The IT guy (or gal) who sold his Ferrari

Yes, I almost used the same title to the very famous book by Robin Sharma, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. This inspiring tale provides a step-by-step approach to living with greater courage, balance, abundance, and joy. A wonderfully crafted fable, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari tells the extraordinary story of Julian Mantle, a lawyer forced to confront the spiritual crisis of his out-of-balance life.

I guess I am using a similar title since the book kind of inspired this post. I really don’t want to detract from what is an extremely powerful book, but I have taken some lessons from the book, that can be applied in a small way to our role in the IT community.

The IT guy in general have really had a rough time, I guess since forever. I won’t go too far back, but in the early 90s the geeks were just that. In late 90s we were either blamed for Y2K or the dotcom bubble. In the 2000s we were recovering from Y2k and the bubble and just when we wanted to step into the limelight 2008 (financial crisis) happened. And I guess we all feel like we’ve been picking up scraps to survive and prove our worth in business and society. Don’t get me wrong, these were just the lowlights. There has been plenty of highlights, which I don’t want to bore you with (since it is not really the focus of this post anyway), but yes… Apple has been good for the industry, Microsoft in the 90s and social media in general has made IT so much more cooler, although I don’t think the average guy on the street really connects the dots and give credit where it is due.

But I want to explore the life of the normal IT guy. The server administrator, the developer in a IT department somewhere. The systems engineer and IT manager hidden from eye. I myself have been an IT guy my whole career for a large corporate. I think it is time that the IT guy reinvents himself/herself.

IT is one of the CORE components to ANY industry. It is not tactical. It is not a support function. It is a core function. Strategic in every sense of the word, but yet, we as IT guys are not always playing our part. Stepping up and into that role. I believe we have moments of brilliance but we need to remold the persona of what an IT guy is. Maybe the term IT guy itself is part of the problem, but either we need to change.

The consumerization of IT has shown us what is possible. How we can affect people’s lives and how we can change the world, but a small percentage of us will ever work for the big guys, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook. We see their cultures and the campuses and we think, “Wow, if only I worked there, I would do so much more, be more creative, be inspired”. Well, that’s a cop-out. Your view towards your work and the perception you create about IT is within your control now. Today!

You can be the all inspiring, creative, life-changing, society building IT guy that you want to be. We all (most of us) started in this industry because we like technology and we like being creative. And maybe even create something that people will like and can change their lives for the better, but somewhere along the way of a career, or a project life cycle or a day, we keep forgetting our passion. The irony is that that is the only thing we need to change. Passion. That’s what sets apart a normal IT guy from a Steve Jobs or a Bill Gates. That garage-fuelled, under-appreciated passion to want to prove yourself to the world. To change the world.

The challenge today is:

Be that new IT guy that (if I may borrow from Mr Sharma):

• Develop joyful thoughts about your work and industry
• Follow your life’s mission and calling which is to create wonderful solutions that can inspire and help people
• Cultivate self-discipline and act courageously in your work
• Value time as your most important commodity,
• Nourish relationships with your fellow IT guys and your business partners
• Live fully, one day at a time and make our industry proud.

I will check back in 5 years time and look forward to meeting some new IT guys.