How Do You Tell Your Parents What You Do In IT?

Estimated reading time: 1 mins

I’ve been in IT for over 15 years and risen to senior ranks in my career, and still my folks think I wander the floors in a boiler suit! Do yours?

There is still this huge brush that all IT professionals and leaders are tarnished with, and it was built from the days of the original Star Trek season, the movies War Games and Weird Science, and the like, and also from the images of when IT departments skulking in basements surrounded by tape-reels and fan-fold print outs.

Most people don’t really understand how IT has evolved to become ‘business’. The Information Age came in, perhaps without them noticing.

So as a CIO, IT Manager, Business Analyst, System Tester or Web Developer (etc), are you asked to call your mother’s dear old friend to help them solve the problem with their mouse, or get rid of that annoying blue-screen?

How do you tell your parents what your job is about, if they have absolutely zero context to understand it? If you know of a way that works, then tell me!