Tim's statement re: "You may acquire some knowledge, but you won't have
the authority to defend it" struck home for me.
We started the CARL Corporation with librarians who grasped the concepts and
challenges of building ILS and OPAC applications, and who quickly learned
programming to put the concepts into play. These individuals ended up with a
very strong foundation, and even if they moved from programming to
management or product design, they always had the strongest voice at the
design table because they could "speak" (and illustrate, argue, and defend)
approaches with both clarity and authority.
Many people can describe the process for changing a tire, but actually
changing one -- jacking it up, breaking the bolts, setting the spare on the
wheel -- this is the best way to get the car back on the road.
On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:23 PM, Tim Spalding <tim_at_librarything.com> wrote:
> Sarah,
>
> My inclination is to suggest you try to approach it from bottom up.
> Buy a Ruby, Python, PERL or PHP book in the "Dummies" series and learn
> enough programming to make you dangerous. I'd suggest something that
> gets you into databases quickly. Most people don't realize how very
> much programming a smart, organized person can learn in just a few
> days. Once you have that, and have worked on a few fun projects of
> your own, you can progress "up" to the sorts of questions you're
> answering. Once you know what programming is, XML is cake, and RDA
> just a flavor of cake.
>
> I'm wary of the opposite way, where you try to learn technology from
> the top down. Your knowledge then will always be tentative—a sort of
> hearsay knowledge. You may acquire some knowledge, but you won't have
> the authority to defend it. And don't librarians like authority? :)
> Certainly you won't have a "skill" to put on your resume (and which,
> outside libraries, could earn you twice your current salary). And you
> certainly won't have a chance of discovering a new intellectual
> passion.
>
> Maybe, however, this is just how I learn. I'm a guy who took years of
> dead languages because I couldn't stand the "hearsay experience" of
> Aeschylus and Plautus in English. Since I didn't become an academic,
> that time was largely wasted...
>
> Do others think a top-down approach to technological knowledge is as
> good or better than a bottom-up one?
>
> Tim
>
--
Trish
Received on Fri Apr 16 2010 - 15:22:28 EDT