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What does an IT Pro Do?
This book is dedicated to IT pros and system administrators around the world who are overworked and under appreciated. While this book is meant to be read to your children, you may want to keep a copy in your office to help explain some IT pro basics to your users. Written by Melissa Tamberg and Mike DeCamp Special thanks to the Spiceworks IT pro community for all of their insights and help in choosing the proper mammal to represent them. Thanks to Specter01101 for the pictures that inspired the server room. Illustrated by Laura Scheving
Honey loved going to school. Her favorite part of the day was circle time, when her teacher, Mrs. Beasley, started the morning with a Question of the Day. In order to keep her daily lessons moving along, Mrs. B had one rule: students had to answer the question in a single sentence.
3 One morning, Mrs. B asked the class to talk about their parents’ jobs. “Tell us what your mom or dad does in one sentence,” she instructed. Honey was worried. Although she had been to her mom’s and dad’s office many times, and seen all that they did, she had no idea how to explain all of that in just one sentence.
Honey listened closely as her classmates took turns talking about their parents’ jobs. Davey’s mom was a firefighter. “She saves people and buildings,” he explained. Toby’s dad was a doctor. “He keeps people healthy,” Toby said.
Layla’s father was a construction worker. “He builds houses and shopping centers,” she shared. Raina’s mom was a police officer. “She protects citizens by stopping crime, arresting suspects, and making sure people follow the law,” she said.
When it came to her turn, Honey hesitated. “My mom and dad are both IT pros,” she said, “but I can’t possibly explain what they do in just one sentence.” “Maybe your classmates can help,” Mrs. B offered. “I know! I know!” Toby shouted, squirming restlessly with his arm raised high in the air. “An IT pro puts all of our games and pictures up in the sky—way up into the clouds!” “No,” said Layla. “An IT pro is the person who repairs the printer and coffee machine.” Davey offered a third guess: “An IT pro is in charge of the Internet?”
Illustration of a teacher pointing at students to call on them
Illustration of Honey standing up triumphantly
Honey realized that her classmates had no idea what an IT pro actually did! “An IT pro does all of the things we’ve already talked about— and more!” she said. “Clearly, this is a very big job,” said Mrs. B. “We aren’t in a rush this morning, Honey. You can take all the time you need to tell us exactly what your parents do.”
Honey smiled. “Well,” she began, “IT pros are detectives. My mom has to follow a lot of clues in order to solve computer problems. Solving the problem means a lot of reading, searching, late nights at the office, and asking other IT pros online or someone named Google.”
“An IT pro is also a handyman,” Honey continued. “My dad is always being called upon to fix things. But his main goal is to manage a computer network—not fix coffee makers, toasters or air conditioners. You call someone else for that.”
“An IT pro is a doctor,” Honey went on. “They have to figure out computer problems and make sure nobody gets a virus.”
Illustration of a doctor typing on his computer
“An IT pro is also a police officer,” Honey said. “My dad has to protect his company and keep bad guys from messing with the network.”
The students looked surprised. They couldn’t believe everything that an IT pro had to do! But Honey wasn’t done yet. “An IT pro is also a construction worker,” she explained. “My mom has to build big computer networks.”
“An IT pro is a mail person because they have to make sure all of the company email gets delivered.” Looking over at Davey, Honey added, “They don’t control the whole Internet!”
An illustration of a mail carrier delivering mail
A teacher pointing at a list of items on a board. The bullet points read: Distance Learning, What is a VPN?, Chromebooks, Student Privacy, Zoom, and Teams & O365
“An IT pro is also a teacher,” Honey said. Mrs. B nodded in agreement, telling the class, “The IT pros here at school have taught our staff how to use all kinds of amazing tools.”
“An IT pro is also a janitor,” Honey continued. “They not only have to keep the server room clean and organized, but they ensure that dirty power never damages stuff.”
An illustration of a janitor organizing the cables in a server room
An illustration of a firefighter walking through an office, carrying a fire extinguisher
“An IT pro is a firefighter,” Honey revealed. “People always want my mom to drop everything and put out their work ‘fires’ right away, even if their problem isn’t very important.”
“But more than anything else, an IT pro is a hero!” Honey concluded. “They are always working hard behind the scenes to save the day!”
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