Where have all the experts gone?

It is interesting that my schoolwork and my job had a similar conversation pieces this week. In one of the assignments for school we had to explain why certs were or were not important and that eventually led into the "how do you define what an expert is" type of conversations. At work we have a sort of forum that allows others to speak their minds on occasion and one particular person, someone whom I have never met, actually had the audacity to suggest that the world has run out of experts, period...

After being offended for a few moments I soon saw his point. The days of old are gone in a sense he suggested. Where someone could go to college, get a phd, get a job immediately after college in his/her preferred field, and most importantly work in that field until retirement. This process, in the past, was what made American experts, well... EXPERTS!

Now, its all about money, even at the university level. This is painfully obvious in the IT industry where individuals are looked down on if they stay in the same job for more than 5 years. To make up for it we ask our employees to get certifications, as if the pieces of paper will somehow transform people into experts overnight.

The truth is, that expertise is applied experience, enough so that an "expert" is capable of determining what a good or bad outcome truly is. Sounds simple right? Here is an example...

Lets say you need an expert on rifles, you are interviewing two people for the position of "expert". One has been a military analyst for 30 years and has done assessments on many rifles but has never once touched an actual rifle. The other is a retired service member who now lines his garden with rusty and defunkt rifles. Both claim to be experts on rifles. Which one can truly claim to be an expert?

The answer is in the question and not the person. If I wanted to know the maximum fire rate of an assault rifle then sure, the analyst would be the expert. But if I wanted to know how to disassemble a rifle the analyst would likely lose the title of expert while the gardener could lay claim. What if the question was, how hard does it kick? Does it make much noise when carried? How well do the components hold up to the wear and tear within an operational theater?

So again, expertise is applied experience enough so that a person could, in the case of the rifles, answer all of the questions not just because they had used that rifle before but because they had used similar rifles as well and had a basis of comparison.

A certificaion provides zero expertise. Education provides zero expertise. Experience in general provides zero expertise. The days of experts are truly numbered within the IT industry as a result. It is my perosnal and professional opinion that this will be the downfall of our nation. The next war will be fought in cyberspace and we have no experts there, just jacks of all trades. Sadly I am one the jacks and I feel powerless to change our course...