It was an amazing job, don’t get me wrong, and I loved working with the kids, but it’s not the kind of thing that fits neatly with a changing university schedule, and fairly early on it became clear it wasn’t going to be the ideal job for me. After I came back from Spain I went hunting and got a new job.
Obviously, as I came back from Spain over a year ago, that means I’ve been doing my new job for over a year now, making it my old job really. I work for two small internet companies on all of the secretarial and administrative type stuff, and I have to say, it’s worked out wonderfully for me. I get paid nicely for what I do, work between 3 and 4 working days a week, and get to chat to people all over the world.
Of course at times, people all over the world are stupid, but every job has moments like that. The internet is an amazing tool, but if there is one thing I’ve learnt in the past year, it’s that a whole lot of people have no idea how to use it, or how to use computers. Which in itself isn’t a problem. Mother and Father both struggle with technology to some extent, and while my wonderful Grandmaman is incredibly tech-savvy for a woman her age, that really isn’t the norm in our family. For the older generation then, that’s a respectable and expected position. I’m not about forcing people who have coped perfectly well for most of their lives without computerised assistance to suddenly start coding.
What worries me is that there are people around my age and younger, who are using computers daily and don’t really understand them. I don’t claim supreme computing knowledge myself, but I’m not entirely lost when I’m on here, and if I’m not, then no-one else should be either.
I’m not sure I’m expressing this point well, but someone who has is a guy called Marc Scott, and for your viewing pleasure, his blog post:
Kids Can’t Use Computers – Coding2Learn
I warn you now, it’s long, but it’s definitely worth it. Plus you can test yourself against some of the scenarios he explains, and see whether or not you can use a computer.