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

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

#61

Post by benj111 »

Double_a_92 wrote: post #19
benj111 wrote: post #3

Is half the problem that gen Y grew up with email as a communications platform and had actual computers with actual mice and actual software installed on said computers. Gen z may be plugged into their phone, but a phone is a far cry from the tech that is actually used on the office. And Tik Tok isn't like an Excel spreadsheet. Further, prior generations had to write letters etc which transfers across to email in a p…

This. Most younger people I know, only need a real PC to write essays. Which then get automatically stored on some Office365 or Google school cloud. The part about letters is not fair though, since most people also just learned it by having to write business letters.

The skills used in writing a letter are closer to an email than a text or whatever.

I'd be more confident that my gran who doesn't use a computer could compose a company wide email, compared to someone who has never had to send such a one way conversation.

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

#62

Post by [deleted] »

rektide wrote: post #52
btbuildem wrote: post #22

My intuitive takeaway here is that people who grew up with all this incredible technology, do not appreciate the power it bestowed upon us (because "that's just how things are"). Secondary, using all this tech growing up deprived people of learning certain things, the tech made it too easy, now even a middling effort is too much. Lastly, and this one is timeless: they're too cool to care. GPT summary of the article:…

> Lastly, and this one is timeless: they're too cool to care. I hadn't heard this elsewhere in the comments, and it landed surprisingly hard for me. What would have to happen to make tech cool again? The old hook seems semi-dead: culturally, tech is no longer the hotbed of creativity & possibility that at least some of us once were so drawn to; it's much more settled/established, the advances originate in far less co…

[deleted]

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

#63

Post by anthonygd »

peoplefromibiza wrote: post #29
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

> I swear I read the same article about my generation when I entered the workforce me too. But when I got in the tik tok of the time was called IRC and really cool people used Bitchx and double booted Linux and BeOS

Thank you! I've never been called really cool before :)

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

#64

Post by dxbydt »

I work with a bunch of middle-schoolers. While they use a lot of tech, lot more devices than me & visit a lot of (imo questionable) domains, they refer to things in a very non-canonical fashion.

Like, they don't ever, ever, say file. They'll say googledoc. Where's your homework ? "Its a googledoc - here's the link". Or "its on google classroom". But not - "its a pdf file. or txt file. or jpg file.

Similarly, "I like this song." ok where's the song - can you email it to me ? I don't get an mp3 file - instead its a spotify link. Can you email me that video ? I don't get an mp4 file - instead its some youtube shorts link.

Like wtf happened to files ? Everything is a file. Atleast on Unix, even domain sockets are files. You open a socket, you get a file descriptor with inode, you can invoke fstat. I mean, I don't except middle-schoolers or even high-schoolers to know all that - but atleast you should know that on a computer, content is stored as a file. Know a bunch of common file formats. Like stop calling things pictures & sending me links - its a jpg file, send the file.

Sometimes they click on the download button - but they don't know that the content got downloaded as a file and its sitting in the Downloads folder! Instead, they'll click the same Download button on the browser several more times until it finally shows them some link where they can click & view the content - super-infuriating.

Even Professors have dropped the ball.In the 90s, they'd just email you the homework as a file. I have tons of calculus homeworks sitting as pdf files in a usb drive. But nowadays, its all "on Blackboard", or on some cms. No notion of file.

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

#65

Post by kupopuffs »

dxbydt wrote: post #64

I work with a bunch of middle-schoolers. While they use a lot of tech, lot more devices than me & visit a lot of (imo questionable) domains, they refer to things in a very non-canonical fashion. Like, they don't ever, ever, say file. They'll say googledoc. Where's your homework ? "Its a googledoc - here's the link". Or "its on google classroom". But not - "its a pdf file. or txt file. or jpg file. Similarly, "I like…

Files are a cool computer science concept but are a pain for the end user when it comes to file management.

Think grandma's desktop

That's why Apple products (specifically the iPhone) have been shying away from files.

Personally, I like the convenience and ubiquity of urls. It can work with any messaging method, email notwithstanding

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

#66

Post by delusional »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #38
nkrisc wrote: post #8

I have only my personal experience and perceptions, but I think most people here (likely technically savvy) would agree that, quite simply, most people of any generation are not technically savvy. While I don't "get" TikTok, I understand how it works, on a broad technical level. A 20 year old might understand the social scene of TikTok and "get" it, but my guess is the average 20 year old will have no idea how a webp…

> I think most people would struggle to diagnose technical issues with web-conferencing tech. The older folks in the workplace have had the advantage of observing the rituals other people do to try and get it to work (turn it off and on a again, restart your router, etc.) Every single company I've worked for has had at least one meeting where a group of developers all sit there awkwardly as one of us tries to fix the…

> where a group of developers all sit there awkwardly as one of us tries to fix the conferencing setup.

Or the more hilarious one where the group of developers each take turns to try, and fail, to fix the setup only to proclaim "Can't you just use your phone" before passing the baton to the next hopeful subject.

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

#67

Post by jaredcwhite »

I'm a computer programmer heading into my 40s. One of my kids is a pre-teen now who is on various computers and devices a lot every day.

I knew way more about computers back when I was that age than my kids do! And believe me, I've tried to offer to teach them more about programming and how things work under the hood, but they're just not interested.

I think the common assumptions around "young = tech-savvy" "old = luddite" has gone completely out the window in recent years, perhaps in the last decade. In fact, I now generally trust the opinions of technologists who are in their 30s+ way more than 20s and below. I think there's been a tragic lack of proper education around open source, open protocols, networking, ethics in computerized communications, and other vital issues in tech.

Perhaps it's somewhat analogous to how many people a few decades ago were pretty knowledgable about how automobiles work, the parts of an engine, etc., and some folks were amateur mechanics who liked tinkering with their cars. These days, I think it's safe to assume the vast majority of drivers know next to nothing about cars technically-speaking and aren't even interested in knowing.

The difference now though is that you don't need to know anything about cars to work most jobs, and arguably we need a less car-dependent society which prioritizes mass transit. On the other hand, a fair degree of computer & internet knowledge is useful for many jobs in the modern economy and even in terms of policy-making in general. Younger generations not having a handle on it is a real concern.

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

#68

Post by ubittibu »

jaredcwhite wrote: post #67

I'm a computer programmer heading into my 40s. One of my kids is a pre-teen now who is on various computers and devices a lot every day. I knew way more about computers back when I was that age than my kids do! And believe me, I've tried to offer to teach them more about programming and how things work under the hood, but they're just not interested. I think the common assumptions around "young = tech-savvy" "old = l…

I'm in your age range, but totally different trade, worked in two contexts, one with my parents, one with coworkers younger than me, in both places I was the one who had to solve everyday tech issues. I think the comparison with mechanics is very fitting. My dad and other guys of his gen used to disassemble and reassemble their scooters, while me as a kid felt was useless and too much difficult doing that. Probably there's a golden age when a technology is mature enough to be accessible but still open to personal contribution of the amateur and a point when it reaches a level of industrialization, complexity and is perfected enough that you don't feel the necessity to spend time tinkering with it.

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

#69

Post by jareklupinski »

dxbydt wrote: post #64

I work with a bunch of middle-schoolers. While they use a lot of tech, lot more devices than me & visit a lot of (imo questionable) domains, they refer to things in a very non-canonical fashion. Like, they don't ever, ever, say file. They'll say googledoc. Where's your homework ? "Its a googledoc - here's the link". Or "its on google classroom". But not - "its a pdf file. or txt file. or jpg file. Similarly, "I like…

You can't charge someone money for sending a file

You can charge someone for access to a file that is pointed to by a link

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

#70

Post by Brian_K_White »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #38
nkrisc wrote: post #8

I have only my personal experience and perceptions, but I think most people here (likely technically savvy) would agree that, quite simply, most people of any generation are not technically savvy. While I don't "get" TikTok, I understand how it works, on a broad technical level. A 20 year old might understand the social scene of TikTok and "get" it, but my guess is the average 20 year old will have no idea how a webp…

> I think most people would struggle to diagnose technical issues with web-conferencing tech. The older folks in the workplace have had the advantage of observing the rituals other people do to try and get it to work (turn it off and on a again, restart your router, etc.) Every single company I've worked for has had at least one meeting where a group of developers all sit there awkwardly as one of us tries to fix the…

I think they all know that:

* any one of them could diagnose the problem

* the problem may or may not have any fix within their control right now, may or may not even be diagnosable in a short time

* and that the most effective way to get the problem solved is to leave whoever is working on it alone until they declare victory or defeat or ask for something.

I mean that is why I would be sitting and waiting patiently rather than trying to "help" if there was already someone working on it.

maybe if I didn't think this problem was really something they would be good at hunting down I might make it known that I'm available but only in the least suggestive most casual way I could manage. Or I might quietly prepare some alternative to have ready in case plan A doesn't work.

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