快猫短视频

ON the IT helpdesk in a dingy basement, Roy is drinking coffee and licking doughnut sugar from his fingers. The phone rings: 鈥淗ello IT.鈥� He listens carefully. 鈥淗ave you tried turning it off and on again? OK, well, the button on the side. Is it glowing? Yeah, you need to turn it on鈥� you do know how a button works, don鈥檛 you? No, not on clothes鈥� I鈥檓 sorry, are you from the past?鈥�

This scene from TV comedy The IT Crowd, depicting one of the characters wearily answering a computer-illiterate caller, captures just how crucial the IT specialist is in today鈥檚 working world. Without the people who know that Java is more than just a type of coffee, everything else would fall apart.

Yet that鈥檚 where the parallels end. In real life, computer-savvy professionals don鈥檛 stew in dingy basements. Instead, many work in glass offices on the top floors of the country鈥檚 most exciting companies. 快猫短视频 spoke to a selection of them to find out what it feels like to have chosen the smarter career path.

Perhaps one of the most coveted jobs in IT is a role at Google. David Singleton, a software engineer at the company, says it is a pretty special place to work. Industry experts give regular tech talks 鈥� a bit like the popular ones given in the auditorium of Apple stores 鈥� to keep all staff up to date with the latest trends. What鈥檚 more, should staff feel the need for a little relaxation to stimulate their minds, there are huge beanbags for them to lie back in. And there really is such a thing as a free lunch here: many employees are given a complimentary bite to eat in the canteen every day.

Singleton first encountered Google鈥檚 offbeat culture on the day of his job interview. He had followed the company鈥檚 fortunes since its early days, so after graduating from the University of Cambridge with a degree in computer science he jumped at the chance to apply when he spotted an opening. At the interview, rather than facing a board of executives who would ask the usual humdrum questions about his leadership skills and what he thought his weaknesses were, Singleton spent a day with his potential colleagues talking through tricky coding problems. 鈥淚t was completely hands-on, solving real problems, and actually really good fun,鈥� he says.

Fast-forward to the present, and a typical day for Singleton is a combination of programming and discussing how a technology will end up working for ordinary people. For example, he is trying to make Google鈥檚 search engine easily available on mobile phones, so owners can do things like find a taxi firm in a strange city. 鈥淚 sit down to program and have the freedom to be as creative as I like,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what keeps me coming to work in the morning.鈥�

Singleton says that one of the best things about working for Google is that bosses tend to recognise a good idea no matter who it comes from; seniority does not come into it. Employees are given what is called 鈥�20 per cent time鈥� to work on their own ideas. Gmail and Google News both started out in this way. There are even whiteboards throughout the building, so colleagues can bounce ideas off each other wherever they are 鈥� even in the canteen. 鈥淕oogle has a very flat structure. That means that rather than having directions forced down from the top, really good ideas percolate from anyone upwards,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he team tends to work together to come up with a solution to any problem rather than splitting the task depending on rank.鈥�

Going it alone

Some people prefer to avoid the bureaucracy of a big company altogether no matter how offbeat the working environment. If you are one of them, the answer may be to break out and set up on your own. Five years ago, Dan Haagman did just that by setting up computer security company 7Safe, after leaving his position as a computer security expert at the London Stock Exchange.

Haagman鈥檚 firm specialises in two areas. The first, ethical hacking, is about helping companies expose security flaws by breaking into their data. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 take on ex-hackers,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all very ethical so we can鈥檛 have anyone with a dodgy past.鈥� The second, digital forensics, can involve working with the police to recover evidence from hard drives and mobile phones. For example, last November 7Safe provided expert advice and evidence that helped convict a man who had hacked into young girls鈥� PCs and secretly recorded them using their own webcams. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Specialists like Haagman often find themselves knocking down doors with law enforcement officers. 鈥淚f a computer is seized in a raid, the police used to confiscate it,鈥� Haagman explains. 鈥淣ow, we have to go in and look at the data before they pull the plug. All computers and mobile devices leave a digital footprint and this must be analysed.鈥�

Knowledge of how to harvest hidden virtual information is evolving, so you need to have your finger on the pulse, he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all moving very fast, and it offers a really exciting career as long as you are driven and willing to be constantly learning.鈥�

The same goes for most jobs in such a fast-moving sector. The good news is that there has never been so much choice about where to work, so no matter what your passions are, there is probably a niche for you. 鈥淓very business in the UK has some level of IT requirement,鈥� says Stephen Wilkinson of recruitment agency The Ashdown Group. Obvious it might be, but consider that this means there are now opportunities for IT specialists everywhere from campaigning charities to TV broadcasters.

Karen Flanagan took advantage of broadcast giant BSkyB鈥檚 increasing demand for IT talent. The media has had to adapt to our increasing hunger for information on demand, whether it is on a news web page or a podcast. Websites are becoming richer in audio-visual content and more tailored to our particular interests. Smart IT specialists play an important role in ensuring all of this is available, and must continually adapt as each wave of new technology arrives.

Flanagan鈥檚 job is to manage projects with a technology bent. For example, she helped launch Sky鈥檚 high-definition television programmes (HDTV), which meant making sure that the digital broadcasts and set-top boxes worked properly at the unveiling. 鈥淓verything the company wants to do has a technology and IT component to it,鈥� she says.

Not all career paths in IT have the glamour of TV companies, police forensics or the world鈥檚 most popular search engine, but it is undeniable that the high salaries and other perks can more than make up for it, says Shelly Barta of recruitment agency Elan Computing. For every position crunching customer data in the back room of a bank, there is at least one other career path with far better prospects. For instance, Barta recently found someone a job with insurance giant AIG, the company that sponsors Manchester United. Insurance might not float everyone鈥檚 boat, but there was a sweetener. 鈥淭he best thing about this is the location 鈥� it鈥檚 in Bermuda,鈥� she says.

聯The best thing about this job is the location 鈥� it鈥檚 in Bermuda聰

So will the next series of The IT Crowd feature a tanned cast in tropical shorts, tapping into their laptops from under the shade of a palm tree? It鈥檇 never work.