Hi guys,

I`m a fresh graduate with a BA in International Relations. I graduated a few months ago, and got a job at a Japanese automaker parts company. I was randomly assigned to the IT department and to be honest, do not know what I am doing. I don`t have ANY experience with computers/networks/programming and my Japanese is still not 100% perfect to read the books my boss wants me to read in Japanese on the subject.

He`s given me some book called IT パスポート and wants me to be able to understand the concepts in it, with the exception that at some point in the future, I will be able to take this passport test and pass. For me, understanding these concepts in English is difficult enough, but my biggest issue is that I do not know where to start. I have never been interested in IT frankly speaking (but I`m willing to learn, just don`t know how) and don`t exactly know where to start.

For those with an IT background, is there a similar test to the IT passport exam in English? Is there any recommended reading or anything that can help me understand or learn IT on my own? I realize I`m kind of shooting in the dark here and that the IT field is huge and broad, but if anyone had any experience or tips or helpful stories to share, that would be great. I learned Japanese by studying for the JLPT tests through the books, and if there is any sort of similar `JLPT` equivalent of N5 for IT stuff (and going upwards) that would really help.

Thus far, I`ve taken to trying to tackle Excel this week and my boss has made me made a manual on how to set up our computers at the head office (just learned what the print screen option does yesterday, haha).

But, yeah, the bigger question is why a person with absolutely no math, science, technology background get placed into the IT department. Beats me.

Did you try typing "it passport exam" into Google yet? It worked for me.
http://www.ipa.go.jp/english/humandev/da...o_ITPE.pdf

It looks like pretty basic stuff, so it's probably doable depending on how motivated you are. Good luck!

Of course, I saw that ages ago and it is all gobbleygook to me and doesnt teach you anything. Im looking for more of a guide that explains things step by same. Also, i have no background in anything, so what is simple to it people is totally difficult for me.

Well, with regards to networking it is likely you would need help.

It's not particularly hard but you need to know how to do a load of stuff and the order in which to do it, e.g. to divide a network up into subnets you need to know how to convert between binary and decimal before you can begin to wrap your head around it. Then you need to understand about what ip addresses you can use, which ones are reserved, etc.

System analysis stuff is the easiest, because it's basically common sense plus and learning how to draw some models (e.g. DFDs, ERDs, UML). You can easily go the analysis route and be involved with It systems without needing to be too technical.

Again, where can i learn this common sense stuff? Its not common sense to me

Diana Wrote:Im looking for more of a guide that explains things step by same. [...] Again, where can i learn this common sense stuff? Its not common sense to me

This 'IT Passport Exam Preparation Book' seems to be exactly what you need:
IT Passport Exam Preparation Book.pdf (First Edition, November 2009)

Everything you need to study for the exam is in there, step by step, in English (the material itself, not just a list.)

Thanks, but I already downloaded that two months ago as well and have tried to do some of the problems and looked at what is covered there. I think that book is meant to be more of a guideline for those already with IT skills, who may or may not need a simple refresher on how to do some of the concepts illustrated in the book. It does not teach you anything, per se, and there are very few limited example problems.

I'm not trying to be offensive here, and I apologize if you take umbridge at what I'm about to ask, but how exactly was it that you were assigned to the IT department if you have absolutely no idea about IT? I assume your boss has very high hopes and expectations for you, so congratulations and all, but what were they thinking??

All of which is to say that if I were you I my stomach would be in absolute knots at the thought of going in to work not knowing the slightest thing about what I'm supposed to be doing. I was an ALT in Japan until mid-2010, and initially I experienced a low degree of that, but it sounds like your job actually involves responsibility!

All I`m going to say is Welcome to a Japanese company.

If it helps, my boss ( if I can call him that, he is more of a sempai than boss) doesn`t know either. All the higher ups in HR decided this.
There is a good chance that at some point in the future, I will have a different position. Actually, that`s quite common too, we all rotate. It will probably just be sometime after 3-5 years. That`s what happened with my sempai initially. he was in HR and then was assigned IT. For him though, he has a rikkei background however, so that makes it easier. Binary numbers just make me go `huh?`
Also, he is a native Japanese so studying all of this in Japanese was no problem.

Wow crazy task. Looking at the exam structure, not too deep but it does cover a lot of topics. Not sure how you're meant to learn this all from 1 book?

Personally what I'd do is for each topic in table 4 of the passport exam guide, just find an easy book on that subject. The "For Dummies" books are fun to read, and cover a good range of IT topics:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?u...es&x=0&y=0

Already I can see Dummies books for IT architectural, project management, networking. These books mostly come in PDF/ebook form as well as paper, so sure you can 'aquire' them online.

The concepts will be the same in both languages. Once you've finished one subject, go to the passport book and translate; stick all the Japanese tech vocab and terms into Anki and you're good to go.

Very tough task though, good luck!

Thanks, is there a a dummies book you would recommend I start with initially? I don`t even know what IT architecture is.

I bought these two books-

How Computers Work

How Networks Work.

and I am waiting for them to be delivered.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/How-Computers-Wo...178&sr=8-1

Think these will help?

Start with How Computers work and then move on?

aphasiac Wrote:Personally what I'd do is for each topic in table 4 of the passport exam guide, just find an easy book on that subject. The "For Dummies" books are fun to read, and cover a good range of IT topics:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?u...es&x=0&y=0

This is the way to go. For example, to get started:
• Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow, Introductory

Then:
Computer systems: PCs All-in-One For Dummies; A+ Guide to Managing & Maintaining Your PC
Programming: Beginning Programming All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies
Database: Beginning Database Design: From Novice to Professional
Network: Networking All-in-One For Dummies
Security: The Basics of Information Security; CompTIA Security+ All-in-One Exam Guide

And so on. If she needs something even more basic because she still can't follow these books, perhaps a teacher will be needed, someone who really knows what beginners need and who is capable of adapting the language so that their pupils can understand it.

Also, books like those cover much more than what's needed to pass these parts of the test (there are more). The problem here is that we don't know what they really want from Diana — knowing a lot of things in many different areas in a superficial way is something that works well for a manager (who needs to allocate people, resources and tasks), but not so much for someone who needs to apply the knowledge in practice; the latter is much harder, especially for someone who wasn't interested in IT until now. In any case, it will take some time to learn it all; it can take easily more than 1 year of focused study, perhaps even 2 (but I don't know for sure, that's just an assumption.)

aphasiac Wrote:The concepts will be the same in both languages. Once you've finished one subject, go to the passport book and translate; stick all the Japanese tech vocab and terms into Anki and you're good to go.

Actually this can be a big problem if she's going to take the test in Japanese; many terms don't translate directly and it will take time to find the right equivalents to the right context. But it can be done with some effort.

Yeah, that`s what I am worried about----- needing a teacher.

My sempai has the classic IT problem. He basically does everything and anything under the sun at our head office, and he and I are the only ones at the head office. People are constantly annoying him with Excel questions or the printer broke, or I want a new mouse, etc. Because of this, he doesn`t really have much time for me, and when it does come to explaining stuff, he is terse and snappy. He speaks no English either

We have a branch in Kanagawa prefecture with an actual IT team and for the life of me, I don`t understand why I am not there. They are not stretched so thin at least over there.

I thought they were going to have me secretarial work and do more work in English and Russian at first. That`s what I went in expecting and then, nope, IT.

When I want a "fun" overview of certain concepts, I often check out http://www.howstuffworks.com. If you take that list of terms/concepts for the test, try searching for them in there. They do a pretty good job of explaining things in layman terms, and you can go into more detail once you get the basics down.

Also, keep in mind that learning a foreign language is actually very similar to learning about technology! You sound very motivated. If you can learn Japanese, you can definitely learn this stuff. Japanese probably sounded alien to you at first, but after chipping away at it little by little, now you are working at a Japanese company! Apply that same organization/determination and you'll be fine :-). Treat it like learning a new language.

Don't let your brain become overwhelmed with all the strange terminology and acronyms. Just keep looking up words, taking notes, etc. Good luck and have fun learning something new.

Diana Wrote:I bought these two books-

How Computers Work
How Networks Work.

and I am waiting for them to be delivered.

Think these will help?

Start with How Computers work and then move on?

They seem to be good for a beginner; of those two, start with How Computers Work, because you need a basic understanding of computers before you go into networking. Also, have a look at the introductory Understanding Computers that I've linked to before, it can help you even more to build a good foundation.

Diana Wrote:We have a branch in Kanagawa prefecture with an actual IT team and for the life of me, I don`t understand why I am not there. They are not stretched so thin at least over there.

Sounds like you were assigned there because this guy is too busy and needs help. You were available. Boom!

The fact that you have a main IT team sorting out the backend means you and this guy are frontline support? That's actually good news.

It's pretty easy to train someone to fix most common PC and Office problems; trust me, there's a few things that always go wrong, you just need to identify them and then apply the know solution (or just google for it). Guess you're more worried about this exam though..

I suppose, but this guy needs immediate help, so why give him someone with such a steep learning curve?

aphasiac Wrote:It's pretty easy to train someone to fix most common PC and Office problems; trust me, there's a few things that always go wrong, you just need to identify them and then apply the know solution (or just google for it). Guess you're more worried about this exam though..

Yeah, passing the exam will be probably much harder than fixing common problems, especially if the problems are always the same — if that's the case, documenting the problem / symptoms, the solutions and the steps taken to reach it can be really helpful, so that you don't have to think about what to do or to search for the same stuff on the Internet all the time, which can take a significant amount of time and energy depending on the problem. Many technicians and companies do that using a help desk software, it saves a lot of time and trouble later on.

Anyway, there's can also be a lot of value in having a vast range of IT knowledge, both practical and theoretical — that's why many companies put a lot of value on certifications (even though many examinees use 'braindumps'.)

Diana Wrote:But, yeah, the bigger question is why a person with absolutely no math, science, technology background get placed into the IT department. Beats me.
...
this guy needs immediate help, so why give him someone with such a steep learning curve?

I thought of an answer to this question: there are people, including employers of course, who believe it's easier/faster for employees to learn IT skills than to learn how to deal well with other people, and it's too hard to find employees with both qualities who are not well-employed already, and even more if it's someone who speaks English fluently.

So, if you are a great "people person", something they may be lacking in the department, they could have thought you were able to learn anything else they needed, especially because you were able to learn Japanese to a good level — which is another thing that can impress a Japanese, because many have this notion that their language is "too hard and foreigners are not able to learn it," so when they do... Again, this is just an hypothesis, as we don't know for sure their real reasons.

Makes sense, given that my surly boss doesn`t even say hello to me at the train station in the morning. Not a people person

So now they have two complementary people, one with IT skills but not people skills, and other with people skills but not IT skills. It's interesting, and perhaps exactly what they needed to do — better than hiring another person with the exact same skills and deficiencies as your boss/sempai, or to wait forever until they could find the perfect one with both skills (which could years, literally.)

Now going back one last time to the material you asked for, I was taking a look at the Comprehensive version of the Understanding Computers book I suggested, and it's even more suitable for your studies than the Introductory one — it's more comprehensive (no way!) and it touches most of the topics asked in the IT part of the IT Passport exam, while the Introductory one leaves many things out. Not enough to ace the exam yet but surely part of the process, all in a nice language with lots of pictures.

Using the JLPT analogy, Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow, Comprehensive would be the equivalent of a "JLPT N4/N3" book or so, and How Computers Work would be a N5, barely N4 (many topics overlap, sure, but that can be seen as a good thing.) After studying and understanding what's presented here, you'll have what's needed to really benefit from the N2, N1 and 'for natives and fluent speakers' materials — that is, the deeper, harder and more technical ones in case you want to, which depends on how far you want to go into the IT world and what they expect from you in your work.

Finally, just to leave it here, an equivalent of a 'monolingual' dictionary would be Webopedia (which is more concise and straight to the point than Wikipedia, that is, more like a dictionary rather than an encyclopedia.) Perhaps not very useful yet as it uses a very technical language, but it can be as you advance towards IT fluency.

Thank you again for your help.

I just got both the Intro books and will be taking a look at them first this month.
I spent some time on Academic Earth as well listening to a lecture called `Understanding Computers and the Internet.` Demystified some things.

This whole situation reminds me of this:

You could always get a new job..?

I've just skimmed this and I'm going to simply offer two possible explanations to why the ***** this situation may have arrived (non-IT dude in IT office).

The first is that there may be some corporate politics going into play here. You said he was kind of high up, or he's someone mid-level in the coprorate hierarchy. Him not being a people person could mean that he rubbed a few people wrong in the corporate structure up top and they are trying to get rid of him or make his life hell. By throwing him someone that knows nothing on IT and the higher ups telling him "deal with this on your own" in addition to his current stressed out situation. You may simply be a means to an end to get rid of him...unfortunately.

Second possible explanation. Its Japan. Bureaucracy and proper working (logical) systems in this country are kind of anathema. Some incompetent fool in HR probably just though "oh IT, that's easy, just throw him there since he can't break anything in it."