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SSC Journeyman
 
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Thursday, March 11, 2010 1:11 PM
Points: 80,
Visits: 268
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Right there with Babe
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 10:58 AM
Points: 767,
Visits: 174
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For me it all depends on context.
As you said it is very difficult for non technical people to remember specialized titles. When in the company of my non technical friends I almost always refer to myself as an IT guy and my job as an IT job; if someone actually shows interest then I will divulge my true title with a short explanation.
However, in technical circles I am more specific and prefer being known by whatever job title I currently hold rather than the generalized IT title.
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SSC-Enthusiastic
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Monday, February 08, 2010 2:03 AM
Points: 171,
Visits: 110
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| Here in India "IT guy" means Income tax guy. I dont know what people in Information technology industry are called though i am inside that industry!
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Valued Member
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Monday, July 06, 2009 10:28 AM
Points: 70,
Visits: 56
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My general thinking is what my mother taught me. "Sticks and stones break my bones, but words can never hurt me." Of course that would not hold true in a criminal trial, but in general, words do not hurt. How we take what was said is what hurts. And in this day and age, we seem to have every little "group" of people getting their feelings hurt because of what somebody said. "Well they only said what's in their heart" so that shows that they "hate" whatever they misspoke. Going back to the lesson from Mom, "If you don't show that it bothers you, they will stop it." I think that still holds true today. If you don't like what some one calls you, gently correct them, then drop it. Unless it's actual slander, forget it and ignore them. They will go away.
Vic
www.vicrauch.com
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SSC-Enthusiastic
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 9:34 AM
Points: 110,
Visits: 148
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| To everyone who knows me, I am the IT guy. I am so NOT the IT guy. I can barely spell the word 'network'. I know that tcp/ip addresses are expressed in dotted quad, and that's about it. So why do they persist in calling me the IT guy? I will tell you why. It is because, to them, what I do is magic. All I do is write text instructions in some language that some computer process knows how to interpret. In many ways, I am just as mystified by computers as they are. The only difference between me and them is that I know what I know, and I also know what I don't know. On the other hand, they know nothing.
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SSC Veteran
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 8:30 AM
Points: 288,
Visits: 1,026
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| I've been doing things with computers seriously since 1973, when I was in the 10th grade, and have spent most of my working life using computers to improve business. However, I don't really consider myself an IT guy, I'm an accountant who can bridge the gap between the number crunchers and the computer guys. I have the great fortune to understand noth sides' needs and drivers, and how to turn a business problem into something the programmers can solve with technology.
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Forum Newbie
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Thursday, September 11, 2008 3:39 AM
Points: 5,
Visits: 32
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Hi,
I don't say "I work in IT" anymore because you can almost hear little cogs turning as the person to whom you were just introduced is filing your contact details under "people to call if my PC's not working" and I can't be doing with it.
I now say, "I do network security and infrastructure development" which covers most of the stuff I do and doesn't have the same association.
I don't mind fixing PCs if there's an element of challenge to it (rootkit infection needs manual removal) or the local PC repair services are quoting obscene amounts of money to "fix" a PC by restoring it back to factory defaults when it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to eliminate the problem in a way that leaves the data on the PC intact.
But I would never offer "mates rates" or "quid pro quo". I used to, though.
I gave away hundreds of hours of tech support to a couple who worked from home - they were friends of ours who'd helped us out by getting us in contact with a landlord when we needed to move at short notice.
A couple of years later, the landlord evicted us so they could move in. To add insult to injury they (not the landlord) spent our deposit money on decorating the property to their own tastes, and the landlord told us in effect to go to court if we wanted the money back.
Even after stitching us up in such a blatantly nasty way, they still had the nerve to phone me up and ask if I could help them!
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SSC Eights!
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 10:17 AM
Points: 810,
Visits: 1,927
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There have certainly been days when I've been caught in a cynical mood and, when asked, given my job role as "sh1t collector". It's certainly a title that seems to encompass a fair part of my role, 'cos there are a small band of us here who take ownership of problems that need to be sorted, yet are passed on by everyone else. So do I get wound up about my job title? Nah.
As for other professionals, though, do we really treat them with any more respect? Is an electrician not a sparky? A carpenter not a chippy? An accountant not a bean counter? A doctor not a quack? A lawyer not a shark? Realistically, I suspect we get no more nor less respect than any other profession, so I don't think we're being disadvantaged at all.
Semper in excretia, sumus solum profundum variat
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Valued Member
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Thursday, February 25, 2010 8:33 AM
Points: 68,
Visits: 163
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| Here, in India i have noticed that they call us "Software Engineer" not an IT guy, and that looks good. ;)
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SSC Rookie
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Monday, February 15, 2010 7:57 AM
Points: 35,
Visits: 90
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I think it is more a grammatical problem.
A plumber, a doctor, ... these are really persons.
But IT is a general term, so you could in the case of the doctor also say the medical guy.
We should be more specific within IT, then it becomes a person again:
The database Administrator, the System Administrator, The programmer and even the user.
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