Computer/IT illiteracy in the workplace

v638sg7k1a92bx

Computers and technology are so ubiquitous in our day to day lives but still I watch coworkers and clients fumble around with some of the most basic tasks.

Things like trying to find an email from a few months ago and they're scrolling through their inbox while they say out loud "I don't seem to have that" rather than type in the search bar, basic software updates where there is a prompt in the middle of the screen telling them to press "Next" and they look around asking other people what to do, or in ms Word where the document is read only and they can't understand why they can't change anything even though there is a big yellow ribbon at the top of the page that says "enable editing", and they seem to make the same mistakes over and over!!!

Is it a mental block with some people or is it just a case of it being easier to ask someone than figure it out themselves which I could understand but what I can't understand is how some coworkers ask the same questions over and over and not figure it out for themselves? Even though I would like to help some coworkers, I've learned to keep my head down and say nothing because if you get labelled as being the IT person, you end up with getting asked all the stupid questions.

A resistance to change culture permeates through the civil service, upskilling would inadvertently place cushy numbers at risk.

corner of hells

Courtney Chubby Trigonometry wrote: »

Computers and technology are so ubiquitous in our day to day lives but still I watch coworkers and clients fumble around with some of the most basic tasks.

Things like trying to find an email from a few months ago and they're scrolling through their inbox while they say out loud "I don't seem to have that" rather than type in the search bar, basic software updates where there is a prompt in the middle of the screen telling them to press "Next" and they look around asking other people what to do, or in ms Word where the document is read only and they can't understand why they can't change anything even though there is a big yellow ribbon at the top of the page that says "enable editing", and they seem to make the same mistakes over and over!!!

Is it a mental block with some people or is it just a case of it being easier to ask someone than figure it out themselves which I could understand but what I can't understand is how some coworkers ask the same questions over and over and not figure it out for themselves? Even though I would like to help some coworkers, I've learned to keep my head down and say nothing because if you get labelled as being the IT person, you end up with getting asked all the stupid questions.

What's an email ?

Your Face

I don't think it's an overreaction to say that these people should be taken out and shot.

D3V!L

I'm an IT manager and have worked in IT for 20 years in the financial services. The sheer ineptitude of some staff is staggering. Its usually middle aged women that are the worst. Sorry for generalising.

uck51js9zml2yt

corner of hells wrote: »

What's an email ?

What's a computer?

troyzer

We had some down time in the office with our boss away and one of my colleagues told me he was going to use the time to learn excel. I thought he was talking about learning how to use macros or VBA. He said he didn't know how functions worked.

I was astonished. He's only 26 as well and the industry we work in includes so much excel and access work. I thought these were non negotiable basics.

corner of hells

Javion Angry Swagger wrote: »

What's a computer?

One question at a time , we don't want to stress the OP ?

v638sg7k1a92bx

D3V!L wrote: »

I'm an IT manager and have worked in IT for 20 years in the financial services. The sheer ineptitude of some staff is staggering. Its usually middle aged women that are the worst. Sorry for generalising.

As someone who has worked in IT, do you think it's just laziness because it's easier to ask someone than figure it out themselves or is it a general indifference?

This is how I look at it: If I was a carpenter and I was given a set of tools to that I used regularly every single day I would know how to use those tools. So why is it that you give someone a laptop and their brain shuts down. It's torturous to watch and listen to, especially when someone has to change their password and they can't figure out what to do.

v638sg7k1a92bx

troyzer wrote: »

We had some down time in the office with our boss away and one of my colleagues told me he was going to use the time to learn excel. I thought he was talking about learning how to use macros or VBA. He said he didn't know how functions worked.

I was astonished. He's only 26 as well and the industry we work in includes so much excel and access work. I thought these were non negotiable basics.

That's actually not that bad. I've worked with people (also in their 20's) and if an application like Outlook wasn't on their desktop or taskbar and they couldn't actually see it then they wouldn't be able to open it and have to ask someone.

troyzer

Courtney Chubby Trigonometry wrote: »

troyzer wrote: »

We had some down time in the office with our boss away and one of my colleagues told me he was going to use the time to learn excel. I thought he was talking about learning how to use macros or VBA. He said he didn't know how functions worked.

I was astonished. He's only 26 as well and the industry we work in includes so much excel and access work. I thought these were non negotiable basics.

That's actually not that bad. I've worked with people (also in their 20's) and if an application like Outlook wasn't on their desktop or taskbar and they couldn't actually see it then they wouldn't be able to open it and have to ask someone.

Really? Wow.

I suppose I was more surprised at how he got this far without it.

v638sg7k1a92bx

Or those people who click and drag everything so that you end up with all these "Shortcut to ..." folders everywhere

LirW

[Deleted User] wrote: »

A resistance to change culture permeates through the civil service, upskilling would inadvertently place cushy numbers at risk.

My partner works as ICT officer in the CS and so many times his work is disrupted by requests like "we need the printer connected" or "I forgot my email password".

D3V!L

Courtney Chubby Trigonometry wrote: »

As someone who has worked in IT, do you think it's just laziness because it's easier to ask someone than figure it out themselves or is it a general indifference?

Yes , quite a lot of the time they actually dont want to know how to do the task or even learn how to do it. When I resolve an issue for someone I'll tell them what was wrong and how it was fixed. 90% of the time they dont care and just want someone to fix it and for you to go away.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Loads of people were brought up in homes without computers and schools were useless for yrs at teaching IT skills.

'Computers' was a once a week doss class in my secondary school. 2001-2007.

This next generation are already ten times as tech savy as the last.

v638sg7k1a92bx

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Loads of people were brought up in homes without computers and schools were useless for yrs at teaching IT skills.

'Computers' was a once a week doss class in my secondary school. 2001-2007.

This next generation are already ten times as tech savy as the last.

Not so sure about that. Checking their IG account ten times per day yes but doing anything productive and they expect it to be done for them.

troyzer

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Loads of people were brought up in homes without computers and schools were useless for yrs at teaching IT skills.

'Computers' was a once a week doss class in my secondary school. 2001-2007.

This next generation are already ten times as tech savy as the last.

Or so you'd think. I'm the same age as my colleague (26) and he has no idea how to use Microsoft Excel.

PARlance

Savvy might be a bit of a push. Stupid people are still stupid even if they're familiar with technology or not.

Ficheall

I was filling a job application in the other day, writing about my programming experience, my comfort with multiple software programs and operating systems, etc., and then five minutes later I was cursing at my printer for refusing to print more than one copy, and then a short time after that, I was breaking into a sweat trying to use the photocopier in the library...

FTA69

I’m 31 and rubbish at computers. I can use basic Word to write a letter but can’t use Publisher or any of that. I wouldn’t be able to do a CV really to any standard. Thankfully for work I’ve had set templates made for me that I can just enter text into. Haven’t a clue about Excel. 95% of computer terminology etc I don’t understand.

I only got a computer in the house at around 16, ironically being on boards is what allowed me to learn to type, albeit not in the correct manner. Even then I didn’t use it to a huge degree. Outside of google searching and message boards and Facebook I’m lost, I can barely work my emails. At the end of the day how was I supposed to learn? We’d one computer class a week and it was hopeless. After leaving school I worked in manual jobs where it was totally unnecessary. I didn’t go know near a PC in a job until I was 26 odd.

There’s a smug c*nt in my office who’s constantly shaking his head at me and tutting at me about my lack of ability but he had the luxury of being middle class, having proper computer training and working in an office job. It’s all well and good gloating at people who are rubbish at computers, but many people never had an opportunity to learn.

suicide_circus

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

This next generation are already ten times as tech savy as the last.

certainly. but what price will they pay?

ohnonotgmail

Has anybody done the coffee holder gag yet?

jam_mac_jam

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Loads of people were brought up in homes without computers and schools were useless for yrs at teaching IT skills.

'Computers' was a once a week doss class in my secondary school. 2001-2007.

This next generation are already ten times as tech savy as the last.

They are not, can't even type. Shocking the speed some people type, looking at the keyboard. People have tablets and phones, don't have pcs.

jam_mac_jam

FTA69 wrote: »

I’m 31 and rubbish at computers. I can use basic Word to write a letter but can’t use Publisher or any of that. I wouldn’t be able to do a CV really to any standard. Thankfully for work I’ve had set templates made for me that I can just enter text into. Haven’t a clue about Excel. 95% of computer terminology etc I don’t understand.

I only got a computer in the house at around 16, ironically being on boards is what allowed me to learn to type, albeit not in the correct manner. Even then I didn’t use it to a huge degree. Outside of google searching and message boards and Facebook I’m lost, I can barely work my emails. At the end of the day how was I supposed to learn? We’d one computer class a week and it was hopeless. After leaving school I worked in manual jobs where it was totally unnecessary. I didn’t go know near a PC in a job until I was 26 odd.


There’s a smug c*nt in my office who’s constantly shaking his head at me and tutting at me about my lack of ability but he had the luxury of being middle class, having proper computer training and working in an office job. It’s all well and good gloating at people who are rubbish at computers, but many people never had an opportunity to learn.

You have an opportunity to learn now. Don’t blame your class for your laziness.

Keyzer

FTA69 wrote: »

I’m 31 and rubbish at computers. I can use basic Word to write a letter but can’t use Publisher or any of that. I wouldn’t be able to do a CV really to any standard. Thankfully for work I’ve had set templates made for me that I can just enter text into. Haven’t a clue about Excel. 95% of computer terminology etc I don’t understand.

I only got a computer in the house at around 16, ironically being on boards is what allowed me to learn to type, albeit not in the correct manner. Even then I didn’t use it to a huge degree. Outside of google searching and message boards and Facebook I’m lost, I can barely work my emails. At the end of the day how was I supposed to learn? We’d one computer class a week and it was hopeless. After leaving school I worked in manual jobs where it was totally unnecessary. I didn’t go know near a PC in a job until I was 26 odd.

There’s a smug c*nt in my office who’s constantly shaking his head at me and tutting at me about my lack of ability but he had the luxury of being middle class, having proper computer training and working in an office job. It’s all well and good gloating at people who are rubbish at computers, but many people never had an opportunity to learn.

If you really wanted to improve your skills you would have - stop looking for excuses or others to blame.

A cheap laptop, even 10 years ago, would set you back 300 quid. You should have bought one and bought some books/enrolled in some courses.

This is exactly the attitude that pisses IT folk off.

Ficheall

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

You have an opportunity to learn now. Don’t blame your class for your laziness.

These things are easier to learn when you're younger and growing up with them, to be fair. When was the last time you learning something new, like a language, etc?

OldMrBrennan83

Like any job, people don't know because they get away with not knowing.

jam_mac_jam

Ficheall wrote: »

These things are easier to learn when you're younger and growing up with them, to be fair. When was the last time you learning something new, like a language, etc?

About a year ago. My Dad is 65 and he is currently learning how to speak French. Yes its easier when you are younger but there is no excuse for not knowing how to use word. none.

All My Stars Aligned

I think a fundamental problem is that, certainly when talking about people of 45+, is that there was never any real tuition given. Using the analogy given earlier of the carpenter, well he most likely would have done an apprenticeship whereas there are lots of people in the workforce that were never thought how to use the computer properly.

The Tetrarch

About 20 years ago I got a call in work from the head of Finance and IT who was based at a different location.
An employee had gone home suddenly and had left his PC on and unattended.
He wanted to know how to turn the PC off. I asked what was on the screen, then told him to press Enter.
What's that? I said press the key with Enter printed on it, or the big key on the right of the keyboard with an arrow on it. He wasn't getting it.
Do you see the line of keys starting with an A, S, D, F ? Yes. Keep going right until you get to L then right of that you will see a bigger key. Press that.

jam_mac_jam

I think a lot of it is laziness to be honest. You can ask somebody else to do it for you because you are too lazy to even use google to try something new when they can sit there are moan and be helpless.

Steve

Had a call from a nice man with an odd accent recently that told me I had an infection.

He said I had to open a new window and write an address in it so he could help me. So I did. Several times but it didn't seem to work.

After an hour of fruitless engagement, and he again said open a new window, I had to tell him they were all open and I was now freezing as the wind was howling through the house... besides, the post-it notes that I wrote the address on kept falling off....

When he said he meant 'on the computer' and I replied 'I don't have a computer' he seemed to get a bit annoyed and hung up...

Pity, seemed like a nice helpful man.

EdgeCase

A former boss of mine actually said this:

"Oh! You get your emails on your computer?"

They were used to their emails being placed in front of them by a PA in printed form along with a cup of tea and a nice choccie biscuit and a pen.

Their responses were done by dictating into a dictafone and were then emailed by a secretary.

Ficheall

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

About a year ago. My Dad is 65 and he is currently learning how to speak French. Yes its easier when you are younger but there is no excuse for not knowing how to use word. none.

Fair play to him. And agreed, it's always possible to learn, but sometimes peoples' circumstances do make things more difficult.



I don't use Word, fwiw. Hate it.

DEFTLEFTHAND

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

I think a lot of it is laziness to be honest. You can ask somebody else to do it for you because you are too lazy to even use google to try something new when they can sit there are moan and be helpless.

People get nervous, they're terrified of making a mistake and embarrassing themselves.

The thought of googling for help wouldn't even enter their minds.

turdball

My laptop keeps freezing and not working right for the last two weeks.

I check uptime of users Laptop, 140 days with a ton of Windows updates waiting.

A lot of users now know to reboot their machines before contacting IT

PARlance

The Tetrarch wrote: »

About 20 years ago I got a call in work from the head of Finance and IT who was based at a different location.
An employee had gone home suddenly and had left his PC on and unattended.
He wanted to know how to turn the PC off. I asked what was on the screen, then told him to press Enter.
What's that? I said press the key with Enter printed on it, or the big key on the right of the keyboard with an arrow on it. He wasn't getting it.
Do you see the line of keys starting with an A, S, D, F ? Yes. Keep going right until you get to L then right of that you will see a bigger key. Press that.

The around the side and backwards button.

AlmightyCushion

FTA69 wrote: »

I’m 31 and rubbish at computers. I can use basic Word to write a letter but can’t use Publisher or any of that. I wouldn’t be able to do a CV really to any standard. Thankfully for work I’ve had set templates made for me that I can just enter text into. Haven’t a clue about Excel. 95% of computer terminology etc I don’t understand.

I only got a computer in the house at around 16, ironically being on boards is what allowed me to learn to type, albeit not in the correct manner. Even then I didn’t use it to a huge degree. Outside of google searching and message boards and Facebook I’m lost, I can barely work my emails. At the end of the day how was I supposed to learn? We’d one computer class a week and it was hopeless. After leaving school I worked in manual jobs where it was totally unnecessary. I didn’t go know near a PC in a job until I was 26 odd.

There’s a smug c*nt in my office who’s constantly shaking his head at me and tutting at me about my lack of ability but he had the luxury of being middle class, having proper computer training and working in an office job. It’s all well and good gloating at people who are rubbish at computers, but many people never had an opportunity to learn.

Googling things and a bit of patience will get you very far. For example, like you, if I wanted to do up a CV using Word from scratch it would look shíte. So, I just Google CV templates and go through link after link until I find one I like (I think Word has some built in now) and then edit it. I have a degree in IT and work in IT and I Google shít all the time. The amount of times I fix problems for people who insist they are rubbish at computers by just googling the exact same thing they said to me and reading the first link.

davo2001

The Tetrarch wrote: »

What's that? I said press the key with Enter printed on it, or the big key on the right of the keyboard with an arrow on it. He wasn't getting it.
Do you see the line of keys starting with an A, S, D, F ? Yes. Keep going right until you get to L then right of that you will see a bigger key. Press that.

You mean the ";" key :pac:

ohnonotgmail

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Googling things and a bit of patience will get you very far. For example, like you, if I wanted to do up a CV using Word from scratch it would look shíte. So, I just Google CV templates and go through link after link until I find one I like (I think Word has some built in now) and then edit it. I have a degree in IT and work in IT and I Google shít all the time. The amount of times I fix problems for people who insist they are rubbish at computers by just googling the exact same thing they said to me and reading the first link.

yeah but googling is a skill in itself. and then there is the problem of them not being able to understand the results if they do manage to use the correct search terms.

EdgeCase

One of the biggest issues I found is a cohort of people who want to be given a sequence of key stokes or mouse clicks that will always achieve a particular result. They don't actually interact with or look at what the UI is saying. Instead they just go through a sequence of steps.

I've found they're often people who first encountered old DOS PCs and never really understood the concept of interacting with the machine.

When anything deviates from their sequence of steps they panic.

I've had people ask me to write down how iOS works...

ShaneC93

Back in 2015, I had to teach the new Head of Finance at a company once to use the basic Excel/Google Sheets functions. They didn't even know how to format numbers or use =SUM()..

It was in doing that training that I saw he kept looking down and writing in a notepad and upon asking what he was doing I found out that this guy aged in his 40s hired for an exec role didn't know how to copy & paste.. He would write down a number from one sheet onto a page and then switch to another sheet and type it out from what he'd written down.

Again, this guy was in charge of payroll and accounting for this 50-person company!!

Agricola

A lot of people are just technology illiterate. It's extends beyond using their computers in their office. It's goes to basic use and maintenance of tablets, phones, printers, even bloody digital microwaves can stump people.

I had an uncle who graduated from Oxford and spent a good many years as a business/IT consultant. The amount of time I spent walking him through the most basic of tasks on his windows pc was ridiculous. It appears to be just like a foreign language that they have no interest or intention in learning.

Gazzmonkey

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Loads of people were brought up in homes without computers and schools were useless for yrs at teaching IT skills.

'Computers' was a once a week doss class in my secondary school. 2001-2007.

This next generation are already ten times as tech savy as the last.

I have a 15 yr old lad at home who knows everything about how to use Android OS, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp etc, even knows to use a VPN app to get around the firewall at school. But he nor his friends have a clue how use an actual computer or send an email or use any form of office or productivity software.

Tech savvy? I'm not convinced yet.

Stone Deaf 4evr

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

About a year ago. My Dad is 65 and he is currently learning how to speak French. Yes its easier when you are younger but there is no excuse for not knowing how to use word. none.

things dont get difficult to learn as you get older, if anything, you're more likely to apply yourself to it as its something you really want to do, rather than begrudgingly being in some class in school with 30 other disinterested heads.

Paddy Cow

FTA69 wrote: »

I’m 31 and rubbish at computers. I can use basic Word to write a letter but can’t use Publisher or any of that. I wouldn’t be able to do a CV really to any standard. Thankfully for work I’ve had set templates made for me that I can just enter text into. Haven’t a clue about Excel. 95% of computer terminology etc I don’t understand.

I only got a computer in the house at around 16, ironically being on boards is what allowed me to learn to type, albeit not in the correct manner. Even then I didn’t use it to a huge degree. Outside of google searching and message boards and Facebook I’m lost, I can barely work my emails. At the end of the day how was I supposed to learn? We’d one computer class a week and it was hopeless. After leaving school I worked in manual jobs where it was totally unnecessary. I didn’t go know near a PC in a job until I was 26 odd.

There’s a smug c*nt in my office who’s constantly shaking his head at me and tutting at me about my lack of ability but he had the luxury of being middle class, having proper computer training and working in an office job. It’s all well and good gloating at people who are rubbish at computers, but many people never had an opportunity to learn.

I used to be computer illiterate. I mean, embarrassingly bad. We didn't have a computer growing up. I remember me and my friend trying to do her CV on a college computer. We couldn't understand why red squiggly lines kept appearing under some words. We didn't know they were spelling/grammar indicators and thought they would appear on the CV when printed. In the end we gave up and she brought her CV to a printing company

I moved to London at 21 and my sister said I could use her computer to send emails while she was at work. I turned on the computer and it wouldn't work. I rang her and she asked me had I turned it on and I was like "ya, I'm not completely thick". Turned out I was only turning on the monitor and not the hard drive :o

I'm not relatively ok and one thing I've learned, is that if you can't do something, there's a YouTube tutorial for everything

Masala

And don’t get us started on their comprehension of cables etc?? Can’t get the mouse to work..... could be batteries!!!! Printer won’t print.... cos power unplugged so cleaner could use the Hoover!!!

DopeTech

My office is full of them. People who use applications day in day out and when asked the most basic of questions about them you get met with a blank stare.

A common enough one is "I'm missing my mapped drives".

Have you clicked the expand arrow beside "This PC"? Or clicked on it?

Person : "Ah there they are".

Paddy Cow

A few years ago I worked for a B&B. After I left, I got a call from one of them who was in his 30's, demanding that I delete gmail from my laptop. It took me a few minutes to realise that he didn't want me accessing their emails anymore. Fair enough. I had to explain that I couldn't delete gmail and he'd have to change his password. I had to talk him through how to do it and at the end I don't think he was convinced that I couldn't access their email anymore :rolleyes:

DEFTLEFTHAND

We'd a massive system failure the day we broke for xmas and I had to get out a fax machine to send stuff down to Limerick.

Couldn't get my head around it for love nor money until a kind 45 yr old showed me the way.

We all meed help at times.

FTA69

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

You have an opportunity to learn now. Don’t blame your class for your laziness.

I haven’t blamed anybody, I said that particular circumstances in someone’s life can lead to people having less skills in some departments and there’s no point in gloating at people about it. What if someone couldn’t fix a car? Or plaster a wall? Or speak a second language? Or fit a floor? Would you then deem them lazy for not having learned these skills?

Or would you recognise the fact that people have different skillsets and that’s the way things are?