It seems that in the world of I.T. (and I’m sure in other Industries) there are just so many disciplines that one can specialise in; yet so many of us tend to be so over-stretched that we often specialise in many things at once.
I was talking to a very good friend over New Year’s about why so many I.T. Professionals get over stressed and often want to leave the industry all together, and he highlighted some very interesting points.
In many cases your average I.T. Professional is relied upon to be “Handy”, like a Swiss Army Knife that has a solution for every situation. For some jobs, in order to apply the correct solution you need to find a Specialist, and in many cases one is unavailable or nowhere to be found. This, in turn, requires the I.T. Professional to quickly learn and fill the role of the “Specialist” in order to complete the Job.
And therein exists the problem, the strain of having to constantly learn and re-train, an I.T. Professional becomes overloaded, confused, overburdened, burnt out. The amount of working memory a person has is finite; and long-term memory requires months and often years of rote in order for it to develop properly. The unfortunate I.T. Professional often has to learn a new speciality in a matter of days, sometimes hours in order to apply the solution.
So, if you are an I.T. Professional, my only advice is to take it easy and just remember that the hourly rate you charge needs to reflect the fact that your cognitive light is shining bright!