14
The IT guy who asked me to debug his toaster
A guy in my apartment building saw my laptop bag and stopped me in the laundry room. He seriously wanted me to look at his smart toaster that kept burning bread because the firmware update broke it. I told him I fix computers, not kitchen appliances, but he insisted it was "basically the same thing." We spent 20 minutes trying to factory reset it through the phone app before the fire alarm went off. Has anyone else had a friend or neighbor ask you to fix something totally unrelated because they think coding applies to everything?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
morgan.jason13d ago
People really don't get that coding is just giving instructions to a computer, not magic that lets you fix anything with a circuit board. A toaster and a computer might both have software, but one's job is to apply heat to bread and the other is to process data. Firmware updates breaking appliances is stupidly common these days, but that doesn't mean a programmer knows how to rewire a heating element. Honestly, the fact the fire alarm went off proves it's not "basically the same thing" at all.
7
blair_chen8113d ago
Is this the kind of stuff that makes you want to throw your hands up and walk away from the whole conversation? I feel you on this one @morgan.jason, people really do think knowing one thing means you know everything. It's like expecting a plumber to fix your car just because they both use wrenches.
1