Eight Signs You've Been in IT Too Long

Are you an old-school techie? In a world where IT workers are hip, the old image of geeks without a shred of modern sensibility has been shattered. The invisible nerds of yesteryear, eating leftover pizza in the middle of the night at their cubicles, have been replaced by 21st Century technorati, a legion of iPhone-toting, night-clubbing, courier bag-carrying, California cuisine-eating fashionistas. The Fairchild Eight, they aren't. This evolution dates to the dot-com boom. No longer just the wonks behind the curtain, IT folk became enablers of a legendary cash grab, and the riches that were showered upon them changed things forever. But out there among this new mainstream are holdouts, those working in IT long enough to remember when a geek was really a geek. They wear the evidence on their short sleeves, refusing to succumb to the coolness factor that's been lavished on modern IT pros. They revel in their role, preserving a beloved stereotype that seems destined for the history books. To you, IT throwbacks, we dedicate this list.