Comments on: How to get my job https://dfarq.homeip.net/how-to-get-my-job/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-get-my-job David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more Fri, 01 Oct 2010 03:03:00 +0000 hourly 1 By: Anonymous https://dfarq.homeip.net/how-to-get-my-job/#comment-2397 Sat, 13 Apr 2002 16:54:12 +0000 https://dfarq.homeip.net/?p=467#comment-2397 WATYF, you hit the nail on the head. You moved up gradually, over the course of years. Given lack of fear and a good memory and lots of time, you’ll learn a lot.

Computers are like the guitar. You can’t buy one and expect to learn in a weekend or even in a couple of years how to play it like The Edge, let alone play and build them like Les Paul–which is equivalent to what a lot of people want to do.

]]> By: Anonymous https://dfarq.homeip.net/how-to-get-my-job/#comment-2396 Sat, 13 Apr 2002 01:14:29 +0000 https://dfarq.homeip.net/?p=467#comment-2396 It’s always come natural to me.

Geez.. I hope that doesn’t sound arrogant.. :op I mean,.. compared to everyone else on this site I’m practically computer illiterate, but for some reason, computers ARE intuitive to me. I grew up teaching the other kids in my class how to use the Commodores.. then the Apple IIe’s… then the x86’s, (etc.) even though I hadn’t taken any classes on them, and there’s no reason I should have known any more about them then the next person. Maybe I just don’t find them as intimidating as others do… It’s always been a "learn as you go" thing for me. Heck,.. if you told me a year and a half ago that I would be building my own computers and hosting/building my own website I prolly woulda laughed in your face.

WATYF

]]> By: Anonymous https://dfarq.homeip.net/how-to-get-my-job/#comment-2395 Fri, 12 Apr 2002 21:21:37 +0000 https://dfarq.homeip.net/?p=467#comment-2395 How to get into computers? That’s a broad question nowadays. When I started in the IS field in ’87, programmer analysts installed the terminals & pcs including soldering all the connections throughout, running the cable to patch panels about the building, configure those DIP switches and any add-on components and devices, besides writing complex code along with performing test scenarios and providing user documentation and training.
Nowadays in most shops, all that work is segmented into different positions. So, there is a lot of potential to get into the "computer field". You just never know which part you’ll be confined to do. 🙂
Also, I’ve noticed the more specialized you become, the more money you make. How odd is that? Anyway it pays to be flexible.
Dave, you’ve got some great hobbies!

]]> By: Anonymous https://dfarq.homeip.net/how-to-get-my-job/#comment-2394 Fri, 12 Apr 2002 17:39:38 +0000 https://dfarq.homeip.net/?p=467#comment-2394 Dave,

That last point you make:

"I’ve tried to teach 24-year-olds starting from ground zero how to do this. It didn’t work very well."

is of extreme importance. It is too easy to forget how alien a computer, both software and hardware, is to someone starting at ground zero.

Computers are not intuitive and not easy to use. It’s just that folks like me frequently forget that and that is not good.

Thanks for bringing it up again.

Have a great weekend,

Bruce

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