Gen Z workers are not tech-savvy in the workplace – and it’s a growing problem • Hacker News Board

Re: Gen Z workers are not tech-savvy in the workplace – and it’s a growing problem

#41

Post by fleddr » Wed, Dec 14, 2022, 3:45 PM UTC

gexla wrote: post #27

eatonphil wrote: post #4

> One in 5 of the 18-to-29-year-olds polled in the report, which surveyed 10,000 office workers in 10 markets including the U.S. and U.K., said they felt judged when experiencing technical issues, compared to only one in 25 for those aged 40 years and over. Further, 25% of the former age group would actively avoid participating in a meeting if they thought their tech tools might cause disruption, whereas it was just…

This was similar to my take. Is the issue that they aren't as tech savvy? Or is the issue that they are more likely to feel ashamed? Maybe older workers feel more comfortable in their roles? I have come across a mountain of references talking about "digital natives" in the past, but I don't recall any of them talking about the fact that "tech" and "digital" is usually about the UI first. Nobody is going to feel comfo…

"Nobody is going to feel comfortable on a UI they haven't experienced."

Well, the difference is that earlier newcomers in the work force did experience that UI. Because home computing back then was highly similar to what is found in the workplace. In that sense it's a new and unique problem to Gen Z.

Re: Gen Z workers are not tech-savvy in the workplace – and it’s a growing problem

#42

Post by wingely » Wed, Dec 14, 2022, 3:49 PM UTC

nixpulvis wrote: post #23

atticuz wrote: post #12

Gen Z are savvy with iPhones and other touch devices. They type incredibly fast on their phones but probably slower than millennials on computer keyboards. While we grew up with using laptops and PCs from a young age, they've been using smart phones and tablets.

Interesting, I wonder how many high school students are writing term papers on the iPhone keyboard?

I’ve seen a lot of students in HS and Uni use talk to text features and then edit the document.

Re: Gen Z workers are not tech-savvy in the workplace – and it’s a growing problem

#43

Post by dogleash » Wed, Dec 14, 2022, 3:49 PM UTC

nixpulvis wrote: post #23

atticuz wrote: post #12

Gen Z are savvy with iPhones and other touch devices. They type incredibly fast on their phones but probably slower than millennials on computer keyboards. While we grew up with using laptops and PCs from a young age, they've been using smart phones and tablets.

Interesting, I wonder how many high school students are writing term papers on the iPhone keyboard?

I don't have statistics, but I work with teens and it is a thing. I've also noticed it's a point of social expression to align themselves with phone for tasks, and even claim they're easier than on a laptop/desktop when they're obviously not.

Re: Gen Z workers are not tech-savvy in the workplace – and it’s a growing problem

#44

Post by mattnewton » Wed, Dec 14, 2022, 3:50 PM UTC

chrisco255 wrote: post #20

mattnewton wrote: post #2

I swear I read the same article about my generation when I entered the workforce, about how millennials were expected to be magic tech wizards by growing with the internet through osmosis

On average though, we were. The previous generations were slower to use personal computers, cell phones, gaming systems, and the internet. If you had to sit in front of a PC and install 7 discs from DOS in the mid 90s, or navigate the early web before Google, or cracked some $1200 Adobe software that you couldn't afford, or punted someone from an AOL chat room, you got way more technical education than someone that g…

Fair- I did have all those experiences and perhaps they taught me to tinker with tech. But I really wasn’t magically good with configuring the printer, excel and photoshop though, but my first job assumed that I would be and I had to learn it because everyone else assumed I would be more efficient at it or something. I think this is the dominant effect that these articles get written about, older people expecting instant learning from younger people.

Re: Gen Z workers are not tech-savvy in the workplace – and it’s a growing problem

#45

Post by Rooster61 » Wed, Dec 14, 2022, 3:54 PM UTC

I see a ton of comments here laying some blame on the physical platform by which information is relayed (PC vs Phone/Tablet/etc.), but I think just as much blame can be put on how we access that information on any platform. UI has changed drastically over time, and what is considered good UI depends on what context the UI is used from.

What's good for regular old consumption is not good for utilizing tools in the workplace, at least for the most part. Apps such as TikTok and the like are very little more than Skinner boxes, and having to go through extra steps to get the reward when using an honest to goodness tool UI on the job immediately disrupts the reward pipeline in one's head and causes frustration.

Sure, phones have contributed to the one touch paradigm of such applications, but it comes down to usage context just as much. It's no wonder that kids are struggling with what millennials understand to be applications.

I'll also add that despite rumors of the age of the hacker's demise, it is very much alive and well. It's still the case that only a fraction of the population has that itch to take a look under the hood. Only the technological landscape has changed

Re: Gen Z workers are not tech-savvy in the workplace – and it’s a growing problem

#46

Post by Rooster61 » Wed, Dec 14, 2022, 3:58 PM UTC

nixpulvis wrote: post #18

Used to be for a fresh out of college worker, you just needed to show up to work on the first day, then anything you didn't know you could observe and learn through a mixture of osmosis and inquisition. Now, if you start a remote job, you have to have a baseline set of skills to navigate the corporate structure. Reaching out to the "people team" (read: HR) is unlikely to be all the helpful, and you may end up asking…

It's incumbent on us as more senior engineers to reach out to younger folks, not the other way around. That is an art I see properly practiced less and less these days.

Re: Gen Z workers are not tech-savvy in the workplace – and it’s a growing problem

#47

Post by bentcorner » Wed, Dec 14, 2022, 3:58 PM UTC

masswerk wrote: post #35

I'm not surprised at all. (I actually assumed this, when the talk about "digital natives" was en vogue.) As it happens, we tend to accept technology that was mostly sorted out when we were born for granted and this tends also to be the kind of technology we're least prone to investigate. E.g., when I was born, high frequency (HF) was mostly sorted out. But, just before this, it was a hot topic in research and hobbyis…

This is a great perspective. I can troubleshoot a lot of PC issues but would be pretty helpless with diagnosing a grounding issue or wireless interference. I recall my dad identifying a DOS-era virus that my cousin and I introduced to a PC via a DOOM cheat downloaded over a BBS, and he showed me the assembly and patched out the virus for us so the cheat continued to work. I would have a hard time doing the same thing.

Re: Gen Z workers are not tech-savvy in the workplace – and it’s a growing problem

#48

Post by fleddr » Wed, Dec 14, 2022, 3:58 PM UTC

wingely wrote: post #25

mattnewton wrote: post #2

I swear I read the same article about my generation when I entered the workforce, about how millennials were expected to be magic tech wizards by growing with the internet through osmosis

What is it that motivates older generations to diss younger generations? I’m a Millennial, and people love to shit on us, today still, but especially in the 2000s and early 2010s.

What motivates the opposite?

It's true that there's always generational tensions, and the funny thing is that people now young are going to do exactly the same thing when they get older. In that sense, it's cyclic.

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't discuss gaps or issues unique to a generation. In the interest of the new generation as well as the older ones.

I'd say smartphone-addiction is a serious and impactful one. One of my friends owns a wood processing company. These youngsters simply abandon their station (a massive machine) and go take a dump for 30 mins, playing on their phone. Multiple times per day. Simply shutting down production altogether.

Another friend owns a logistics company, order picking and such. He doesn't want to take away their phones, tried to solve it with warnings. Yet he keeps finding them hiding in shelves, on their phones. Like heroine addicts.

My sister-in-law works in a large grocery store, and reports that this generation calls in sick 4 times more than anybody else. They very regularly simply can't be bothered to show up at all.

Earlier young generations were not this broken, unproductive, disloyal, addicted and useless. It's a real and serious issue.

Re: Gen Z workers are not tech-savvy in the workplace – and it’s a growing problem

#49

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Dec 14, 2022, 3:58 PM UTC

dogleash wrote: post #43

nixpulvis wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, I wonder how many high school students are writing term papers on the iPhone keyboard?

I don't have statistics, but I work with teens and it is a thing. I've also noticed it's a point of social expression to align themselves with phone for tasks, and even claim they're easier than on a laptop/desktop when they're obviously not.

[deleted]

Re: Gen Z workers are not tech-savvy in the workplace – and it’s a growing problem

#50

Post by nixpulvis » Wed, Dec 14, 2022, 3:58 PM UTC

dogleash wrote: post #43

nixpulvis wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, I wonder how many high school students are writing term papers on the iPhone keyboard?

I don't have statistics, but I work with teens and it is a thing. I've also noticed it's a point of social expression to align themselves with phone for tasks, and even claim they're easier than on a laptop/desktop when they're obviously not.

I was lucky to get a laptop before a smartphone, which probably influenced my opinions greatly. But I'm thinking that for most kids now, they get a smartphone long before a personal computer. Perhaps this is part of it.

Maybe parents should supply their children with a bluetooth keyboard from the get go and make a real effort to teach kid how much faster they can type on it?

I say this while I'm typing on my phone, so who knows ;)