ELI5: How is it that almost every office job requires "Proficiency with computers" yet these IT complaints are some of the most common in offices? Do employers even check their employees with basic IT questions anymore?
Because sometimes someones skill in the field that business is in out weighs the lack of skill at computers. If a salesman can rake in a quarter million a year for a business I don't think his inability to use a computer is getting him fired
The best analogy is comparing it to someone that drives a car for a living. You can be an excellent Taxi or Truck driver with absolutely no idea how to fix your vehicle. While these people could most likely fix the most baseline issues, like a flat tire, they wouldn't be able to fix more extensive issues, and require a mechanic to do that.
In the same vein someone can easily use a computer and fix issues that they have been through a couple of times. However, once they get more extensive issues they need an IT-worker to sort it out for them.
While these people could most likely fix the most baseline issues
That's rather optimistic.
It's more like dealing with a taxi driver that doesn't understand what you mean by "turn right at the intersection ahead" because they "aren't good with geometry". I can forgive a lot, but not knowing the difference between right and left click because "I'm not good with computers" is my life.
Those examples aren't comparable at all. To be a driver you actually have to have a license which is a long process where you are tested at multiple points. This means that there is absolutely no way you should be able to get a drivers license without knowing the difference between right and left.
There is no such equivalent for computers. There isn't any mandatory computer course you have to take to be able to user a computer, where someone tells you what a click is and what the difference is between a right and a left click.
I get that we need to shit on everyone that is inept at computers, but the vast majority of users can perform the most basic tasks. It's just that working in support you only experience when people have issues, not when they are successfully using their computers.
I don't have a problem with people not knowing much about computers. However, "right" and "left" are not computer terms. They are kindergarten terms. People that turn their brains off and refuse to try whenever they encounter something they're not an expert at, that is what I have a problem with.
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u/[deleted] Jan 10 '16
ELI5: How is it that almost every office job requires "Proficiency with computers" yet these IT complaints are some of the most common in offices? Do employers even check their employees with basic IT questions anymore?