[nzlug] Data processing.....

[Michael Field]

Yeap, I usually lurk on NZLUG, apologies for the rant!!!!

I almost agree with you 100%, but you are assuming that user is familiar
with running MySQL, create tables with the correct columns attributes,
using the "Load data" command properly, creating indexes, managing
tables over 2GB.... as per his recent post, Andras had most (if not all)
of these skills and it still wouldn't work.

I have a 'demotivational' poster above my desk to remind me what to do
in these situations: (http://www.despair.com/incompetence.html) "When
you earnestly believe you can compensate for a lack of skill by doubling
your efforts, there is no end to what you can't do"  

Andras realized that this applied to him (in a mild form, not the
brutality of the poster!), and decided that he should ask around and
pick up a new skill or tool. 

He might not have liked the answer of "learn tool X or pay somebody to
use it for you" but that is the best advice - and less than a few hours
and a page of 'awk' script later he has something that seemed to work
for him. 

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: nzlug-bounces at linux.net.nz [mailto:nzlug-bounces at linux.net.nz] On
Behalf Of Nevyn
Sent: Tuesday, 29 May 2007 11:06 p.m.
To: NZLUG Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nzlug] Data processing.....

Hi Michael - all very interesting points. The only problem being - out
of the box.

If you're a coder, this approach is fine and dandy and does brilliant
things (and is able to jump over tall buildings and is faster than a
speeding bullet). However, for the most part, people aren't coders and
end up paying someone else to code it for them.

Enter an out of the box solution - install mysql, run a query, go have a
coffee
vs.
Pay a coder, wait for coder to finish (an hour?), argue with coder
when coder tries to charge you for 2 hours, find the code doesn't
quite do what you want, go back to coder, get code back, run script
and find it finally works.

I know this all sounds cynical but does the time of interacting with
someone to get something done factor into your rant?

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