Guest blogger: My Dad!

Yesterday I sent my dad a link to the post I wrote that mentioned him. He's a huge reason I am as geeky as I am. I remember growing up with a basement full of computers that he was always taking apart and putting back together. I learned to type before I learned cursive. And I'm guessing the fact that we're both obnoxiously analytical and overly curious has something to do with that whole parent-passing-traits-to-their-offspring theory. After reading my post, he wrote back, and he had a lot of great points. Thusly, I present to you, the first guest-post here on my fabulous blog. An email from my father, Steve Wikoff, Operations Analyst for the DOD.

 

-o-o-o-

 

Hi ya,

I'm not sure how to take being called an expert in "hitting rakes".  Seems like I should be smart enough not to keep getting hit by them after a while.  I do agree about your salient point; experience can trump education.

I was once told by a supervisor that I couldn't think right (a misnomer since he never supervised me on anything).  I asked him why he would say such a thing?  He responded  "You don't have a degree. A degree teaches you how to arrange your thinking and present coherent ideas".  I ask him why it was that his engineers, some with Masters degrees, are in my office, every day, and I am teaching them on my white board.  He responded : "Well, you have experience".  I looked at him incredulously and replied; "No shit". 

A degree, particularly in technology, is only as good as what you are taught.  As technology evolves, if you don't keep up, you are left behind.  If you you don't have a degree but keep up with technology, are you less educated than the degreed engineer that doesn't keep up?

I have always said  "You can buy an education but you can't buy experience".

I am constantly fighting the idea that somehow you can replace experience with saturation training.  I have been told by two Army Colonels (a rank that usually takes 18-25 years to achieve) that if I accelerate the training of the soldiers I work with I can achieve "Senior Satellite Controllers" quicker; as though exposing someone to concepts can replace experience. I use the analogy " You can't train someone to be a senior citizen. It takes time to get there.  If accelerated training would work we could train 2nd Lieutenants to become Colonels in three years". Some reason or another that analogy hasn't been received well.

So, thank you for using me as a reference in your blog, even though I keep hitting myself with that damn rake.

ILY

Dad

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