Before reading the text below, I want to remind you that every profession mentioned is worthy and important. I’m not saying that IT (Information Technology) is superior or inferior to other fields; I only want to show that it is different.
Jobs in computing, or information technology, are very new compared with medicine and engineering. Because of that, and because the field is complex, it’s still not universally clear what people who work in IT do or how to interact with an IT team in a way that solves your problem without getting in the way of theirs.
You might ask me: “But don’t you fix computers or develop systems?”
The short answer is yes. The longer answer is still yes, but this kind of work requires the professional to concentrate for a certain amount of time—sometimes several hours—while carrying out a particular procedure. Solving a problem often requires research and reasoning. Any interruption can make the professional lose focus and have to start over.
The comparisons below are humorous, but they can also help make this field a little less complicated for people in other areas.
In general, people think we are:
Elementary school teachers: Some people genuinely struggle with the digital world. I’m referring here to those who don’t want to learn and expect us to hold their hand so they can do something. Elementary school teachers are essential. Without their work, I wouldn’t be writing this text today. But we can’t repeat that work for adults who should take responsibility for their own learning.
Psychologists: Some people have personal problems and want to vent. That’s fine—we’re human beings. But when it becomes repetitive, it wears us down and interferes with our work. Some people also want to take their anger out on the technical team and won’t stop to understand the problem, which in most cases is not the IT department’s fault. Here’s my advice:
- Take the time to understand the problems in more depth.
- Don’t lash out at people who aren’t at fault.
- Deal with your personal problems; don’t transfer them to the workplace.
- If necessary, see a psychologist. They are qualified to help you become a more balanced person.
Message center: Because the IT room supports the whole company, many people stop by and ask, “Which room is so-and-so in?” or “Has so-and-so been by today?” This disrupts what is most essential to us: concentration. Contact IT to resolve technical issues or ask questions about the field, but not to pass along messages—that gets in the way.
Telephone operators: This is similar to the previous case, but over the phone. Because the phone numbers for data centers are usually well known, people call to ask for other numbers in the institution. Often they don’t even want to know the room number; they simply ask us to transfer the call. I’m happy to answer every phone question attentively. But, as I said, our work requires a lot of concentration, and these calls are disruptive.
Ombudsmen: Many questions can only be clarified by the technical team. But someone should be officially responsible for that role: an ombudsman. When technical questions come up, they can contact us. The ombudsman is very important, but you can’t do technical work well while serving as an ombudsman at the same time. Note: The telephone operator, message center, and even ombudsman roles can be handled by a dedicated help desk. With the right separation of duties, everything works harmoniously.
Fortune-tellers: Some people ask us for reports to help them make decisions, and sometimes we say that’s not possible because no data about the issue they’re asking about has been stored. They look doubtful, as if something is wrong. I explain that our team has never been asked to solve this problem and that we cannot predict every problem an institution might have. Some, yes—but all of them, impossible. I also explain that everything we produce is done together with the people who work in the area concerned, and in response to an external request or need. After this long conversation, they understand the situation, and we start solving that specific problem together.
Firefighters: A problem occurs, people call our department and ask us to fix it urgently. Of course, every problem has a priority level. But only about 5% of IT issues are urgent—not 100%, as with firefighters. Urgency varies from person to person. By urgent, I mean a problem that could cause enormous damage to the company or put someone’s life in danger. For firefighters, the meaning is clear; in IT, it isn’t. An IT emergency would be a server (central computer) problem that leaves hundreds of users without access. A one-off problem on a single computer isolated from the network is an everyday situation. It will be resolved in the order requests are received; it is not urgent. The person can do the work on another computer.
SAMU paramedics: Similar to the previous example, except that the problem isn’t just with the machine: the person has an important document, such as a thesis that is 90% complete, and the computer user becomes ill or is about to fall ill. In this case, the person should have made the necessary copies to a USB drive. They can’t treat as urgent a problem caused by their individual failure to make backups.
Superman (or any other superhero you prefer): In our profession, we automate and optimize processes. But we don’t have superpowers. Analysis requires working together with the people who do the work manually every day. It requires reaching a consensus about a logical process. You can’t automate chaos. There needs to be at least some order before we can automate. When an environment is very complex, it’s also important to understand that manual procedures need to be maintained—whether to handle exceptional cases that weren’t anticipated by the system, or to resolve a problem in an extreme situation, such as a network failure.
At the end of the day, we’re human beings just like you and everyone else. The differences come from the nature of our work.
I hope this helped. Best wishes, and see you in the next post.