Troubleshooting without help from others (was: Failed to open control device /dev/em8300-0)

CLIFFORD ILKAY clifford_ilkay-biY6FKoJMRdBDgjK7y7TUQ at public.gmane.org
Wed Mar 14 23:22:10 UTC 2007


On Wednesday 14 March 2007, Jason Spiro wrote:
> 2007/2/27, Zbigniew Koziol <softquake-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> [snip]
>
> > I thought for a long time that Google is our friend. That we can
> > find there an answer to any technical problem.
> >
> > Thats right. We can find there _an_ answer. In most cases naive
> > and useless. We can hardly find however a solution to the
> > problem.
> >
> > Why?
> >
> > Because most what we find on Google are silly discussions by
> > unexperienced people. Once they find a solution to their problem
> > they do not bother to report back how they solved their problem.
>
> ...
>
> Last summer, a coworker of mine was a software package tester who
> used to be an auto mechanic.  He noted I turn to Google a lot for
> help with problems.  He said it was important to know how to
> troubleshoot without any help from the Web, or mailing lists, or
> anywhere: to know how to track down problems by logical
> troubleshooting steps.
>
> Is this true?  How important is it, really, to know how to
> troubleshoot independently?

Using the same logic, how important is it, really, to know how to do 
arithmetic? After all, we have calculators, Google (which you can use 
as a calculator), and many people whom we can ask "What's nine times 
seven?". How important is it, really, to know how to read? We have 
speech synthesizers in our computers that can read to us. If you 
think the analogy is preposterous, that should answer your question. 
If you don't, there isn't much I can say to convince you of how I 
believe troubleshooting independently is an essential skill for 
everyone, not just "technologists".
-- 
Regards,

Clifford Ilkay
Dinamis Corporation
3266 Yonge Street, Suite 1419
Toronto, ON
Canada  M4N 3P6

<http://dinamis.com>
+1 416-410-3326
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