Charles256 wrote:ever find yourself frustrated? no one in my life that is close to me gives a damn about what I do..not even remotely interested..won't feign interest..so as a result I never get to talk about what I love...hell..even the people it puts food on the table for don't care..very depressing at times...
Imagine you have a friend who is a janitor. Would you be interested in the details of what he does?
Most people are purposely uninterested in the menial details of the jobs people work. We've become a society that specializes. Because Bob works as a janitor, I don't need to know what chemicals you need to use to clean up grease in my companies cafeteria - it just happens (technically, Bob knows, and does it correctly). Similarly, when Bob goes to get on the internet, he doesn't need to know what the router configuration needs to be for him to get online - because Jim in Networking already did that.
Specialization isn't by its nature a bad thing, but it can make everyone feel 'alone'. There is a solution (beyond just hanging out with the rest of the people in your boat).
People are interested in things that they can
relate to. For example, when I used to tell people I worked for a cell phone company, they would
relate stories about their horrible reception, their service, their billing, and so on.
Then I changed my phrasing. I said instead that "I keep computer networks secure". Nine times out of ten, someone would ask "Oh, you mean like against (insert evil tone here) HACKERS?". Which was a great queue for me to explain a variety of things, like:
- "Hacker" is a misused term. Hackers are good people, making interesting solutions to problems. Think MacGuyver with DuctTape - he was a hacker. What you really meant was "Attacker".
- Most attacks don't come from without - they come from within. Employees more often than not cause the problem by doing things they aren't supposed to. Browsing to bad websites gets you popups, spam, and viruses. (I usually make sure to mention that in almost all cases, the people did nothing WRONG, they just didn't understand the rules, or understand what they were clicking on).
- I help people understand the rules, and understand what they are clicking on.
- By writing horribly boring policies.
Invariably, we ended up with a branching discussion on hacker, internal v. external threats, browsing, and "understanding the rules" long before we got to the real answer - that I was a policy wonk!
By explaining things in an interesting manner, and providing a link to things they understand, suddenly, boring policy writing, or even janitor work can be worth asking about.
On the flip side, not explaining your work can prevent friends and family from considering you "free tech support".
