Should basic HTML skills be a requirement for IT professionals today?

[SaltBoy]

One of the guys that I work with is a very bright feller -- he catches on to things well, asks a lot of questions, and is very personable.

HOWEVER, he doesn't know a DARN thing about HTML and graphic files. Today he tried to replace an outdated .GIF file, which was a simple black button with words on top. Since we're on NT 4.0 systems and don't have photoshop, we have to get creative in instances such as they. Well, my co-worker decided to use MSPaint. Unfortunately, MSPaint in NT4 doesn't allow saving of .gif files. No matter to him -- he just renamed the file's extension after creating a Bitmap. Voila! A .gif file, or so he thought.

Frustrated after his graphic wouldn't appear, he came to me for help. I tried to take a look at the file, which was supposed to be a tiny 2k .gif file, but I stopped in my tracks when I saw that the file size was about 2500k. A 2500k .gif file? Wha...? Turns out he had created a 1024x768 BMP file with a white background and a little bit of black with words that was the size that the replacement button was supposed to be. Gah!

I decided to fix the ".gif" file by myself (through cropping and using a free graphic conversion program I found on the Internet). My co-worker was AMAZED I could do this.

He then put the .gif file into the page, and it worked fine, except for one reason -- it was squished. The img tag had a width that was too small. I went to View --> Source to see how wide the img tag was, and sure enough, it wasn't wide enough. Watching from behind my back, my co-worker asked, "Hey! How did you do that?" Do what? "See all of that stuff?" What, the HTML source? "Yeah, I guess." Ummm... View --> Source. Haven't you done this before? "No, I've never seen it." What the...?

And he supports an Intranet site! Granted, most of the stuff we work on is application infrastructure -- Java, Database loads, XML, and other things that don't require knowledge of HTML or graphics, but still, a LITTLE knowledge of that kind of stuff would be nice, right?!

In this day and age, shouldn't basic HTML skills be required for IT professionals today?

 

[vi edit]

That's not HTML skills. That's just basic "computer" knowledge IMHO and basically a requirement to be even considered for support position.

It's not HTML. It's basic file size and file extensions. That should be second nature stuff.

 

[anxi80]

how much are they paying him? if its an exuberant amount, i think im going to cry.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Depends on what his job requirements are. There are many IT positions which do not require any HTML.

That's like asking if all people in accounting positions should know the ins and outs of tax law.

 

Ignorance is bliss, and higher paid.

 

[Quixfire]

No, we have .net to save us.

 

[Zombie]

Why? There are a ton of WYSIWYG HTML editors out there. Days of making webpages on notepad are long gone.

 

[Electric Amish]

Depends on what his job description is.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Depends on what his job requirements are. There are many IT positions which do not require any HTML.
That's like asking if all people in accounting positions should know the ins and outs of tax law.

Fair enough. But accountants also know core level accounting knowledge. What's a GL. What's the difference between AR & AP. What's an asset, what's a liability, the difference between gross and net income, ect.

That's kinda like knowing that you can't just change a file extension on something and hoping it would work...or a 2.5 meg image file for web use isn't exactly a good thing. These are basic concepts that any IT person should know.

Hell, my wife even knows that and she hasn't taken a single IT class.

 

[StageLeft]

I would say anybody involved with software should have basic HTML skills, for sure. I would simply assume as much. Graphic sizes and things of that nature are basic computer skills, as vi_edit mentioned. Although wsyiwygs are what one would likely use creating a page from scratch, the actual HTML code is still invaluable. .NET for instance has one built in for asp.net pages, but I still often find myself on the html tab tinkering with little details here and there - some of which are either not available, or woefully cumbersome through a wsyiwyg.

 

[SaltBoy]

Originally posted by: anxi80
how much are they paying him? if its an exuberant amount, i think im going to cry.

I wouldn't be surprised if it were close to $50,000, if not more. He's a relatively new hire. Again, he has some basic programming skills and seems to catch on to things pretty quick, but his foundation with Operating systems, the Internet, stuff like that, etc. is pretty shaky.

 

[djheater]

I know a programmer who works for a major insurance company building intranet applications and he doesn't have a clue about stuff like that. There are people like us, this group, that are able to digest a little bit about everything and there are other people who just don't work that way.

The guy is bright he's just specialized and sees no reason to expand his knowledge.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Depends on what his job requirements are. There are many IT positions which do not require any HTML.
That's like asking if all people in accounting positions should know the ins and outs of tax law.

Fair enough. But accountants also know core level accounting knowledge. What's a GL. What's the difference between AR & AP. What's an asset, what's a liability, the difference between gross and net income, ect.

That's kinda like knowing that you can't just change a file extension on something and hoping it would work...or a 2.5 meg image file for web use isn't exactly a good thing. These are basic concepts that any IT person should know.

Hell, my wife even knows that and she hasn't taken a single IT class.

I was perusing my old school's website and upon the gallery page I noticed that the images were pixelated and woefully slow to load. Why? Upon checking the source I found that they had taken 800X600 files and simply used HTML to restrain how they view. It was a page of 240X360 images (or thereabouts), and instead of compressing first they were just forcing a person to download the full thing and shrinking it with HTML. N0OB ALERT!

 

[sillymofo]

Originally posted by: Zombie
Why? There are a ton of WYSIWYG HTML editors out there. Days of making webpages on notepad are long gone.

Hey, don't knock teh all mighty note pad, the only way to create web pages, REAL men use it.

Salt, I bet there's a thing or two that this guy could show you on the IT side.

 

[blackdogdeek]

how old is your co-worker?

my wife used to work at a large insurance company as one of their developers. they used cobol and db2 almost exclusively and she would have had no idea what you were doing either. she only resigned last year to take care of the baby.

she graduated with a comp sci degree(and math double major), albeit long before the web hit it big.

 

[anxi80]

Originally posted by: SaltBoy

Originally posted by: anxi80
how much are they paying him? if its an exuberant amount, i think im going to cry.

I wouldn't be surprised if it were close to $50,000, if not more. He's a relatively new hire. Again, he has some basic programming skills and seems to catch on to things pretty quick, but his foundation with Operating systems, the Internet, stuff like that, etc. is pretty shaky.

thank you. it isnt as much as i anticipated, but still, thats good pay for computer knowledge that is kind of basic in my eyes.

edit: but as other posters have pointed out, im sure he has knowledge in some area's that i couldnt do that may seem simple to him, so, ill leave it at that.

 

[SaltBoy]

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo
Salt, I bet there's a thing or two that this guy could show you on the IT side.

Oh, I'm sure he could. After all, we work on two completely different applications. However, on the BASIC IT side, I sincerely doubt it. I've been tinkering around since the Apple II+ days.

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: SaltBoy

Originally posted by: anxi80
how much are they paying him? if its an exuberant amount, i think im going to cry.

I wouldn't be surprised if it were close to $50,000, if not more. He's a relatively new hire. Again, he has some basic programming skills and seems to catch on to things pretty quick, but his foundation with Operating systems, the Internet, stuff like that, etc. is pretty shaky.

My guess is he doesn't spend as much time on the computer as people here. He doesn't know the little bits of extra detail, the quick short cuts that are less obvious etc.

I think most people would know as they like computers in general and spend quite a bit of time on it.

Koing

 

[anxi80]

Originally posted by: Koing
My guess is he doesn't spend as much time on the computer as people here. He doesn't know the little bits of extra detail, the quick short cuts that are less obvious etc.

I think most people would know as they like computers in general and spend quite a bit of time on it.

Koing

yeah. and like i edited above, he probably has knowledge in some area's that i would be lost in, and it's prolly simple for him. its more of a give-and-take deal with your co-workers. they teach you a few tricks, and in return, you do the same. its a pooling of knowledge.

 

[SaltBoy]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
how old is your co-worker?

24 years old. Maybe he was hired because of his looks and personality. Despite being married, all the women love him!

I admit that being a personable... ummm... person is important in a job, too. He's definitely that.

 

[StageLeft]

Despite being married, all the women love him!

Despite, or because of?

 

[SaltBoy]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Despite being married, all the women love him!

Despite, or because of?

I think that's what I meant to say.

Should basic grammar skills be a requirement for IT professionals today?

 

[UNCjigga]

Hey, I'll take his job! That is, if my current boss will ever let me quit...

 

[crisp82]

Basic HTMl is more often then not common knowledge, but it's not a necessity for all IT roles by far. I was in a support role covering Helpdesk, Desktop and Server and required no HTML knowledge what-so-ever for the work on hand.

Is handy in certain cases though

 

[spidey07]

no way. I don't know jack about HTML and have no need for it at all in my profession. Nor do I know much about PCs.