[dagunk]

This was an interesting article, but I think the author misses the boat here. "Mentoring" seems to me to be a large part of the problem with the New Kids. My perspective: The New Kids (Kids) need someone to help them along for a year or three - Mentors. The Old Farts that have been there a while. I spent 39 years at my retirement job. I remember when I started learning who to question when I came across a new problem I couldn't quite figure out. Mentors. Nothing formal, Just chase them down if I had questions for a paper or blackboard discussion. They all eventually retired or moved on but I was well-prepped by then. Somewhere between 15 and 20 years on the job it occurs to me one day "The kids are asking ME questions - How the Hell did that happen??" I'm the Mentor. Nothing formal again, although supervision was trying to make a "Formal" program. The Kids would call or chase me down, we would meet and have a paper or blackboard session and maybe chase some signals/data through their system. I enjoyed the interactions and the Kids weren't afraid to call me. The point of all this is Mentoring is a face-to-face operation. Zoom or whatever doesn't cut it - Face-to Face is required. You're passing on you hard-won knowledge to the Kids. Oh Yeah - I Am An Old Fart. My retirement plaque says so .

[Gene Eric]

Youth Soccer

[Tacrolimus1mg]

I’ve noticed this myself. Anywhere I go where staff needs to use a computer to do anything outside of somewhere that specializes in tech, like Micro Center, Gen Z is useless. They’re also scared to do and learn new things, which I suppose was the point.

[PTBAA]

Tik-Tok is not a business platform? Who knew?!

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

Zoomers are the dumbest generation so not surprised they didn’t even pick up the tech skills their GenX and Millennial superiors acquired.

[DataJunkie]

This subject tickles my funny bone. My work history involves being an IBM mainframe operator since the 1980’s. I remember laughing at the little ‘folders’ when Windows came on the scene. Before Word, was using ETC (Extended Text Composition) for documentation and was using DOS commands daily. You can say I grew up on the technology. Yes, I am a boomer and it cracks me up when the younger generation talks down to me on tech, their responses when I can reply with ‘why’ something isn’t working, ‘how did you know that?’...I’m old, not dead (and I’m still working as an undocumented DBA). They know what’s on the face of the current thing, they have no clue what goes on behind the scenes to make that thing work. A bulk of the current generation want to just push a button to be a tech, they have no idea that there was someone else doing the job to make that button work.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Tends to be an issue when everything is handed to you and colleges are no longer teaching critical thinking skills. There are two groups of people I will never hire for a position on my team. Ivy League grads and Gen Z/Millennials. They bring nothing to the table which add value to a job and cannot think their way out of a paper bag.

I would rather take someone in their 50’s who have a few years left before retirement and have them coach those junior employees on how to think on their feet and make decisions. When those of us in our later years of work were discriminated against, the entire workforce was destroyed. That loss of experience cost companies billions.

[Sirius Lee]

Yeah, but they can quote liberally from Mao’s little red book.

[reed13k]

Being able to operater a car doesn’t make one a mechanic.

Living in a house does not make one an architect.

and

Using electronic or other tech equipment doesn’t make one an engineer or “tech guru”.

[zeugma]

90% of the population are little more than monkeys pressing buttons with any tech. Doesn't matter what 'generation' they are a part of. They have no idea how any of the stuff works.