| Thanks for your thoughtful reply, but I think there are a couple of points that you may have missed in my original post. > Support brains and developer brains are actually not that different. Agreed. I wasn't talking about intelligence or analytical skills per se, but rather the 'mode' that you think in when in either situation. When developing code, my mind is racing ahead and planning out things that are far beyond what I am working on. In essence it is multi tasking, and juggling several tasks and ideas at the same time. I am 'ahead of the aircraft', to use pilot speak, and I am constantly trying to anticipate problems that may occur and critical tasks that I know I will have to complete. Complete with all this is jumping around between several editor, terminal, browser, emulator windows etc. However, when doing support, I have to be completely and utterly present with the person on the other end of the support call. I can no longer 'free wheel' and distract myself with other tasks. I have to display full empathy with the customer, and ensure that I am accurately picturing in my mind what they are trying to say. If the customer is a slow talker, or non technical, then I have to kick in extra energy to make doubly sure I am being effective in providing the best possible support experience. My analogy above about race car driving and knitting is not outside the mark. Both are skilled tasks, but they both require a completely different mode of thinking and presence of mind to be able to execute to the best of your ability. |