Years ago, being “into” computers meant long, lonely walks home from school, eating lunch at tables far, far away from the “cool kids” and lengthy discussions about the relative impact of photon torpedoes and how Dr. Spock actually could be transported down to the surface of that mysterious planet.

These days, thankfully, Geek is the new Chic and being in the Information Technology (IT) industry offers a lot of opportunities and many benefits that we’ll list below.  When you finish reading our top 25, leave a comment and let us know your top few favorite reasons for being a IT pro.

If you’re in the IT industry, many of these will be common knowledge to you.  If you’re not in the industry yet, or thinking about making a change, you really need to consider these 25 Reasons why it’s Great to be an IT Guy (or Girl).

1. You can work in virtually any industry. Whether your fancy is banking, pharmaceuticals, e-commerce websites, or even the adult industry.  Yes, some IT folks actually work in the adult industry.  All those websites don’t just design themselves.  They all need IT folks to make the wheels turn.
2. You get to play with the latest technology. Depending on where you work, this can be more true for some. For the most part though, you usually get to work on (or at least experiment with) the latest tech.
3. You get to work with other smart people. Many industries are wrought with lazy people and hangers-on.  People who work just hard enough to not get fired, and who get paid just enough to not quit.  Typically, IT attracts smart people which allows you to increase your skills in the process.
4. New challenges every day. Even if you job consists of something fairly mundane (i.e. data backups) there is always the challenge to do things better, faster, cheaper and this presents a never ending set of challenges.
5. You get to be the hero. Many times you’re called upon to save someone’s rear end when they lost the document, spreadsheet or file they’ve been working on for weeks and need for a meeting in 10 minutes.  Sometimes it’s an easy fix, sometimes it’s not.  Either way, you get to save the day.
6. Business casual. Not always, but more often than not IT folks get to dress business casual.  Even in industries that are usually shirt and tie (i.e. banking), the IT department usually dresses down. If not, see #1.  You can work in virtually any industry – so if business casual is important to you, you can always jump to another company.
7. Training. The amount of training will vary from place to place, but as new technologies are released it only makes sense from a business perspective to keep you trained.  Some companies send their staff to classroom training, other offer IT Certification Training videos, while others offer books or self-study courses.
8. You touch all areas of a company. As an IT person, you’re not just relegated to one area of a company’s function.  You typically get a chance to interact with various departments (if not all departments) within an organization.  This presents opportunities to network and open doors for yourself if you know how to develop those relationships.
9. You have the opportunity to innovate. As an IT person, you’re often looked at to offer suggestions on new technologies, ways to improve current processes and introduce innovation.  Understand the importance of this role and take the initiative to suggest and offer new ideas. Even if they are shot-down on occasion, keep making your ideas known.
10. Career development. In the IT industry, perhaps more than in any other, you have the opportunity to take charge of your own career and develop it how you see fit.  You can jump from area to area within an company, jump from company to company, or even change industries completely.  The fact is that the underlying IT infrastructure is pretty consistent across industries.  As you make your moves, you should be increasing your experience, marketability and salary.  It might require making some physical moves or relocations; but you have to decide how important that is to you and what it’s ultimately worth.
11. Stay technical or go into management. This relates to career development, but as an IT professional you have the choice to really stay technical as an engineer or architect, or get into management. Management typically means higher salaries, but it also introduces more stress, more vulnerability (at least at lower level management) and ultimately more risk. Management definitely has its benefits and you can always jump back into being hands-on technical when the need arises.
12. You can keep up with your kids. In previous generations, there usually ended up being a pretty big generational gap between parents and children.  IT professionals typically keep up with cutting edge technology, gaming consoles, gadgets and anything techie.  All of these things appeal to a large section of today’s youth; which allows you to narrow the “generational gap” and keep in touch with your kids.
13. You don’t have to pay someone to setup and maintain your home network(s). Most people who aren’t either a techie or in the IT industry have no clue how to setup, configure and maintain their home systems.  They’re at the mercy of the bench techs are their local technology superstore or their computer manufacturer’s IT help desk (where ever call begins with “reboot” and ends with “reinstall”).
14. You know other IT professionals. Some might say that’s not necessarily a good or bad thing, but think about it.  When you’re looking for advice on a new system, help with a project, a website or a piece of software, you usually know someone who can do it or get it for you.
15. Work from anywhere. Many companies offer the ability to work from home occasionally, if not exclusively.  The nature of IT, remote desktop capabilities, VPN connectivity, etc., allows an IT person to work from home or remotely as easily as sitting at their desk.  Many companies have “virtual teams” with IT people working remotely from anywhere in the world.
16. Get paid a great salary. In general, Information Technology salaries are very good.  IT professionals get paid very well, especially as time and experience increases.  While a first or second year help desk person may not be making a six-figure salary, as you grow into your career, specialize in a certain area and gain a deep understanding of your niche; a six-figure salary is certainly within reach.
17. Lots of opportunity to network. The IT industry has a ton of conferences throughout the year in virtually every area within IT.  Whether your a systems engineer, application developer, database administrator or SAN storage engineer, there are many opportunities to network and learn throughout the year.  The challenge is to find the best ones to attend and getting your employer to send you.
18. Lots of freedom. Most IT departments provide a decent amount of freedom to their employees such as flexible schedules, breaks whenever necessary, etc.  Many other types of jobs require you to punch a clock, take breaks at certain times and be micromanaged throughout the day.  An IT professional can usually take breaks whenever they need and come and go as they please; as long as they get their work done each day.
19. The ability to do things your way. Since there is usually a thousand different ways to do anything in IT, you have the ability to do a task in a way that makes the most sense to you.  Of course there are company policies and procedures and a general framework you have to work within, but typically as long as you get it done, it works, and doesn’t break something else; you can do it.
20. Almost nothing that can’t be accomplished. Within an IT department, often times the business will come to IT and say we need “x, y and z” done.  At first pass it might seem impossible, but the majority of the time after brainstorming, trial and error, and more brainstorming you find a way to make it happen.  That brings about a certain sense of satisfaction.
21. You usually don’t have to deal with customers. Depending on what area of IT you work in, you normally don’t have to deal with customers.  Most of the real IT work (infrastructure, networking, database administration, line of business application support, etc) is done behind the scenes with little customer contact.
22. You can trade services. When you’re in IT, you have skills and resources most non-IT people don’t have.  You can trade those skills quite often for other’s expertise and services.  Whether that means handy work around the house, lawn care, auto-repair, etc., if you are ambitious and like to network you trade services for a great number of things.
23. You’re a great problem solver. Since the majority of IT work involves solving problems you become good at being methodical.  We all know some IT people that are great problem creators, but for the most part IT people are good at solving things.  Learning to be a great problem solver carries over into all aspects of your life and helps in many areas (outside of IT).
24. You’re a great researcher. The basis for solving problems is knowing how to research and find solutions.  Learning how to research again carries over into many other things in life whether it’s helping your children with homework, your spouse with a project or yourself when contemplating starting a new job, making a purchase or learning a new skill.
25. You like to constantly learn new things. IT changes more rapidly than most industries, with new technologies being created every day.  Computers constantly get faster, new methods of accomplishing tasks are always being developed and software evolves sometimes daily.  While it’s true some companies are still running Windows 95 with dot matrix printers; however most IT professionals have the opportunity to constantly learn new skills and pick up new technologies.

Well there you have it.  Our Top 25 reasons it’s great to be an Information Technology professional.  Some of these are sure to be more true than others, depending on where you work and what part of the world you’re in.

Leave a comment, and let us know you favorite reasons for being in IT!