April 17, 2014 at 8:38 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Advice for Newcomers
April 18, 2014 at 5:27 am
I would tell newcomers: Don't be afraid to ask for help. I've seen too many people (especially new graduates) struggling for what turned out to be days because they wouldn't ask somebody to help them. They are trained for 16+ years to "do their own work". Or even us older folks that don't want to appear dumb (I include myself). I realize it's hard sometimes to admit, but we don't know everything, and we have a job to do. If we can save some hours by asking somebody else a question, well, let's just swallow our ego and ask.
Now, how you tell this to 12 year olds, in front of their teacher, that's a different problem.
Cheers,
Tom
April 18, 2014 at 6:52 am
I *have* told young kids to stay away from technology jobs in the 21st century, including my 2 recent college graduated children. I tell them to do what you like, and if you happen to enjoy creating custom mods in your video games, then you might like software development. But the business expectations in this day and age are INSANE. Long gone are the days when you could tell Finance that their new report will be available in 6-10 weeks. Today they want it in 6-10 hours (isn't that why we let you build the Data Warehouse?!).
Time after time IT projects stumble and fail because they were hurried, often needlessly, and the business continues to be shocked, shocked I tell you, that IT did not pull a rabbit out of a hat. Kids, enjoy the technology sausage, but don't get involved in making it if you can avoid it. The pride and fun in software/database development does not exist these days.
April 18, 2014 at 7:24 am
andycao (4/18/2014)
I *have* told young kids to stay away from technology jobs in the 21st century, including my 2 recent college graduated children. I tell them to do what you like, and if you happen to enjoy creating custom mods in your video games, then you might like software development. But the business expectations in this day and age are INSANE. Long gone are the days when you could tell Finance that their new report will be available in 6-10 weeks. Today they want it in 6-10 hours (isn't that why we let you build the Data Warehouse?!).Time after time IT projects stumble and fail because they were hurried, often needlessly, and the business continues to be shocked, shocked I tell you, that IT did not pull a rabbit out of a hat. Kids, enjoy the technology sausage, but don't get involved in making it if you can avoid it. The pride and fun in software/database development does not exist these days.
Sounds like somebody needs a vacation.
I can assure that the expectation of things being completed faster is NOT an IT only issue. All aspects of our lives move at breakneck speeds compared to even just 10 years ago. Everything is moving faster in all aspects of business.
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April 18, 2014 at 7:31 am
Understand the basics, the theory that underlies the practical. And don't get married to a particular technology/programming language/vendor. However, if you do, then be the very best at it. (And then hope it wins out against competitors!)
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April 18, 2014 at 7:41 am
At age 12, the only type of computing that kids are interested in is video games. If you want to tell a group of kids about your job as an IT professional, you have to somehow frame it within that context, even you don't actually design video games. So, explain that you start with a conceptual idea and then storyboard it. At a bare minimum, it involves programming and graphic design. That's the cool part, and some kids can do it better than most adults. But for a video game to be successful in the real world, to turn it into an actual job that pays money, it also involves a group of people teaming together, capital investment, and marketing.
Really, IT is an easier sell to kids than accounting or proctology.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
April 18, 2014 at 7:59 am
My advice would be to pick a particular thing and learn it really really well--whether it's writing a program, setting up a server, or wiring a network. Even if the technology changes, you're better off having been really good at something than dabbling in too many things. As a one-person-shop developer for most of my career, I've worked with HTML, Javascript, CSS. .NET, PHP, MySQL, T-SQL, Excel, VBA, etc. etc. etc. Better, I think, to have learned one area deeply and to work on a team with others who also have learned their area of expertise deeply.
As for getting kids interested...some kids respond well when you tell them the story of how you became a techie. Some want to hear how much power and prestige they will have if they become an IT person. Others respond well when they learn how much they can help the world through IT. I'm sure there are other approaches too.
The three biggest mistakes in life...thinking that power = freedom, sex = love, and data = information.
April 18, 2014 at 8:18 am
Some want to hear how much power and prestige they will have if they become an IT person.
😛
99% of newcomers entering IT looking for power and prestige will end up dissapointed. How about pouring your time and creative energy into a project for six months only to watch it get scrapped by exectuve management, sit unused by end users, or have someone else take credit for it's success? :ermm:
Unless an IT professional develops the next Angry Birds or Candy Crush as a personal side project, it's highly unlikely they'll ever gain power and prestige. 😎
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
April 18, 2014 at 8:25 am
Tom Bakerman (4/18/2014)
I would tell newcomers: Don't be afraid to ask for help. I've seen too many people (especially new graduates) struggling for what turned out to be days because they wouldn't ask somebody to help them.
I agree. No one knows everything, but everyone knows something. It's more about team work and pooling resources together rather than being a one man/woman show. Don't get me wrong though, do what you love and be good at it; just don't forget your team. These are going to be people that you see nearly everyday and interact with a lot throughout your career and their areas of expertise will probably be a lot different than your own; teammates are valuable resources and building on those relationships can better yourself and others.
Now explaining that to kids, that's a tough one. I try explaining what I do to my own and most of the time I think that they think I run the company or something close to that...it's hard to say at times. :ermm: My son is a 5-year-old gamer. He knows how to use a computer because of games. He knows how to go in and set up configs and settings to the way he wants them to be for his style of play. I'd hit on video games definitely to peak an interest. My daughter is all about social media though; I'm pretty sure that there are blogs, facebook groups, twitter feeds, etc...etc... dedicated to how cool technology is and how cool it would be to make it yourself. Give them some stuff to follow and research on their own; if they're interested, they'll continue looking.
April 18, 2014 at 8:31 am
A book on how to build video games or Facebook apps would make a good Christmas stocking stuffer for a kid, if you think they would be into that. I could picture a bright teenage girl building the next great 1,000,000 user Facebook app; not that I personally would ever use it.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
April 18, 2014 at 8:33 am
Eric M Russell (4/18/2014)
Some want to hear how much power and prestige they will have if they become an IT person.
😛
99% of newcomers entering IT looking for power and prestige will end up dissapointed. How about pouring your time and creative energy into a project for six months only to watch it get scrapped by exectuve management, sit unused by end users, or have someone else take credit for it's success? :ermm:
Unless an IT professional develops the next Angry Birds or Candy Crush as a personal side project, it's highly unlikely they'll ever gain power and prestige. 😎
+1 😛 That kind of reminds me. I got a Christmas present from my daughter this past year that fits this scenario perfectly. It is a T-Shirt that reads "Business runs the world. The database runs business. I run the database."
April 18, 2014 at 8:35 am
I agree, but it's the fantasy of becoming the next Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Mark Zuckerberg that gets kids fired up and fills the ranks of the next generation of IT people. The truth is always the best approach, but it's not lying to accentuate the positive. Of course, dissuading the power seekers from IT might be just what humanity will need in the future.
The three biggest mistakes in life...thinking that power = freedom, sex = love, and data = information.
April 18, 2014 at 8:36 am
When it comes to kids, I think about their desire to create things -- draw/paint pictures, write stories, play an instrument, take pictures/videos, teach a pet to do a trick, help arrange a party with friends... These aren't just fun things to do, but are actually fun with a purpose. Often times, these activities in themselves are self-rewarding.
Some kids, like Taylor Wilson (the boy who created a nuclear reactor in his garage) are light-years ahead of any child/adult regarding what excites us -- unfettered by the nitty gritty details or reason.
So, it seems to me that reaching out to kids about what they like to create can be a bridge to other professions like IT where there is often the opportunity to make some "thing" or to make something happen.
When I was in junior high in the late 1970s, a classmate of mine described how his dad had just finished creating some sort of computer program on a TSR-80 to calculate the probability of various events. That was the first time I'd heard about a personal account about someone using a computer -- my only other source of knowledge of a computer was from the original Star Trek tv show. Ultimately, my classmate's story was enough for me to investigate about computers. I deteremined that I'd choose between an Atari vs an Apple. In the end, I begged my parents to get an Apple II+ --> my goal was to create my own programs, not play video games (which the Atari seemed to be mostly about). I wanted to see what I could create using a computer.
Now, do young adults possess the same sort of "look what I made" or "look what I can do" level of enthusiasm that children express? Possibly. Can an adult harness the intrinsic rewards of doing a job that is personally inspiring, or at least seen as a means to supporting other activities that do inspire? I'd like to think so.
But, as Steve Jones mentioned in his article, sometimes you need to figure out what you don't like to do. Here in lies a trap, however, of "I'll know it when I see it." -- it can become a passive, persistent stance of merely ruling out opportunities. A trap of waiting for something wonderful to come to you, instead of seeking it out. Thus, Steve's first point seems to come true -- reach out to others, get to know people and what they do (and hopefully enjoy doing).
--Pete
April 18, 2014 at 8:53 am
IMHO (4/18/2014)
I agree, but it's the fantasy of becoming the next Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Mark Zuckerberg that gets kids fired up and fills the ranks of the next generation of IT people. The truth is always the best approach, but it's not lying to accentuate the positive. Of course, dissuading the power seekers from IT might be just what humanity will need in the future.
The IT industry needs a handful of people like Gates, Jobs, and Zuckerberg.
However, regular Joes at the cubicle level seeking power and prestige are less useful... and also kind of annoying.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
April 18, 2014 at 9:01 am
Every parent I talk to I tell them to get their kids interested in tech. There's a shortage, even today, of quite simply, _resources_.... much less quality resources across all things IT.
There's young adults out there that can
-understand how to run benchmarks and manipulate config files for games so the game runs smoother. Isn't that performance tuning?
-play online games and tell developers of the games they bought where the bugs are and/or how different things should work in the game. Isn't that business analysis and QA?
Meanwhile most of these young adults have had it pounded in their head that tech jobs are for nerds, geeks, and losers. They work dead end, oversaturated jobs/careers in sales, marketing, and the service industry and major in things like English and History which will get them nowhere; or they major in law or med and flunk out with thousands of dollars in loans unpaid when they had no business being in those majors and were only in them because they thought they could make a lot of money.
As all this happens, underqualified offshore resources are hired to work remotely since they are hired at a bargain price compared to solid, legit resources. They're still making more money than the young adults mentioned above in their dead end jobs.
It's frustrating but I tell every parent I see to get their kids into tech. It pays well and is challenging but rewarding work.
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