Week 8 - Professionality

 Professionality

    The topic of professionalism is one that is very vastly debated amongst people, especially when a generational difference comes into play. Far as my life has gone, that also holds true. This is perhaps one of the most prevalent things I have noticed in my interactions with my parents, with whom I actually share two generations of age difference. 

    I cannot say much about the past, other than what I have heard - and it certainly does seem to match a very 'traditional' view. According to most of the older generation, professionals were very strictly either one of two things, depending on who one talks to. Not to any major surprise, what people define as a professional depends largely on their own life experience and who they themselves are.

    For example - my father, who is a rugged electrician and an engineer, sees a professional as largely practical. He expects them to be very hands-on in their field and does not care at all for 'professional speech' - solely results and work ethic. My mother, on the other hand, who had a more academic life and works in the service industry, sees a professional to be a more theoretical person. Someone who dresses up nice, gives speeches, and is 'pleasant to listen to' while 'sounding smart'. These views seem to be largely shared amongst their friend groups and people in their respective professions.

    While that seemed like a bit of a tangent, it ties in with the IT profession just as well. Though I feel like back in the day, the IT profession was much more restricted and they were generally seen more like the latter (an academic, someone practicing the secret arts of technology), this discrepancy still existed. More laborious people tend to value practicality and work ethic more than anything else. They put in a lot of effort in order to get visible results, and as such, they also expect it from others. Clearly the highest factor in their opinion of someone else is how they view work and how 'effective' their work is. Usually a little bit more tempered as well, they are less receptive of bugs and issues and do not accept a more 'lackluster' approach.

    On the other side of the coin, people in the service industry tend to appreciate theory and class more. People in a suit that say smart words (that might not even make sense) are the most appreciated there, seeing as it somewhat suits their line of work as well. 

    Now, far as depictions of IT professionals go, the trends should technically be linked with the timeframe. As we go from the past into the present, labor becomes more and more about 'thought' and less about hands-on work. So, one would expect that in the past - the practical view of an IT professional was more prevalent - where looks did not matter as much and functionality is all that people cared about, seeing a true professional as a smart, but most of all, a hardworking individual - and that in this day and age, a more theoretical view is prevalent - where intelligence is valued more than anything else and that a true professional in the IT field is more like a scientist.

    However, the trends have actually seemed to be reverse (at least, in my humble eyes). When IT was more closed off, a professional in the IT scene was more 'rare' and 'unknown' - and, as we know from the past, the unknown seems like magic. Therefore, people working in the IT were seen as extremely competent individuals who were highly educated and performed 'wizardry' on technology. Nowadays, though, IT professionals are more often than not seen as rugged young people who do not always dress nice, or are just computer nerds. The reputation has certainly.. perhaps diminished a little bit. IT has become a lot more casual, and as such, professionals are no longer viewed as scientists, either. They are people like anyone else, and more often than not, they dress the most casually out of everyone. This backwards trend is very interesting, but perhaps somewhat explainable by people more and more needing figures that they can relate to, not look up to. That's just my two cents, though.