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

[lowtech1]

I worked with government ?Network Security Architects? & ?Network Security Managers? that make way more money than I do (I was a contract/consultant worker). They have no clue how to setup network or find their way around in a computer, but some how get the great titles/cash for asking questions, delegates, demanding results, 2-3 hour luncheons, and for drinking coffee.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: SampSon
Ignorance is bliss, and higher paid.

winnar!

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: lowtech
I worked with government ?Network Security Architects? & ?Network Security Managers? that make way more money than I do (I was a contract/consultant worker). They have no clue how to setup network or find their way around in a computer, but some how get the great titles/cash for asking questions, delegates, demanding results, 2-3 hour luncheons, and for drinking coffee.

Yep and its great. People skills are WAY more important than any technical knowledge.

 

[lowtech1]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: lowtech
I worked with government ?Network Security Architects? & ?Network Security Managers? that make way more money than I do (I was a contract/consultant worker). They have no clue how to setup network or find their way around in a computer, but some how get the great titles/cash for asking questions, delegates, demanding results, 2-3 hour luncheons, and for drinking coffee.

Yep and its great. People skills are WAY more important than any technical knowledge.

Yeah! you are right that I need to work on my people/business skills.

PS. Those guys that I worked with all have art degrees.

 

[Jzero]

I work in info security. I never touch a lick of HTML. You should know what you need to know to accomplish your job.

 

[DWW]

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo

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.

I thought real men use vi?
*ducks and runs*

 

[rh71]

No, it shouldn't be a requirement. Just like not every IT guy needs to know how to replace a video card or RAM. People specialize for a reason, and if it weren't for that, there'd be a lot fewer positions in IT... a bad, bad thing for the economy.

 

[wyvrn]

No. I believe in specialization, unless you are going to be in support where you have to know a little about everything. However I am talking Fortune 500 companies, and not small shops where admins do just about everything themselves (on a smaller scale). Depends really on where you work.

 

[Shockwave]

Originally posted by: 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?

The fact you ask this shows me your knowledge of IT.
Its ridiculous to think everyone in IT should know HTML.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: SaltBoy
One of the guys that I work with is a very bright feller...

Obviously, this is a different guy than the story was about.

 

[rh71]

BTW, I think every car owner should know how to change a flat on their own as long as they're physically capable.