Originally Posted by corrado33

Sorry ya old farts, I somewhat agree with the OP on this one. (Not knowing part compatibility is more ignorance than mechanical incompetence.) More and more young people now-a-day are mechanically incompetent. I'm not strictly talking about bikes either. Anybody who comes into my shop willing to learn will never get made fun of by me, however those people seem to be more few and far between. It seems that today people are afraid to try to fix ANYTHING. They'll never take a single screw out of an old THING, even if that THING is already broken. "Well what if I break it more?" There are few things in life that can't be repaired by a hobby repairman. Even certain circuit boards can be repaired if you know what you're looking for. (Multilayer boards... not so much.)

For me, it's very similar to computer science and programming. When I was growing up programming was becoming more and more popular. We had a multitude of classes in high school and college that we could take if we so desired. However, that trend has reversed itself. I never thought that one day I would be the only competent "computer person" at my job. Nobody I know can program. Nobody I know can use the command line. The majority of my coworkers can't even troubleshoot simple problems. They barely know how to use the computer more than "I click this button and get the internet."

It's sad.

Am I a snob? I don't know. You can call me that if you wish. I just wish more people were interested in how things work today. Whether that be bikes or computers, it doesn't matter to me.