An expert is... (From Machines Are the Easy Part)

From Machines Are the Easy Part; People Are the Hard Part. 

Illustrations by Brady Johnson

1. An expert is someone who has a somewhat defensible position but can state it with extraordinary confidence.

Why should you believe anything you are about to read? Maybe you shouldn’t.

To my credit, I have had a pretty good education, have had moderate success in the field of education, and have managed to convince quite a few people to publish things I’ve written. But that is about it. 

Be warned: My school doesn’t make many headlines. My income still requires I pay my overdrafts one dollar at a time. My personal life should be nobody’s model (although I’ve enjoyed it.)

Agree or disagree with any of my observations. Feel free to say “I’ve said that myself a million times.” Get mad enough to write your own book.

But have fun reading this.

2. It’s always, always, always better to be a nice person than an ass. 

You will make mistakes at home and on the job. So keep this in mind: People will forgive your mistakes if you are generally a nice person; they never forget them if you behave like an ass.

One of my technicians once warned a teacher: “I am beginning to think it is easier to make you mad than to make you happy. Remember, you are a lot more fun to watch when you are mad.” The teacher got nicer.

 3. Go with the person, not the firm.

We once hired a company to do a network installation and it did a bang-up job. We hired the same company a year later and it did the worst work we had ever encountered. During the course of the year, one guy, the guy who did the first job for us, had quit. Don’t trust companies – trust the people in them.

A corollary says that the worst schools have good teachers in them and the best schools have poor teachers in them. Seems a folly to worry a lot about what school your children go to. Just make sure they get the best teachers in the school.