| scott5 |
The next question is from drich. |
18:36 |
| scott5 |
Answer order: |
18:36 |
| scott5 |
- Andy Cowell |
18:36 |
| scott5 |
- Andree Jacobson |
18:36 |
| scott5 |
- Aleksey Tsalolikhin |
18:36 |
| scott5 |
- Drew Adams |
18:36 |
| scott5 |
What do you see as the biggest challenge(s) for LOPSA and how do you plan to address it/them? by drich (Dan Rich) |
18:37 |
| vt102 |
Andy Cowell: |
18:38 |
| vt102 |
Every organization has membership challenges. To me, the question is really what value a technical organization can bring when there is an absolute explosion of technical information available for free online. |
18:38 |
| vt102 |
We are unlikely to tell anybody something they can't find out online. What LOPSA must do is distill our members' experiences into something more useful. By making speakers available to local chapters, a personalized Q&A can help provide a source of curated information, more directly applicable to members' situations. |
18:39 |
| vt102 |
In addition, support of things like local conferences, the Mentor program, etc…, all help provide personalized contact where individually directed experience can be communicated. |
18:40 |
| vt102 |
In short, more personal communication of experiences instead of a firehose of information. |
18:41 |
| vt102 |
EOF |
18:41 |
| nmswede |
Andree Jacobson - I think getting the exposure is the hardest part. I agree with Andy, if there is a way we can leverage the member experiences, maybe as case studies, etc. - that would be useful. Another issue is that when reaching out to students, in a non vocational academic program, they might be less inclined to understand how sysadmin experience can actually help them. |
18:41 |
| nmswede |
Turns out, these students may be among the best at learning the skills. |
18:42 |
| nmswede |
And getting their information / experiences to share is also important. |
18:43 |
| nmswede |
I think the board should be first at volunteering to write down their experiences, and share. |
18:43 |
| nmswede |
EOT |
18:44 |
| atsaloli |
Aleksey Tsalolikhin: |
18:44 |
| atsaloli |
Great question. Our membership has stopped growing. Attendance at our |
18:44 |
| atsaloli |
conferences has dropped off. I would address it by finding out what people |
18:44 |
| atsaloli |
find valuable about LOPSA membership and then pushing that, with gusto! |
18:44 |
| atsaloli |
We can reach out to students as well, by networking with computer clubs |
18:44 |
| atsaloli |
and societies at local colleges/universities. (I gave a presentation to |
18:44 |
| atsaloli |
the UCLA computer club a few years back on the sysadmin life, which was |
18:44 |
| atsaloli |
received with great interest.) |
18:44 |
| atsaloli |
EOF |
18:44 |
| druonysuse |
I think it is important to staying relevant in a changing tech landscape. I think that it is not always clear to people the different paths, specialties, and directions that an understanding of systems and a sysadmin background can provide. There are a lot of titles out there such as Systems Engineer, DevOps Engineer, Infrastructure Engineers… the list goes on and on, and a lot of students and people with an interest in tech start off |
18:47 |
| druonysuse |
with thinking they're options are only software developers or corporate IT and maybe desktop support. I see LOPSA being a great organization for those with systems knowledge or a desire for systems knowledge no matter their job title. I would love to see that emphasized more clearly in the future. |
18:47 |
| druonysuse |
END |
18:47 |
