Is There No Base of IT Knowledge?
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After many years, most of a decade, of pretty intense involvement in IT communities, both online and in person, something that I have noticed, and I think that a lot of people have, is that the same really basic questions or similar ones come up over and over again, always. No amount of time or documentation change these things. It is hard to pick out anything really specific but things like basics of DNS, VPNs, port forwarding, how email servers work, what a SAN or a NAS is, etc.
Somehow in my educational process, all of these things were covered and I feel that I had a firm foundation going into IT. I never went to school for IT, that probably helped as I never had that feeling that I had been taught the basics and had no need to teach them to myself and we know that college programs leave immense knowledge gaps. But I feel like people are routinely being thrown into IT fields without any form of foundational knowledge. The amount of stuff that so many people do not know and cannot look up seems incredibly problematic.
I am not complaining about people. If this was one person, then sure, that one person missed something. But this is not the case. This is, I can only assume, most people. Most of what I answer on some forums is not special knowledge that I have accumulated over a large career in IT. Most of it is stuff that I learned in a year and a half in the late 1990s when I retooled myself from software engineering into IT proper.
My guess, and I have thought about this a lot, is that there is simply a massive gap in IT education. People going into IT have absolutely no idea where to learn, how to learn and how to establish that base knowledge that is so important. It's very foundational. Knowing how DNS and email work, for example, is important in every day IT life. So much of what is going on on a network must seem like black magic to so many people. That's scary. But it can't be their fault as individuals, not on this scale. It must be that we, as an industry, have failed to document anywhere what is and isn't foundational, how to find that knowledge and to disseminate it in an organized fashion.
Thoughts?
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Having through about this problem for a long time, I am not aware of there being any such resource(s) for people. Maybe part if it was that I came from the era of books. Learning about IT was done in a structured way which involved practically living at Borders (that doesn't even exist anymore) and knowing every major book that was out, which were coming in new versions, who was writing what, etc. Today books in IT are still common but only fractionally compared to twenty years ago. So much IT learning comes from search today, which is not very useful.
Using books to learn concepts teaches the whole framework around an idea. Not just "how to accomplish this one task." That is a major problem for people just getting into IT. If they avoid books their next best but are resources like Pluralsight. That is structured but lacks the scope and reference ability of a book. And most people seem to do neither and avoid structured learning altogether because "quick answers" via a search are so easy to come by.
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Thinking about this makes me wonder - where did I learn different things? I know that I got a book on VPNs, for example. And when SANs were a new concept I ran out and got a book just on SANs to learn about them. I know that a ton of what I learned was from going through the certification process, mostly for the Microsoft MCSE+I and several CompTIA certs which were all of my early foci. I had a lot of non-certification books on numerous topics. Like SAMS Teach Yourself in 24 Hours books and the old Unleashed series. Big tomes that covered a lot of material and did so in a mostly structured "turn you into an expert" sort of way.
In my early years search engines were new and there was very little out there to search. Going to the Internet for answers was not an option for a long time. So figuring things out manually and reading extensively were the only real options.
A few years into the core IT portion of my career, CBTs became popular and I had a job that gave me access to an extensive lending library of them. I devoured those and that helped too.
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There are a lot of things that people just don't know going into IT. I think, at least with you @scottalanmiller , that you read so much more than most people, you had a lot more foundation than most. I think most people progress in IT without reading very many books explaining core concepts. I've read parts of many and a few complete ones, and I know my knowledge still has some gaps in it.
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I think one of the characteristics of you two is that you both seem to love IT. So IT isn't just a job, it's almost like a hobby. But for a lot people, and I probably include myself here, it is just a job. That makes it harder to find the motivation to learn the subject outside of work.
When I was in my twenties, my interests were music and football (and beer!). Everything in my life revolved around them, and a job in computing was just a way to fund my interests in them. I had no interest in studying.
I still don't have any interest in studying. I'll confess, I don't know much about DNS or VPNs. I've never read an IT book, I've never studied it at college and I have no certifications or qualifications in it. Despite my ignorance, I've still forged out a decent career as an IT manager, either because I have other valuable skills or because I'm good at blagging.
A lack of interest in the subject maybe doesn't matter as much in a large company, as they often provide decent training. But in the SMB world, a lot of companies offer no training at all.
If my work didn't provide me with IT equipment at home, I possibly wouldn't even bother owning a computer or a smart phone, it just doesn't interest me that much. I quite enjoy my job, but if I could earn the same money by being a lion tamer, I'd be just as happy to do that.
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I think @Carnival-Boy hit the nail on the head. It's the difference between someone looking to get paid and someone who enjoys the subject as much personally as professionally.
What used to surprise me was that in a SMB, the CFO (or financial person whatever their title) was usually the person responsible for IT duties. These people usually could care less about IT in general, but they were told it was their responsibility, so they did it. I'm guessing plenty of them found they could make more money doing IT stuff than financial stuff and made a switch, though clearly lacking in any type of formal or even semi formal education.
As has been talked about before on these boards, and mainly by @scottalanmiller, formalized education around IT isn't old like several other degree programs (lawyers, doctors, nurses, CPAs, etc), and in general is considered useless.
This is further confused by the fact that there's a divide in what is IT i.e. programmers/developers vs platform/administration. @scottalanmiller considers them two completely separate fields, but the layperson does not, they simply see that both sets of people spend nearly their entire day in front of a computer.
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@Dashrender said:
I think @Carnival-Boy hit the nail on the head. It's the difference between someone looking to get paid and someone who enjoys the subject as much personally as professionally.
What used to surprise me was that in a SMB, the CFO (or financial person whatever their title) was usually the person responsible for IT duties. These people usually could care less about IT in general, but they were told it was their responsibility, so they did it. I'm guessing plenty of them found they could make more money doing IT stuff than financial stuff and made a switch, though clearly lacking in any type of formal or even semi formal education.
As has been talked about before on these boards, and mainly by @scottalanmiller, formalized education around IT isn't old like several other degree programs (lawyers, doctors, nurses, CPAs, etc), and in general is considered useless.
This is further confused by the fact that there's a divide in what is IT i.e. programmers/developers vs platform/administration. @scottalanmiller considers them two completely separate fields, but the layperson does not, they simply see that both sets of people spend nearly their entire day in front of a computer.
That last part is tough on the field as a whole. When the very people who are doing the job don't even know what is and isn't the proper definition of a job in their field, it leads to lots of biases and misconceptions about the field.
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To answer your question, no there is no base for IT knowledge. There is no starting point for everyone which says you must know X to be considered an IT professional.
Look at doctors, to practice in most states you need to pass a certification of some sort that says you are capable of practicing medicine at an adequate level for this state. Lawyers have the same thing, even plumbers and electricians generally need to have a specific license or be part of a specific union to get work in some cities/states. This is a structured way to ensure that everyone has the same base knowledge, from that base you expand on it and have different levels of those careers. (I am by no way saying we need a union, just that it is a form of control mechanism)
IT, being young, doesn't have that type of control, there is no single process to getting into IT like you would for some other careers. I know several IT people who started out lives as accountants, engineers, marketing professionals (no idea the actual title). They began working on IT because they were told it was their responsibility.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I think one of the characteristics of you two is that you both seem to love IT. So IT isn't just a job, it's almost like a hobby. But for a lot people, and I probably include myself here, it is just a job. That makes it harder to find the motivation to learn the subject outside of work.
When I was in my twenties, my interests were music and football (and beer!). Everything in my life revolved around them, and a job in computing was just a way to fund my interests in them. I had no interest in studying.
I still don't have any interest in studying. I'll confess, I don't know much about DNS or VPNs. I've never read an IT book, I've never studied it at college and I have no certifications or qualifications in it. Despite my ignorance, I've still forged out a decent career as an IT manager, either because I have other valuable skills or because I'm good at blagging.
A lack of interest in the subject maybe doesn't matter as much in a large company, as they often provide decent training. But in the SMB world, a lot of companies offer no training at all.
If my work didn't provide me with IT equipment at home, I possibly wouldn't even bother owning a computer or a smart phone, it just doesn't interest me that much. I quite enjoy my job, but if I could earn the same money by being a lion tamer, I'd be just as happy to do that.
I agree with that. IT is not just a job for me. I knew that when I chose a career path to go into I would need something I could be passionate about. And that passion does not end when I leave my workplace. I wouldn't be very good at what I did if it did.
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@coliver said:
To answer your question, no there is no base for IT knowledge. There is no starting point for everyone which says you must know X to be considered an IT professional.
Look at doctors, to practice in most states you need to pass a certification of some sort that says you are capable of practicing medicine at an adequate level for this state. Lawyers have the same thing, even plumbers and electricians generally need to have a specific license or be part of a specific union to get work in some cities/states. This is a structured way to ensure that everyone has the same base knowledge, from that base you expand on it and have different levels of those careers. (I am by no way saying we need a union, just that it is a form of control mechanism)
IT, being young, doesn't have that type of control, there is no single process to getting into IT like you would for some other careers. I know several IT people who started out lives as accountants, engineers, marketing professionals (no idea the actual title). They began working on IT because they were told it was their responsibility.
This is true. Plumbers have been around since at least the 1800s. Lawyers and doctors longer than that. IT as a profession is, at most, 50 years old. I'm sure eventually there will be a standardization of the field, but we need something major to trigger it. I think CompTIA was attempting to standardize things with their "vendor neutral" exams, but we all know how much the A+ is worth...
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@thanksaj said:
@Carnival-Boy said:
I think one of the characteristics of you two is that you both seem to love IT. So IT isn't just a job, it's almost like a hobby. But for a lot people, and I probably include myself here, it is just a job. That makes it harder to find the motivation to learn the subject outside of work.
When I was in my twenties, my interests were music and football (and beer!). Everything in my life revolved around them, and a job in computing was just a way to fund my interests in them. I had no interest in studying.
I still don't have any interest in studying. I'll confess, I don't know much about DNS or VPNs. I've never read an IT book, I've never studied it at college and I have no certifications or qualifications in it. Despite my ignorance, I've still forged out a decent career as an IT manager, either because I have other valuable skills or because I'm good at blagging.
A lack of interest in the subject maybe doesn't matter as much in a large company, as they often provide decent training. But in the SMB world, a lot of companies offer no training at all.
If my work didn't provide me with IT equipment at home, I possibly wouldn't even bother owning a computer or a smart phone, it just doesn't interest me that much. I quite enjoy my job, but if I could earn the same money by being a lion tamer, I'd be just as happy to do that.
I agree with that. IT is not just a job for me. I knew that when I chose a career path to go into I would need something I could be passionate about. And that passion does not end when I leave my workplace. I wouldn't be very good at what I did if it did.
I am also one of these people who does IT work at home because I enjoy it that much. I find it hard to come up with necessary and usable projects at home though. I find myself thinking about setting up a home automation system in my spare time but I haven't gotten much past the brain-mapping phase.
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@Dashrender said:
What used to surprise me was that in a SMB, the CFO (or financial person whatever their title) was usually the person responsible for IT duties. These people usually could care less about IT in general, but they were told it was their responsibility, so they did it. I'm guessing plenty of them found they could make more money doing IT stuff than financial stuff and made a switch, though clearly lacking in any type of formal or even semi formal education.
What I've found pretty broadly in the SMB is that the CFOs and financial people seem to equally not know anything about finance and take no interest in knowing how to do it. That they are bad at IT is really just a reflection that they were also bad at finance. I can't believe how often I have to educate financial people on finance. I take more of an interest in finance than do most financial C levels in the SMB.
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@Dashrender said:
This is further confused by the fact that there's a divide in what is IT i.e. programmers/developers vs platform/administration. @scottalanmiller considers them two completely separate fields, but the layperson does not, they simply see that both sets of people spend nearly their entire day in front of a computer.
Which is odd as most office jobs spend more time in front of a computer than most SMB IT roles do. There are entire IT roles, like server tech, where the computer is only there for email from time to time and all work is done physically. Or Geek Squad, where the only reason that they use a computer is to perform their cashier duties. But a medical transcriber, or an accountant, or a writer, or a graphic artists, or a film editor, or engineer are 100% at a computer.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Which is odd as most office jobs spend more time in front of a computer than most SMB IT roles do. There are entire IT roles, like server tech, where the computer is only there for email from time to time and all work is done physically. Or Geek Squad, where the only reason that they use a computer is to perform their cashier duties. But a medical transcriber, or an accountant, or a writer, or a graphic artists, or a film editor, or engineer are 100% at a computer.
The difference I guess is that the IT people are doing computer related jobs that have always been about computers, whereas the others listed use computers to make their jobs easier, but could definitely do them without one.
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I think one of the biggest difference with IT and other white collar careers is the pace of change. If you compare it with accounting, the field of accountancy hasn't fundamentally changed that much in a century, it's still basically double-entry bookkeeping. Whereas IT changes constantly.
You could spend years learning Netware or Cobol or something and suddenly find your skills are now a highly niche market, if that. I know that accountants have to stay up to date with changes in the law and such like, but the bulk of their learning is done when they qualified, probably in their early twenties, and those skills remain useful for their entire 40+ year career. If you'd got an IT qualification in 1974, how useful do you think it would still be?
I know IT guys who suddenly find they're working in a company with physical servers running Server 2003, Office 2000, Windows XP, Blackberries and Exchange 2003 and they're struggling to find a new job because they're out-of-date, even though the technology they're using is only ten years old. The tech world has moved on. I'm embarrassed by my lack of Powershell skills, and yet that's only a few years old.
Sometimes I envy accountants. Tapping away on the same Excel spreadsheets year after year. The biggest obstacle most of them have had is re-writing their Louts 123 functions to work with Excel. It sometimes looks such a relaxing career.
On the other hand, I suspect I'd be bored out of my brains.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I think one of the biggest difference with IT and other white collar careers is the pace of change. If you compare it with accounting, the field of accountancy hasn't fundamentally changed that much in a century, it's still basically double-entry bookkeeping. Whereas IT changes constantly.
This is exceptionally true. Especially when you consider that IT didn't even exist when accounting was already codified. Even in the last decade, now that IT has "settled down" a lot, it still changes faster than anything else out there.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I think one of the biggest difference with IT and other white collar careers is the pace of change. If you compare it with accounting, the field of accountancy hasn't fundamentally changed that much in a century, it's still basically double-entry bookkeeping. Whereas IT changes constantly.
You could spend years learning Netware or Cobol or something and suddenly find your skills are now a highly niche market, if that. I know that accountants have to stay up to date with changes in the law and such like, but the bulk of their learning is done when they qualified, probably in their early twenties, and those skills remain useful for their entire 40+ year career. If you'd got an IT qualification in 1974, how useful do you think it would still be?
I know IT guys who suddenly find they're working in a company with physical servers running Server 2003, Office 2000, Windows XP, Blackberries and Exchange 2003 and they're struggling to find a new job because they're out-of-date, even though the technology they're using is only ten years old. The tech world has moved on. I'm embarrassed by my lack of Powershell skills, and yet that's only a few years old.
Sometimes I envy accountants. Tapping away on the same Excel spreadsheets year after year. The biggest obstacle most of them have had is re-writing their Louts 123 functions to work with Excel. It sometimes looks such a relaxing career.
On the other hand, I suspect I'd be bored out of my brains.
Accounting is far more understanding law than crunching numbers. My father is a CPA, and actually I'd have to say IT and accounting are a lot more similar than you think. Someone who was a CPA 10 years ago and didn't keep up their CE for whatever reason, and loses their license, or at least loses it as being current, can have a lot of ground to make up to get it back. I want to say that something like 10% of people, tops, pass all four sections of the CPA exam on the first try. Most have to do at LEAST two separate stints. Now, I agree that there is no field more dynamic than IT. Things are changing faster than ever and keeping up, even when you're doing it day in and day out, is a real struggle. You learned Exchange 2013? Great, company is moving to the cloud, so learn Office365. Now learn Powershell. Now learn Server 2012. And so on, and so forth. I'd say the biggest difference is when you specialize in something in Accounting, you aren't really expected to venture outside your specialization. IT doesn't have that. Even if you're amazing at one or two things, you are still expected to have a broad understanding of lots of other things, even often to get a job in that specialization.
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A CPA is a bit different than a general accountant. CPAs have to be certified and deal with tax laws.
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@scottalanmiller said:
A CPA is a bit different than a general accountant. CPAs have to be certified and deal with tax laws.
An accountant has to deal with tax laws too. To be honest, an accountant without a CPA license is not going to be used for much more than a tax preparer or a bookkeeper...
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@scottalanmiller As a rule....
