Exactly how skilled is your job?

[markgm]

Well, if you need me to be exact, it's 705.3921717629317675238467481846766940513200056812714526356082785771342757789609173637178721468440901224953430146549585371050792279689258923542019956112129021960864034418159813629774771309960518707211349999998372978049951059731732816096318595024459455346908302642522308253344685035261931188171010003137838752886587533208381420617177669147303598253490428755468731159562863882353787593751957781857780532171226806613001927876611195909216420198938095257201065485863278865936153381827968230301952035301852968995773622599413891249721775283479131515574857242454150695950829533116861727855889075098381754637464939319255060400927701671139009848824012858361603563707660104710181942955596198946767837449448255379774726847104047534646208046684259069491293313677028989152104752162056966024058038150193511253382430035587640247496473263914199272604269922796782354781636009341721641219924586315030286182974555706749838505494588586926995 skilled

 

[Whisper]

If the guy already has a bachelor's degree coming in, I'd say at least five years...that's what'll end up being required of me (and then some).

However, if I were to whittle down the diagnostic/interpretive responsibilities, I'd imagine I'd be fairly comfortable after a few months.

 

[JackBurton]

I HAVE PEOPLE SKILLS!!!

 

[Slew Foot]

It takes 8 years of training before someone is able to apply for a license to do my job, so I'd say about 8 years.

 

[MegaVovaN]

I have no job

 

[murban135]

Couple of years

 

[tfinch2]

Like 5 minutes.

 

[purbeast0]

wtf markgm why the hell don't you fix your post. :|

and would I consider this other person I'm teaching has the same degree as me or no?

 

[child of wonder]

6 months to a year.

Linux System Admin.

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: mjuszczak
Picture this:

You've been asked by your boss to train his very intelligent friend Mike how to do your job. Mike has NO EXPERIENCE with what you do, other than basic knowledge that the average person would have (For instance, if you work in computers, Mike has average american computer knowledge - he can use windows, excel, etc. If you work in automobile repair, Mike can drive a car, fill his gas tank, etc. etc.)

Your boss has asked you how long it will take to make Mike proficient at your job, working with him 8 hours a day, 40 hours per week.

What is your answer to your boss?

I'm limiting the poll to 5 years, because I would find it very hard to belive if you couldn't train a replacement in 5 years, no matter what you do.

Cliffs:
How long would it take for you to teach someone else to do your job?

Close. I have 3 years of UG research experience, 5 years in grad school, 3 years in two postdocs, 1.5 years here. All relevant to some extent. I think i could "train" someone within 5 years to do what i do. But that would *not* be at the same proficiency level. More of a junior scientist, like someone fresh out of a phd. It would be tough though because first year grad students already know quite a bit about the area. Hmmm, maybe not within 5 years.

 

[thepd7]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: Fritzo
My job is so complex and I have so much unique experience that I don't think they would ever get rid of me, much less be able to replace me Heck, a lot of the systems we use are in place because I put them there.

Yeah...I'm set. I know- famous last words

The irony of all that is that if you do your job properly you're making it easier for you to be replaced.

Actually this is a great situation. I know an aerospace engineer that did something like this. Eventually any system (no matter how good) has quirks or breaks, if they have fired you by then (or in my friend's case he retired) then you pretty much have a blank check when it comes to fixing it.

My friend get's paid what he used to get in a month or 2 just to go consult for a week. He likes it.

 

[Gunslinger08]

I'm a SharePoint 2007 developer. If he was the average novice computer user, it would probably take several years to learn how to do what I do.

 

[StageLeft]

That's a funny question. I'd say that if I sat down with a smart person and all they had to do was learn what I do and spend it all training, certainly less than a year. However, when it comes to reality, nobody with less a few years in the field would be able to do it, because their job (as most) combines some learning/training and a lot of _working_. I do software dev and project man.

 

[nageov3t]

doing basic things like setting up new hardware, taking care of misc. upgrades, and monitoring the facilities would probably take 2-3 weeks if he's quick on the uptake.

other things, like diagnosing down servers and clusters and whatnot are a little harder to train on and really mostly comes from experience.

 

[uclaLabrat]

I could train someone with a four year chem degree to not kill themselves within a week. I can train them to be productive in a year. I'm still working on being good. I'll get there eventually.

 

[FallenHero]

probably around a year. Policies, procedures, knowledge of law, application of said law, how to talk to people, interviewing techniques...

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
wtf markgm why the hell don't you fix your post. :|

and would I consider this other person I'm teaching has the same degree as me or no?

How do you even make your post scroll to the side like that? I've seen those before and always wondered how to do it. My message box always auto-returns when I type.

 

[MotionMan]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: purbeast0
wtf markgm why the hell don't you fix your post. :|

and would I consider this other person I'm teaching has the same degree as me or no?

How do you even make your post scroll to the side like that? I've seen those before and always wondered how to do it. My message box always auto-returns when I type.

Long words with no spaces.

MotionMan

 

[MotionMan]

I am a lawyer. Generally speaking you need an undergrad degree (approx. 4 years), a law degree (approx 3 years) and have to have passed the State Bar Exam (longest g-d damn summer of your life). So there is about 7 years to start.

After that, I would say that, if you gave me a freshly-minted lawyer, I could teach him how to "do" my job in about a year. Would he be any good at it after only a year? Probably not.

I have been doing this for about 12 years and attorneys who have been at it for like 20 years can still make me look like an idiot.

If I am against an attorney with less than 5 years experience, he might as well give up.

All lawyers know the laws and procedures (or, at least, they should), but some things you can only learn from experience.

MotionMan, Esq.

 

[MotionMan]

Originally posted by: mjuszczak
I'm limiting the poll to 5 years, because I would find it very hard to belive if you couldn't train a replacement in 5 years, no matter what you do.

Tell that to your doctor and see what he says.

MotionMan

 

[HardcoreRomantic]

I recently went through an experience like this. Left the university and took up cabinetmaking. I went to a tech school for two years, and that barely covered the basics. It's surprisingly complex, and it took quite a while to get used to the exactness. A lot of my classmates who got jobs right after the 2 years still had another good year or more of training in their respective shops.

 

[meltdown75]

Give me 3 months time and I can turn the person you described into a decent property assessor. "Mike" would need to be a good people person to begin with though. Anything less and he will fail at the customer service aspect of the job, which accounts for a fair share of my duties.

edit: check that - he will be a decent property inspector. I don't think I could anoint him as a full blown assessor unless he was REALLY good, really fast and even then he would need a year or two under his belt before I trusted him fully to be responsible with valuation and decision-making.

 

[Regs]

I would say a few months. Though it depends on the persons character.

 

[archiloco]

Originally posted by: Kaelyn
Never.

Some people aren't creative with structure, design, color or sketching. I have a 4 year degree in Industrial Design and have been working my way up for 10 years in the same industry (exhibition design). No "average person" would be capable of doing what I do... no matter how long I taught them. If it were someone with drawing / design talent, then maybe they could be taught.

EDIT: Talent is not something that can be taught, no matter how much "time" you are provided with. You either have it or you don't.

yeah same here, but if i had to train someone to do the tedious work like draw parking lots and stuff like that i think it would only take me a year of training, about 6 months for them to learn Autocad, and about 6 months for them to learn how to draw parking lots.

by the way i have trained 4 people to do what i do and these are people with Autocad skills and design skills took about 3 months to get them rolling and about a year to get them up to speed (ok only 1 lasted the year, the others quit because it was too demanding)

 

[Mark R]

About 10 years.