Subscriber Discussion

Demographics Of IPVM?

JH
Jerome Humery
Jul 08, 2014

This is simply a matter of curiousity, but does IPVM have any numbers on the experience level of their members? This came-up in a different discussion and I automatically assumed I was part of a minority group of newbie-level IPVM members, but am I? Are there many more like me lurking the forum? ;o)

Would love to see the stats if you have them. Thanks.

JH
John Honovich
Jul 08, 2014
IPVM

Jerome, interesting question.

We don't have a survey across all members.

From looking at a list of most frequent commenters, that skews heavily towards people with a lot of industry experience. But we do get multiple new discussions per week that are from people who are clearly 'newbies'. I like those questions because they often raise fundamental issues that are of interest all.

We have one survey question for the Winter 2014 integrator results:

That puts the average at 11 to 15 years but people who can answer a 20 question open ended survey are going to be disproportionately experienced.

Overall, I think IPVM skews more to experienced / wonkish side.

Btw, if you have any ideas about how to make IPVM more newbie friendly, please share. For example, we've seen the courses help expose / bring in less experienced people and help them get up to speed.

JH
Jerome Humery
Jul 08, 2014

So far, I've found IPVM fairly 'newbie' friendly.

Of course, it's a little daunting throwing questions out there at first knowing that most members will skim right by, unless they are in a pedagogical mood. But, after 3-6 months of reading the IPVM articles, reviews, and discussions, I got to the point where my questions did not seem completely mindless (well maybe a little) ;o). And although I know the forum is always there, I'm a firm believer in finding answers on your own because in the process of answering that question I will learn a bunch of tertiary stuff along the way.

On another note, I really appreciate you and the other administrators' willingness to get down to my level and make me feel welcomed. I think that is the biggest factor in being 'newbie' friendly. Not once have I felt snubbed on this site even though when I first subscribed to IPVM I knew almost nothing about video systems.

Will keep a lookout for possible improvements, but so far so good.

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Jul 08, 2014

The domains of expertise on IPVM are numerous and overlapping, and taken together are quite broad. They range from practical to financial to topical to theoretical, nobody knows everything about all of them, everybody is a 'newbie' at some of them.

Though sometimes, once you have acquired some facility in one discipline, its easier just to think that the other subjects are ones that you're just not interested in, rather than to say one is a 'newbie'. Or even worse one can start to believe their superiority in one area assures the same in others.

But those, like you, who willing brandish their 'newbie' badge openly, are usually more experienced than they let on, and only use such a label more than others because they allow themselves to be aware of that which they don't know. And just that attitude is likely to hasten their progress more than anything else.

tl;dr

On a more practical note, I would recommend using the existing quizzes (more please!) to gauge the composition of the site, as it is more specific to subject area. You can tell by the averaged scores roughly where you fit in.

Good Luck, fellow 'newbie'!

JH
Jerome Humery
Jul 08, 2014

Beautifully written Rukmini, Bravo!

Avatar
Marty Major
Jul 09, 2014
Teledyne FLIR

Jerome,

Don't forget that if you want to ask something, but don't know enough to know whether or not the question is going to make you sound 'dumb' to others - just post it Undisclosed.

That's what I do... :)

U
Undisclosed #1
Jul 09, 2014

I thought that was you... ;)

JH
Jerome Humery
Jul 09, 2014

Thanks Marty, I just suck it up and take the lashings. ;o)

Actually, I have to say that my 'basic' questions have received mostly informative & positive responses.

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