racketboy.com

I don't want to do IT, but sometimes I have to do it so my chosen profession(s) can continue to do it's(their) job employing me. Much less that 20% could operate windows 8+ enough to receive an email, and a lot of the people behind a desk are the guys who trained me to train the workers I work with to run the tools. I've always provided co-workers with down-grades during off-hours for free (beer), or, if necessary, just shell and some compatability helpers. I do that routinely enough that I can often run some pre-made scripts and just occasionally press a decision button I set up. It's kind of annoying that I'm pulled off the tools to run a computer, tho I've had some short jobs where it's around 1/4 of my time helping office staff operate their own tools. This is despite the so-called IT guys there that are supposed to know how the office software runs. I only want to run power tools - Hammers, come-alongs, chain-falls, grinders, etc.

There was a time not long ago when I was doing all the IT for an office I worked in, despite that fact that wasn't my real job. I got tired of having to get up and go to people's computers so I just installed TeamViewer on everyone's machines. Being able to log into their computer without having to walk all over the office area made dealing with it much more tolerant.

Yeah, I've worked in IT before too. In my experience, it's not about the age of the user; it's about the willingness of the user to learn to use his/her computer.

I've met sixty-five-year-olds who can use a computer very well. I have also met forty-five-year-olds who don't even want to try.

samsonlonghair wrote:In my experience, it's not about the age of the user; it's about the willingness of the user to learn to use his/her computer.

Bingo. I have an uncle who made his own computer in the early 70s - he wound his own bits of memory. He even designed microchips for a while for Scientific Atlanta. But he has newbie issues with Windows 7 PC on a weekly basis.