InsideTech

Just because I an a Computer Science student doesnt mean I know how to fix evry possible problem a printer might have.

A friend's roommate broke her printer somehow, and with me being a CS major, I was volunteered to help.  When I couldn't fix the problem she asked if I had taken a Printer fixing class yet.  I said no and she said "oh, you must not be a very good computer science student".

I sighed and left while wanting to run down to my room, grab my programming notes and say "here, YOU show me how I am a bad CS student!"

Tom,

Sadly, ignorance is rampant among those who have never had intimate exposure to the IT field. Most people have no clue how many different areas are covered by the IT label. No one person could possibly know the entire field. I wouldn't let this person's comment bother you. As Ron White says, "There's no cure for stupid!".

 One of my professors told me once: "When you finish your studies, don't work as a manager, work as an engineer, but don't you ever let manufacturers teach you how to do your job". The point is: they think that they know more, because they do sth that is visible, they repair stuff. You don't need to know such things, because it is not your job. If you wanted so, you could learn how to do it in a few days, but I don't think that most of them could ever learn the things you know. 

 There is another story as well. One man finished his studies as an electrical engineer and went to work in a large company. When he got his first assignment, he did the engineering part and then started doing the manufacturing part. When his boss saw that, he called him and said: "I'm paying you to work as an engineer, if you want to work as a manufacturer, I can give you another job, but you don't need your degree for that."

Sadly, I think the vast majority of people have no real idea of what computer science is.  I always like to pull out the Esdger Dijkstra quote (from memory here), "Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes."  Of course, pursuing the field generally familiarizes one with computers simply through exposure, in addition to the course material regarding the fundamentals, but most people hear the word "computer" and immediately start making assumptions.  In reality, computer science is more a subfield of mathematics than it is any sort of technical training (which is not to say that the two cannot help one another).  Keep on coding, comrade in comp sci!

When a person doesn't understand something, they lump it into a category with magical and / or supernatural.  Of course, at this point, a person can not differentiate the various fields that all lie underneath whatever it they have no understanding about.  In this example, and it is very common, this chick lumped "technology".  Her tech knowledge probably ends with figuring out how to dial a number on her new iPhone.

We, sirs and madams, are magicians.  To a person that believes what we do is magic, there is no way to explain to them that you are a programmer, not a printer technician.  It is ALL tech!  You do tech!  You don't know THIS tech!  You must be worthless!

When someone wants me to fix something outside of my range of expertise, I just make out like I don't have enough time, and recommend someone I know who does that sort of thing.  That saves my magical face (yarr) as well as generates business for friends of mine.  Then, we all get together later and laugh at our  mindless worshippers.  =)