A rant about lack of ambition

[Guest]

First a bit of background. I have a bad ass job. I get to play with, configure, install, troubleshoot and resolve issues on Video On Demand platforms for major cable operators (Time Warner, Comcast, Cablevision, Charter, TeleGuam, Numericable, EventIS, just to name a few) all over the world. I'm 4th tier support, which means that by the time an issue gets to me it has to be pretty bad. It also means that I write code and identify customer-user problems in the code that I myself and my team mates created.

In working with the all sorts of different "IT guys" , "Video guys" and "Cable guys" one thing that I have come to realize is how utterly apathetic people are. For the vast majority of these useless wage earners, their highest level of technical acumen is the ability to configure a Linksys router at their residence, or the ability to install MS-Office on a co-workers PC. Their ability to learn to push this button or that button based on what someone else tells them to do. They are herd animals.

There are other species on the face of the planet that share this trait. Cattle and sheep come to mind. Fortunately, one can not become a cow or a sheep by watching other cows or sheep. However, one can seemingly become one of the sheeple by the simple act of associating with sheeple. Like a disease this association will causes the independent thinker to become a sheeple. Furthermore, like any disease that threatens our survival, it must be eradicated.

Now the symptoms of the sheeple disease are easy to spot. A general lack of trying is the first sure sign. An example would be that if I push the button and the treat does not come out, I starve, because I will not expend the energy to try. This is the surest sign of a sheeple. They do not try to improve their lot. They move with the heard and all their life do what others tell them to do. Push the button, get the treat!

The second sign is conformity. Others are saying it, so it must be true. This is a true epidemic in our society. The television says so, so therefore it must be true. It was in the newspaper, so it must be true. Terrorist are after my 80 year old mother because the government says so.. It must be true! It is easy to spot conformist sheeple.

The third sign is lack of goals, anyone with a lack of goals is a sheeple. Now you may say to yourself. I have a goal of making a million dollars, or I have a goal of mastering the game. Whatever. Talk is cheap. Doing something is what counts. Sheeple say they have goals, but sheeple do not act on those goals. Sheeple procrastinate, or make exuses about why they can't. I didn't get that degree because. Because and But are the sheeples favorite words.

How about some advice for the masses. Don't be a sheeple! Do what you say your going to do. Show some heart and show some initiative. Don't whine or complain when the shit hits the fan. Shut your fucking mouth, open your eyes, read the book and fix the problem.

[Guest]

i guess im sheep... :/

[Guest]

Congrats on your "bad ass job." Remember though, that "technical acumen" - or the lack of - is not an indicator of human worth, or of intelligence, for that matter.

[Guest]

Just because someone isn't tech savvy, does not mean they have a lack of ambition. We can use that logic and say you have a lack of ambition because you can't fix your own car when there is a major problem with it.

An example of a lack of ambition would be looking at all the fat asses in america. Being fat or out of shape is no one elses fault but your own. Hit the treadmill and lay off the mcdonalds super sized lunch with a diet coke. To see this, just go to your local walmart, and you will see what a lack of ambition looks like.

You got that confused with having a skill that most others don't have. And I'm sure we all have a skill that we are better at than joe blow. Prodigy's is working out and fitness, yours is solving tech issues, mine is music knowledge and being able to play multiple instruments.

[Guest]

[QUOTE]Congrats on your "bad ass job." Remember though, that "technical acumen" - or the lack of - is not an indicator of human worth, or of intelligence, for that matter. [/QUOTE]

Now that I have calmed down a bit from my rant....

I do not believe it is wrong to love what one does, nor do I believe that you have to have the goal of being technically brilliant or anything else. We all have goals to achieve in life. They are all different. We all have rolls to play. The rant is simply a drawn out way of stating this simple concept.

[I]It is a sad state of affair indeed when a person chooses mediocrity over greatness. [/I]

Now to understand the technical bent of my post, the persons in question make a living supporting the same technology I support but from the cable company side instead of the vendor side. I have worked with these people as a member of that particular cable company for over 5 years before making the switch to my current position. These are people who could be brilliant at what they do, I mean truly stellar, but instead they chooses the path of least resistance. The potential is there, but there is no drive.
They are sheeple.

From a macro aspect, every generation stands on the backs of it's predecessors. Can you honestly say that the men and women of today are equal to the men and women of yesteryear? Do you think that the people of today have the same commitment and drive to each other, and to the cause, as did there forefathers? I would say that there is a stark difference between the then and the now.

Am I saying that I am perfect, [B]no[/B], in fact, I have had my sheeple moments. I forgive others there sheeple moments readily. However, when person(s) makes it a habit of becoming sheeple, as does the person(s) who triggered this rant, those sheeple need a wakeup call. The behavior is unacceptable.

In summation, if it's your job to know something, to do something, to make something, then take pride in that something. Be the best you can be at it. Do not settle for mediocrity.

[Guest]

Everyone has some skill they are good at. The point Traxx is trying to make is that he sees a lot of people settling for what they can already do or what they already know instead of wanting to further themselves.

I see some validity in his focus on the technical skills a large portion of the population lack. Technology is such a big part of our day-to-day lives, that people need to keep up. You can be the best baseball pitcher in the world...but that doesn't mean you shouldn't know how to perform what tech savvy people would call "simple tasks" on your computer.

I work in the IT industry too, and I see the same thing in the people I work with. I work in a high-tier support environment similar to what Traxx is in. Our Desktop Support crew never try to progress beyond that. Instead of learning more in their off time, they sit up here and play WoW. The Linux guys pretend to be computer illiterate when it comes to touching a Windows machine, and vice versa. I am where I am in the support ladder because I sought the knowledge to administer and develop software for both fields.

You can see it in the community as well. You have the people who seek to learn, and the people who seek to be shown. I've dealt with a lot of guys who have come out to the meet ups that just want someone to give them a step-by-step plan to get in the pants of that girl at the bar. Instead, they should take the examples given and figure out why they work. How to do/say the same thing in your own way. Some learn things like body language interpretation and others want to learn magic tricks. Finding and joining the community is a step in the right direction, but some guys just stall out there.

Like his quote said, strive to better yourself...don't settle.