[TriLUG] [OT] What's the value of IT?

[Tim Jowers]

"Computers suck". Get the IT nerd to fix them.

This mindset is one reason IT pay has been decimated. Imagine saying
that about your doctor or lawyer!

One reason for this is the IT level of professionalism starts at
negative because of no entry qualification requirements. All other
professions of reason such as nursing, engineering, attorneys, and
even plumbers have entry tests and often degree or journey
requirements. Because of the ocean of unqualified and partially
qualified "IT" workers, businesses have learned rightly to distrust
IT. In contrast, "Oracle consultants" or "DB2 Consultants" are highly
regarded. They are just as much a part of IT as PC support but have
not had their ilk over-whelmed with marginally qualified workers.

TimJowers


On Sat, May 9, 2009 at 12:49 AM, Phillip Rhodes
<mindcrime at cpphacker.co.uk> wrote:
> Cristóbal Palmer wrote:
>
>
>> So what you're _really_ asking is why people value _new_ or _emerging_
>> technologies. Let me know when you come up with a good definition. :)
>
> Not necessarily, at least depending on how one defines "new" or "emerging."
>  For example, take something as old as spreadsheet
> software.  I would not consider that "new", but I suspect that
> there are business owners out there, who aren't particularly
> computer savvy, and don't necessarily even appreciate how useful
> something like that could be.  OK, ok, that's an extreme example
> and there are probably few people who don't use spreadsheets.  But
> I don't think you have to go much deeper into the "technology bag of
> tricks" before you do run into things where the value isn't as
> obvious to people who aren't accustomed to thinking about technology.
>
> Also, for what it's worth, the context of what I'm thinking about
> leans towards businesses that aren't inherently tech (at least computer
> tech) related.  Take a flower-shop, or a bakery, or a general contractor
> or a small trucking company, something of that nature.  What technology
> might be useful to them, and why?  That's closer to the heart of what I'm
> curious to discover.  Especially if these things can be
> categorized into general patterns:
>
> "extend the reach of my business" (ecommerce)
> "make accounting faster / less error prone" (accounting software)
> "reduce costs by helping to eliminate redundancies" (analytics / business
> intelligence)
> "build better customer relationships" (CRM software)
> etc.
> etc.
>
>>
>> If you're interested in research that deals with emerging technologies
>> in the context of education, have a look here for a start:
>
> Cool, thanks for the pointer.
>
>
> --
> Phillip Rhodes
>
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