I think today it is easier to get farther on less knowledge because of the technology. Back in the 80s and 90s you really had to understand how everything worked together. I think it is easier today than back then. I believe the internet and Google have exacerbated this. Before you had the internet, in today's form, you really had to search out people. You learned from live people. My first BBS that I set up when I was 13, was done with the help of an older kid. He was 17. He came to my house and taught me how to do it though. I really looked up to him. He was awesome. I also believe that the IT community was much more willing to teach back before today. My Uncle introduced me to some IT guys at his work. They mentored me in the late 80s and early 90s. I volunteered at my Uncle's work, it was a non-profit. I will say that, at least in the USA, we taught better before the internet, not to say there hasn't been good things with education and the internet. What I see is missing is critical thinking and logic skills. Once you know the baseline, anything on the internet you should be able to use critical thinking and logic to do a "sniff test" and see if they are selling BS.
I believe this is from the fact that in the USA at least, that is all I can really comment on, that we might value the information but we never value the teacher. Especially in IT. I think this is why the baseline is so hard to find. We have devoured our teachers. I liked the post you had on that Scott.
