This story about a ship repair man is a great way to look at what experience can do. I do not know how many hours I have put in on server management so that when problems arise now I can solve them in 5 minutes. 

A giant ship engine failed. The ship’s owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine.

Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a young. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.

Two of the ship’s owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed!

A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars.

“What?!” the owners exclaimed. “He hardly did anything!”

So they wrote the old man a note saying, “Please send us an itemized bill.

The man sent a bill that read:

Tapping with a hammer………………….. $ 2.00

Knowing where to tap…………………….. $ 9,998.00

Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort makes all the difference!

So while experience allows you to get a job done quicker, you should still be compensated for that experience. Knowing exactly what the issue is can sometimes take quite a while if you do not know what you are looking for. When it comes to DNS or Server related items I find that experience will win out most times when it comes to working efficiently.  So go out and experiment, gain some knowledge and experience so you can do your chosen profession better.  Bram Stoker said it nicely that “We learn from failure, not from success!”. Never be afraid to fail.

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