DO IT! You must be computer literate to stay with ANTYTHING dealing with welding and inspection..I'm glad I DO!
It's not a bad idea to take some classes, but basic knowledge in word or windows should be enough to get you in the door. Both are very common applications, and it doesn't take too much to learn how to use them and get the basics by simply messing around with them. I've never taken any computer classes, so there is so much more that these programs can do than I can figure out, but to create documents and find my way around is no problem.
I would say its safe to say that 99% of people who use Word (and other programs for that matter) regularly probably utilize maybe 5% of what Word is capable of doing. When I first made my move to computers I was shocked at the ignorance of people who use these programs everyday. While I was learning I was asking questions that few could answer. This is not meant as an insult. Its just that most people use them for what they need and nothing else. And seldom is it required to get too sophisticated. Many of my questions I had remain unanswered to this day because as with them, I found I didn't really need a lot of what the programs are capable of.
Saying that many people don't use 95% of what Word is capable of is true in my opinion. Even more so if you want to talk about Excel.
Like anything else, a person should start out with the basics and branch out from there. It certainly will not do any harm to take classes, but a lot of what I was taught didn't do me much good at the time because I didn't have a computer yet. (Company provided the class and I signed up for it). After I got one, it took a while to integrate it to what I needed, or more accurately, intregrate myself to what the computer can do. I had learned a few neat tricks but they didn't do much good until I learned the basics on how to use programs and then saw the need for what I had been shown.
I recently learned just how little I really know about computers-I bought a new laptop with Vista on it. I'm still trying to get past the love-hate thing to decide if I even like Vista. And I have not even scratched the surface of everything else loaded on this thing.
One negative thing I found is I miss a lot of the letter "o"- something about fingers-to-keyboard mismatch (good thing for the backspace key). That isn't the computer's fault though, I just gotta get used to it- but it certainly makes report writing easier.
A lot of what anyone will learn about how to use a computer is in the computer itself - just hit "F1" key (Help).
At any rate, classes won't be a waste of time for those who are interested in that route.
Not only do they skip many of the available features in the Office portfolio (which is understandable if you are just getting started), it is shocking how many people use the wrong application for a task.
Word - writing
Excel - math/data, charting from the data
Powerpoint - presentations
Outlook - email, schedule and task management
I think if I see another status report or task list in Excel I will scream.....
Excel, Its NOT JUST FOR PRETTY FORMS :)
Of course excel gets used in many cases in which a relational database would be more efficient and reduce the problems associated with multiple files holding similar data that are not all concurrently updated.
I could go ON and ON about many spreadsheets I have received from people that wanted the information converted to Access that were just full of redundant data and typos. These include refinery contractors, power plant contractors, and pharmaceutical contractors.
Have a nice day.
Gerald
Any classes will help you get up to speed quicker. As addressed before, the F1 key has been a leading contributor to my computer literacy. Word Prcessors, Spreadsheets, desktop databases, graphics editing programs all have a use to me as an inspector. I kept my inspection records and time in a database, anything requiring calculations or generating lists in a sequential series was done in excel. data from both a database and spreadsheets were inserted into word documents to generate reports.
I would try self study at first to get up to speed and then take classes in which you could ask more advanced questions. Many of the office suite companies have good support on the web also.
Have a nice day.
Gerald
Probably 90% of what's covered in a class is stuff you've already figured out yourself. Play with the programs on your own, go looking on the internet for stuff you can't figure out how to do. There are many websites with Word and Office how-to, and several of them even have mailing lists you can subscribe to to get your daily or weekly tip.
Hg
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