[140131] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Amazon diagnosis
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (James Smith)
Mon May 2 23:30:50 2011
From: "James Smith " <thepacketmaster@hotmail.com>
To: "Jeroen van Aart " <jeroen@mompl.net>, "nanog@nanog.org " <nanog@nanog.org>
Date: Tue, 3 May 2011 03:30:38 +0000
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
It's always interesting (in a sad way) when a programmer or DBA comes to me=
with a basic networking or Unix question that any CCNA or RedHat candidate=
could answer. Then I get a very safe feeling about my job security when t=
hey start asking me if I could look at their code. This has happened too m=
any times in my career. =20
People seem to equate broad knowledge to mean you're a jack-of-all-trades-a=
nd-master-of-none. These are usually the same Comp Sci PhDs that have no c=
lue why they just got fired for saying something totally inappropriate in f=
ront of HR.=20
The more knowledge you have about anything and everything that your systems=
interact with then the better you will be at your specialty.
Sent from my "contract free" BlackBerry=AE smartphone on the WIND network.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeroen van Aart <jeroen@mompl.net>
Date: Mon, 2 May 2011 19:27:34=20
To: <nanog@nanog.org>
Subject: Re: Amazon diagnosis
Jeff Wheeler wrote:=0A=
> IT managers would do well to understand that a few smart programmers,=0A=
> who understand how all their tools (web servers, databases,=0A=
> filesystems, load-balancers, etc.) actually work, can often do more to=0A=
=0A=
I fully agree.=0A=
=0A=
But much to my dismay and surprise I have learned that developers know =0A=
very little above and beyond their field of interest, say java =0A=
programming. And I bet this is vice versa.=0A=
=0A=
It surprised me because I, perhaps naively, assumed IT workers in =0A=
general have a rather broad knowledge because in general they're =0A=
interested in many aspects of IT, try to find out as much as possible =0A=
and if they do not know something they make an effort learning it. Also =0A=
considering many (practical) things just aren't taught in university, =0A=
which is to be expected since the idea is to develop an academic way of =0A=
thinking.=0A=
=0A=
Maybe this "hacker" mentality is less prevalent than I, naively, assumed.=
=0A=
=0A=
So I believe it's just really hard to find someone who is smart and who =0A=
understands all or most of the aspects of IT, i.e. servers, databases, =0A=
file systems, load balancers, networks etc. And it's easier and cheaper =0A=
in the short term to just open a can of <insert random IT job> and hope =0A=
for the best.=0A=
=0A=
Regards,=0A=
Jeroen=0A=
=0A=
-- =0A=
http://goldmark.org/jeff/stupid-disclaimers/=0A=
http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/plural-of-virus.html
