This week's Computer Weekly/dp Connect Working in IT survey gives
the lie to the cliché of IT professionals as PC-hugging geeks,
unable to cut ties with the motherboard.
Instead, the survey reveals a well-balanced and communicative
community, at ease with itself, proud of its vocation, motivated by
job satisfaction rather than money, and far more likely to draw
pleasure from family life than from examining the DNA of
software.
Meanwhile, Elite chairman David Ripon paints a picture of an IT
director community that now judges its career progression largely
by its ability to progress to the rarefied heights of the corporate
ladder. These days, it seems, the IT director's preferred
psychological flaw is not low self-esteem, but gnawing ambition.
How has elevation to the board become the benchmark by which all IT
directors measure themselves?
Multi-disciplined leaders able to drive innovation at the same time
as cutting costs might hope to make the leap to the board. But
those who don't take this step need not view themselves as
failures.
The root of the problem lies in the fact that IT is still a nascent
discipline. In time, IT professionals will stop being so
self-aware. But if our survey suggests that they are making
progress, Ripon's assertions show there is still some way to go.