Computeach Ad
I really am quite tempted to write to the ASA about the Computeach ads that are currently airing on Channel 4 et al.
The ad goes something like ‘I’m a software engineer, working from home spending more time with family’… the guy saying it is drilling a hole in the road. Now, given that these guys sell IT training, you have to assume that they are saying being a software engineer, a web designer or an IT manager is better than your current job. Well, in some respects it could be, but they don’t exactly give you the whole picture, so here’s a few comments from the other side of the fence.
It might be a nicer environment (if you are lucky) and the money might be slightly better (again… if you are lucky), but I can tell you that after 10 years working in the industry as a programmer and one time IT manager… it is not all the ad makes it out to be. So heres my take on the situation… based solely on my personal experiences.
The money can be good… it can be really good. But this normally comes at a huge price. The price you pay will vary widely depending on your character and the situation you find yourself in. For me, I’ve spent much of the last 10 years worrying about work… I’ve not given as much time as I should have to me. I’ve had a top of the range studio sound card in my machine for over 5 years and in that time I’ve written one short piece. Since I finished my final exam piece of jewellery I’ve not set foot in a workshop… I’ve not sketched one idea. I’ve not taken one photo (well, until recently). As for my family (Mum, Dad and Little Bro), I’ve hardly seen them.
As for working hours… the hardest I’ve worked was 12 hour days, 7 days a week for several months. At the end of it… I was exhausted and was generally not fit for anything. Most IT staff are salaried and (I suspect based on my contracts that most if not all) have clauses in their contracts which say something along the lines of ‘You will work as long as necessary to do your job’. I’m currently doing overtime to try and meet a deadline. Why should I when I originally said the project will take 3 months? Simply, because if I don’t, its likely I’ll lose my job. You are probably wondering why I’m running late on a 3 month project. Management took me off the project, put me on it, took me off it so that now it looks like I’ve been working on it for 6 months and my name is mud. As a consequence, in the eyes of management I have gone from being numero uno to nothing courtesy of their flawed decisions. Thats what being in IT is like. When it works you’re the greatest, but the second it goes wrong, you’re nothing more than pond scum, and the months the system has been running perfectly without a hitch are forgotten in the time it takes the user to dial your extension.
Of course there are other great things about working in IT… things that no course can teach you… things like being professional and courteous at all times, even when you are getting earache from a user for a problem they created because they have 0 clue. And of course not forgetting… the minimisation of disruption to users… now me personally, I’ve been in the office at 3am implementing changes so there was minimal disruption to users, not forgetting the time I was in London at 6am (on the road at 4:30am) to lay cables in the office so that users didn’t suffer any real disruption and of course the time I stayed at work all night after a Netware server crashed and wouldn’t come back up (took a reinstall of Netware and full restore from backup tapes). And I am not alone in having to deal with crap like this.
But those only really cover the administrative side of IT. Managing the systems. The real fun starts when you get handed a project, given a silly deadline and find that the person (or people) who worked on it before you were (time to be diplomatic) less capable than yourself. As a developer, thats a very common situation, and its also one of the worst. As an IT professional however, you are expected to deal with it.
So, there you go… thats life as an IT professional from an IT professionals perspective. Its certainly not like its protrayed in the Computeach ad (well… neither I nor any of the people I’ve met over the years have experienced the industry as protrayed by Computeach, but thats not to say that there are lucky people who get good money for normal hours with no stress… I just haven’t met them yet), so just bear that in mind when considering a change of career.
