Different industries treat IT in different ways. Some pay well but treat their staff poorly while others view IT solely as a cost center. What industries have you worked in where IT is truly valued and treated with respect and as an equal partner in the business?
I was thinking of non-IT industries. Obviously if we are talking about a software development shop its a bit of a different story.
Gratzy
2009-06-11 20:48:44
A:
I can only answer from experience. Mine being at a web 1.0 consulting firm back in the day (so thats not really non-it) and the other being in academia.
I've been with the UW for 7 years now. While there I worked for a hospital IT, then the IT shop for both hospitals, and now the business school.
90% of the time I've been valued and treated with respect by non IT staff. However, I think 50% of that is a result of me delivering value to them.
Marc
2009-06-11 21:43:33
+3
A:
It's not a question of industry, it varies company-to-company. Some companies recognize that IT is an important part of the machine that allows the company to succeed and some see it as a necessary evil because hey, SOMEONE has to keep my Outlook working.
Hardwareguy
2009-06-11 21:58:53
Certainly it will vary by company. My hope was that through responses one or more industries would stand out as having a higher rate of companies that recognize the important role IT can play.
Gratzy
2009-06-11 22:09:39
I guess my answer was kind of obvious. The software engineering industry is probably the easy answer followed by other engineering-driven type industries.
Hardwareguy
2009-06-11 22:16:52
+2
A:
I would have to say the pharma industry, after having worked for years in the pharma, banking, and shipping (UPS) industries. The amount and quality of free pizza and coffee I was offered when working for drug companies far outweighs the risk of programming next to the radioactive generators in the offices next door. Good times...
Brad Brown
2009-06-11 22:08:38
A:
Here is a philosophy. If you can, work for a company where you are at a core business unit. Be a doctor in a hospital, an accountant in an accounting firm, or a programmer in a software company. Support centers are for, well, supporting the core business guys. Core business guys predominantly get better payments, and have better career paths. Think it this way: Do the basketball players get paid and treated better or their supporters? ;)
shanyu
2009-06-11 22:21:36
That is a bit of an oversimplification. The point is doctor's can't run the hospital on their own nor can accountants. The hard question is what industries if any recognize the core business can't reach its potential alone but by involving IT at an equal level can. I don't disagree with your answer at all, just trying to dig deeper.
Gratzy
2009-06-11 22:31:42
Core business people are generally first class citizens, support people are generally not. Simple, yes. Oversimplified, not sure. I have worked both in core business units and support centers and I can say that there is a solid line that can be drawn between them. Of course I'm not ruling out all exceptions, but this is one of the main points I tell people who are about to change their jobs and ask for guidance.
shanyu
2009-06-11 22:48:25
"Core business people are generally first class citizens, support people are generally not." What does that mean?
Gratzy
2009-06-11 23:08:23
A first class citizen in a corporate setting is someone who belongs to the upper levels in a corporate caste system. Gets better paid, likely to be promoted earlier, etc.
shanyu
2009-06-12 07:17:17
+4
A:
From what I've heard from different sources, banks usually treat IT as a support personnel. I though also heard they pay over average and even giving bonuses. Whether it is true I personally cannot testify.
On the other hand, you can be in a software company that is in fact a cheap shop. There you would also be not treated well just as a cheap working craft.
It really depends on the company and like Marc said on the value you deliver with your work. Whether you are expected to just perform you routine duties or in a position to create extra value will also depend on a company and a particular position.
Also the smaller a firm is, the more attention you can expect to get.
Each case is different.
User
2009-06-11 22:45:47
A:
I have to say insurance as there aren't many commodity ways for IT to work. You will find that in many cases junior IT people make more than many senior people within the business...
jm04469
2009-06-11 23:02:12
A:
I've worked in a few different environments, so here is how I'd break down all four:
1) Technology company that is a mid-size company. This is where I am now and the IS team seems to be valued as we are the ones that help the company run. There are a little over 1,000 employees so it isn't a tiny company though the IS group is under 100 people. At times I'm surprised about how well things run here though it is helpful to have a VP in the department now to help for those political battles that seem inevitable.
2) Large internet retail company, not Amazon.com but in the same geographic area. While I was in the IT department, we were the group that put up the web sites, internal and external, so we played a significant role in how well the company ran or didn't run in the case where the servers were overwhelmed a few times that I was there. There were a little under 70 people in the IT department, there were hundreds of employees, lots of whom were the customer service representatives that had to handle people wanting to phone in an order, ask about an order, or do something else with an order. I was there for 10 months and really liked it there though that was a few years ago now.
3) Small company where IT isn't a department yet. I've had this a couple of times, once in a dot-com and once in an Application Service Provider, where if the company is fairly small there isn't going to be a department for IT. Rather there is the minions under the VP of Technology or CTO for another name, where the developers are probably doing lots of things and there is a start-up mentality to deal with at times. Here there wasn't really a help desk to phone in if you needed help and generally it was just one or two that would handle requests.
JB King
2009-06-16 15:39:03