The Curse of Blue Collar IT
Tech has traditionally been one of the more unorthodox career paths for the better part of the past half century. Few other careers have had the raw flexibility or unbridled chaos of the tech industry. The tech industry has ridden out the dot-com boom and bust, the growth of Silicon Valley as a cultural element, and the corporatization of IT. Things have changed for better and worse, but the majority of IT has slowly evolved into a blue-collar office job.
Tech was once the Wild West where anyone who could code, build, or even just fix a computer could find unbeaten paths forward. The first professional programmers made magic from scratch, but their efforts pale in comparison to what we’ve built on the shoulders of giants. The unordered wildness of the industry bursting into existence and riding the chaos has eroded down into a calmer, more boring sea. Accessibility is at an all time high, but is it really what most people who got into tech still want?
Call centers are ruled by metrics and data analytics on their every action. Every millisecond away from the phone is profit ticking away. The scope of what can be supported gets more and more narrow as the requirements get higher and higher. It feels choking to anyone looking to actually get better. Companies shy from risk which has led to a gradual death of the tech dream as a neutral meritocratic system (whether true or…
