How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education
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I think a lot of it also has to do with how broad the subject of IT actually is. There are so many areas and a lot of times folks tend to focus on areas -- not even intentionally some times.
Take me, for instance, I'm a software guy. I can load systems and make them sing pretty much any part you want. I can assemble them as well, but that is not my strong point.
My old man, however, can put one together blind folded with one hand behind his back while singing 70's music backwards. He can install and use an OS as an end-user, but he's lost on the actual inner workings of software.
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Maybe we need an ML "How to Get Started in IT" guide
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@scottalanmiller said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
Maybe we need an ML "How to Get Started in IT" guide
Or a "Things you should know BEFORE applying for your first IT Job...
Short list:
- What happens when you format a disk.
- What Virtualization does, and the 3 major players in the market.
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A lot of the certs are not vendor neutral as well. If I got my CCNA I wouldn't have used it until now for instance and we're replacing our cisco switches in a month or two anyway.
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@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
A lot of the certs are not vendor neutral as well. If I got my CCNA I wouldn't have used it until now for instance and we're replacing our cisco switches in a month or two anyway.
While you are right about that, I think that the technical certs that are more than just "entry level" type certifications will teach you concepts that directly translate to other vendors.
I actually did get my CCNA... and used it to work on a grand total of two Cisco switches that were retired about 6 months after I started that job, lol. But the concepts have enabled me to do a lot more than just cisco gear.
When going from one vendor to the next, it is just a matter of matching up terminology and looking up the commands for what you want to do.
Edit: I must emphasize that it is important to know and understand the concepts well!
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@dafyre said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
A lot of the certs are not vendor neutral as well. If I got my CCNA I wouldn't have used it until now for instance and we're replacing our cisco switches in a month or two anyway.
While you are right about that, I think that the technical certs that are more than just "entry level" type certifications will teach you concepts that directly translate to other vendors.
I actually did get my CCNA... and used it to work on a grand total of two Cisco switches that were retired about 6 months after I started that job, lol. But the concepts have enabled me to do a lot more than just cisco gear.
When going from one vendor to the next, it is just a matter of matching up terminology and looking up the commands for what you want to do.
Edit: I must emphasize that it is important to know and understand the concepts well!
Correct. If you actually learn the material, it will generally apply across the board with only minor syntax differences.
L3 routing works the same on any manufacturers gear. They may do a few special things with commands or use their own syntax, but if you understand L3, you can work on anything.
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@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
Example:
Every company I have ever worked for already had a functional (more or less) domain with multiple domain controllers. I have never needed to setup my own domain, forest, subdomains, etc. I just recently had to delve into it and learned a lot, but I by no means know everything. Frankly, until I experience something from a lot of different angles I don't think I really know it. Most of my personal knowledge is conceptual but there is so much misinformation out there that before I joined ML I didn't know if what I was reading was correct. It sounded right, but I had no way of really knowing. Misinformation is what makes learning hard IMO. It forces me to need to forget information as well as retain information instead of fully concentrating on retaining it.
how does hearing it on ML help you know it's right?
because everyone corrects everyone here in an effort to make the information accurate. we heavily scrutinize each other in an effort to improve one another. Look at RAID on ML vs Spiceworks. That's a great example.
I haven't been on SW as much lately - Is Scott not correcting whatever wrong over there he finds? Or are you saying his voice is lost in a sea of other garbage and is basically getting lost in the noise?
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@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@scottalanmiller It was in my area. This was the only school that taught this that was close enough for most people here. Luckily the local community college started hiring IT teachers and have courses now. For years they didn't though.
Sure, but just because the schools wheren't there didn't prevent people from buying books like Scott and I did. No formal schooling for either of us, at least not at the start.
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@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
Example:
Every company I have ever worked for already had a functional (more or less) domain with multiple domain controllers. I have never needed to setup my own domain, forest, subdomains, etc. I just recently had to delve into it and learned a lot, but I by no means know everything. Frankly, until I experience something from a lot of different angles I don't think I really know it. Most of my personal knowledge is conceptual but there is so much misinformation out there that before I joined ML I didn't know if what I was reading was correct. It sounded right, but I had no way of really knowing. Misinformation is what makes learning hard IMO. It forces me to need to forget information as well as retain information instead of fully concentrating on retaining it.
how does hearing it on ML help you know it's right?
because everyone corrects everyone here in an effort to make the information accurate. we heavily scrutinize each other in an effort to improve one another. Look at RAID on ML vs Spiceworks. That's a great example.
I haven't been on SW as much lately - Is Scott not correcting whatever wrong over there he finds? Or are you saying his voice is lost in a sea of other garbage and is basically getting lost in the noise?
I would say his voice is lost in the sea of other garbage and people muting him, lol.
I was on SW for a couple of years before I met Scott, and actually directly messaged him a question, I think.
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@scottalanmiller said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
Maybe we need an ML "How to Get Started in IT" guide
This could easily exceed the Linux How To guide.
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@JaredBusch said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@dafyre said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
A lot of the certs are not vendor neutral as well. If I got my CCNA I wouldn't have used it until now for instance and we're replacing our cisco switches in a month or two anyway.
While you are right about that, I think that the technical certs that are more than just "entry level" type certifications will teach you concepts that directly translate to other vendors.
I actually did get my CCNA... and used it to work on a grand total of two Cisco switches that were retired about 6 months after I started that job, lol. But the concepts have enabled me to do a lot more than just cisco gear.
When going from one vendor to the next, it is just a matter of matching up terminology and looking up the commands for what you want to do.
Edit: I must emphasize that it is important to know and understand the concepts well!
Correct. If you actually learn the material, it will generally apply across the board with only minor syntax differences.
L3 routing works the same on any manufacturers gear. They may do a few special things with commands or use their own syntax, but if you understand L3, you can work on anything.
Especially the CCNA. As you move up the certs chart, it becomes more vendor specific. Towards the bottom it is more general.
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@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@scottalanmiller It was in my area. This was the only school that taught this that was close enough for most people here. Luckily the local community college started hiring IT teachers and have courses now. For years they didn't though.
Sure, but just because the schools wheren't there didn't prevent people from buying books like Scott and I did. No formal schooling for either of us, at least not at the start.
Exactly. It was scouring Borders (remember them?) and finding books that would explain topics.
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@dafyre said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
Example:
Every company I have ever worked for already had a functional (more or less) domain with multiple domain controllers. I have never needed to setup my own domain, forest, subdomains, etc. I just recently had to delve into it and learned a lot, but I by no means know everything. Frankly, until I experience something from a lot of different angles I don't think I really know it. Most of my personal knowledge is conceptual but there is so much misinformation out there that before I joined ML I didn't know if what I was reading was correct. It sounded right, but I had no way of really knowing. Misinformation is what makes learning hard IMO. It forces me to need to forget information as well as retain information instead of fully concentrating on retaining it.
how does hearing it on ML help you know it's right?
because everyone corrects everyone here in an effort to make the information accurate. we heavily scrutinize each other in an effort to improve one another. Look at RAID on ML vs Spiceworks. That's a great example.
I haven't been on SW as much lately - Is Scott not correcting whatever wrong over there he finds? Or are you saying his voice is lost in a sea of other garbage and is basically getting lost in the noise?
I would say his voice is lost in the sea of other garbage and people muting him, lol.
I was on SW for a couple of years before I met Scott, and actually directly messaged him a question, I think.
I'm muted several times a day, it's crazy. Post "I don't recommend FreeNAS" and it's instant muting from a lot of people. For every post someone makes that makes sense, there are a dozen vendor pointless posts pushing their product and about five people posting all confused about something basic in the same way.
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@scottalanmiller said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@scottalanmiller It was in my area. This was the only school that taught this that was close enough for most people here. Luckily the local community college started hiring IT teachers and have courses now. For years they didn't though.
Sure, but just because the schools wheren't there didn't prevent people from buying books like Scott and I did. No formal schooling for either of us, at least not at the start.
Exactly. It was scouring Borders (remember them?) and finding books that would explain topics.
My wife hated borders because I tended to go there for 2-3 hours and read. While she's an avid reader - 4+ books a week (I do less than one a month, way less), she didn't like reading there I guess.
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@scottalanmiller said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@dafyre said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
Example:
Every company I have ever worked for already had a functional (more or less) domain with multiple domain controllers. I have never needed to setup my own domain, forest, subdomains, etc. I just recently had to delve into it and learned a lot, but I by no means know everything. Frankly, until I experience something from a lot of different angles I don't think I really know it. Most of my personal knowledge is conceptual but there is so much misinformation out there that before I joined ML I didn't know if what I was reading was correct. It sounded right, but I had no way of really knowing. Misinformation is what makes learning hard IMO. It forces me to need to forget information as well as retain information instead of fully concentrating on retaining it.
how does hearing it on ML help you know it's right?
because everyone corrects everyone here in an effort to make the information accurate. we heavily scrutinize each other in an effort to improve one another. Look at RAID on ML vs Spiceworks. That's a great example.
I haven't been on SW as much lately - Is Scott not correcting whatever wrong over there he finds? Or are you saying his voice is lost in a sea of other garbage and is basically getting lost in the noise?
I would say his voice is lost in the sea of other garbage and people muting him, lol.
I was on SW for a couple of years before I met Scott, and actually directly messaged him a question, I think.
I'm muted several times a day, it's crazy. Post "I don't recommend FreeNAS" and it's instant muting from a lot of people. For every post someone makes that makes sense, there are a dozen vendor pointless posts pushing their product and about five people posting all confused about something basic in the same way.
do you get notices when you are muted?
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@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@scottalanmiller said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@dafyre said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
Example:
Every company I have ever worked for already had a functional (more or less) domain with multiple domain controllers. I have never needed to setup my own domain, forest, subdomains, etc. I just recently had to delve into it and learned a lot, but I by no means know everything. Frankly, until I experience something from a lot of different angles I don't think I really know it. Most of my personal knowledge is conceptual but there is so much misinformation out there that before I joined ML I didn't know if what I was reading was correct. It sounded right, but I had no way of really knowing. Misinformation is what makes learning hard IMO. It forces me to need to forget information as well as retain information instead of fully concentrating on retaining it.
how does hearing it on ML help you know it's right?
because everyone corrects everyone here in an effort to make the information accurate. we heavily scrutinize each other in an effort to improve one another. Look at RAID on ML vs Spiceworks. That's a great example.
I haven't been on SW as much lately - Is Scott not correcting whatever wrong over there he finds? Or are you saying his voice is lost in a sea of other garbage and is basically getting lost in the noise?
I would say his voice is lost in the sea of other garbage and people muting him, lol.
I was on SW for a couple of years before I met Scott, and actually directly messaged him a question, I think.
I'm muted several times a day, it's crazy. Post "I don't recommend FreeNAS" and it's instant muting from a lot of people. For every post someone makes that makes sense, there are a dozen vendor pointless posts pushing their product and about five people posting all confused about something basic in the same way.
do you get notices when you are muted?
Yes, but not who is muting. Also, not always even what thread.
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@JaredBusch said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@scottalanmiller said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@dafyre said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
Example:
Every company I have ever worked for already had a functional (more or less) domain with multiple domain controllers. I have never needed to setup my own domain, forest, subdomains, etc. I just recently had to delve into it and learned a lot, but I by no means know everything. Frankly, until I experience something from a lot of different angles I don't think I really know it. Most of my personal knowledge is conceptual but there is so much misinformation out there that before I joined ML I didn't know if what I was reading was correct. It sounded right, but I had no way of really knowing. Misinformation is what makes learning hard IMO. It forces me to need to forget information as well as retain information instead of fully concentrating on retaining it.
how does hearing it on ML help you know it's right?
because everyone corrects everyone here in an effort to make the information accurate. we heavily scrutinize each other in an effort to improve one another. Look at RAID on ML vs Spiceworks. That's a great example.
I haven't been on SW as much lately - Is Scott not correcting whatever wrong over there he finds? Or are you saying his voice is lost in a sea of other garbage and is basically getting lost in the noise?
I would say his voice is lost in the sea of other garbage and people muting him, lol.
I was on SW for a couple of years before I met Scott, and actually directly messaged him a question, I think.
I'm muted several times a day, it's crazy. Post "I don't recommend FreeNAS" and it's instant muting from a lot of people. For every post someone makes that makes sense, there are a dozen vendor pointless posts pushing their product and about five people posting all confused about something basic in the same way.
do you get notices when you are muted?
Yes, but not who is muting. Also, not always even what thread.
wow, that notification seems pointless.
other than just giving you the bird. -
@JaredBusch said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@scottalanmiller said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@dafyre said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@Dashrender said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
@wirestyle22 said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
Example:
Every company I have ever worked for already had a functional (more or less) domain with multiple domain controllers. I have never needed to setup my own domain, forest, subdomains, etc. I just recently had to delve into it and learned a lot, but I by no means know everything. Frankly, until I experience something from a lot of different angles I don't think I really know it. Most of my personal knowledge is conceptual but there is so much misinformation out there that before I joined ML I didn't know if what I was reading was correct. It sounded right, but I had no way of really knowing. Misinformation is what makes learning hard IMO. It forces me to need to forget information as well as retain information instead of fully concentrating on retaining it.
how does hearing it on ML help you know it's right?
because everyone corrects everyone here in an effort to make the information accurate. we heavily scrutinize each other in an effort to improve one another. Look at RAID on ML vs Spiceworks. That's a great example.
I haven't been on SW as much lately - Is Scott not correcting whatever wrong over there he finds? Or are you saying his voice is lost in a sea of other garbage and is basically getting lost in the noise?
I would say his voice is lost in the sea of other garbage and people muting him, lol.
I was on SW for a couple of years before I met Scott, and actually directly messaged him a question, I think.
I'm muted several times a day, it's crazy. Post "I don't recommend FreeNAS" and it's instant muting from a lot of people. For every post someone makes that makes sense, there are a dozen vendor pointless posts pushing their product and about five people posting all confused about something basic in the same way.
do you get notices when you are muted?
Yes, but not who is muting. Also, not always even what thread.
The last time that I was muted, but only the last time, it told me what thread. That's how I knew it was the FreeNAS one.
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Being the new IT guy, I'll try and paint a picture for you about how these knowledge gaps happen, or at least my story.
I attended college at School of Informatics and Computing, with a degree path in "New Media" as they call it. My education consisted of 3-D Animation/Modeling using several programs but with a strong emphasis on Maya. I also took some classes in Web Development (CSS, XHTML). My education stopped there as far as computers go. But I'm comfortable around computers, and I have been ever since I got my first one.
I took a job at a quasi-military academy, working with "at-risk" youth. My first job was simply as Cadre (something like a Drill Sergeant). After about a year, they had an opening for "entry-level" assistant for the MIS department (we're the IT for the organization). I was only TDA'd (Temporary Duty Assignment) initially, but I liked it so much, I decide to interview to keep it and get paid for it. My two years of computer related studies qualified me for the position and I got it.
I honestly came into the job knowing that I knew nothing about most of it, but was confident that I could learn everything I needed. We have a pretty broad range of responsibilities here in my department compared to what I been reading about other IT departments. Some things I do well already, and others I'm working out, but carefully as I do not want to stretch myself too thin.
When I first started, did I know what a Domain Controller was? Not a clue. Active Directory? What's that!? Hell, I even had to learn how to Windows+PauseBreak when my boss told me to add a computer to the network. On the flip side of that, my boss can't code a webpage to save his life. That's where I come in. The rest is time/experience. I feel that knowledge gaps like this aren't as relevant as having the resources to bridge those gaps. I mean, we're supposed to be the best at Googling right? It's in our nature to find solutions. That's the only relevant skill I'm seeing.
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@G-I-Jones said in How Do Such Big Gaps Get Missed in IT Education:
I feel that knowledge gaps like this aren't as relevant as having the resources to bridge those gaps. I mean, we're supposed to be the best at Googling right? It's in our nature to find solutions. That's the only relevant skill I'm seeing.
I think that that is specifically where those gaps might come from. IT can't be done by Googling. Sure, trivial things like "what is a domain controller" can be, but what triggers you to know that you need to Google that? IT requires, IMHO, a load of "baseline" knowledge, far more than most fields, so that things like Googling answers can be applied on top of that.
Like I Google the syntax for a command, but not the concept behind the command or which command to run. If I had to pick Google or "good books", good books I'd say are twice as important or more for IT. Google helps me know which button to push, but books and more traditional, structured learning, taught me what buttons to acquire.
