One of the downsides of working in the IT industry is that you find it hard to explain your job to a common man. I had a conversation with an uncle of mine that went something like this.
Uncle: So, which company do you work for?
Me: I work at *** **** ****.
Uncle: Ok, what does the company do?
Me: It’s an IT solutions provider.
Uncle: And what is your job over there?
Me: I am a technical consultant.
Uncle: Oh, so you are a technician.
Me: No, I am a consultant. I analyze the requirements and come up with the solution.
Uncle: (Pretending to understand) Hmm… so you sell computers.
Me: No sir, we don’t sell computers. We provide COMPLETE SOLUTION. If the solution requires servers or PCs then we provide those to the clients but we don’t sell a hardware box to any individual.
Uncle: Oh, ok, it’s a computer business. So how is your father doing?
I was glad he changed the topic. Few days later I met with another uncle of mine. He too, was curious about my job.
Uncle: So, what do you do at work?
Me: It’s a computer business!
Uncle: Great! How is your father?
people in Pakistan have the misconception that a technical person is somehow related to the lowly ‘technician’ field. And by technician what comes to mind is someone who is fiddling around with electrical/electronic components in somebody’s house.
My standard answer is “I’m in IT”. Let them interpret that as they may.
Haroon, it’s not a Pakistan thing, I can tell you that much. We can only interpret stuff at the level we understand it. If someone tells me they are a “Fluid Dynamics Engineer” and I have no idea what the heck Fluid Dynamics is, I’ll think of them just as an engineer.
I could very easily say that I write software for ATM machines, when I was in Avanza. I think everybody in my family and relatives understood it. The task was much more difficult when I was in CresSoft. I usually said, “We make websites.”
Fawad is very right here. In fact, if I tell you that my thesis is about “Generating Counterexamples for Java Dynamic Logic,” you won’t understand it even though both of us are computer guys.
But won’t it be stupid to say something which nobody except your colleagues understand? A better explanation for my thesis would be, “it’s about using a theorem prover to find bugs in Java code.” And if I expect the word “theorem prover” too heavy for the other person, I prefer to say, “it’s about detecting problems in software.”
Aaaaaah, lolz@ technician
Well, this happens with non cs fraternity, it was good to read it!
I work at a call centre in Islamabad. When people tend to hear the word or phrase call centre they think it is a PCO. One question they ask is “acha?!!!” out of disbelief and then they follow up with “to..amm…yeh PCO app nay kidhar khola hay?”
you learn to live with it.
i like it jobs because it is a high paying job and you work in an air conditioned office -’”
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