What Kind of Cook Are You?

Lately, I’ve been contemplating the similarities between cooking and technology. They both start with a bunch of ingredients. Where you go from there depends on your skills, interests, needs, and budget.

Way back in high school, one of my jobs was as a cook at a fast food place. Everything was spelled out and ready to cook. I didn’t have to know anything more than the difference between a burger and a bun. In college, I moved up to jobs in restaurants where I was a short order cook and a prep cook. Those required more skills but not a lot of creativity. I mostly followed recipes or instructions (as well as I ever have followed instructions!).

While it’s been a long time since I’ve worked in a restaurant, cooking is my favorite hobby. I’m not a gourmet chef (although I have several generations of those in my family) but I do try to be creative in my dishes. I often start with a recipe and then adapt it to suit my tastes and ingredients.

What kind of cook are you? If you have eggs, cheese and a few other ingredients, what are you likely to make? Would you just scramble the eggs and toss in the cheese? Would you expend more effort and make an omelet? Or, would you get creative and make a crepe?

For me, it will depend on who I’m feeding and how much time I have. If I’m just feeding myself, scrambled eggs are fine. If I’m feedng others, I’ll either make an omelet or a crepe depending on the circumstances.

Are you likely to just do what you already know, the tried and true, even if it doesn’t make the most of the ingredients? Or, would you get down the recipe book and see what else you can do? Do you like to experiment? Are you likely to get new recipes from friends and colleagues (and actually try to make them)? Do you take an occasional cooking class?

Hopefully, by now you’re seeing how this analogy works. The question to ask yourself is what kind of computer user are you? Do you like to have a few simple skills that let you follow the instructions and get your work done? Do you like to be a little more creative and come up with new things to do? Or, do you want to create totally unique systems? It’s not just a matter of skill, but of time, interests, and needs (well, and budget, of course!).

There is no right or wrong in this. It’s about knowing your skills, interests and needs, and deciding when it’s better to do it yourself and when to get help. Last night I was watching a show on the Food Network That’s where a chef and party planner come to someone’s home and help them put together a party. One suggestion the chef made was to not try and make everything yourself. Go to a bakery and buy the deserts. What great advice! Baking has always been my weakest area of cooking so I usually do just buy deserts. It’s always good to get that validation.

It’s the same with the computer. My approach with clients is to suggest if they only need to do something once, or so infrequently they’ll forget, let someone else do it. If they’re going to do something repeatedly, learn to do it themselves (or someone on their staff).

Finally, one of my talents is that I’m able to read a recipe or ingredient list and know what it will taste like (and if I’ll like it). When I go out to dinner with friends, they often ask me to pick something for them. It seems I’m pretty good at figuring out what they would like based on my knowledge of what they do like.

How do you decide what new things to try? Can you look at the options and know what works together to best satisfy your appetite? Are you likely to just try whatever someone suggests? Do you order the most familiar item on the menu? Do you listen to someone with similar tastes?

When it comes to computers, I see people with the same variety of decision-making perspectives. If you’re going to get advice, you want someone who will get to know your skills, interests and needs, evaluate the options available, and make recommendations based on what will work best for you – not based on what they like. The goal is to get the most value from your ingredients.