I'm reading a cool book called Close to the Machine: Technophilia and its Discontents by Ellen Ullman. It's sort of roughly structured as a novel, but it's mostly a series of philosophical discourse on the contemporary work environment. I recommend it to anyone that has worked in high-tech stuff or wants to understand someone that works with high-tech stuff. Here's an excerpt for everyone:

The corollary of constant change is ignorance. This is not often talked about: we computer experts barely know what we're doing. We're good at fussing and figuring out. We function well in a sea of unknowns. Our experience has only prepared us to deal with confusion. A programmer who denies this is probably lying, or else is densely unaware of himself. (110)

Despite the use of the masculine pronoun, the main character of the book is a middle-aged woman. I like the perspective this brings to the work, since a young, arrogant person would never admit to the sort of thing from the excerpt above, or even really be aware of it on a level that he could articulate it. The book focuses a lot on how the high-tech world is a wold of constant change, and how easy it is to be left behind. And how the constant change leaves everyone confused. The difference between the computer person and the non-computer person is that the computer person can deal with all the confusing, unknown, and simply baffling details and sort out what really is important.

Next time I fix someone's computer and they ask me how I knew how to do it, maybe i'll point them to this passage. I didn't know how. But i'm just used to not knowing and doing anyway. Now if only I could transfer this ability to more real-world interactions; then i'd be set.