Cataloguing IT Subdiscipines
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There is so little documentation out there about IT as a field, attempting here to collect and catalogue standard disciplines within IT (not roles, just disciplines).
Systems: The most core and broad discipline within IT. Supporting systems, meaning the operating systems and basic functionality, of computers. Including servers or desktops or mobile or whatever. Virtualization and cloud would be subdisciplines within systems, not things on their own.
Networking: Supporting communications between computer systems.
Storage: Supporting the storing of information rather than the computing of it.
Databases: The support of databases and database management systems. Technically a very large subset of applications.
Applications: Support of specific applications, or application families.
Project Management: A management discipline but with an IT focus.
NOC, Helpdesk or Deskside: End user support. Focus is on the support of end users.
Datacenter Support: The crossover area between bench and IT. Where IT knowledge is necessary to handle bench related tasks.
Security: This one is difficult. Security is a component of all functions and sometimes considered its own discipline, but when considered that, should rarely be considered under IT but rather as security itself.
Specifically not included as not IT or not a discipline:
Electrical: Whether running power for servers, determining power loads or running CAT5, these are electrician tasks and would be generally barred from being done by IT either by contract, legal or department.
HVAC: Same as electrical. HVAC is heavily used in much of IT but is a facilities function, not part of IT.
Bench: The physical service of IT or IT-related equipment. This is a post-manufacturing physical support function and truly its own discipline outside of IT. It is not the support of the information infrastructure but the support of physical devices used in infrastructure. The knowledge sets, workforce and tasks do not overlap with IT. This is a field very closely related to IT, but is focused on computers are physical devices rather than computing as a function of business infrastructure.
Architecture: This is a meta-discipline of all of the above combined. It's a generalist role so not focused on just one of these.
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So the big question is, what's missing?
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Where does bench work and and support work begin with regards to desktop systems?
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@Dashrender said:
Where does bench work and and support work begin with regards to desktop systems?
There is almost always some bench work that will be done by IT for practical reasons, just like with anything. You don't call an electrician to plug in a lamp, it's part of just using the lamp. IT might set up a desktop on someone's desk, but the actual placing it there isn't IT work. Any department might do tasks like plugging the desktop in.
Desktop support would be the support of the user and the system. If the task involved opening the computer case, that's bench work. If the work does not require knowing the end user, knowing the system or special privileges, likely it is bench work. Bench work can be scripted (if this, then this) and does not require operating system knowledge or application knowledge to do. One can replace a hard drive without knowing what a computer or a hard drive even is, it is a purely mechanical task and is not IT. IT requires understanding the role and the infrastructure, bench does not.
While it is totally possible that bench work would be done at the user's location, typically it is not. Normally, bench work involves delivering the computer to the repair location where the work is done. This is generally not true in a datacenter, although one could argue that a datacenter itself is a bench location and hence supports that rule as well.