As I get older I get reffed to as an expert more and more often. Now on a certain level I find this very flattering  ( and I really do appreciate all of the flattery I can get)  unfortunately don’t think this sort of thing helps me or any one else, in fact I think it does everyone real harm. and the fallowing is why.

In the last couple of years I have been  referred to as an expert in computer security , “Devops” and most recently Telephony. Certainly I know a lot about these things because I have spent a lot of time learning about them  and practicing them, for both work and for pleasure. The problem starts to occur when we look at the definition of an ” expert” ( at the top of this post) . Well I am a person so that part is good hmmm… maybe I am an expert ?  has a “special skill” well this is where I have my first problem. None of these skills that I have been identified for “expertise  ” are special.

I regard knowledge in these areas to be as necessary for living in the world as say the ability to drive, open a bank account or make a trip to the grocery store. “Devops” ( which no one really agrees on the meaning o anyways) is simply the practice of merging the development of software with the deployment of said software usually in the context of software as a service. Today there are literally millions of Sass products that billions of people use every day. Why wouldn’t every one want/need to have some understanding of how this is done?  The practice is so common it should ( and does) offer some real advantage to the people who know how its done and because of how common it is and how important it has become to the functioning of the world;  the knowledge on the subject is freely available in multiple languages from a huge number of easily accessible sources and practice can be accomplished from the comfort of your own home for the cost of a computer and an internet connection.  Nothing about this knowledge is special and telling people that it is simply discourages people from trying to learn about something that is easy to read about and understand and even try yourself.

Lets take a look at the ” particular field part”  this part does fit a little better but I still don’t like it especially when when you talk about expertise in Information technology or computers. In the modern world computers are seen in every profession from cab driving  to medicine.If you don’t think your Doctor should have knowledge about computer security  I hope you don’t mind your medical records being public. Because if she relies on the so called experts to protect your your records they most certainly won’t be private for long.

“authority” This one bothers me the most Certainly all fields have people who have been working in them a long time and people who are really good and on face value might be worth considering a trusted authority.But consider how many times these so called authorities have been terribly wrong. The fallowing are few of my favorite examples.

I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.

Thomas Watson, president of IBM, 1943