Risharde's Blog

Written by Risharde Ramnath exclusively for TriniNation.com

Good day to all my readers and especially the few fans I have lol Today, I would like to briefly share my [i]opinion[/i] with you about the problems facing IT related jobs in Trinidad and Tobago. So this will be short and sweet and of course, [i]technology based[/i] at times.

Problems facing IT employees

1. There seems to be a lack of any form of respect for IT jobs and I see this happening alot when it relates to higher management views towards IT personnel. In other words, it seems management of companies don't seem to respect IT personnel since they are generally below in the hierarchy. This is dangerous and not in the best interest of management.

2. Most Trinidadians and Tobagonians believe that they are computer literate simply because they can do basic tasks. I must define that the word literate relates to different areas and aspects so people and especially Human Resources need to understand and be able to differentiate skillful IT personnel over the every day average computer user (since there [i]IS[/i] a difference.

3. Due to my previous point, it seems IT personnel don't get the pay it deserves and when they do get a lot of pay, they are treated like dogs or worked to the bone. I want to see what happens when people with potential leave the industry or Trinidad, we'll end up with super unskilled IT personnel that can't think outside the box or implement amazing solutions.

4. IT should reduce your stress, make processes easier, more accurate and be rewarded for doing so. This is self explanatory.

5. Most managers are power hungry or control freaks in Trinidad and Tobago, this is even WORSE for a lot of IT managers. Managers must remember that they manage and don't always have the skills or ability to do implementation, or even the time and therefore require their workers to implement for them. In other words, while you may be at a top rank on the business chart, you as an IT manager should sometimes shut up and let your workers feed your ideas or allow them creative freedom to do their work.

6. Businesses want a lot out of their IT staff but they aren't willing to give them the resources. What is the point in this? You hire staff, you want to get projects done but you don't want to give them the necessary tools to get it done and THEN, you abuse them for not getting it done. Hold up, who stop the payments? Maybe you should be getting down to business with your finance department instead of the IT department?

7. People tend to blame the IT department for stupid things like virus protection. Wait, don't jump the gun, I haven't finished explaining. Yes, its important to have virus protection but why should IT be blamed for a virus you brought on your memory stick, after all, IT tries its best to get the best antivirus software for you. If the software fails to clean a virus, did the IT department build the software? MOVE ON, help IT get a better solution, don't condemn IT for something they have little to no control over.

8. I've been on interviews where managers say, Oracle is the best, its enterprise so anything else (such as Microsoft SQL) can't match up and we won't use it, in fact, I don't want you because you don't know what enterprise databases are... and btw, Ministry of Land, Marine and Agriculture, I am a bit confused as to why you all need Oracle but good luck. Because Oracle is the best doesn't mean that you NEED to have Oracle. There's a very important difference in requiring Oracle for something another piece of software can do, especially if you are implementing simple databases that aren't very large... Why go through the expense of have the best when you pay millions more for it and don't need the added features, not to mention the overhead of maintaining etc.

9. Trinidad and Tobago seems to interpret IT based on paper qualifications and not necessarily true talent. For example, a man may not have a masters in IT, but be capable of implementing better than someone with a masters. The Interview Process doesn't generally help to display the skills that the man without the Masters degree would have. You may ask what is true IT talent? In my opinion, a person who can adapt to an environment quickly, learn quickly, figure out how things work without always having to read help or some sort of formal document, someone who loves to do it and not just do it for money... natural talent, quick learning, that sort of thing, you see the person doing something and you just know he has it. That kind of talent is what you really need. People who don't just talk but can do... and better yet, do it well.

10. IT management make their IT staff look bad in a lot of cases thereby making the respect situation worse and giving end users the wrong idea.

11. Last but not least, the most dangerous statement is... IT staff have the ability to cause a business to fail. Treat them with respect or perhaps, face the consequence of a disgruntled IT employee. Let me be more specific. Data loss? Virus infection? Leaked confidential information? System failure?
Treat your IT employees bad and you may just get what you deserve and a whole lot more.

This is not the end all, be all, just some interesting points for you to really understand that in most cases, IT staff is under-rated, underpaid, endure illogical bastards who speak but cannot do and of course, have to live with contracts while doctors who make mistakes technically kill people and finance managers who spend money bad take home big checks while IT staff cannot afford to buy parts for their car which helps them reach to work.

I MAKE NO APOLOGIES FOR THIS ARTICLE.