the term 'IT' as an insult....please read

when people don't really know what you do, and all they know is that you are heavily involved in computers....they can tend to describe you as being in the IT field. this cannot be more insulting. for me personally, i am a computer engineer by degree, and my phd is in computer science. as dijkstra so eloquently put it "computer science is as much about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." computers are just tools we use to prove our work (and are also the manifestations of the usefulness of our work), which is a great deal of the time complicated mathematics.

any smuck with no education that fixes internet connectivity issues or removes viruses from your pc can be called an 'IT guy.' because of this, when you call a computer scientist or computer engineer an 'IT person' there can be a feeling that you have disregarded their many years of education to attain their level of knowledge and expertise. and no one likes this. call it arrogance if you will, but we have a right to feel this way.

here is a post i saw this morning that resurrected these thoughts that i have held for almost 10 years now:

don't call me an IT guy

p.s. - the video professor is a scam