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2Patience Is a Virtue
As you know, one of the key traits of an IT pro is patience, as sometimes it can take awhile to sort through the nature of an IT problem, and also walking the user through the diagnostic process to get a sense of the issue. Thwack member cahunt writes: “Mom was my first support client, patience & understanding were a requirement to assist—after all, how can I get mad at Mom.”
3Sometimes the Simplest Answer Is the Right One
As anyone new to IT, or technology as a whole, will attest, getting caught up on the lingo is key. After all, data sheets and knowledge bases can be a little difficult for the average Joe or Jane to sift through. clubjuggle shares this story of Mom’s computer literacy in the early days: “I remember explaining to her that ‘F7’ was a single keystroke. She’s come a VERY long way since then.”
4Mom, the Family’s Tech Expert
Not all moms needed to have you, their future IT pro children, show them the ropes, as some were the IT pros in the family. In fact, thwack member mikegale’s mom was already planning for him to follow in her footsteps: “My Mom was a computer operator for the European Space Agency so there was never a question for me to do anything else but work with computers.”
5Some Moms Helped Finance Young IT Pros’ Early Careers
For many IT pros, the Bank of Mom helped finance their first forays into IT, from purchasing computers and accessories to paying for classes to help them learn. Thwack member familyofcrowes had to teach her some of the terms, though: “My Mom is not very tech savvy, but while I was in college in 1988, she asked me if I needed a computer and bought me a Commodore 64 portable. Seeing how much I used it she also helped with a 386sx with 40Mb drives … totally awesome at the time. Between that and my programming classes that came the next year I am where I am today.”
6Sometimes Moms Do Get a Little Fed Up
IT pros know that sometimes their tech-infused hobbies and passions can be a bit of a black hole to others, and it’s not unusual to get sucked into the gravitational pull of coding or gaming. Thwack member tavo.villanueva has heard it all from Mom: “I hate you spend all your time on that machine. Are you still alive? I don’t like Internet and the other computer stuff.”
7But They Prove Themselves to Be Pretty Quick Learners
Many moms quickly get the hang of technology, with a little help from their IT pro child, of course. Some of them can even teach their child a thing or two. Just ask IT pro jkump: “I was probably three years into support for computers when my mom HAD to learn to use an IBM AT computer, and in particular, she had to give up her IBM Selectric2 typewriter and move to Word Perfect. That has began [sic] the lifetime of computer support. Fortunately, she does not open any emails that she does not know, she does not perform any updates without asking me first and she has gotten pretty even keel over the years at using software. She at least picked up how to ask questions of the support people where she works.”
8Happy Mother’s Day!
So, thanks for everything, moms everywhere. Yes, thank you for helping us on our careers. Thanks for always being there. And last but not least, thanks for not throwing the computer to the curb when we took too long to take out the trash because we just couldn’t step away from our keyboards and monitors. Happy Mother’s Day!