Experience > Knowledge
Erik Boemanns
Leading you from IT risk to reward. A lawyer/technologist bringing executive expertise to IT GRC, privacy, and security. Together, we can reach your next level of success.
Knowledge without application is trivia. And while the pursuit of trivia can be a fun game, it’s often not building real world strengths or skills. Nothing shows it more than my 791-day streak in Duolingo. In all those days (years now), I’ve worked on Spanish, German, and touched on Italian and Greek. And yet, meeting someone who doesn’t speak English or watching a show in one of the languages, and I only have a marginal improvement from when I started. We all know the best way to learn another language is to use it in the real world. None of my streaks, accomplishments, or trophies make up the difference.
We see the same issues in cybersecurity, technology, and most other professions. Bootcamps, certifications, and specialized degrees all promise to make us capable of diving into a new career. We’ve gotten the lecture, crammed for the test, and have the paper to prove it. But until we’ve practiced what was preached, we’re still only slightly better than trivia masters. It’s important and necessary to know what the technology terms mean. It’s even more important to know when and why you should use them. I’ve seen client networks built with so much complexity – simply because someone was studying for a certification and used the client as their lab.
Finding opportunities to get hands on and apply the lessons can be hard. Companies are nervous about hiring and being trainers. They’re even more nervous about their consulting partners doing the same. So, we end up with the perpetual trap of entry level roles requiring one to three years of experience, and entry level candidates wondering where they’ll get the required experience. Traditional professional careers (doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc.) understood the problem and had a system for managing it. With emerging AI promising to take on the grunt work previously assigned to fresh graduates, even the traditional models are threatened. But the problem will remain – we need experienced workers. And we only get experienced workers by giving workers experience.
There are no easy answers to this at the moment. Training employees used to be a cost of doing business. The investment you made in their first 3 to 5 years paid off in the 25 which followed. With companies not keeping employees around as long, and employees not wanting to stick around either, the time spent teaching entry level employees is hard to or never recouped by the training company, but instead their competitors. And while you could argue they benefit as well (by hiring experienced people from the competition), it’s hard for people to appreciate the math works both ways. It’s easier just to say you can’t afford to train and instead pay more to “steal” the experienced workers once they’re trained.
Left in the lurch are all the people who have learned about their career and now just want to apply all the knowledge while it’s still fresh. They didn’t learn it just for trivia points. It’s time to start hiring those without experience, along with those with it, and creating a good pairing to carry the knowledge forward to the next generations of workers.
What is your take on this problem? How can people find ways to apply their knowledge and build experience? How can companies do better to make sure they’re helping create the next round of experienced workers?
Upcoming Event
I'm looking forward to being a guest at Mike Ashabraner 's Hounds of Business event this Wednesday (January 15) at 7pm EST. Click below to learn more and join!
Week In Review
It was a cold and snowy weekend here in Atlanta. Fortunately for me, the worst was an hour without power, but it was still a major ice event - making the roads dangerous for everyone. Things look to be back to normal this coming week though.
Despite the weather, but thanks to the snow, here's what was on the mind this past week:
Check them out, share your thoughts, vote in the polls - it's great to have you as part of the conversation!
In Conclusion
AI and its impact on the workplace are still being figured out. My post yesterday about Agentic AI is just scratching on the surface of what may happen. Keeping an educated and experienced workforce will remain important no matter what AI may do for us.
Roads are thawing, and people are able to get back on the roads. If getting back to work is your goal too, let me know if you would like to be in the You Just Found ME?? job seeker spotlight. It is free to all jobseekers! Send me a note!
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I hope this coming week is what you need it to be!
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About Erik
Erik Boemanns is a technology executive and lawyer. His background covers many aspects of technology, from infrastructure to software development. He combines this with a "second career" as a lawyer into a world of cybersecurity, governance, risk, compliance, and privacy (GRC-P). His time in a variety of companies, industries, and careers brings a unique perspective on leadership, helping, technology problem solving and implementing compliance.
He's available to help you with any of this now too!