ECT First Class

Tonight was my first class in Emerging Communications Technologies (which I recently switched into after being registered for another course).

Our instructor described the goal of the course as "learning enough about technology to go head-to-head with the tech people at your company." So, enough to manage people who work in technology, and have a basic understanding of what they're talking about, while still letting them do their thing.

Nice goal, especially for someone like me who does not count this industry as a forte. I've always been more of a "front of the house" person, to use a term from the restaurant industry, while Comm. Technologies seems to be more of a "back of the house" field. But it's an important component of communications, and if I am to count myself as an experienced communications professional, then I need to study this field.

We started out by discussing the history of computers and networking, from carrier pigeons to optical telegraphy to electric circuits. Decimal code, binary code, octal code.

I admit it's a bit confusing and I'm not enthralled by it, but it's kind of like spinach - it's good for me and will make me strong.

In the meantime, I can recognize the benefit of becoming more familiar with network bandwidths, and learning the meanings behind all the terms associated with my computer - RAM, ROM, Flash, Hertz, MIPS, etc.

At least it won't get stuck in my teeth before a speech.