Work and gadget-literacy: should you buy your own if your employer doesn't?

[NotUrsula]

I was recently reading a professional journal which went on at some length about marketing to the smartphone demographic, and how making use of that technology is now an essential part of our work. The thing is, my current employer does not agree.

I don't rate an issued smartphone. Some people in other departments do, but they are on call after hours, and I really am not. Some of my internal clients do, but they are a small minority. If I directed services to them, I don't think that they would get much use here.

My personal wireless phone is a base model, and is prepaid. I'm not much of a phone talker, and this is really all that I need for my personal use. I do occasionally text, but not often.

So here's the dilemma... While I don't have a really strong need for a smartphone at my current job, not having experience with using one is a factor that hurts my marketability in my field. Would you think that by not buying my own, I am shooting myself in the foot? There are a lot of other technology issues that I'm behind on, too, because the environment at work is a bit old-fashioned. In some cases I've purchased my own software, but mostly those are one-time small investments.

It's not the cost of the phone that I mind; it's the cost of the data plan. Paying at least $50/month indefinitely for a service I don't really want or need feels very stupid and wasteful to me. I can think of so many other uses for that amount of money. (Right now I spend less than $100/year on my wireless phone service.)

So, would you do it, just to keep up the technology skill? Why or why not?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I figure if a Teen can operate an I-phone, how hard can it be?

Putting that you can use one on a resume is like saying you know how to google IMHO.

My DH is in a highly technical field and having an 1.5hr interview tomorrow that will be highly technical for a new job. The smartphone will not come up in the conversation at all as it is irrelevant for the skills they REALLY need from him.

The ONLY reason my DH has an I-phone (and prior to that a Blackberry) is b/c his boss purchased and paid for those things. He was laid off 2 weeks ago and his boss is continuing their I-phone plan for them.(Which is good b/cI didn't know how to tell my DH that it had to be cut.) The boss is keeping it active b/c it was too expensive to cancel it and he is planning on bringing folks back on within the next 6 months.

I think you will be fine and if you are technical, you will be surprised at how easy it is to learn to use it. I do agree with your current boss, it isn't a necessity. It's just a really cool gadget.

 

[NotUrsula]

My DH is in a highly technical field and having an 1.5hr interview tomorrow that will be highly technical for a new job. The smartphone will not come up in the conversation at all as it is irrelevant for the skills they REALLY need from him.

And I wouldn't expect it to come up in an 90-minute interview. Unfortunately, interviews in my field normally last two full days, not 90 minutes, so they have plenty of time to get into minutiae like this.

The issue for me is that in my field it is getting common for us to create website versions just for smartphone users, and to create apps for them. THAT would need to be on the resume, and since I've never laid hands on one of the dang things, I've never done either one. I wouldn't know what features or functions would or would not be useful.

Anyway, I was only using the smartphone as an example; there are lots of gadgets and software programs that could put a person in the same boat.
How much time and money is it reasonable to spend in keeping abreast on your own just for marketability reasons? Should you strive for cutting edge, or is it enough to be careful not to slide into dinosaur territory?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

And I wouldn't expect it to come up in an 90-minute interview. Unfortunately, interviews in my field normally last two full days, not 90 minutes, so they have plenty of time to get into minutiae like this.

The issue for me is that in my field it is getting common for us to create website versions just for smartphone users, and to create apps for them. THAT would need to be on the resume, and since I've never laid hands on one of the dang things, I've never done either one. I wouldn't know what features or functions would or would not be useful.

Anyway, I was only using the smartphone as an example; there are lots of gadgets and software programs that could put a person in the same boat.
How much time and money is it reasonable to spend in keeping abreast on your own just for marketability reasons? Should you strive for cutting edge, or is it enough to be careful not to slide into dinosaur territory?

Usually his interviews are longer, but they have a pressing need with no time to waste. This is a phone interview.

In any case--I mentioned it to him and he agreed.

I thought you were asking just about usage. Creating aps for them is entirely different.

The types of gadgets he works on, are not the types of things that anyone in the public can go and purchase and learn how to use.

I don't know what you do to know how to answer your question.

But if you are talking simply USAGE--it is typically unimpressive to remark on a resume that you can use things that laypeople can use.

Designing things for those things though--would be most impressive on a resume.

For example--I know how to use the internet vs. I can create web pages that do this that and the other.

How much money you spend is solely up to you.

Smart phones have a very tiny screen and clicking can be difficult unless it is a touch screen like an Iphone. But even on the Iphone I come across some websites that do not work at all very well even fully magnified, their buttons are just all mixed up and what I click on my Iphone does not yield the result I expect when i click on the same (appropriate) button/word at home on my laptop.

 

[DMickey28]

Honestly, I think you are talking about two different issues. Knowing how to creat applications to use on a smartphone or whatnot vs. just knowing how to use the device or application. One is critical to a potential job as a career, one is just knowledge on using these devices created to make our lives "easier".

DH has had blackberrys for years. They are not difficult to operate. Knowing how to use a smartphone for work purpose is not too much different then knowing how to use a computer for the same applications. Just different buttons or short cuts. I can pick up his blackberry and shoot off an email or check something with a few minutes of playing around.

Knowing how to create applications to be used on these products sounds like an actualy job skill. Getting a smartphone on your own so that you know how to use it, is not really going to get you experience on how to write programs to be used on them unless you do that in your job anyway.

I think I am a little confused! I don't think knowing how to use a smartphone is hurting your resume in general. It's something you can pick up. The deeper knowledge that you are talking about coming up in an interview process is not really something I think you would get by walking into a Verizon store, getting a smartphone and using it yourself.

 

[NotUrsula]

I guess what I'm getting at is that I can't teach myself to design the apps if I have no way of testing them on the device.

IME, it's almost impossible to create good products of this kind if you have no experience with using the devices that they are designed for.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I guess what I'm getting at is that I can't teach myself to design the apps if I have no way of testing them on the device.

IME, it's almost impossible to create good products of this kind if you have no experience with using the devices that they are designed for.

I think some devices don't allow for personally developed aps, but I could be mistaken.

Unless you are speaking of web development.

 

[NotUrsula]

I think some devices don't allow for personally developed aps, but I could be mistaken.

Unless you are speaking of web development.

I am, for the most part.