10 Most Demanding IT Jobs, Rated

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ZDNet has come up with a list of the 10 most demanding IT jobs and rated them.

Many readers have been tethered to a pager (or now a smartphone) at some point in their career, driving down to the data center at 2 am to restart a system or fix a corrupt file in the database. It’s not fun, but in an always-on, 24×7x365 world, someone has to keep the lights on. And while great strides have been made in IT automation, there still needs to be human operators to keep things humming.
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They picked all the low-hanging fruit for that one and sorta stated the no-duh obvious things that make the jobs not fun. It's not that I disagree, but top ten lists are silly. :(
 
Part of demanding though is the inability to give some push back. Nobody knows how to say no anymore. I fought for, and didn't get fired over, not carrying a cell. I don't have a work or personal cell.

24x7x365 by any one person is a complete fallacy anyway. They think that by employees carrying cells that they could call them at any time. Doesn't matter. Call me any given time Friday or Saturday night, and see how effective I'm going to be.

If they want 24x7x365 then they need to rely on more than one person.
 
So is it listed from least demanding to most? DBA is definitely the most demanding and the one that is usually populated by self taught guys who just try to keep things running. The biggest problem I see for DBAs is for them to articulate what it is they do for a company. The most successful DBAs are usually the ones who have best explained to upper management what it is they do on a daily basis and how important they are.

Procurement Managers shouldn't even be on that list, if your company is large enough to have a dedicated Procurement Manager it also has very good vendor reps who you can call day or night and have them draw you up options or POs on the drop of a dime.

The generic Admin is also a crap job that usually means your a person who wears many hats. The worst is guys who work for companies too small to hire additional IT personnel and too big for one person to manage.
 
The list is a crock. Demanding in what way? Of what? Time? Knowledge? My experience has generally been that admins and engineers (including dba's) have MUCH higher demand on their time than most if not all of the upper level management positions. For very large corporations the demand on upper management might be greater, also their reach and scope might be much larger. Ultimately however the demand on their time is no more than the typical on call server/dba admin or engineer in a heavy workload position.
 
The worse part about those jobs is that if they do the job very well. The higher ups don't realise the importance up what they do, until they move on.
 
If the worker finds that what they do is demanding or [H]ard (particularly for their mind to think through) then they must be encountering resistance there, and it would suggest to me that they are effectively in the wrong job or on the wrong path. Myself, I always found critical analysis and software engineering easy to do. I understand that this is the case because my mind is shaped that way. Admittedly though, I use to laugh at the others around me who were struggling. (A bit like with some of the guys posting on [H]ardForum:eek:)
 
DW-UK said:
If the worker finds that what they do is demanding or [H]ard (particularly for their mind to think through) then they must be encountering resistance there, and it would suggest to me that they are effectively in the wrong job or on the wrong path. Myself, I always found critical analysis and software engineering easy to do. I understand that this is the case because my mind is shaped that way. Admittedly though, I use to laugh at the others around me who were struggling. (A bit like with some of the guys posting on [H]ardForum:eek:)
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It is easy to do, when you get to do it. I spent half my day in useless meetings :)
 
BDV said:
It is easy to do, when you get to do it. I spent half my day in useless meetings :)
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That can happen. Most engineers hated attending big meetings where they had to sit around a big table listening to someone talking about stuff that was often easier to just do in front of a computer. It was even worse when the engineers were force to publicly speak.:eek: (Not the place that they wanted to be in.):eek: Myself, I always made sure I was ahead on everything so that I would never get caught out.
 
In all honesty, I'd say the guys doing help desk typically have the most 'demanding' job in IT. Talk about soul destroying.
 
Genny said:
In all honesty, I'd say the guys doing help desk typically have the most 'demanding' job in IT. Talk about soul destroying.
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Spending all day telling people how to finger their start buttons and plug in their hard drives over the phone is probably up there on the chart of IT ick.
 
SkribbelKat said:
Spending all day telling people how to finger their start buttons and plug in their hard drives over the phone is probably up there on the chart of IT ick.
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Tell me about it, there are some situations being a Field Service Tech where it is mind numbing.

me:"can you restart your computer please"
them : *pushes monitor button* IT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!


All jobs have their hard times and easy times. It all just depends on what is going on at the time.
 
AliceCooper said:
Tell me about it, there are some situations being a Field Service Tech where it is mind numbing.

me:"can you restart your computer please"
them : *pushes monitor button* IT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!
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Back in 1998, I worked at the local community college as a college workstudy. (I'm a VMS sysadmin these days).

I had a guy in his 30s or 40s (lots at community college) complain about printing. OK, I figured, those annoying print duplexers were always acting up, requiring an unplug/replug etc.

Did it and it still wouldn't print. Went over to his computer. He was clicking Edit-> Copy in MS Office. "I clicked for it to print a copy and it won't do it. I don't get it." :p
 
AliceCooper said:
Tell me about it, there are some situations being a Field Service Tech where it is mind numbing.

me:"can you restart your computer please"
them : *pushes monitor button* IT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!


All jobs have their hard times and easy times. It all just depends on what is going on at the time.
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I wonder how many absurd tech support and end user stories are lurking among the people in this forum. Considering that most of us are employed to do something tech related or are the informal nerd among friends and relatives, we could probably collectively share some scary stuff.
 
Manager, manager, manager... most managers I've met wouldn't know an IP address from a Cat-5 cable.
 
SkribbelKat said:
I wonder how many absurd tech support and end user stories are lurking among the people in this forum. Considering that most of us are employed to do something tech related or are the informal nerd among friends and relatives, we could probably collectively share some scary stuff.
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Haha no shit, I have tons of stories and I'm sure everyone on this forum has at least a hand full of stories they could share.
 
Wiseguy2001 said:
The worse part about those jobs is that if they do the job very well. The higher ups don't realise the importance up what they do, until they move on.
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Depends on the company. The most successful companies will have bosses who recognize how hard-working their employees are. Happy employees with motivation are productive employees. :)
 
Help desk has to be up there. I used to work at a 24/7 help desk that took calls from people all over the world (I took calls from every content except for Antarctica at one point or another, but most were from the US) for one company. We took calls from all types of people, from shop floor workers to executives, and all types of calls, from normal computer problems (including how to's) to expense reports to needing keys for their desk drawers. I heard a story from one guy who had a caller who spoke English as a second language. He had a fake AV program that also put porn on his machine (yes those really exist). This is what the caller said, "Naked man. Big tool. You fix." :eek: I also learned a new word from another coworker that got this from a caller (who was from the south), "bofaum" translates as "both of them" :D I swear, some people are just to stupid to be near computers.
 
AliceCooper said:
Tell me about it, there are some situations being a Field Service Tech where it is mind numbing.

me:"can you restart your computer please"
them : *pushes monitor button* IT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!


All jobs have their hard times and easy times. It all just depends on what is going on at the time.
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Having patience and the ability to explain technical terminology in basic, layman's terms, are very important aspects to this type of job.

I wouldn't call being helpful "mind numbing" but if that's the point a person is at with their job, it is definitely time to move on.

The end isn't the technology itself, it's how the technology can assist the end-users to achieve their jobs quickly, efficiently, and effectively.
If that isn't the field tech's job focus, then either that focus needs to change or they need to be removed and/or replaced.
 
I swear, some people are just to stupid to be near computers.
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Not to be mean, but you just described every single person who walks into Best Buy. :D
 
•Users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 (the name of the entry-level consumer version of the operating system) from Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic and Windows 7 Home Premium while maintaining their existing Windows settings, personal files and applications.


That's unles you are running Media Center, in that case you are SOL :(
 
IT in general is very stressful. Combine buggy software with stupid users and you have a recipe for pain. As you climb the career ladder, then you get to add politics in the mix which makes it even worse!

My particular role can be very stressful, some days I do end user support, other days I have to solve network issues, create views in a slow database, face palm myself 100 times while on the phone with Microsoft "Premier" support and then have a meeting to listen to others tell me why I have to live with a substandard infrastructure that causes my applications to run extremely slow.
 
Gee Monkey God, look on the bright side, we're a lots lower risk of being fatally killed on the job than careers that work in say, construction or around GIANT CAR MAKING ROBOTS OF DOOM! To top it off, we get to sit around thinking most of the day. ^^ I'd take working with my brains over being outside where I can get squashed by falling stuff like I beams or robotic arms.
 
SkribbelKat said:
Gee Monkey God, look on the bright side, we're a lots lower risk of being fatally killed on the job than careers that work in say, construction or around GIANT CAR MAKING ROBOTS OF DOOM! To top it off, we get to sit around thinking most of the day. ^^ I'd take working with my brains over being outside where I can get squashed by falling stuff like I beams or robotic arms.
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There are bright sides and dark sides to everything. I attempt to take both with equanimity- and fail miserably! :D
 
EchtoGammut said:
The generic Admin is also a crap job that usually means your a person who wears many hats. The worst is guys who work for companies too small to hire additional IT personnel and too big for one person to manage.
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Sounds like my current job where I refer to myself as the "IT" department :)
Luckly management is aware of how much I do, and I managed to scare them into giving me a decent raise this year.


DW-UK said:
It was even worse when the engineers were force to publicly speak.:eek:
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Been there, done that, and it was one of the reasons I intensified my search for another job several years ago.
 
Service desk at Fry's was pretty stressful, especially when your dealing with some prick who claims the camera magically got moisture inside the lens, and when you open the battery compartment, half a gallon of water pours out. I don't miss that job and the s#!*ty schedule you would get dealt, nor do I miss the endless crap you have to go through just to book a system in, or give the customer a sodding loaner device to tide them over.

Now I work at a help desk, which is somehow less stressful.
 
SkribbelKat said:
I wonder how many absurd tech support and end user stories are lurking among the people in this forum. Considering that most of us are employed to do something tech related or are the informal nerd among friends and relatives, we could probably collectively share some scary stuff.
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I work in tech support for florists. These are not computer people. Stories range from somewhat-endearing, benign ignorance to absolutely soul-crushing stupidity.
I find though that the worst folk to deal with are the ones who know just barely enough about computer systems to sound like they almost know what they're talking about, and have convinced themselves that they are in fact experts.

And yes, better this than getting crushed by our robot overlords.
 
Monkey God said:
There are bright sides and dark sides to everything. I attempt to take both with equanimity- and fail miserably! :D
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So, it's like duct tape or the force, huh?

redivulpis said:
I work in tech support for florists. These are not computer people. Stories range from somewhat-endearing, benign ignorance to absolutely soul-crushing stupidity.
I find though that the worst folk to deal with are the ones who know just barely enough about computer systems to sound like they almost know what they're talking about, and have convinced themselves that they are in fact experts.

And yes, better this than getting crushed by our robot overlords.
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Ugh, all that pollen and flowers and there's people! But yeah, the most scary ones are the clueless ones that know what they're talking about and then _do_ things like attempt to take apart their computer to fix it. I had to tell someone a few weeks ago that there aren't user servicable parts inside a power supply when he opened it to figure out why Outlook wasn't sending messages...which was for a mailbox over quota.
 
Shotglass01 said:
Part of demanding though is the inability to give some push back. Nobody knows how to say no anymore. I fought for, and didn't get fired over, not carrying a cell. I don't have a work or personal cell.

24x7x365 by any one person is a complete fallacy anyway. They think that by employees carrying cells that they could call them at any time. Doesn't matter. Call me any given time Friday or Saturday night, and see how effective I'm going to be.

If they want 24x7x365 then they need to rely on more than one person.
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I deal with that shit now. Fucking blows and oh yeah fire half the IT staff without fully thinking it through.
 
Red Falcon said:
Having patience and the ability to explain technical terminology in basic, layman's terms, are very important aspects to this type of job.

I wouldn't call being helpful "mind numbing" but if that's the point a person is at with their job, it is definitely time to move on.

The end isn't the technology itself, it's how the technology can assist the end-users to achieve their jobs quickly, efficiently, and effectively.
If that isn't the field tech's job focus, then either that focus needs to change or they need to be removed and/or replaced.
Click to expand...

It is mind numbing when you explain, and tell them exactly how to do something in the most simplistic manner you possibly can, and they still fail to do so, then the fact that they are having a problem is your fault. I can help people all day and be fine. But when they start getting hostile is when it is mind numbing, and if it is not for you, then I applaud you for having a great deal of patience. In addition, I am not studying to be a field service tech, I am simply in a paid intern position that is also gaining me college credit and have been in this position for the last 3 summers here. It is easy to help someone and if they don't understand, they calmly explain how they don't then you are able to dumb it down further. But I am talking about when the person is being hostile and blaming me for something he or she caused and telling me I am of no help even after I have explained exactly what to do in the most clear and simple manner possible. Like the one you origionally quoted from me, that was a real situation, I explained exactly what the power button looked like and where it was on the tower, but that didn't matter because I broke the computer, so I had to go down there and have them talk crap about me while I push the button and fix it. Sorry for the long message, but if you have a job where there is absolutely no instance of mind numbing or frustration, then I would like to know what you do and how you pull it off, because I think that is impossible simply because of how some people are single-loop learners and others are double-loop. I am grateful for my position, but when people are being hostile when there is absolutely no reason to be, especially to the person trying to help, my mind does go numb, if you don't understand that and think that I should move on because of that, then ok. And I know it is about how the tech can help the end user, but it is also about how the field tech can assist the person to get their tech working again, and when they get in the way and don't let me do my job, then that is an issue.

/flamesuit on
 
redivulpis said:
I work in tech support for florists. These are not computer people. Stories range from somewhat-endearing, benign ignorance to absolutely soul-crushing stupidity.
I find though that the worst folk to deal with are the ones who know just barely enough about computer systems to sound like they almost know what they're talking about, and have convinced themselves that they are in fact experts.

And yes, better this than getting crushed by our robot overlords.
Click to expand...

Completely agree, the people that THINK they know what they are doing is the worst to support. When I worked phone/desk support, I always hated working on programmers computers... It amazed me how little they knew about their computer, couldn't figure out how they could program things for devices they know so little about.

Well over the years I have moved up and package and deploy software. I am working on Visual Studio 2010 deployment. During QA received a complaint that a user was confused by a dialog at first launch, asking them basically what kind of programming they intended to do: General, C++, C#, Web etc... Pretty much told the SME, that if they didn't know what kind of programming they do (or just click general), they should maybe look at getting better programmers.
 
These types of things are my biggest headache. I just had a Monitor on an SGI Indigo 2 die. Nothing I had in LCD form worked. 4 of the 5 CRT's I tried didn't work. Finally one Viewsonic tube that is going bad and had been replaced a year ago and was in storage managed to work. The replacement monitor from SGI is $2000 and a week away. I spent a day and a half trying every form of config change possible from VGA to putting sync each different line of RGB. It just would not work on anything new. I have them running on the Viewsonic so production can roll until the new SGI arrives.

Supporting REALLY old stuff is my biggest headache. I had to figure out how to unlock the system account on a VAX earlier this week because security changed it and wrote it down wrong.
 
EchtoGammut said:
The worst is guys who work for companies too small to hire additional IT personnel and too big for one person to manage.
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this, oh so much this.

I am stuck in this now, they downsized the firm, unloaded the rest of the other IT staff, "promoted" me and then regrew some. Of course it's all dollar signs so they don't want to hire.

total mess.
 
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