Thanks, I kind of understood that. But, I was wondering what the IT people might peck out on their computers: I'd like to see a line or two of what they actually do type. And, as long as I'm asking, is it common to be in a cube when you're working? Is a goal to have a cube of your own, or is it a goal to share a cube? How many people can work in a cube? I really know very little about this.
As one of the previous posters replied, IT = Information Technology. Basically, what I do is...I'm in charge of several large systems at work that help our Customer Support organization manage support cases our customers have open with us. All the "screens" and processes they use to open cases, change data in cases, add comments to cases, close cases, open up dispatches (sending new parts to customers), etc, I'm responsible for.
Some of these systems talk to other systems, including some with our third-party vendors. For example, when a customer support rep needs to do a dispatch (send a new part) to a customer, they open up a dispatch and fill out all the information needed to send out the new part. When they submit the dispatch, all kinds of automation has to happen behind the scenes to put together the order, and send that order to our third-party vendor that actually stocks and ships the parts out. That integration between our system and theirs is a huge undertaking, and any bug or change can cause the whole thing to break down and need troubleshooting.
So a lot of what I do is gathering all these requirements these various people have for bugs, enhancements, etc. Some of it is done via email (hence being on email pecking away a lot), and some via meetings (hence being in meetings the rest of the day).
Then, once I've banged enough peoples' heads together and get them all to agree on how the systems are going to be changed, I get to sit in my cube some more and peck out all the code needed to fix the bugs, or implement the changes. This can be a job in itself, because imagine trying to get 8 or 10 "stakeholders" from various departments, some of whom are with our partner companies, to agree on how to change a complex system. They all have their ideas on how it should work, and because you can't please everybody, there's always a handful of people who are ticked off that their idea didn't get implemented.
Regarding cubes, I would say they are the de facto workplace environment now, at least for American companies. In fact, at the Silicon Valley startups I've been at, they try to enforce a culture of "sameness" across all the employees, and even the CEO and execs have cubes (no offices).
I've been lucky because I've only had to share a cube with somebody once years ago, when the company was expanding so rapidly they ran out of space and had to double people up. The norm at least for places where I've been is to have your own cube.
I hate cubes. I've only had a real office once in my almost 30 year career, and that was when I was a real estate agent running my own gig. If I'm lucky enough to retire in a couple years, I will never (and I mean NEVER) go back to working in a cube ever again. Even if I run my own company, I will have an office, I don't care how elitist it seems. I've done my time in cube prison, and will never go back if I can escape it.
