Wait… Come Back

A few months ago I got a call from a reporter at the Associated Press regarding an article on disaster preparedness. She got my information from eHow.com since I’d been writing articles as their computers expert. For 20 minutes she asked questions about how to keep your data safe in case of a hard drive failure or house fire. At the end she asked me what made me an expert. I told her. My first computer was an Apple II. I was four or five years old. I’ve been working with and on computers ever since then. I’ve been a web developer, network administrator, help desk tech - all in the past 10 years. She essentially said “Oh.” I’m wondering if she was looking for a Ph.D in computer engineering.

I still haven’t heard from her about that article.

Do you really need a Ph.D in engineering to know how to keep your data safe? Would people reading an article on disaster preparedness really feel better to know that a Ph.D said exactly what I, an apparently know-nothing web devloper, said? What really makes an expert? Someone who knows the theoretical junk behind how things work or someone who knows how to actually make things work?

This is not the first time I’ve dealt with this. People want experts, and I’m not sure what an “expert” is… Do I need the education an letters behind my name? Really?

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