How Clueless Users Lead to Long Days for Tech Pros
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How Clueless Users Lead to Long Days for Tech Pros
Most IT professionals work long hours, and users who create tech problems can lead to frustrations. Despite the downside, most tech pros love their job. -
9 to ?
52% of the IT professionals, managers and directors surveyed work at least 10 overtime hours each month, with 20% working 20 or more overtime hours monthly. -
Thankless Effort
57% do not get compensation (monetary or comp time) for working overtime. -
Daily Planner
Managing IT and IT-related services: 65%, Educating business leaders and users about tech: 18%, Installing, servicing and fixing non-IT office equipment: 9% -
Unfortunate Pattern
25% of the IT pros, managers and directors surveyed said that more than half the time, users who try to resolve their own tech issues before calling IT ultimately make things worse. -
Who Creates the Most Tech Issues for IT?
Senior executives and the C-suite: 47%, Finance/accounting/procurement staffers: 43%, IT employees: 42%, Sales and business development: 39% -
Weighty Matters
89% of the IT professionals, managers and directors surveyed said security breaches represent the most significant tech issue, while 73% cited budget and personnel cuts. -
Thumbs Up
Despite the frustrations, 54% of the respondents said they love being an IT pro, and 40% said they like their job. -
No Worries
Only 9% of the IT professionals, managers and directors surveyed fear that artificial intelligence (AI) will eliminate their job. -
IT Pros' Favorite Operating Systems
Windows: 83%, Android: 47%, Linux/Ubuntu: 35%, iOS: 35%, Mac OS X: 22% -
IT Pros' Favorite Social Media Platforms
LinkedIn: 57%, Facebook: 45%, Twitter: 29%
When you're an IT professional, you have to take the good with the bad, and, fortunately, most tech pros have adopted a half-full perspective, according to an "IT Pros Survey" recently released by SolarWinds. IT staffers continue to work long days: Many put in 20 or more overtime hours in a month, and many do so without being compensated for the extra time. And a lot of their day is spent fixing issues that users (including executives and staffers) attempt to resolve on their own, but sometimes end up making worse. Surprisingly, some IT employees also contribute to this problem. Despite this, an overwhelming majority of survey respondents said they really like—or love—what they do. Maybe it's because they realize how valued they are, or because they truly enjoy working with technology. "In 2016, we found that IT is everywhere, and end-users were expanding IT beyond the traditional four walls of their organizations," said Joseph Kim, executive vice president and chief technology officer at SolarWinds. "This required IT professionals to adopt an 'always-on' mentality. This year's key findings highlight that the trend continues, with IT pros performing their core IT responsibilities, in addition to dedicating time to educate end-users and business leaders, problem-solving for senior executives and keeping their organizations secure from the threat of security breaches." More than 160 IT professionals, managers and directors in the United States and Canada took part in the research.