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There’s no such thing as a tech expert anymore

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Re: There’s no such thing as a tech expert anymore

#31

Post by tluyben2 »

mdoms wrote: post #18
sien wrote: post #4

Yes there is. It's everyone on Hacker News! Just post about about some Unicorn here and at least half a dozen people are pretty confident they know more about the company in question than the founders or the people running it. In the future Congress can just post questions here.

I will never stop being amused by the original post about Dropbox here on HN, where a large contingent of the audience was so critical of it, it was destined to fail. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863

While funny, that is a little while ago. What is depressing now is that it became worse but people are not that vocal in public anymore.

Many people I encounter say they can do things in days but when hired they really can't (not even close) (and these are seniors with proven experience doing things but just not very fast at all; I cannot figure if it's the frameworks as I know I could do it in days with jquery/lamp + normal hosting which is what I was asking for). Sometimes (well, generally actually always) I need something fast, not robust, maintainable and definitely not with docker/k8s/microservices etc etc. I have not found many people who can just practically do things they say they can; then in 2007 with the dropbox thing or now on freelancer sites or forums; when you hire people, even (because I understand you want more hours / security / whatever) when I can promise you that IF you can, I have work for you basically forever (considering I have a 20 year trackrecord of doing these kind of applications and i'm not stopping any time soon). I even don't care about the tech; if you want to use the latest/greatest/cv-driven crap for it; be my guest, as long as it works and delivery is fast. Seems perfect for people; I cannot find any that go beyond big talk on sites like HN.

Re: There’s no such thing as a tech expert anymore

#32

Post by sien »

mdoms wrote: post #18
sien wrote: post #4

Yes there is. It's everyone on Hacker News! Just post about about some Unicorn here and at least half a dozen people are pretty confident they know more about the company in question than the founders or the people running it. In the future Congress can just post questions here.

I will never stop being amused by the original post about Dropbox here on HN, where a large contingent of the audience was so critical of it, it was destined to fail. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863

To be fair, with most start ups if you say 'this will fail' you're probably right, what, about 4/5 times at least. But you'll never invest in Google, Dropbox, AirBnB or whatever.

Even the smartest VC's hit rates wouldn't be that great (i.e. say 3/4 of their investments make it) even though they make overall by picking the occasional drop box.

Re: There’s no such thing as a tech expert anymore

#34

Post by cb504 »

mlazos wrote: post #27

This author appears to think that you need to understand the intricate details of a search algorithm, distributed computing, and machine learning before you understand what their general use is? I don’t need to understand how a car engine works before I can understand how to drive or how cars have changed society. The only argument this article proves is that google and Facebook have lowered the bar on journalism so…

I would add that you don't need to understand the implementation details to understand privacy of citizens, tracking of users, and accountability. It doesn't take years of programming experience to understand that the big data companies wield incredible power and are also vulnerable to security breaches. (Maybe you shouldn't collect data that you can't protect.)

Re: There’s no such thing as a tech expert anymore

#35

Post by flohofwoe »

hurrdurr2 wrote: post #30
mlazos wrote: post #27

This author appears to think that you need to understand the intricate details of a search algorithm, distributed computing, and machine learning before you understand what their general use is? I don’t need to understand how a car engine works before I can understand how to drive or how cars have changed society. The only argument this article proves is that google and Facebook have lowered the bar on journalism so…

Totally agreed. What drivel. I couldn't even finish reading the article. We have senators grilling tech CEOs that don't understand the difference between an iPhone and an Android device. This is unacceptable to say the least.

To play devil's advocate: What is the difference between an Android phone and an iPhone phone, and if there is, what does it matter to a customer? Both can make phone calls, both can display web pages, both can run apps. There's one fairly irrelevant difference because it's an historical accident so it will probably be eliminated soon: one platform owner already controls the platform completely, and the other not yet.

Re: There’s no such thing as a tech expert anymore

#36

Post by ben_w »

flohofwoe wrote: post #35
hurrdurr2 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agreed. What drivel. I couldn't even finish reading the article. We have senators grilling tech CEOs that don't understand the difference between an iPhone and an Android device. This is unacceptable to say the least.

To play devil's advocate: What is the difference between an Android phone and an iPhone phone, and if there is, what does it matter to a customer? Both can make phone calls, both can display web pages, both can run apps. There's one fairly irrelevant difference because it's an historical accident so it will probably be eliminated soon: one platform owner already controls the platform completely, and the other not yet…

For a normal customer with no tech skills? Android is the one which comes in a full range from “cheap” to “premium” while Apple only comes in “premium”.

You also get to choose which app store you get, Apple or Google, but I’m not sure if normal people know what one of those is.

Re: There’s no such thing as a tech expert anymore

#37

Post by _y5hn »

This article is really about possible social consequences of tech like Facebook and Twitter, not about knowing all the technical implementation details. A "tech expert" speaking in front of congress would be expected to answer to how the tech affects governance and civic matters.

Nobody know the consequences in full, and how effective mass-communication might affect society. It's problematic when the leaders and overseers seem unfamiliar or uncertain with the overall operation of these tools, and even abuse them for egotistical benefits, instead of acting as elected servants of the people.

Re: There’s no such thing as a tech expert anymore

#38

Post by hurrdurr2 »

flohofwoe wrote: post #35
hurrdurr2 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agreed. What drivel. I couldn't even finish reading the article. We have senators grilling tech CEOs that don't understand the difference between an iPhone and an Android device. This is unacceptable to say the least.

To play devil's advocate: What is the difference between an Android phone and an iPhone phone, and if there is, what does it matter to a customer? Both can make phone calls, both can display web pages, both can run apps. There's one fairly irrelevant difference because it's an historical accident so it will probably be eliminated soon: one platform owner already controls the platform completely, and the other not yet…

Google’s CEO had to remind Congress that Google doesn’t make iPhones.

Seriously?

How can our reps make sound decision regarding tech when they don't even understand this simple distinction?

Re: There’s no such thing as a tech expert anymore

#39

Post by camillomiller »

andersco wrote: post #9

This seems to imply that “tech expert” is someone all-knowing regarding tech. In my mind “tech expert” is about literacy. You may not know the specifics of all technologies but you have the mental toolkit for understanding them conceptually. But it is also about context. If you are the person who people ask for help with tech stuff, well, then you’re an expert, at least in their minds.

Agreed. I would add ability to do effective and applicable research.

Re: There’s no such thing as a tech expert anymore

#40

Post by jondubois »

I think that's the point. No one in these big corporations understands what they're doing... They don't know half of the story. But they're so large and powerful that this doesn't prevent them from succeeding anyway. That's the danger.

Also there is no incentive for anyone to understand what they're doing. It's like that saying that people tend to not understand things when good performance at their job depends on them not understanding things.

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