Life sucks as a IT person (trouble-shooting role)
I fully agree with Jack Wallen. Having spent over a decade with a reputed firm with their IT Dept. in a Tech Support role, I can relate to most of the issues mentioned in the article. Unlike an IT Consulting job, which is far more lucrative and well-respected, though it may come with a different kind of stressfulness (deadlines, managing clients, etc.) it is the Tech Supp role which comes with perpetual stress throughout the career in that role. But, in my experience, the stress can be less if the top bosses, like the CIO are considerate and empathize with their own team rather than go out of their way to please other functional people, making their own team members scapegoats in the process. Also, in non-IT industry, IT is considered a cost-center, and hence enjoys lower respect and importance than certain other functions. I have often realized that employees of other functions appreciate IT guys more than some of their own peers / colleagues in the IT Dept. due to the "low-visibility" roles that most of them perform. Unless the organization genuinely appreciates and respects the role of IT professionals, and the CEO values the contribution of the CIO and his team, people down the line are hardly expected to change their traditional mindsets about IT staff, who are often treated shabbily. IT guys are like goal-keepers in soccer, who are remembered for the few goals they missed, than for the many they saved.
