“There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” — Former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
I just hate it when somebody who thinks they’re tech-savvy (yes, I said savvy) starts arguing technical trivialities, or tries to convince me of their “ways”.
I remember two distinct incidents:
One guy was supposed to be a tech-expert, after digging deeper, it seems his “great” skills were mostly the ability to get images from Google’s image search and set them as backgrounds on a Windows machine.
Another one was a certified MCSE, he was assigned some helpdesk-style work in his first days, and needed to check a user’s problems of not being able to use his computer. He calls the network admin saying it’s a network problem.
- MCSE:
- It’s a network problem.
- NetAdmin:
- Did you try pinging the server? Any reply?
- MCSE:
- Yes. No reply.
- NetAdmin:
- Is the network cable connected?
- MCSE:
- YES!
After hours of troubleshooting, it was found out that for this MCSE:
- Pinging the server was simply clicking “Start”, Run, typing “ping” and pressing the enter key (without specifying the machine/address to ping).
- A black terminal flashing in and disappearing means no reply.
- The cable being connected means it’s connected on the PC, he didn’t check the other side of the cable.
This is one reason why I don’t really believe in IT certifications.
I believe that there are some basics that every “expert” should know, and then get deeper expertise in specific topics.