What is IT?
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The products versus services differentiation is a huge piece of it. Unitrends is not an IT firm just because they have hardware in addition to their software. They still make "products." They do both software engineering AND hardware engineering (to some degree) but they don't offer IT services (outside of some really basic deployment services for their own products.) IT services are not a product that they sell, they sell appliances and software (products.)
IT firms are like Perot Systems, EDS, Accenture, IGS - companies that sell services.
Software firms are like Adobe, Microsoft, Oracle - ones from which you buy products, tangible things. -
@Carnival-Boy said:
So what's the difference between a programmer and a scripter? I spend all day writing scripts (or code), but I don't develop products. Am I not a programmer? The Solaris guys I used to work with were all ace scripters - some of their code was pretty complex, but it was all Systems Admin related, not program related. And Microsoft is moving more towards the UNIX route by putting more and more emphasis on Powershell, and less on GUIs.
Generally, as is my understanding, programming means you compile your code, and are writing a program to do something new, either totally or a new feature. Scripting means utilizing something like Powershell, bash, shell, batch, VBscript, etc, where you are running a stand-alone item to accomplish a specific task using existing parameters and programs.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
So what's the difference between a programmer and a scripter?
You do programming as part of IT, but you use it to provide a service, you are not selling that script to others or even the business, right? You operate that script. Your purpose of writing the script is to be a part of the service, not to be a product, I would guess.
Just like any auto mechanic might fabricate their own parts, IT can write code. But there is a huge difference between IT writing some code as part of operations and designing products.
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@ajstringham said:
Generally, as is my understanding, programming means you compile your code, and are writing a program to do something new, either totally or a new feature. Scripting means utilizing something like Powershell, bash, shell, batch, VBscript, etc, where you are running a stand-alone item to accomplish a specific task using existing parameters and programs.
Programming is more broad and implies nothing like that at all. Scripting means using a scripting language, that's all. Neither has any of these implication.
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I think I'm getting more confused about IT, not less!
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I think I'm getting more confused about IT, not less!
Just think of it as...
Do you provide a service (IT, HR, Facilities, Legal, etc. all provide services.)
Or do you make product (does your company package what you make for others?)
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I think I'm getting more confused about IT, not less!
Ok, then I think we need a more specific question than "what is IT". We're giving broad answers but if we have a specific question(s), then it'll be easier.
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To me (the source on all things I say) IT is a big ole blanket that we all cuddle up under to make sure everyones stuff that turns on works, is about to work, or is replaced. IT is for sure the parent of many little technical babies.
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I started my career in technology as a developer and I can tell you that being a real developer for the first twelve years there is a very big difference between IT and development. They have tons of overlap and are obviously highly related, but when you work in both, they are very clearly two different entities.
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@Hubtech said:
To me (the source on all things I say) IT is a big ole blanket that we all cuddle up under to make sure everyones stuff that turns on works, is about to work, or is replaced. IT is for sure the parent of many little technical babies.
Yes, many. It is a huge umbrella for the role(s) that operate technology for a business. But it isn't the umbrella for the also large software development and engineering groups which are also incredibly large. Both would be divisions under "technology".
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@scottalanmiller said:
I started my career in technology as a developer and I can tell you that being a real developer for the first twelve years there is a very big difference between IT and development. They have tons of overlap and are obviously highly related, but when you work in both, they are very clearly two different entities.
That's the thing. I started my career as a developer, and I don't see the big difference. I've also developed software for internal use, so I've been employed by the end user rather than working for a software house.
My life is just a series of if..endif, do while, for..next loops.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
That's the thing. I started my career as a developer, and I don't see the big difference.
You developed products? What kind of stuff did you make?
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@Carnival-Boy I'm very surprised, I've never met a developer that identified with IT in any way, let alone saw them as related. I see IT people often lump development in with IT but normally because they are unfamiliar with development and are not sure what it is, they also often lump marketing people into IT and sales people.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Carnival-Boy said:
That's the thing. I started my career as a developer, and I don't see the big difference.
You developed products? What kind of stuff did you make?
I wrote Health & Safety software for a small software house in the UK, and ERP and Accounting software for a small software house in Hong Kong. Although my title was Analyst Programmer if that makes a difference?
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I wrote Health & Safety software for a small software house in the UK, and ERP and Accounting software for a small software house in Hong Kong. Although my title was Analyst Programmer if that makes a difference?
A Software Analyst isn't a programmer per se but is part of the software development and engineering family, rather than IT. Generally an SA is a very senior developer as they have to have a very high view of programming to do the analyst function.
A programmer analyst should be someone doing a blend of the two roles.
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What kind of stuff did you make?
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@Carnival-Boy said:
What kind of stuff did you make?
I did data retrieval systems for manufacturing when I started. Taught for a bit. Did most of my work in infectious waste tracking and reporting systems.
