Why hands-on learning is critical for IT
Street smarts vs book smarts
Recently one of our expert contributors opined that the act of writing helps to make an IT leader stronger, arguing that writing is a leadership superpower. According to CIO.com writing conquers cognitive limits, clarifies complex thoughts and stress-tests ideas for a decisive strategic advantage.
This piqued the interest of readers of CIO, who were keen to ask Smart Answers about other ways in which we can learn and do better. One question in particular resonated around the value of hands-on learning.
It’s been a theme of recent years that learning on the job can be more valuable than academic learning, and Smart Answers suggests that hands-on learning is crucial for IT skills because it allows individuals to demonstrate capabilities, retain knowledge, learn continuously, and build competency.
Find out: Why is hands-on learning crucial for IT skills?
LLMs training LLMs?
A big hit this week was Matthew Tyson’s fascinating deep dive into the rise and fall of Stack Overflow. At one point the internet’s senior engineer, the backstop where developers turned with problems that stymied them, the article argues that Stack Overflow has declined not because AI is able to write code but because it lost the element of human community that drove its initial growth.
We pride ourselves that Smart Answers is useful only because it is trained on an LLM only of the content we create, every piece of which features insights from real humans working in IT. Readers of the Stack Overflow article asked our AI chatbot an important question: where do LLMs go to get such insights if everyone acquires information from LLMs? Google Search is build on referrals to original content from publishers, but if no-one is being referred and publishers stop publishing there will be no content to train LLMs.
Smart Answers agrees that for LLMs to thrive they need to capture information from trusted sources. It cites community platforms, open datasets, and published content. To mitigate the risks of AI feeding on AI, Smart Answers says future LLMs may need to focus on high-quality, structured data, such as textbook-quality data. And yes, we appreciate the irony of our readers asking our own LLM about this issue.
Find out: Where will future LLMs get training data?
SAP stick or twist
This week we reported that nearly half of SAP ECC customers may stick with legacy ERP beyond 2027. We said that as the end of support for ECC nears, many customers continue to avoid moving to S/4HANA because of the cost and complexity of migration. And, really, what’s the harm?
Good point. What is the harm?
Readers of CIO.com asked Smart Answers that very question. And continuing to use SAP ECC after 2027 poses several risks, according to our LLM, built on years of reporting. Running legacy ERP systems can expose customers to security and operational risks. Lack of support for third-party products may introduce security vulnerabilities, and maintenance fees may be incurred.
Find out: What are the risks of staying on SAP ECC after 2027?
About Smart Answers
Smart Answers is an AI-based chatbot tool designed to help you discover content, answer questions, and go deep on the topics that matter to you. Each week we send you the three most popular questions asked by our readers, and the answers Smart Answers provides. Why hands-on learning is critical for IT – ComputerworldRead More