IT Insights Blog

A ring made of a precious metal like gold does not come out of the ground in its final shape and with its quintessential shine. The metal first has to go through an arduous refining process, and I’m not talking about any magical forging that takes place in the fires of Mount Doom. When precious metals are mined, they are impure. Gold, for instance, is rarely 100 percent gold when it is discovered. In order for it to be declared “pure gold,” it has to first be melted down and infused with chlorine gas, which separates all other metals from the gold.

There are a lot of unflattering depictions of technical support and help desk employment — and employees — both in the realm of pop culture and in the world at large. The picture of surly geeks, both disdainful of and disinterested in your problem, picking up the phone or logging you into the ticket queue is so ingrained that a lot of people staring at a tech snafu would rather try almost anything else than, you know, ask the help desk for some, uh, help.

One hundred years ago, life was very different. The year 1916 was a leap year, and appropriately saw some interesting and unusual events:

In the late 1960s, instructors at the University of Southern California created a full-body mannequin simulator for anesthesia students to practice real life scenarios. In the 1980s, when personal computers became more accessible, aviation simulations were developed to give students a taste of real flight before ever leaving the ground. In both of these fields of study, effective training is a matter of life and death, and simulation has been the mainstay to success.

To what extent your earning power is dictated by where you live and work is an open question in employment circles. Things are no different in the IT realm, where factors like supply and demand, cost of living, and the pace of industry growth can all play a role in determining the lay of the land. There are doubtless high salaries to be had just about anywhere that you choose to look for work, but it may be easier to find those "jackpot" jobs in some states than in others. You can get a certification anywhere, but that certification may be worth more in some states than in others.