Why It Sucks Being The IT Guy [INFOGRAPHIC]

MakeUseOf

By Mark O'Neill

Published Jan 15, 2013

One of my favourite comedy shows has to be, without a doubt, The IT Crowd. Before, the IT department in a company had this image of being the fun killers that stopped you from browsing Facebook on the company computers during your lunch break. Post-IT Crowd, suddenly the IT departments were hip, cool and fun people to be around. What a difference a TV show makes (and it's set to return next year).

One of my favourite comedy shows has to be, without a doubt, The IT Crowd. Before, the IT department in a company had this image of being the fun killers that stopped you from browsing Facebook on the company computers during your lunch break. Post-IT Crowd, suddenly the IT departments were hip, cool and fun people to be around. What a difference a TV show makes (and it's set to return next year). And one phrase was permanently burned into popular culture - "have you tried turning it off then back on again?"

Despite the influence of the IT Crowd however, there are still drawbacks to being an "IT guy" (apologies to all the IT girls out there - I mean "guy" in its possible broadest sense). The IT guys are expected to do every single related computer job and their complaining colleagues are often the cause of their own misfortune ("I downloaded "hotnakedbodies.exe" from an unwanted email attachment and now my computer is riddled with viruses! This is all your fault!").

Today's infographic, shows some of the woes an IT person has to go through, from stereotypes to crazy colleagues. Are you an IT professional who can identify with some or all of these? If so, tell us your crazy IT guy stories in the comments below.

And as a treat, for those of you who have yet to experience the delight of an IT Crowd episode, here is a clip from YouTube. Enjoy.

http://youtu.be/sDA1HUmuuJo