Aaron just pointed me to an article at LifeReboot entitled 10 Reasons It Doesn’t Pay To Be “The Computer Guy”. It’s a somewhat sad but funny essay that is mostly true, about the way “computer guys” (like me) are treated. I can’t even remember how many times I’ve been at a complete stranger’s house, invited there by a friend for dinner, and have them ask me to fix their computer as soon as they find out I work in Information Technology. I’ve been approached my people at church, restaurants, on the street…basically any place is fair game for soliciting tech support from your hapless neighborhood computer guy.

In the past few years I’ve learned to say “no” sometimes, but in many cases I have learned to just be mysterious about what it is I do, so that I can reduce the number of support requests right off the bat (I call this my very own personal social firewall–if you’re a geek, you’ll understand, if not, read about firewalls).

I have also learned to see my technical skills as a gift and as part of my ministry to others. I still get impatient sometimes when coaxing others through a process I’ve already explained before, but I now see that as a great opportunity to learn more patience. And it’s still a challenge to be interrupted at any time with a new crisis (not just at work, but from family members and friends) and have to drop whatever it is you’re doing and fix that first, and then remember exactly where you were in the complicated procedure you were performing before.

And then there’s instant messaging. Because my partner, clients and I communicate over IM, I’m usually on all the time. The thing most IT professionals don’t realize is that for other people, IM is fun, it’s something they do to relax while they read their e-mail and check the latest news about Britney’s shaved head, the current status of Angelina’s next adoption, or the next country on the US’s “to be invaded” list. And as long as they’re having fun, they don’t see any distinction between chatting about the weather and asking you to walk them through editing files in Excel. The lack of compunctions about using you as a computer resource that happens in person-to-person conversations is incredibly magnified over IM, because “Hey, you’re at the computer, I’m at the computer, I have a computer question, what a coincidence!”

I really do enjoy having conversations with friends and family over IM as well (and even helping them with their computer problems!), but not when I’m in the midst of fixing a server problem that’s affecting 250 clients all around the world. Setting my IM to “Away” allows me to ignore any and all messages that come in, guilt-free, because I’m away! That way I can choose what conversations I’d like to participate in and which ones can be left for a later time.

I doubt I’ll ever leave the IT industry entirely (like the author of the post did), there’s just too much of a geek in me for that to happen. And I do see helping others with technical issues as part of my ministry, so I’ve learned not to get bitter about it. However, I do find it fascinating that most other people’s jobs aren’t treated in the same way.

• “Oh, you’re an electrician…could you rewire my house on Friday? I’ll make you milk and cookies.”
• “Hey taxi! You look like you’re bored, how about taking me downtown for free?”
• “You work at the Gap? Wonderful! Could you sneak me a discount on some of those wicked jeans I saw the other day?”
• And so on…

There are other jobs that receive the same kind of treatment as computer guys, I suppose. I can think of two, right off the bat: ministers and stock brokers are always being asked for advice on their areas of expertise, no matter where they may be.

And then there’s me, the computer guy who will also be Assistant Minister as of July. *sigh*