backing up and looking at a misconception about something I took for granted can help everything start shifting.
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@ryanblahnik said:
I'm open to learning about any area. Networking, Linux and system administration have been some of the most interesting to me so far, and I keep sensing I'll be needing to start a base in programming too.
A programming background or expertice isn't needed, but it certainly helps. Before you decide on a programming language, you might learn Python. Also you should really decide on what you want to work on, Windows Linux, or Other.
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@ryanblahnik said:
I'm open to learning about any area. Networking, Linux and system administration have been some of the most interesting to me so far, and I keep sensing I'll be needing to start a base in programming too.
I would open a new thread for each topic you are interested in resources for and we can talk about ones that we know or dig up some stuff to check out.
