note
Ovid
<p>[BUU] wrote: <em>I fail to see why using 'higher level' terms is symptomatic of a lack of ability.</em></p>
<p>It may not indicate lack of ability, but oftimes, it is often indicative of communication problems. One company I worked at had a programmer who would deal with problems like this:</p>
<pre><tt>
Customer: Why didn't I get my reports?
Programmer: I just checked and you got a SOC7 in GLJ0430R and I'm going to
have to reload the dataset and start from the top.
</tt></pre>
<p>That programmer was technically correct. Of course, he didn't answer the customer's question. Learning to target your message to your audience is important. I would have simply said "looks like we got some bad data. I'm going to fix it and have the report to you in an hour."</p>
<p>Now, does the previous person have a "lack of ability"? I remember one professor who said "if you can't put it in writing, you don't know it." Quite often, if I find that I can't explain something in clear terms that anyone can understand, I really don't understand what I'm trying to explain.</p>
<p>What's a SOC7? Well, it's a SOC7. It's...it's... it's a data exception. What is a data exception? Well, it's, uh, you know...</p>
<p>You see my point? If I can't explain something clearly, I probably don't understand it. Of course, I may understand it very well, but simply be a poor communicator. I tend to be suspicious of those who want to use high-falutin' terms.</p>
<p>Hope that helps :)</p>
<p>Cheers,<br />
<a href="/index.pl?node=Ovid&lastnode_id=1072">Ovid</a></p>
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