How outside interest in IT can solve problems we can’t on our own
IT has finally made it! Good news, right?
‘Geekiness” has conquered the broader culture and tech is rewriting every corner of the business.
Unfortunately, all this outside interest in IT doesn’t always translate into support for IT itself, and the broader cultural narratives we hear aren’t often as pro-IT as we would hope. Popular images of IT people look less like us and more like those hollywood heartthrobs who happen to do a little silicon valley investing between shoots. Every week we’re confronted with arguments that marketing (or some other department) should take over IT’s budget. And that’s to say nothing of the opinion pieces arguing IT as an independent department will no longer exist in a couple years as our unique value becomes less obvious.
It’s not all bad
With all of these new threats to IT arriving from our shifting place within the culture and the company, it’s good to occasionally have a reminder that increased outside engagement with IT isn’t always a double-edged sword. Here’s one such reminder: a Wired piece I stumbled on a couple months ago titled NBA Superstar Chris Bosh: Here’s Why You Should Learn to Code.
Unlike some of his teammates who have recently taken to wearing thick prescriptionless glasses frames to press conferences to appear more intelligent, Bosh actually has a real background in the tech world. In his piece he explains how he grew up with two IT-professionals for parents, how he was part of his high-school’s computer graphics club for years (the WizKids), and how he attended Georgia Tech to study computer imaging (before leaving school early to join the NBA).
Flashing geek-cred for a cause
I can hear the groans, but don’t worry- Bosh didn’t write his Wired piece to flash his geek cred to win over the Wired crowd. He wrote the piece to explain his support of the very worthy IT-focused non-profit code.org, which aims to provide every student the opportunity to learn computer science (especially women and underrepresented students of color).
Let’s face facts. The solution to IT-related issues can’t always be solved by dyed-in-the-wool IT folks. Look around your IT department…clearly we haven’t done a great job of attracting women and minority students. There are plenty of kids out there who couldn’t care less about current IT-icons Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg telling them to learn computer science. But I’d wager at least some of those kids would take notice when a popular athlete like Bosh gives the same basic message.
So hats off to Bosh, first for lending his support to a worthy cause, and second for the potent reminder that increased outside interest in IT goes beyond defending our budgets from new threats and celebrities dressed in “geek-chic.” Sometimes outside interest in IT can lead to real support for the work we do, and solutions to problems we haven’t solved on our own just yet.
