Computer technology has always been about harder, better, faster, stronger; always pushing for the bleeding edge in an obsessive drive toward MORE… more processors, more speed, more capabilities, more everything. For the perpetually bored brainiac this is a lifelong passion keeping them happy until all their neurons stop firing. For others it’s a great ride, but eventually the motion sickness kicks in and they want out.
The longer I’m in the IT industry the more frequently I encounter the latter. Intelligent, sharp individuals whose brains stopped being unquenchable sponges and instead settled into the comfort of their “area of expertise”. Sometimes they can escape into management finally getting off the hamster wheel of progress. More often their respective technology is put out to pasture and the “experts” are sent along with it.
I can understand from a logical perspective why this makes sense. The older tech is no longer around so the skill set becomes obsolete. Yet in our rush to shove the old aside to make way for the new we’re shooting ourselves in the foot. Decades of experience are carelessly being tossed aside like dirty diamonds mistaken for rocks.
Being in the migration niche I’ve seen these battles first hand, played out in corporate arenas as drenched in blood as their ancient Roman counterparts. Mergers and acquisitions or murders and executions, from the outside it all looks the same. The old (and sometimes wise) are huddled, frightened, maybe even trying to fight, only to be slaughtered by the young, aggressive, cocksure future of the industry.
There used to be a time when the torch was handed down from older generations. A downloading of experiences and skills which were earned through a lifetime of passion not PDF’s or webinars. I have to chuckle when I see this new wave barrel on ahead full steam until they encounter something outside the norm. Stopped dead in their tracks they flounder and fume, attempting to reinvent a wheel already solved a hundred times before.
Certain professions still respect the art of the apprenticeship ensuring techniques and skills from the inception of the trade are never forgotten. Even with the constant reinvention of the technology field there is much we could learn from those more traditional professions. How many rising stars find themselves utterly lost with no one for guidance? Countless disillusioned professionals struggling to make their way through a career unprepared and unaware. Technically, professionally and personally, these poor souls navigate turbulent waters without a compass.
I know this trend won’t end anytime soon, if it ever does, but I do hope that somewhere there are those taking a step back and appreciating the bigger picture. Perhaps even realizing the adage “those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” is more truth than cliché.
Image courtesy of core77
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This cycle plagues the public school system as well. Every time we get new leadership, we get new initiatives (or often old initiatives re-branded). The people who’ve been in the field the longest are considered a nuisance (by the bureaucracy), and basically very little ever gets done in an effective manner.