TABLE OF CONTENTS Learning by doing
Apprenticeships
Mentoring
Classroom instruction
Individual study
This chapter discusses several types of training and assistance that you can use to develop your troubleshooting skills. While some argue that troubleshooting is an art, in fact, successful troubleshooting depends more on logic and knowledge. Because of this, troubleshooting can be taught and developed. Some of the troubleshooter's skill develops naturally due to experience, but experience alone is seldom enough to produce a troubleshooter capable of tackling a wide variety of situations.
To develop a wide range of skills, a technician needs initiative, training, and assistance. To be successful in your training, you must become an active participant. You must seek out training opportunities and take responsibility for developing your skills. You cannot passively rely on your company, your supervisor, or chance to do the job for you.
Experience is the most common way technicians develop troubleshooting skills. It comes naturally with the job, and is sometimes called "OJT" (on-the-job training). It means getting out there and getting your hands dirty.
As a training method experience has a varied range of success. In some cases, particularly when range of experience is wide or your troubleshooting results in failure or mistakes, experience can have a lasting effect. On the other hand, if the range of experience is too narrow or if you only perform repetitive tasks, for example, experience may not teach you much. A mix of challenging and familiar tasks, though, will help you develop troubleshooting skills.
