Common operational misconceptions

Fri Feb 17 20:26:15 UTC 2012

Still buzzing over that cheap auto insurance eh? :) Wait till people 
stop carding you.....

-Hammer-

"I was a normal American nerd"
-Jack Herer

On 2/17/2012 1:42 PM, Ray Soucy wrote:
> As someone who was born in 1984 I respectfully disagree. ;-)
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> On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 9:52 AM, -Hammer-<bhmccie at gmail.com>  wrote:
>> Let me simplify that. If you are over 35 you know how to troubleshoot.
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>> Yes, I'm going to get flamed. Yes, there are exceptions in both directions.
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>> -Hammer-
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>> "I was a normal American nerd"
>> -Jack Herer
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>> On 2/17/2012 8:29 AM, Leo Bicknell wrote:
>>> In a message written on Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 08:50:11PM -1000, Paul
>>> Graydon wrote:
>>>> At the same time, it's shocking how many network people I come across
>>>> with no real grasp of even what OSI means by each layer, even if it's
>>>> only in theory.  Just having a grasp of that makes all the world of
>>>> difference when it comes to troubleshooting.  Start at layer 1 and work
>>>> upwards (unless you're able to make appropriate intuitive leaps.) Is it
>>>> physically connected? Are the link lights flashing? Can traffic route to
>>>> it, etc. etc.
>>> I wouldn't call it a "misconception", but I want to echo Paul's
>>> comment.  I would venture over 90% of the engineers I work with
>>> have no idea how to troubleshoot properly.  Thinking back to my own
>>> education, I don't recall anyone in highschool or college attempting
>>> to teach troubleshooting skills.  Most classes teach you how to
>>> build things, not deal with them when they are broken.
>>>
>>> The basic skills are probably obvious to someone who might design
>>> course material if they sat down and thought about how to teach
>>> troubleshooting.  However, there is one area that may not be obvious.
>>> There's also a group management problem.  Many times troubleshooting
>>> is done with multiple folks on the phone (say, customer, ISP and
>>> vendor).  Not only do you have to know how to troubleshoot, but how
>>> to get everyone on the same page so every possible cause isn't
>>> tested 3 times.
>>>
>>> I think all college level courses should include a "break/fix"
>>> exercise/module after learning how to build something, and much of that
>>> should be done in a group enviornment.
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