This post is part of our IT World Canada blog network, which is dedicated to helping its community of CIOs, IT managers and network admins. This channel is sponsored by Dell. As you’re exploring these resources, check out this helpful resource and sign the petition from our sponsor: National I.T. Day.
Are I.T. people really still thought of as the dorks in the back room? Are they still the business equivalent of the audio-visual club members that endured so much grief in high school?
Years ago, as a marketer, one of the first I.T. professionals I had the good fortune to work with was anything but the subject of derision. He was crucial to my meeting our business objectives. Like so many I.T. people of a few decades ago, his formal training in something that was a long way from information technology. I seem to recall that his education and training was as a chemist.
Fast forward to today and there are lots of I.T pros with diplomas that are specific to information technology – computer science, mathematics, programming. On the other hand, my eldest daughter is an I.T. professional in the nuclear power industry and she has a degree in economics. But no matter what their initial education entailed, the critical nature of the contribution of I.T. professionals to business success is inarguable, though not everyone believes that to be the case.
In the forum section of Dell Canada’s National I.T. Day initiative – www.nationalitday.ca – (with partner Intel), “Yipster” writes:
– IT staff are the unsung heroes of the company. They are always on call and work countless hours after the work-day ends to ensure that the company remains operational. They are the butt end of a joke or made fun of and they’re never praised. There is an Administrative/Secretary Day but never has there been an IT Day. Can’t think of a more deserving department.
Seems we have a way to go yet. Better sign the petition.
