as a 33 year old, I'm looking forward to hitting 35 so I can finally understand what you guys are talking about! Will I get some sort of glow or achievement? think I'll get a raise when I can add 'troubleshooting' to my resume? :) On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 2:42 PM, Ray Soucy <rps@maine.edu> wrote:
As someone who was born in 1984 I respectfully disagree. ;-)
Let me simplify that. If you are over 35 you know how to troubleshoot.
Yes, I'm going to get flamed. Yes, there are exceptions in both
On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 9:52 AM, -Hammer- <bhmccie@gmail.com> wrote: directions.
-Hammer-
"I was a normal American nerd" -Jack Herer
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.
-- Ray Soucy
Epic Communications Specialist
Phone: +1 (207) 561-3526
Networkmaine, a Unit of the University of Maine System http://www.networkmaine.net/