The best and worst of working in IT

Network executives recount what they love -- and hate -- about their jobs

By Joanne Cummings, Network World
February 08, 2007 09:18 AM ET

Bruce McMillan had a couple of weeks off around the holidays. Sharing some eggnog with his neighbors, he realized something about himself and his job: While his neighbors were dreading returning to work, he was actually looking forward to it.

"I told them I couldn't wait -- we were expecting some new hardware in, and I was looking forward to checking it out," says McMillan, who is manager of emerging technologies at Solvay Pharmaceuticals, a multinational corporation headquartered in Brussels. "That's the best thing about my job: I get paid to play with technology. What a deal."

McMillan and his team recently used VMware virtualization technology to reduce the number of physical servers in his firm's Marietta, Ga., data center from 100 to 33. The project earned a Pioneer Award and Innovation Award within Solvay, and McMillan now is charged with extending it to Solvay's European sites.

Such recognition is another reason McMillan enjoys his job. "Solvay is a great place to work," he says. "They encourage us to think about what we're doing and find better ways to do things -- and that's fun."

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	"That's the best thing about my job -- I get paid to play with technology. What a deal." Bruce McMillan, Manager of emerging technologies, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Marietta, Ga. McMillan's sentiments are echoed by others, many of whom say they couldn't conceive of a better job than working in IT, even with the inevitable downsides. But beyond enjoying working with technology itself, most IT executives cite less-tangible job benefits. The people side of IT "The best thing about my job is the people," says Scott Anderson, a messaging administrator at a 2,500-seat state agency. "I work with a great bunch of people here -- a good team and good customers." Dennis Barr, manager of IT at Larkin Group, an engineering firm in Kansas City, Mo., shares that perspective. "The best thing about my job is something absolutely nontechnical: It's the people I work with and the relationships I have with them," Barr says. "Larkin is just over 60 years old, and I've been here 21 of those years. I've seen a lot of people come and a lot of people go, but the work environment and the culture of the company is what makes it a pleasure to come to work each day." Larkin is a small firm, with just 50 employees. "I am the IT department, which can get challenging at times," he says. "But I'm on a first-name basis with everybody, and I like that." The downsides Working in IT does have its pitfalls, however. For example, Larkin Group's Barr says over the years he's seen technologies come and go, but in today's environment, security threats are what keep him awake at night. "The worst part of the job is having to be paranoid all the time about security," Barr says. "There are times I feel like I'm a policeman on the beat, and that's very stressful. With the Internet, everything is a threat, so there's this pervasive feeling that you're just one step away from having a piano falling on you." For Anderson, the downside is budgeting. His agency is evaluating rolling out a slew of new software applications agencywide, including Microsoft Vista and Office 2007. Unfortunately, because the new software requires hardware upgrades to support it, he's had to put off the rollout until he can squeeze some more money out of the budget. "That's the worst thing," Anderson says. "There's never enough money and never enough budget to get everything you need to support the business." Solvay's McMillan says budgeting may play a part, but the worst thing about his job is that his European counterparts are not as comfortable with change. "Sometimes the speed of change is not as fast in Europe as it is here in the U.S.," McMillan says. "We've been pretty fortunate here in the U.S., because we've been able to pioneer a lot of technologies that are just now being adopted in our company worldwide, but the overall pace is slow, and that can be frustrating." A blessing and a curse Others find it difficult to separate the best and worst of their job. "My best and worst thing are the same, and that's the hours I work," says Jonathan O'Brien, systems engineer at Active IT Design, an IT consultancy in Fort Mill, S.C. "It's both a blessing and a curse."



	"I may have a week where everyone's chugging along fine, and then I'll get to go play some golf or go to the gym at 10 in the morning -- which is a definite perk over a regular 9-to-5 job." Jonathan O'Brien, Systems engineer, Active IT Design, Fort Mill, S.C. O'Brien says that some days he works until 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., but then again, some days he can sleep until noon. His hours are completely self-customizable, but they're also long. The problem is that he consults for a wide range of clients, and for many of them, he's the only IT staff they have. "I'm always on call, always available by cell phone, and I check my e-mail probably every 15 minutes every day," O'Brien says. Sometimes that's stressful, like when he gets emergency calls at 11 at night. But at other times his hours can't be beat, he says. "I may have a week where everyone's chugging along fine, and then I'll get to go play some golf or go to the gym at 10 in the morning -- which is a definite perk over a regular 9-to-5 job," O'Brien says. "And I also like the fact that it's up to me. If I do my job right and well, I have more free time." Cummings is a freelance writer in North Andover, Mass. She can be reached at jocummings@comcast.net.