Did you know that you have a really good friend that you didn’t know about? He’s always there, behind the scenes, and he’s a genius because if you ask him any question he knows the answer. His name is a little weird though but you’ll get used to it and next thing you know you’ll be referring to him by his name like you use the words ‘and’ and well ‘well’. His name is Google. Don’t fear him though because Google Is Your Friend. He’s a kind and just fellow, benevolent and good, he may have a little megalomaniac chip on his shoulder but once you get to know him he’s actually kinda cool…
If people would only learn to use Google to fix problems on their PC’s it would save a mountain of time, not to say that I don’t like fixing problems on PC’s but by solving their own problems they would learn much more than they would if somebody else were to fix it for them. In addition, they would actually empower themselves in the process.
Okay guys I’m coming clean as of today. When somebody calls me up with an unknown problem all I’m going to do is Google it and then try various suggestions until I get it right, okay sure I’m also basing that off 10 years of experience but what’s stopping anyone else from doing it?
If anyone even had the faintest interest in solving their own problems I know many people that would respect them more for it, even if they failed at fixing the issue. “Hi Jon, I have this issue, I googled for a solution, tried a couple thing’s, didn’t get anywhere, can you come check it out?” I’ll be all over that like Chocolate Milk.
Google is our secret weapon and it can be yours too. Learning to use Google I can accurately say that you’ll discover unique and interesting ways to solve just about any problem you are faced with, be it computer related or not. This is justified because in the long term you’ll save yourself hours doing your own research and finding out new ways to do things and you’ll learn hell of a lot in the process. More than anyone can teach you.
I was rocked by this post by Lea Woodward, you mean somebody outside of IT actually gets it? Her argument is that there are people out there with such a bare minimum set of skills that they are hardly able to operate a computer in any productive kind of way. Her argument is well justified in my opinion because frankly, I see it every day. Props to you Lea. I’ve always said that if you’re using a computer to do your job it’s in your best interest to learn how to use it effectively. Can you imagine a ‘car mechanic’ showing up to work without a clue how to use a spanner or an accountant without the ability to use a calculator?
I’ve often thought that if somebody were to change jobs and move from the IT department to another department they would be so incredibly effective because they understand computers and they’ll know the Office suite and understand how to make killer presentations, why, because they’ve explored their computer and understand what it can do for them.
Understanding how to use Google can be empowering. Know where to find information.
So here’s a bunch of tips for using Google to find just about anything you’re looking for.
Respek the Google, GIYF. Westside yo.
Filed under: Adventures @ Work | Tagged: dont fear the reaper, giyf, google, google is your friend
SSSHhhhhhhhhh!!!! You’re jeopardizing your own job if people learn to do things themselves. On the other hand, you may actually be able to do something you enjoy and get satisfaction from, instead of something that has you shopping for untraceable firearms in your momentary escapes from the chaos.
I know I personally get excited and sit up in my seat when a user tells me that they googled an issue they are having and were able to eliminate culprit A, B and C, but don’t have the access to make the configuration change they identified after eliminating the obvious. I must say that I’ve put sticky notes on my monitor with someone’s phone extension after they showed me cool ways to manipulate their data in Excel, because someone with skills beyond Copy, Paste, Bold, Font color Red, in an application is an unfortunate rarety.
I can’t expect every company to fully train every employee in the full functionality of all of their applications, but giving advanced training to power users in each department would be a great start, as would those laminated Excel/Word/etc cheat sheets you can pick up in Office Depot or even Wal Mart. Anything to put useful information in close proximity of the average office chimp who still refuses to use ‘The Google’. Another thing that may be of use is an occasional ‘Lunch and Learn’ session (the chimps are suckers for a free lunch) to answer some general questions or present some strategies on googling, including the strangely efffective, but seemingly foreign concept of typing your question into google exactly as you would ask your friendly neighborhood IT guy/girl.
Whahaha I was discussing this with the wife last night. She commented on how easy my job was. I asked what she meant and she said that anyone who knew how to use google could do my job.
She’s right! I use google quite a bit. Like Bruce (the other commenter) I also have learned the office suite and just about every other application inside out due to googling and troubleshooting. Sometimes I even school 3rd party vendors on their own software! If I sound like I am praising myself, I am not, I am praising google.
I find that I actually very much enjoy doing ppt presentations and excel magic. The ones that appreiciate it the most are the ones that have taken the time to learn the basics, not just stayed in the safe zone of their current knowledge, but the ones who have leapt into the darkness of HOW DO I?
Hmmm now getting back to the Lunch and Learn concept… what a great idea!
So true! A lot of what I know about IT has been gleaned from my hubby, gaming and dear old Google…
There is a problem with google dependancy though.
IT: “open your browser and enter the address http://www.?????.com”
CLIENT: “Ok, which one do I choose?”
IT: “What?”
CLIENT: “It gave me a bunch of results, which one do I click on?”
IT: “Did you enter it into Google or the actual address bar at the top?”
CLIENT: “I entered in to Google, right at the top”
IT: “No you need to enter the address in the address bar in your browser”
CLIENT: “Is that a special Firefox menu?”
IT: (you decided to put Firefox on your machine yet you don’t know even basic browser functions?)
IT: sigh… “Just enter the following in to Google and press the I’m feeling lucky button…”