June 26, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I'm in a 20 person organization. When I was called the IT guy, it effectively rendered me a facility easier to use than F1, and certainly easier than learning the OS, applications or using common sense.
So now, I refer to myself as Director of Area 47. As a sop for legitimacy, the 4 & 7 refer to the Baldrige Continuous Quality Improvement model, having to do with Measurement (4) and Process Improvement (7). Seems to be working ... :alien:
June 26, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Shaun McGuile (6/26/2008)
Star Trek got it wrong - who would send their most gifted t(r)echies off into space? They could die, be captured by the klingons anything. 😀We do not send our scientists off to war these days or in the past why would we do it in the future.
No we are dangerous and must be labeled and held in bunkers carrying out research to prevent us from taking over 😀
There's a SF book called The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (IIRC) wherein there is a draft to fight an interstellar war, and IQ is the qualifier: the smarter you are, the more likely to be drafted. Most of the draftees are engineers, physicists, etc., because they were smart enough to be able to cope with the technology required to fight the war. Very good book, always in my top 20 SF book lists.
On the other hand, there's the herding away of 'telephone sanitizers' by Douglas Adams and the destruction of civilization due to a particularly virulent virus from unsanitized telephones.
:hehe:
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
June 26, 2008 at 5:37 pm
When I am among the unwashed masses, i.e. the public, I call myself a computer programmer. When I am at work, I am the DB admin or DB developer. When I'm among computer geek friends, I'm the data dude. And I really want to break into a Monty Python joke about Mrs. Johnson, but I shall forbear.
I've worn many hats, as have most of us: network admin, database developer, help desk tech: one of my previous titles was Senior User Technology Specialist, I still really don't know what that was supposed to mean. When I was a Programmer/Analyst II they didn't have any position titles that involved micros, my main job was running a 3Com 3+Share network, doing software installation and support, doing hardware installation and support, feeding printers and replacing toner cartridges, and on very rare occasions, a little bit of programing and database development. Now I'm pleasantly settled in the world of SQL Server administration and development, and I'm fairly content. And my formal title is Database Administrator, so at least now form follows function.
We're so specialized in our fields that sometimes we have problems identifying the specializations. I know that I am not a C++ programmer, or a video game programmer (god, so glad I'm not that!), but I am not a DW or OLTP person. I keep the database servers ticking, and do development when required.
Offended by being called an IT guy? Nah. Better than being called a computer geek, as I am no longer a PC generalist, though that's increasingly respectable now.
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]
June 26, 2008 at 6:39 pm
It is true. A lot of people think that the IT guy is the person who fixes the computer. Yes and no.
My father doesn't even know what I do. He only knows that I am successful with my work. Sometimes its annoying that employees refer to me as the computer technician even though I am not. I am a programmer, database administrator, web based developer and more.
I think it is just ignorance on the part of some people. Can we really blame them?
Even us somethings find it hard to describe what we do, let alone give it an appropriate name that people will easily understand.
I say lets just kindly correct them and not be bothered by it. Sometimes it can be hard. It requires maturity on our end.
If someone refers to me as the "IT guy" I will probably just smile. Less talk less mistake. =)
June 27, 2008 at 9:10 am
The Forever War is great! My son picked it up in March and when I saw it in the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle, I read it as well.
June 27, 2008 at 9:36 am
hagebozu - for what it is worth I greatly appreciated your comments on this topic. The truth speaks very loudly from your words.
Very well said!!!
Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!
June 27, 2008 at 10:04 am
hagebozu, Very well put. If someone is concerned about respect or lack of respect being conveyed in the way people refer to you, changing the title, doesn't change the attitude. If you change the title to something they don't know, they will eventually catch on and still have the same attitude.
I feel the basic issue of why it is "IT guy" is grammatical, as a couple of others have pointed out. There is a lack of a generic noun indicating someone whose profession is to work with computers and information at all levels. The profession of working with computers and information generally can be divided into architects, developers, administrators and technicians. These are all so different that it is hard to have one noun that adequately covers them all. If you compare these terms to other professions, they don't mesh very well. They generally refer to very different positions.
Some of this stems from the nature of computers, the hardware is more of a commodity than an end product. The minimum skill and equipment requirements to produce some piece of software can be very low. While the requirements to produce a high quality piece of software are mostly dependent on skill. With the appropriate skill, someone can use almost any tool to produce quality software. On the other hand, with the appropriate software someone with almost no skill can produce software albeit of very questionable quality.
This also ties in to specialization. It is not the type of specialization that requires years of schooling; instead it requires years of experience. On top of that, there is a lot of general skills that carry over to almost any aspect of the provision, thus once a certain level of expertise is acquired, it is not that difficult to learn the additional details that allow you be highly skilled in another area. All of this muddies the water for someone outside the profession and makes it seem more like "magic" that all of us perform.
I don't know if there is a clear answer to any of these issues, but I suspect much of it is due to the relatively young age of our profession. Perhaps after a couple more decades or so, some of the more generic monikers used with the profession will start to be recognized by the general public. But we may remain "magic workers" to much of the public if we continue to mature and do even better at making the computer "disappear" and just be a tool that anyone can use without having to think about what goes on behind the particular interface that they are using.
June 27, 2008 at 10:17 am
But we may remain "magic workers" to much of the public if we continue to mature and do even better at making the computer "disappear" and just be a tool that anyone can use without having to think about what goes on behind the particular interface that they are using.
Do you mean... Like a Mac?
:rolleyes:
:rolleyes:
:rolleyes:
😀
July 1, 2008 at 1:52 am
All jobs, or at least most, have a nick name attached to it. When I go to see the doctor I say I'm gonna see the quack. Does he like it? I dunno, but I don't care very much.We "IT Guys" have, as someone said, a magic attached to it and that is whay I don't care about the name. People wanting me to fix their computers? Yes, I get it a lot. I normally tell them I am more into the soft ware side of computers and then refer them to a friend that can help. My brother in law is a motor mechanic and whenever I have a problem with my car he helps me out, so why would I not help where I can? Don't be stingy with your services, some day you will need someone's help and then you will ask them for help. What's in a name?!!!
:-PManie Verster
Developer
Johannesburg
South Africa
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Holy Bible
I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times. - Everett Mckinley Dirkson (Well, I am trying. - Manie Verster)
July 1, 2008 at 2:19 am
Manie Verster (7/1/2008)
My brother in law is a motor mechanic and whenever I have a problem with my car he helps me out, so why would I not help where I can? Don't be stingy with your services, some day you will need someone's help and then you will ask them for help.
Spinning off at a tangent, as is my wont, I've often toyed with the idea of trying to develop a more pronounced and formal system of bartering in my local community. You know the idea - "you keep my car running fine and I'll do the same for your PCs" or "I'm no good at plumbing, but my woodwork's fine, so I'll fix your window if you fix my taps" or "I've got chickens, you grow veg, so what say we swap a dozen eggs for a couple of pounds of spuds?".
I know it often happens informally already, but just think of the tax we could save if we bartered more instead of resorting to money changing hands for services.
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat
July 1, 2008 at 2:31 am
majorbloodnock (7/1/2008)
Manie Verster (7/1/2008)
My brother in law is a motor mechanic and whenever I have a problem with my car he helps me out, so why would I not help where I can? Don't be stingy with your services, some day you will need someone's help and then you will ask them for help.Spinning off at a tangent, as is my wont, I've often toyed with the idea of trying to develop a more pronounced and formal system of bartering in my local community. You know the idea - "you keep my car running fine and I'll do the same for your PCs" or "I'm no good at plumbing, but my woodwork's fine, so I'll fix your window if you fix my taps" or "I've got chickens, you grow veg, so what say we swap a dozen eggs for a couple of pounds of spuds?".
I know it often happens informally already, but just think of the tax we could save if we bartered more instead of resorting to money changing hands for services.
You get my drift. We help each other and so we do good as well as save money and/or tax nad doesn't it feel good when you go to someone for help that you know it's not always you that are asking but they too.
:-PManie Verster
Developer
Johannesburg
South Africa
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Holy Bible
I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times. - Everett Mckinley Dirkson (Well, I am trying. - Manie Verster)
July 3, 2008 at 6:47 am
here in Mexico we have a similar problem....
in many cases we are called technical suport, wich it is really common in this country to name everyone who works in IT areas, myself is a good example im DBA so when they refers to me comonly uses support, personally don´t like.
July 8, 2008 at 6:33 am
Yep, here in India we are generally called Software people. Which is quite good 🙂
As for the topic under discussion, both the cable and IT are somewhat technical for the general public. It's a necessity that they do not understand and do not really want to either.
Just get it woking and then they can carry on as ever. Thats why its a "cable guy" or a "IT guy"
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