YSK: If a problem you're experiencing doesn't show up in search results, could be a sign you're looking at the wrong issue
Why YSK: I had this experience this morning. I was raging because the "alt + tab" shortcut had changed on my work computer when it worked fine yesterday. Now it opened the task view, but wouldn't switch windows unless I clicked on a different program.
I figured either windows had rolled out some new "feature" or the IT department had changed something without telling anyone. I kept trying different google searches but couldn't find anyone talking about my specific issue. Tried restarting, changing "multitasking" settings, editing the registry.
Finally some old post prompted me to try "windows + tab" and that worked. I discovered the windows and alt tab had been switched. So I tried a different keyboard and it worked fine. Finally I learned that my main keyboard has a "Windows" layout and a "Mac" layout, and somehow I had accidentally switched them.
So I wasted a bunch of time, got upset and was mentally blaming others when the issue was on my end. And one sign I could have used to realize that was that apparently in the whole world of internet search results I was the only one experiencing the issue.
As of today there is now at least one possible result for alt+tab opening task view and not switching as expected.
Also, learning to troubleshoot logically is a whole skill set by itself. It's easy to think someone did something, and I believe that many people get stuck with that mentally over logically separating the issue and breaking it down to testable chunks.
Finally, great job solving the problem yourself! Many people would have admitted defeat, but you persevered and learned a few things.
A+ Cert in IT is fairly basic and isn’t all that useful besides a general overview of some aspects of the field. However, the most valuable portion of the cert is on troubleshooting methodology and that carries you through the rest of your career. It’s pretty common in a nutshell, try known fixes to previous issues first, then work from simple solutions (check power/cable connections, reboot, etc) to more complex solutions (reformat disk, clean wipe, etc).
The amount of times I’ve been on a million dollar salary engineering troubleshooting call and things like “checking that the credentials are working” get skipped in favor of looking for an issue in a newly written script is hilarious and happens far too frequently.
It’s not that simple solution are necessarily the most likely but that you can rule them out quickly.
It’s a skill like you say, just funny how that cert always comes to mind (it’s the entry level cert for IT for people not familiar).
Troubleshooting is all about asking the right questions, the right way. You should never fully trust what someone thinks the problem is, even if that person is you 😅
At then end of the day even the sysadmin is just the enduser.
Wait. Are we all endusers?
Always have been.
Especially if that person is you!
About a week ago now a good friend of mine was trying to play atomic heart on his headphones on his new gaming PC to really push the limits and see what it can do. The audio was immediately bad and crackly and glitchy, and he spent over an hour trying various solutions and fighting with Google for anything that could help, since he knew the headphones were fine since he used them on his work computer.
He didn't plug the antenna into the dual wifi/bluetooth card in his new PC build. He was on ethernet, and didn't realize Bluetooth needed an antenna as well. Over an hour and all that frustration, for an antenna he threw aside that he "didn't need" 🤌
More and more i find its because search engines are terrible at their job. But with google fu, and culling advertiser key words from possible search results i can find what i am looking for… half way down the page
More and more I get to be the first person in the world with a specific problem, because no one else has used this tech with this environment configuration. Developing a solution is sometimes satisfying, but it's sometimes hard explaining to the PM / customer why such a seemingly simple thing can take months to implement.
Experienced this when a coworker asked me to remove something called "syncray" from a codebase. To skip the long story and a lot of head scratching, they meant "shrink-ray"
That is to say, be careful you're looking for the right word! Especially relevant when looking up model numbers or error numbers. A single character can make all the difference