One reason many IT professionals, engineers, and scientists become highly skilled thinkers is that they spend much of their time solving problems. Problem-solving forces you to understand how things work, why they fail, and how to recover when something goes wrong.
There is a difference between someone who can implement a system and someone who can troubleshoot it. The person who troubleshoots often develops a deeper understanding because they are constantly investigating failures, identifying root causes, and exploring different solutions. You can build a system by following documentation, but truly understanding a system comes from diagnosing and fixing its problems.
The same principle applies to life. Every problem you solve adds experience and teaches you new ways of thinking. Over time, you become better at recognizing patterns, adapting to unexpected situations, and making decisions under pressure.
That is why many engineers and scientists are successful problem-solvers beyond their fields. They have spent years facing challenges, breaking them down into smaller pieces, and finding solutions. When something goes wrong, their first instinct is not to panic but to analyze the situation and work through it systematically.
I believe I’ve become smarter because I am constantly solving problems. Every day brings a new challenge, and every challenge teaches me something. The more problems you solve, the more knowledge, experience, and judgment you gain.
Our COO sent me a Slack: “Laptop is dead, nothing works, fix ASAP.”
I checked the monitoring tool.
His battery was at 1% and the charger wasn’t plugged in.
I could’ve just messaged: “Plug it in.”
Instead I opened a ticket, categorized it as a Severity 2 Power Incident.
Asked him for screenshots of the problem.
He sent a photo of a black screen.
I scheduled a remote session for 30 minutes later “to run diagnostics.”
At minute 29 I told him to verify his power source as Step 1 of the troubleshooting script.
He plugged it in.
Laptop turned on.
I documented the resolution as “User Education: Introduced to Concept of Electricity.”
The ticket remains a permanent part of his audit trail.
For “trend analysis.”
Some Friday flying for my 52 year old friend. Sonny's wings are NOT clipped. He has health issues and cannot fly. This is great exercise for him and he loves it. ♥️