When I started out in IT many, many, many years ago, people had one string on their bow and that was all that was needed. The different areas of IT were islands with very little dependence nor interaction with other systems. You could be a Notes administrator, you could be the Netware person, you managed the database. People would resist learning other things as they were fiercely loyal to THEIR technology and everything else was un-interesting or pointless. That does not work today. There are no islands. One string will not cut it in today’s IT centric world.
Consider the hybrid world where services run on-premises and in the cloud and where every system works with other systems. It’s critical to have an understanding outside of one technology. If you are a Hyper-V administrator you can’t just know Hyper-V. You need to understand networking (especially when looking at software defined networking), you need to understand storage, you likely need to understand the public cloud services such as Azure IaaS and don’t forget PowerShell. If you are a desktop administrator you can’t just know Windows 10 and Configuration Manager. You need to understand encryption, security, mobile device management and PowerShell. I cannot think of a role today where knowing just one thing is a benefit. In today’s everything connected, hybrid world we need lots of strings on our bow and know when to use which.
Now there is a counter argument, Jack of all trades, master of none which is very valid. You can’t know everything about everything and that is not what I’m suggesting. We still have a technology we specialize in and go super deep but we need to have a basic understanding of the surrounding technologies and how they interact to enable optimal and best practice architectures.
This is the goal for IT/Dev Connections. When looking at the amazing selection of sessions, the goal is to provide deep, real-world technical expertise and higher-level sessions to complement while ensuring attendees understand HOW the technologies relate and can actually be implemented. Sometimes you may hear someone say “we won’t cover that as it’s too complicated” and I think the perfect answer to that is from Einstein himself “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Anyone can be an expert but just knowing knowledge is useless if you cannot pass that knowledge on in a way that people can receive it. That is a key differentiator for the IT/Dev Connections speakers. Not only are the speakers experts, but their knowledge is communicated in a way that can be easily consumed and then actually utilized.
So what are you waiting for? Join me at IT/Dev Connections 2017! This year I am managing the Cloud and Datacenter track as the Track Chair. To see what I have planned for this track, read: ITDC 2017: What to Expect from the Cloud and Datacenter Track.
IT/Dev Connections runs October 23-26, 2017, in San Francisco.
Widely recognized for the depth and objectivity of its content, and included in the list of the 19 best DevOps conferences to attend in 2017, IT/Dev Connections training sessions teach developers and IT professionals the skills they need to do their jobs better. Its speakers include the most knowledgeable and accomplished developers, technology experts, and strategists in the industry. Covering everything from Microsoft’s roadmap and strategy to detailed best practices, these hands-on experts take attendees through the entire planning and implementation process, providing specific guidance across all perspectives. The following are a few of the technologies covered: Visual Studio, HTML5, SQL Server, SharePoint, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Windows, Systems Management, Cloud, Big Data, DevOps, and Virtualization.
