IT Professionals

What Is Your Definition Of An IT Professional?

Posted by on Aug 6, 2007 | 10 Comments

Gnomie Tony Baylis writes:

In the World of IT many people call themselves “IT Professionals,” but what I would like to know, what is your definition of an IT professional?

Can you be an IT professional if you only use the GUI side or do you really have to be able to use the command line area as well? Would you have to have a qualification in IT?

I hope that this question can be featured in one of your shows.

There are probably thousands of ways to answer this question. What do you ladies and gents think?

[tags]it professional, information technology[/tags]

  • Gary

    An IT pro is someone who has several decades of experience but can’t get a job for love nor money.

  • Arthur M. Grant

    Being just one person, my opinion alone doesn’t hold much weight. Therefore, I would defer instead to the following established and generally accepted definitions, such as those present by Merriam-Webster and found on m-w.com:

    Professional (adjective)
    “1 a: of, relating to, or characteristic of a profession
    b: engaged in one of the learned professions.”

    Profession (noun)
    “4 a: a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation b: a principal calling, vocation, or employment c: the whole body of persons engaged in a calling.”

    Additionally, thefreedictionary.com defines learned profession (noun): “one of the three professions traditionally believed to require advanced learning and high principles” … and these were, traditionally, law, medicine, and theology.

    Since the advent of technology, however, I present that computer and technology specialists exhibit the traits defined by Merriam-Webster definition 4a in that they require “long and intensive academic preparation” and as such fall within the definition of PROFESSIONALS.

    Just as intended applicants to any club or organization are scorned, however, so are technology professionals scorned by the established professions. The intent is to maintain high standing of existing professions by demeaning all else. I hold a particular personal disdain for the “Geek Squad” ads that I have witnessed on broadcast television, advertisements which to me seem only to perpetuate the myth that those with advanced technical training and expertise should somehow present themselves as subordinate janitors, willing only to clean up the messes of those who thought they possessed adequate knowledge. It seems they further this delusion by placating the egos of the offender, like some psychological enabler.

    Would someone in the legal profession like to clean up the mess created by someone who thought they could practice law, or would someone in the medical field not chastise someone for attempting to medicate themselves? Heaven forbid that someone in the clergy attempt to clean up the mess after some untrained person decided to declare a new religion based on personal whim!

    Should technology PROFESSIONALS behave any differently?

    Most technical professionals are constrained to operate under duress, however, working under deadlines created by delusions and fantasies of persons having no particular technical basis for their determination. Any work product produced under such situations is bound to be flawed.

    Using the “traditional three” as an example, would a lawyer operate effectively under a deadline set by a racecar driver? Would a medic operate most effectively under combat conditions?

    Obviously not. Any medical treatment performed under such duress most likely would necessitate being redone at a proper medical facility.

    Is this not unlike the way in which software created in haste necessitates bug fixes? It is not the fault of the technology professionals. It is the direct result of deadlines imposed by those lacking proper technological basis for their decisions.

    There is no sense to it, no more than laymen attempting to represent themselves in court, or performing surgery.

    I have learned electronics theory, personal computer diagnosis and repair, local area networking, server configuration, and finally computer programming and database analysis and implementation. It took a long time for me to acquire the skills necessary to perform these functions … knowledge and experience not possessed by many of my clients in the fields of law, medicine, and religion.

    Doesn’t this make me a professional?

    At least I don’t claim to be a writer.

  • Tony Rich

    While Arthur M. Grant makes an excellent point. I will have to also point out, that Doctors are responsible for the and health of the people in their
    care, it lietrally is a “Life or Death” situation. in a similar vein, Lawyers
    too are responsible to their clients (idealistically), because the decisions
    they make do directly affect their client’s feedom and/or finances.
    However, one can represent one’s self in a court of law.
    Now any business enterprise that depends heavily on computers to enable their business do make use of computer experts whether on an
    ad-hoc basis, or as fulltime contractors or employees.
    Are IT professionals Geeks?; perhaps, as an IT professional with 30 years
    of experience, it really doesn’t matter how my clients view me, as long as
    their check clears the bank.
    Which is the real definition of IT professional: One who earns a living in
    Infornation Technology.

  • Mortifer

    I agree with this.: One who earns a living in Infornation Technology.

    IT professional covers alot of different jobs Simular to doctor.
    A Vetrinarian , General Practitioner , Surgen are all doctors ,
    i would say the same for Programmer , Helpdesk Support , sql designer are all types of IT Professionals.

    It all really comes down to one thing a good knowledge of Computers and a pay packet for doing it.

  • Randy

    One who earns a living in Information Technology it is. As a software engineer I also don’t like the Geek Squad being considered as an IT job because I have to deal with friends and family who don’t understand software development saying things like “oh you do what the Geek Squad does”. However, they are indeed IT Pros. Without sounding arrogant, the Geek Squad is on the lower end of the ladder but sure enough on the IT Pro ladder. Like most professions there is a wide array of occupations in the IT arena and the squad is one of them. It doesn’t really matter anyway. I gave up long ago trying to explain what I do. I just say “I am in puters” now and everyone nods their head.

  • Marx

    does IT Educator is also called an IT Professional?

  • Zuhair Siddiqui

    I’m open to the idea to be honest, it will be interesting to see how it goes. I do think that users will simply live with it. 

  • Anonymous

    my best friend’s mom makes $77 an hour on the computer. she has been out of job for 9 months but last month her check was $7487 just working on the computer for a few hours. read about it here http://xub.me/me

  • Gaurav

    It’s cool… I’v already enabled it…!

  • http://www.facebook.com/dan.czarnecki1 Dan Czarnecki

    I think this is a neat idea.  Being able to see all of the things you have posted on Facebook in the past is something that I think people will think is cool.