(no subject)

[malgrep.livejournal.com]

When I got in to work today I walked in on an interesting conversation.

Apparently one of my co-workers has not read a single book since he graduated from college (5 years ago). While he was in college he only read one (not sure how he got away with that other than by cheating).

He is proud of this too.

How can one work in IT (or any other field) and not constantly be reading up on new technology. Or at the very least how can you do it and not RTFM?

He is a brown noser from hell, so that explains part of it.

Comments

[igz00.livejournal.com]

Who needs books when you have the internet?

[malgrep.livejournal.com]

With a clue by four.

[malgrep.livejournal.com]

I am not sure he knows how to use it.

[igz00.livejournal.com]

blasphemy

[jjjiii]

I'm constantly (more or less) reading web pages, but very few books. Not that I'm proud of that. I actually almost don't have the attention span any longer to read an actual book. After about 3-4 paragraphs, I find myself wanting to Alt+Tab over to my email. This is probably the thing about my line of work that I *hate* the most -- the decimation of my ability to concentrate on something worthwhile in the name of pointless "multitasking". I probably read megabytes of text per day, but many days the only words printed on paper that I read are food preparation instructions. And I'm an avowed intellectual and believer in the power of reading. It's scandalously sad.

I'll also say that, back in college, the assigned reading was absurdly ridiculous. 1000+ page nights were common. No one ever actually read everything. People who studied hard might have read a lot, but no one can read and absorb that much, maybe 1-in-100,000 might truly have the ability. The rest of us can fake it well enough to answer correctly a decent percentage of the questions they ask on Jeopardy!, but not have any true expertise in the subject. People, for the most part, read enough to get by and flush it at the end of the semester. They put up with that for four years, and get a piece of paper that will land them a job, which is most likely unrelated to what they studied in school (particularly true if they studied at a liberal arts school rather than a vocational college). After 3-4 years of working in the "real world" most of the stuff they studied in school is nearly completely wiped from their brain, and they turn into the dumbass nimrod end users we are always complaining about, doing the things that stupid people do in Dilbert comics, and failing utterly to see any irony in it.

I imagine you can relate:

[igz00.livejournal.com]

http://www.psych-central.com/funwrite.htm

[malgrep.livejournal.com]

The only thing I have ever seen him read is espn.com.

He is the type that loves to spend time in meetings.


Management material.

I hope he gets it then he would not be fucking up every little thing he touches.

But I do see your point.

I have no attention span either, but I try and make time for a book or two a week now. It used to be 5-6 books a week, but that was before I got in to this line of work. Then there is the constant reading of manuals, white papers, FAQ's, and if I want to sleep, RFC's (not recommended unless you want to end up like Schiavo).

Re: I imagine you can relate:

[jjjiii]

Totally. If only there were some way to harness the energy that I have after procrastinating on something for 2 weeks, and maintain that intensity 24/7, I'd be running EVERYTHING by now.

Re: I imagine you can relate:

[igz00.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, as a way to procrastinate I volunteer to do more projects and tasks that I also end up putting off until the last minute. Of course in the end I have a panic attack and do spend one or two days locking in my room doing work.

Hey look! I'm procrastinating right now! Stupid paper about my retirement plan...

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Despite a modest book collection, I don't find myself rereading books on purpose. Either I need to look up a quote, line or character point, or I idly flip to a random point in any book lying within reach.

Then I forget to put it down until I've read through the whole thing again. Makes for long nights when I accidentally browse the first paragraph of some thousand-page epic.

("Oh nuts, it's 4am again.")

[jjjiii]

I used to read and re-read books all the time when I was in school (before college). I had few friends who I could play with during the week... I went to a special school for "advanced" kids that was outside my district so I didn't know anyone in my own neighborhood, and had the stigma of being a smart freak, so pretty much I spent all my time reading and playing video games. Back then, from about age 8-18 I could read a 400 page book in a night if I wanted to, though more often I'd stretch it across 2-3 days and do other stuff in that time as well. I'd re-read books, and my comprehension and retention of material was rather good. Much after high school, and it seemed like everyone's focus was on gettting me to accelerate, do more, more, more and with less time to do it because I had to do other things in order to be "responsible" like work a shitty part-time job for minimum wage which developed zero skills so I could help pay for school. Eventually I just kindof burned out, and I haven't really been the same since then. But I wonder what I could have managed to accomplished if I'd been able to maintain the sort of environment I enjoyed in my early days, when most things were taken care of by my parents and I didn't have to worry about day-to-day mundane details, and could devote 100% of my waking time to learning and problem solving. These days, between 8 mind-numbing hours of work each day plus the routine bullshit of maintaining a house and a car and making myself food and doing cleaning, I feel like all the potential I might have had at one time is being channeled into useless waste. It's very depressing to think about it...

[loosechanj.livejournal.com]

The only thing computer related I read anymore is documentation. Same thing with guitar mags, I think it's a competency thing.

[codedigital.livejournal.com]

I make it a point to read books.

Not only that...I can't stand to read long material on the computer.

[jacobine.livejournal.com]

I read all the freakin' time. Novels -- generally speculative fiction. And nonfiction that interests me. Usually, this will be something like a book on string theory, numerical constants, or renaissance history. I really never seem to read anything on emerging technology outside of browsing magazines or the internet.

I can't stand to read long material on the PC -- I like the tangible quality of books in my hands. I lose track on a computer, and it's harder to keep your spot. I almost always have a book with me.

Of course, I was also an avid reader as a child, too. I go through phases where I don't read much, but I'm a severe introvert and tend to be a homebody (and don't make friends easily, either.)

I know a lot of people don't read and it sort of boggles me. I like people who read. They help me find new reading material, and I find them more entertaining to be around. (An exception would be a friend of mine who doesn't read for pleasure at all -- but he's severely dyslexic and has to work so hard at it that when he /does/ read, it's because he wants to learn something.)

[cirobi.livejournal.com]

it's unfortunately true. unless you use the knowledge they try to pump into your skulls... particularly in a lib arts environment... it goes out the window real quick. i went back to school because i knew half the bullshit they fed me, i wasn't going to use. if it weren't for the awesome work-study positions i had, i probably wouldn't have retained most of the crap they claim is useful. granted, now that i'm persuing grad crap in digital media... the software instruction is helpful but it sure ain't the lib arts bullshit i did for undergrad

[cirobi.livejournal.com]

non technical books are more fun to read anyway... better able to hold one's attention. i can't stand reading tech books... i wind up falling asleep. great for curing the smaller periods of insomnia though. =p

[eightofspades.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[eightofspades.livejournal.com]

I read plenty of novels offline (is it bad I caught myself spelling it novells??) and my RSS feeds and mailing list subscritions keep me stocked on tech updates, developments, goodness. That, and of course, google.

In terms of strictly books, I read far more non-tech then tech. I have plenty of tech on my to read list, and more I want to pick up, but I rarely have the energy after a full day of work and comprehending the RSS goodness.

As for RTFM... well, I'm not one of the norms all the time. Many things don't need the manual read - unless they confuse you. Manual before asking for help, of course (:.