As the world becomes more automated*, it becomes harder for any given person to know what's been automated and what hasn't... [More jibber jabber...] Therefore, we should be more forgiving to people that assumed something would happen automatically, because for one to go on living assuming that nothing is automated is mentally taxing and inefficient, and for someone to assume that everything is automated is a norm that we're quickly approaching.
*Automated in this sense means simply "done for you". Examples can range from your phone automatically downloading and installing software updated, your emails coming to your computer because the email server was already set up, literally anything that concerns 'the cloud', including knowing where your files actually are (because you don't and you have to assume that backups and redundancy are being handled by others), even something as simple as the car reminding you your fuel is low with a light without you having to look at the gauge and estimate if you're low, or having to use the trip odometer to estimate how many miles you have left. All of this falls under the broad definition of "automated" used above.Which I guess the tl;dr is being an automation engineer is kinda rough because I don't get to assume that /anything/ is automated, because the whole automation part is why my job exists lmao
But also this goes into why I'd never call myself IT or even a computer person at this point, because I don't get paid to know both my actual job and how to do the stuff on the computer, AND maintain the computer itself
also tl;dr I understand people who say "I don't care how the computer works, I just want it to work!"
Like, compared to even 10 years ago, if you're at all tech-adjacent or tech interested you almost have to self-obfuscate because it's impossible for one person to know everything about what one person should be able to do in the modern world.
e.g. I use Backblaze to backup my computer to the cloud instead of the whole 1-2-3 backup process and my own local server and everything that comes with that because 1. it's easier. 2. someone else there knows more than I ever could about backup strats, HDD MTBF, etc. etc. etc. even though I absolutely could figure it all out myself
hopefully this makes sense lmao
This though was spurned by spinning up a Win XP vm and finding delight in the simplicity of it all. If you wanted it to be simple it was simple, if you wanted it to be complex it could be complex. comparatively everything now is complex to begin with
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.