1. Our favourite fictional IT pros
The best from movies and television
There aren’t too many movies and
television shows focusing on the work of
the IT professional.
For some reason, the drama of compiling
code or re-imaging a desktop just doesn’t
translate on screen as well as arguing a
murder case in a court room or patching
a gunshot wound in the emergency room.
When IT pros are portrayed, it’s often as
an ancillary character, type-cast straight
out of nerd central casting.
There are some rare exceptions, though.
So let’s take a look at our favourite
fictional IT professionals. Image courtesy of imagerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
By Jeff Jedras

2. Nick Burns
Saturday Night Live
“Nick, the computer guy. He’ll fix
your computer, and then he’s gonna
make fun of you. Cause he’s Nick
Burns, your company’s computer
guy.”
How many times has any IT pro
wished he could tell a hapless user:
“Yeah, it’s the computer that’s
stupid, right?”
In this recurring Saturday Night Live sketch, Nick Burns (Jimmy Fallon) is a
corporate IT computer guy that fits the nerdy stereotype many have of the
industry. But he also says the things IT pros wish they could say to users, but
can’t.
“Mooooove!”

3. Charles “Chuck” Bartowski
Chuck
At the beginning of NBC’s Chuck,
the title character (Zachary Levi) is
stereotypical underachiever,
working in the “Nerd Herd” at a
California Buy More (think Geek
Squad at Best Buy).
Overshadowed by his high-
achieving doctor sister, he spends
his days helping customers with
their mundane tech problems until
a database of CIA secrets is downloaded into his head. Then he becomes IT help
desk technician by day, secret agent by night.
The dream of many an IT pro. Along with the hot blonde girlfriend.

4. Peter Gibbons
Office Space
Of all the movies made about the
Y2K bug, Office Space may be the
greatest. OK, it may also be the only
one, but it’s still pretty great.
It revolves around Peter Gibbons
(Ron Livingston), a programmer at a
bureaucratic software company
that spends his days rewriting bank
software to be Y2K compliant,
filing TPS reports and generally hating his job.
With a downsizing looming, he and his fellow coders create a virus to siphon
money from the banks. But first he dates Jennifer Aniston and lives out every IT
professional’s dream: taking a baseball bat to a problem laser printer.

5. Roy Trenneman
The IT Crowd
A British series popular with IT
professionals, The IT Crowd follows
three members of the IT
department at London’s Reynholm
Industries including Roy Trenneman
(Chris O’Dowd), an Irish IT engineer.
Trenneman doesn’t enjoy work and
tries to dump it on others,
preferring to spend his time
with video games and comics.
His half-hearted stock-greeting to any help desk caller is familiar to any IT
professional. And hey, it works most of the time too.
“Have you tried turning it on and off again?”

6. Montgomery Scott
Star Trek
As the chief engineer and IT
trouble-shooter of Star Trek’s USS
Enterprise, Montgomery Scott
(James Doohan) earned an enviable
reputation as a miracle worker.
The secret to his success is one all
good IT pros employ when dealing
with demanding users: Multiply all
repair estimates by a factor of four.
Yes, under-promise and over-deliver is always the way to go.
While Scotty saved the crew of the Enterprise many times with his technical
know-how and problem-solving ability, he also knew how to keep user
expectations in check.
After all, “you cannot change the laws of physics.”

7. Q
James Bond franchise
In the James Bond film series, Q
(standing for Quartermaster) isn’t a
name. Rather, it’s a job.
Q supplies Agent 007 with all the
tech gadgets and gizmos he may
need, from a laser watch to a
tricked-out, remote control BMW.
Like any good IT professional he’s
always innovating, beta-testing new
gadgets in his lab. And like any IT
professional, he’s tired of
users that sign-out company property from IT and return it in, shall we say, less
than stellar condition.
“Now, 007, do try to return this equipment in pristine condition…”