Member Avatar for eddie3377

Hello, I have decided to become an IT
Professional.

My financial Aid counselor ask me to interview 3 IT Professionals...I don't know any IT Professionals. Please Help me with these 3 Questions. You are also welcome to contribute a short paragraph of any other information about yourself, career, job satisfaction that relates to your daily life as an IT Professional.

1. How did you become an IT Pro?

2. Why did you become an IT Pro?

3. Do you love what you do?

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  • 7 Replies
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  • Latest Post Latest Post by PepperAdmi

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If you need three IT professionals to interview but don't already know any, here is a short, practical plan that turns the assignment into useful networking and research.

First, where to find people: campus career services or instructors, alumni on LinkedIn, local user groups/meetups, small companies (call or email HR for an informational chat), and online communities like this thread. When you reach out, keep the ask tiny (5–15 minutes) and give the three questions up front so people know it is low effort.

Good follow-ups to use in the same conversation (they make your write-up richer): what a typical day looks like, the most useful skills or certifications for their role, how they learned those skills, biggest recurring problems they solve, and one piece of advice they wish they had at the start. For your assignment record the person’s name, job title, employer (or “independent”), years of experience, date of interview, and whether you have permission to quote them.

A short outreach template you can copy and edit:

Hi [Name],

I’m a student at [school] completing a short assignment that asks for three brief IT professional interviews. Could I ask you three quick questions by phone or email? It should take 10 minutes or less. I can send the questions in advance and will include your name, job title and the date in my submission only with your permission.

Thanks,  
[Your Name] | [school and phone/email]

Etiquette and presentation tips: ask permission to record or quote, stay on the agreed time, take succinct notes, and send a one-line thank-you afterward. In your write-up, present each interview with the required three answers plus a 2–3 sentence summary comparing themes (skills, job satisfaction, entry routes). Contributors to this thread (, , , , , , ) illustrate how varied IT careers are—use your three interviews to map options and narrow what you want to try next (helpdesk, admin, dev, networking, etc.).

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All 7 Replies

Member Avatar for citbofh

1. I couldn't run fast enough so they caught me.

2. They said it was that or they'd put me in sales.

3. Down, not across. Err (owwww! ok, ok) Yes. It is wonderful. Management and all the others are wonderful, the hours are great, the compensation is embarassingly generous. Also, people are not stupid about IT, ever. Most days, I skip and sing on my way to work.

Member Avatar for Narue

1. How did you become an IT Pro?

Networking. I knew a guy who knew a guy who got me a chance to interview for a job.

2. Why did you become an IT Pro?

I enjoyed being an IT amateur.

3. Do you love what you do?

Yes.

Also, people are not stupid about IT, ever.

Spoken like someone who hasn't been in the field for very long. ;)

Member Avatar for BitBlt

1. How did you become an IT Pro?

Answered an ad in the newspaper that offered a training position.

2. Why did you become an IT Pro?

I had graduated from college, and there weren't many Math-related jobs out there for a guy with only a Bachelor's in Math...everyone wanted Masters or PhD. And, I was tired of slicing vegetables at the local sandwich shop.

3. Do you love what you do?

Yes. And no. Both, at different times, I guess.

My experience has been that the satisfaction of being an IT Professional is really dependent on what you specialize in. A guy who does desktop or help-desk support may get his satisfaction from dealing with people (or being able to feel knowledgable and superior!). A programmer may get his satisfaction from writing a really clever algorithm or solving a nasty bug. A management type might get a kick out of seeing high up-time statistics. The guy pulling network cable or racking servers might get satisfaction from surveying a well-ordered and neat data center. The network administrator or DBA might get satisfaction from seeing high throughput or traffic numbers. An analyst type might get satisfaction from producing an elegant process design. And so on, and so on.

Bottom line is that you should understand (at least at a high level) what the different facets of IT are, then gravitate toward the one that suits you. Hopefully, that one will also be the one you're good at. :D Good luck!

Member Avatar for TheNNS

1. How did you become an IT Pro?

School, jobs, lots and lots of DIY projects, countless hours on daniweb and other forums, patience, and a hate for IE6 and perl.

2. Why did you become an IT Pro?

I suck at everything else

3. Do you love what you do?

Absolutely. It's fun trying to figure out new solutions to problems everyday.

Member Avatar for Seten

1. How did you become an IT Pro?
Was curious on how to tweak old DOS games. And so on as time went I started also few my own games and apps for fun.

2. Why did you become an IT Pro?
They cauth me, when I finished school. But not really I was bored during school so I found me a job by Accenture.

3. Do you love what you do?
Yes I do. I don't have to be very social by my work. Also the work is like a puzzle. Every day there is a new think to learn fix.

Edited by Seten because: added
Member Avatar for sloan31

1. How did you become an IT Pro?
I sent out tons of resumes and eventually got called for a junior linux admin job at a hosting company.

2. Why did you become an IT Pro?
I don't know how to do much else and I detest manual labor.

3. Do you love what you do?
Not really. I loved when I was in networking but then some life decisions landed me in IPAM/DHCP/DNS track and it's not very exciting for me. Looking forward to getting back into networking. Enjoy programming too from the class assignments I've had but really only see that as a side hobby, not something I want to do as a career.

Edited by sloan31 because: n/a
Member Avatar for PepperAdmi

1. How did you become an IT Pro?

Was looking for a job. Got an opportunity to join a server administration company.

2. Why did you become an IT Pro?

Once i get in i understood it is one of the best stream. If you have a computer/laptop and an Internet connection then you can work anywhere. So i decided to continue with it. So i became a IT Pro.

3. Do you love what you do?

Obviously. Web Hosting is one of the coolest and best online business and job stream, so as server administration. You can meet new guys every day from different parts of world, can learn etc etc. :)

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