It's Not a Job, It's an Adventure! Article written by Mark Halper Fast Company January Issue, page 52

Summary by Todd Mehrkens

The individual that this article was written about, Randy Lagman, has the kind of job that many of us must secretly dream about, at least at one time or another.

Randy is an IT (Information Technology) professional, "web geek" for short. After many years of working in front of a computer "rebooting corporate servers and rooting out viruses", he has moved his technological skills to the great outdoors. Randy accompanies world-class adventurers, providing them with the capability to transmit up-to-the-minute details of their adventures.

The company he works for, Lands' End, maintains a website that exists primarily to sell clothing and other outdoor gear. As an attraction to get potential customers to visit the site, Lands' End publishes the accounts of world class adventurers. And this is where Randy comes in; he provides the technical know how and capability to use computers, satellites, digital cameras and other technology to keep website visitors involved in the day to day progress of the adventurers he is accompanying.

There are many aspects to this article that intrigue me. First of all, I am excited to see someone who has taken a technology career out of the office. I really love working with computers, but as a former dairy farmer, I really, really miss being outside all day. Although practically all computer work takes place in an office environment, this article pointed out that technology is moving into more and more non-traditional areas.

As I read this article, I was struck by the impact that technology is having. Through e-mail and the World Wide Web, humans are "connecting" more and more via the internet, and maybe less and less in person. When I shared this article with two other people who spend a lot of time on the computer, they pointed out the importance of "human contact" and connecting to the "real world".

One person had recently taken a job that increased her income by $10,000. However, she soon went back to her old job because it offered human interaction. The higher paying job consisted of sitting in front of a computer screen all day long, except for two short breaks and lunch. The job she returned to involves installing and troubleshooting computers. This of course requires interaction with users, which is what made the job worth the lower pay.

The other person I talked to is a true "web lover" who spends many hours a week surfing the web. He thinks the idea of live updates from an expedition is exciting, and then referred me to the "live-camera" sites on the web. These sites have a camera set up that transmits live pictures of whatever it is pointing at. I checked some of these out, and I have to admit that it is pretty cool to be able to see what is actually happening in another city, right that VERY minute. Once again, the internet is connecting us like never before. And yet, I was sitting alone, in front of a computer, in an office. I'm not sure what to think about this, but there is no doubt that these are brand new experiences for this current generation.

I cannot do a review of this article without mentioning one line in the article that really stuck out for me. When talking about the early stages of this new assignment for him, Randy was asked if he could figure out a way to deliver Web content from the ship. He answered that he could, even though he did not, at the time, know how. He goes on to say that "with information technology, attitude is more important than immediate knowledge".

I have found attitude to be so important when working with or learning technology. For example, I have found that if a person has the attitude the web is useless, they will accentuate every broken link or dead-end search, give up and then of course consider the whole experience a failure. But if a person embraces the web, they will keep working at it until it works for them, at which point they are successful.

In this M. Ed. degree I am interested in the factors which contribute to successful learning on computers. The factors I have decided to look at so far have included learning styles and personality types; I now believe that attitude needs to be included somewhere in those factors.

-- Anonymous, January 25, 1999