familytastic!

I wrote this post back in 2005 on my first blog, and our then 3-and-a-half year old daughter asked me what I did at work that day...

At the ripe ol’ age of 28, I’ve grown accustomed to thinking of myself as a highly skilled IT Manager and a not bad programmer and web designer. When asked, I describe my job as the management of ALL aspects of the network. From the day-to-day support and troubleshooting to the future IT strategy, you’ll find me there, making it all work….

With that in mind, I recently returned from a hard day’s IT management to be greeted warmly at the front door by my little girl. After a big hug, she stepped back and asked, “Daddy, did you fix the man’s computer today?”

Fix the man’s computer??? That’s it??? Ray, do you realise that Daddy does a very important job? I nearly choked!

I tried reasoning with her, but she wasn’t even slightly interested in my ongoing battles with Citrix, or the zombie hordes who I support on a daily basis. She just wanted to know if I fixed the man’s computer!

In the end, I gave up trying. She was right. The office would not grind to a halt if I wasn’t there. The firm’s IT systems wouldn’t come crashing down. People would work around certain things. I don’t even think my monthly management report would be missed at the partnership meeting! No-one ever seems to have read it!!

I don’t think she was trying to do this, but she made me realise that no matter how important or critical I thought my work was, it all boiled down to ‘fixing the computers’. That’s probably how most of my colleagues see it, anyway. In our office, most folk couldn’t care less what happens to you as long as you’re at their side when computer armageddon decends upon them.

But here I have a little angel who really doesn’t care what I do for a living. Both my kids can brighten up my day with just a little love and not much other effort. How often can you say that about the people you work with?