lil_star said:
Doe, could you please expand on that? I mean "someone who thinks they understand but really doesnt".
the short answer to that is im talking about people who get the general gist of things but dont really understand the details. often people are too up themselves/egotistical to ask questions and risk looking stupid. so they head off down some path that might work but usually (nearly always) ends in tears. if you are hoping for a career in IT, accept that it is a fast moving industry with the underlying technologies constantly changing and being improved on. you have to spend a bit of time keeping up to date with things. the easiest way to do this is ask people who know what they're talking about. its a little bit different at uni, but if you're working in the industry and you're not asking questions, your skills are stagnating and in the long run this is a bad thing for you. there is always a portion of technical people who get very very up themselves. these peoples may be technically clever, but really they are fools. technical skills are commoditity skills, no need to wear them like a badge of honour. i can pick up the phone and reach hundreds of people who can code/admin, no biggie there. being socialable (or at least approachable) and having a reasonable understanding of business needs is a good idea. business needs can be described simply: IT is a tool, and the IT industry, in theory, should be helping businesses to utilize these tools to save or make money. thats it. they dont care how great a coder you think you are or how many routing protocols you've got memorised. ultimately they are in business to make money, and really that is all they are interested in, ala "the bottom line".
at one place where i work, when we are planning a project we make time to sit down and think about things we have missed and areas where we need more knowledge. noone comes out of the womb knowing this stuff, and it is always changing. dont be afraid to ask questions, dont be afraid to say "i think the answer is x, but i will have to confirm that for you" and go off and find out the correct answer.