Who is "the IT guy?"

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Who is "the IT guy?"

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Ted Manasa

Posted Wednesday, June 25, 2008 9:21 PM

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Comments posted to this topic are about the item Who is "the IT guy?"

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Post #523830

Jereme Guenther

Posted Wednesday, June 25, 2008 10:13 PM

Right there with Babe

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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.

Post #523843

umailedit

Posted Wednesday, June 25, 2008 11:32 PM

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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!

Post #523868

Vic Rauch-303403

Posted Thursday, June 26, 2008 12:22 AM

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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

Post #523890

GeorgeCopeland

Posted Thursday, June 26, 2008 12:41 AM

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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.

Post #523896

Ross McMicken

Posted Thursday, June 26, 2008 1:01 AM

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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.

Post #523907

Tim Staddon

Posted Thursday, June 26, 2008 1:13 AM

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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!

Post #523913

majorbloodnock

Posted Thursday, June 26, 2008 1:18 AM

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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

Post #523914

sudhanva

Posted Thursday, June 26, 2008 2:21 AM

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Here, in India i have noticed that they call us "Software Engineer" not an IT guy, and that looks good. ;)

Post #523934

peter Vramby

Posted Thursday, June 26, 2008 2:28 AM

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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.

Post #523937

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