IT is most stressful job, survey says
With more firms depending on systems, pros under pressure
The Dallas Morning News
January 21, 2007
By MARY JACOBS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
It was a retailer's doomsday scenario: On the day after Thanksgiving, one of the biggest shopping days of the Christmas season, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Web site failed. According to Information Week, the system was down 10 hours, greeting visitors with "Come Back Later."
And somewhere, behind the scenes, some information technology professionals at Wal-Mart were very, very stressed.
The Black Friday debacle shows why a recent survey by training provider SkillSoft ranked information technology No. 1 among "Top 10 Stressful Professions."
"Businesses are becoming more dependent on IT, even more so than just five or 10 years ago," said Jon Davis, director of Western operations for recruiting firm Matrix Resources Inc.
"The system's failure meant Wal-Mart lost sales they will likely never recover," he said.
Growing reliance on e-commerce also means that many companies must run their systems continuously, he added, leaving fewer time windows to shut down for maintenance.
SkillSoft's survey of 3,000 people reports that "a staggering 97 percent of people working in IT claim to find their life at work stressful on a daily basis." Four of five people reported feeling stressed before they get to work, and a quarter of IT pros reported taking time off suffering with stress.
A recent Dice Report online survey asked IT pros, "How would you describe the stress level in your office?" and found that almost 75 percent rated it either "pretty high" or "through the roof."
Another source of stress: In IT, things are happening very, very fast.
On top of that are further demands:
- Companies want employees to do jobs that were handled by two or three people in the past.
- Project cycles are faster because businesses must move quickly to stay competitive.
- Concerns about data security, identity theft and the demands of the federal Sarbanes-Oxley law on financial disclosure have added layers of complexity.
- Software and systems are constantly changing.
- And IT consultants often face short, steep learning curves each time a new project start for a new department or company.
That fast pace creates even more stress for IT pros than the much-touted threat of offshoring or outsourcing, says Scot Melland, president and chief executive of Dice Inc., a provider of career sites and career fairs for technology professionals.
Race to update skills
"Our study found that 82 percent of those polled were somewhat or very concerned about keeping skills up to date," he said, considerably more than the 41 percent who were concerned about losing jobs to outsourcing.
As new technologies emerge - quickly - tech professionals often find themselves designing and learning a new system while maintaining existing ones - all at the same time. Mr. Melland likens that to "changing the tires on an airplane while it's flying."
So is there anything IT pros can do, other than look forward to retirement?
After 25 years as an IT pro, Steve Widom, chief technology officer at Chordial Solutions, a Carrollton software company, says that stress is more manageable when you learn to expect the occasional, panicky 2 a.m. call about a system that's down.
"If systems were perfect, we would be bored," he said with a chuckle. "When we signed up for IT, we knew that's what we were getting into."
And, he adds, because IT is project-based, stress tends to come in waves. Smart stress management involves riding those waves skillfully.
During crunch times, that means working as hard as employees who report to him.
"When they work all night, I'm there with them," he said. During less stressful periods, that means taking time to recuperate. "My rule of thumb is, for every all-nighter you pull, you need two days of comp time."
Similarly, Mr. Melland advises companies to set aside time for IT workers to decompress and sharpen skills between projects.
"When you plan for people to take time for training, it reduces the stress," he said.
'Our Super Bowl'
Mr. Davis' advice to IT pros: Work closely with managers or clients to clearly understand what's most important.
"The people who are able to prioritize do best," he said. "Those who treat every request as an A-1 priority will burn out."
Mr. Widom notes that he's been lucky in that he's worked with managers who are collaborative and "generous with kudos." And when a new system really works and helps a business succeed, that puts the stressful times in perspective.
"When an entire team of salespeople stands up and applauds you as you enter a room, you just want to sit down and have a good cry," he said, recalling a recent project he managed. "It's our Super Bowl.
"You forget about all the pain of the past few months."
TOP 10 STRESSFUL PROFESSIONS
- Information technology
- Medicine / caring profession
- Engineering
- Sales and marketing
- Education
- Finance
- Human resources
- Operations
- Production
- Clerical
TOP 10 WORK STRESSES
- Workload
- Feeling undervalued
- Deadlines
- Type of work people have to do
- Having to take on other people's work
- Lack of job satisfaction
- Lack of control over the working day
- Having to work long hours
- Frustration with the working environment
- Targets
SOURCE: SkillSoft survey, 2006
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