Director of IT topped the list of the ten most hated jobs. Thoughts?

it's an interesting list. the theme that struck out for me was that these were all "back office" support or development roles and most of them very easily fall under the heading of "thankless" jobs. it's tough to like a job when you don't feel appreciated for doing it...

My first job after undergrad was in the manufacturing industry. That job gave me headaches and some valuables lessons. It taught me that it all boils down to the business of revenue.

We were the necessary evil and only summoned when absolutely necessary. We were the red tape wielders, you know the "too smart for their own good" group, at least until the servers went down. When auditing time came around, we got a sugar rush of confidence when we were able to help clean up the data and please auditors. As soon as that was over though, like any other sugar rush, we hit rock-bottom again and realized that "you are only as good as the problems you solve".

You might try going out and talking to people and finding out what bugs them. Sometimes its not what you say, but how you say it. I've banned the use of the words scope and standards because our business people think that these are excuses or clubs to hit them with. They can't tell their customers "that's out of scope" or "that's not the standard that our firm has" and they resent IT trying it. There are other ways to communicate the issues involved and we do it, but we don't use those terms. Believe me, we aren't a push over on scope or standards, but I don't wave red flags. How did I find this out? I talked to people.

Second, you do have to remember that if people only notice IT when something goes wrong, that can be your fault as well. Do you set objectives and goals and show when you meet them? If you don't have metrics to show your success, don't expect others to keep them for you. They will only store the metrics of failure.

Our success metrics are

- discussed in advance with the business
- measured
- visible

Is it perfect? Nope. But it's better than sitting in your office wondering why nobody likes you.

Jim Love
www.chelseagroup.ca
www.performanceadvantage.ca

IT Director: a person who usually says "No", or, at best, says "Yes, but with restrictions".

And when all works, who thinks at how a good job the IT department did? With such a premise, how can an ITD be loved?

In my view it's like a bank employee who is in charge of your mortgage request. What if he denies it? And what if he grants it?

The list included many technology and service related jobs. Can't say I remember anyone calling the IT Director to thank him or her for doing a great job and keeping the systems up and available. It's a thankless job. Unfortunately, much of the interaction with these positions is to report problems.

To make the job more appealing the individual must strive to work closely with the decision makers in the company. Teach them about technology and welcome their ideas and suggestions. Bonding and managing expectations are key to a happy working relationship between IT and the business and in turn a more liked position.

The world of enterprise is undergoing fundamental social revolution, old command and control structures are heading the way of the dodo. The article rightly cites examples like salesforce & amazon!

Our social enterprise is a joy to work in, the tools we use are fantastic & I love IT again!

Very often IT services are on the same level of perception as electric power, running water, etc - it's just there and it works. People get angry when things don't work anymore and naturally IT becomes "bad boy" yet again.

Jim Love, makes an interesting point. You have to tell people about the good bits as well as the bad bits. IT functions tend to be very poor at marketing themselves. And yes, as Alexander says, IT tends to be treated like a utility, it’s just there. But like any utility it has a contribution to make and without so much else just becomes irrelevant. Try running a JIT systems with no smooth running freight infrastructure across road, rail etc. So you have to make sure everyone is aware of the contribution IT makes to every dollar, pound, euro of revenue earned. It’s not easy but makes a difference. You need to change understanding and perceptions.

I'm an IT Director and my role is to make sure that operations will run smoothly without hickups and pitfalls by maintaining a robust and reliable infrastructure. Our operations relies heavily on IT. IT and Operations should go together harmoniously for the betterment of the company. We are not just a plain jane IT but we call our team IT-Operations Group.

Being an IT Director is not easy like other Director in the field of business for the fact that every second change in the world of IT. Time to time you need to be more productive especially in your team technically or chemistry.

Why the most hated? Probably because there are so many chiefs and authority is so diffused.

Why the most hated? Probably because there are so many chiefs and authority is so diffused.

I think in the instance of I.T. managers in particular, and I.T. departments in general, "most hated" could equate to "least understood by the rest of the company." Employees think of I.T. resources provided to them the way little kids think of Christmas. Nobody really knows or cares what goes on behind the scenes, they just know that things just magically happen and they count on those things to happen reliably and consistently to get their day's work done. To paraphrase the Dennis Miller joke, for all they know, their computers run on the wailing souls of the damned.

When I worked in a datacenter (and to a certain extent, well after I left the datacenter), the question I fielded the most was "Well why doesn't this just _INSERT REQUEST THAT THEY WANT THE BLINKING MACHINE TO MAGICALLY DO HERE_?" And then when you try to explain what's involved in making that happen and why it can't happen 10 seconds from now, you get to watch their eyes glaze over. If people really understood I.T., there would be no need at all for my profession.

The problem of a department member being promoted to the manager of that department is not just a problem for IT -- it is universal for all departments. Organizations continue to promote some of the best, most knowledgeable workers to the job of manager and assume that is what they want, without realizing what the department loses by doing so. Those who do the promoting presume that if a person has department experience and is a top performer, s/he will make the best manager. So someone who probably loves what s/he is doing is made manager and told to "do a good job," although his/her current skill set is of little help in a management position. Most often, the person has absolutely no management experience, is not offered any management training, is not assigned another manager as a mentor or source of company information, and doesn't really even know or completely the company's management policies and procedures. I have trained many managers and supervisors, and in a few cases, they asked for their old jobs back. They did not want the responsibility of managing, nor did they have any desire to move up to a management position.

That is why succession/career planning is important for every level of employee. Organizations may find that some of these managers voluntary leave, or have to be disciplined and possibly terminated them, all because those that decided on the promotions didn't take the time to consider other, more sensible options.