Dirty IT jobs: Somebody has to do ’em

After awhile you recognize the look. Certain IT people I meet have a special demeanor that says “my job is killing me.” They may be the jumpy and talkative or they may be subdued, but somehow the haunted look in the eyes is always the same.

This week we honor these high-tech martyrs with “The seven dirtiest jobs in IT.” You think your job stinks? We guarantee you’ll find some nastier ones in this compilation of waking nightmares.

Dan Tynan, the InfoWorld contributing editor who assembled this unattractive assortment, views these excruciating occupations philosophically: “Honestly, a lot of this stuff is simply low-level grunt work. The IT people I interviewed think of themselves as more skilled than that — and they are. But their employers can’t trust someone else to do it. Either that, or they’re too cheap to pay someone else to do it.”

The good news is that, at least in Dan’s experience, few IT people seem to stick with a dirty IT job for very long. “This is paying your dues. You make your bones by doing this,” says Dan. After all, if you’re going to rise through the ranks and manage other people, as a rite of passage you should know what it feels like on the bottom rung.

Captains of security

Who knows? You may rise as far as chief security officer. This week InfoWorld Senior Writer Matt Hines looks into what it takes to become a good CSO. As everyone knows, the technical demands of the job have become increasingly complex. The days when you just needed to know perimeter security are long gone. To understand security today, you need to be immersed in everything from encryption to identity management to social engineering. Right?

In fact, the Forrester study that inspired Matt’s story sees this as a matter of debate. More important than technical skills are a range of intangibles — like moral integrity, patience, and business acumen. Character matters in tech leadership positions just as it does everywhere else.

Microsoft’s dirty laundry

Speaking of character, what exactly was on the minds of Microsoft execs when they decided to ship a product with known compatibility problems — and apparently hid them from the public? Internal Microsoft e-mails that have surfaced as a result of a class action suit (in which the plaintiffs claim that the “Windows Vista Compatible” stickers on XP computers were misleading) reveal that Microsoft knew Vista’s User Access Control scheme would break XP device driver UI mechanisms.

Contributing Editor Randy Kennedy nailed that story in his blog last week. He also pointed to a fascinating performance comparison between Vista and Windows Server 2008 in “Super Workstation OS” mode. One guess which won.

If all this negative press about Vista leaves you nostalgic for previous OS versions, maybe now is the time to sign our petition to save Windows XP. We’re right on the cusp of getting 100,000 signatures, so join the party.