As avid computer users, I am sure that you can all agree with me on this- how do educated people survive without computer knowledge?
I am currently a college sophmore, and I am a Computer Science major. Granted, this means that I enjoy computers more then most and that I have more of an interest in them then "normal" people, but I consider myself fairly well-rounded. I am taking a class called "Computer Consulting" because it is a prerequisite for working in the Information Technology Services on campus. One of the big topics in this course is how to handle stupid questions. When I was warned about this by friends, I merely shrugged it off and figured "how bad can it be?" Well, it is pretty bad.
For some specific questions, such as dealing with spam filtering on our email system, I can see why people need help with it (both students and faculty). But for other problems, how is it possible? The educated elite of professors not knowing how to use computers? College students not knowing? How did they even get into college?
One of the topics we discussed in this class is not to overestimate the computer knowledge of the person we are talking with. Professors have called the Faculty Help Desk because their computer is "broken", but just came to find out that it was not plugged into the wall or that the moniter was not turned on. It amazes me that even now, in the year 2007, we have professors at UNIVERSITIES that cannot use computers.
Being the only female in a group of 15 students taking this class, I have also been warned of another thing- some people will call up, and when they hear a female's voice they will ask to speak with a man. This really irks me, but that is for another time.
As for the most common warning that I have received from my professor and friends who work in the field? When faculty call and ask to speak with your manager simply because they don't want a student to tell them how to fix whatever problem they are having, just tell them that your manager is busy and that they will get back to them in 24 hours, unless they want you to try to help them. How is that possible? Not only are the educated elite computer illiterate, but they are ignorant and unwilling to accept that a student might be more technologically knowledgeable then they are!
I hope that even through all this, I will be able to grin and bear it to make some money during college.
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