Appearance and competence
I have a unique talent it seems. I can “pick up” new technology at an exceptionally quick rate. This sounds useful, however it tends to get me into trouble because it quickly appears that I have some enormous depth in something I’m just beginning to sort out.
I’m not sure why this is. Perhaps it is the dearth of actual competent individuals in IT; perhaps it is that once you demonstrate some breadth of knowledge, it is assumed that you know everything to a certain level of competence. I don’t. I know something about nearly everything in the technology world, but there’s a much smaller set of areas where my knowledge is deep and extensive. This can be dangerous. While it lets me bridge a lot of gaps when working with clients, it sometimes leads project management people to make assumptions.
Take this morning for example. I’ve been asked to represent my team in a discussion about Active Directory with the client. Certainly, I know what directories are. In fact, I probably know directories (and meta-directories) better than 99% of the people working with Active Directory. That doesn’t, however, mean that I understand implementation issues with Active Directory in particular (I don’t), nor do I understand all the intricate and interwoven dependencies with Windows deployments (I don’t, and have no desire). My experience is in glueing together directories from dozens upon dozens of organizations into one organization-wide view. It’s not a trivial task, but it’s not the same task, and assuming that because I’ve done one that I can do the other? Dangerous.
I know it, but why is it so hard for others to understand the various skill sets inside even a specific technology/discipline? I can learn—that’s my talent—but even for me it takes some time, something we are sorely lacking in this project.
This entry was posted at 7:12 am on 15 May 2008 and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the post-specific RSS 2.0 feed.
Sadly, I think that it speaks to a general lack of curiosity in society. It’s not that I’m “freakish” about reading, or research, or anything of the ilk. It’s simply that I enjoy learning new things, and so I’d rather read a book/paper on a new topic than re-read the same book, or the same subject, all over again.
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Wishful thinking? An unwillingness to do the reading necessary to acquire that kind of knowledge? No curiosity? Better things to do?
I’m not sure either and I’ve been in similar positions to yours so I done a lot of speculation. I think most of it is simply that to most people in IT, it’s just a job. They’d much rather be with their family or working on a hobby. I understand that and acknowledge that I’m a freak by their standards.