IT & Education: Language Differences

I once served on a committee hiring a professional who was primarily going to serve as network administrator. We were in the second interview, so there were fewer questions and more discussions. The candidate asked, “What can you tell me about the environment?” The superintendent who admitted little knowledge of technology began describing efforts they had made to improve the working climate. He looked puzzled then looked at me. When she paused, I said, “I think he was asking about the network environment?” He said, “yes, I’m glad to have heard that, but I was asking about the servers and stuff.”