Different Works in IT

In IT there are different types of works. Not everyone realises this and not everyone knows which field of work they are in and which they are not in. For example an operations engineer who has worked in operations for a considerable time of his career might find it difficult to adjust in a deployment role or an architecture position. If you are in one line generally the hiring party knows your line and try to select a person from within that line. There is a difference between running an already built system and setting up a system. There is a difference between setting up a system already designed and designing of a new system. The design of the system is dependant on the requirements from that system and the tools and protocols you have at hand. The requirements of the application dictate the design. This work of requirement analysis and design is different from installing the system. Furthermore design and install are both different from running a system continuosly. These are all different skills and some people know all three and settle in one while some people know only one and work within that one. Generally these are titled Operations which is running a system and Deployment which is installing a system and Architecture which is designing a system.

Installation and Deployment fall under project execution work and Architecture and Design fall under project planning. Running a system and operations is generally considered non-project. It is good for an engineer to know the line of business he is in and choose to either intelligently acquire further skills within his line or acquire the skills of another line and move into that one. An Operations engineer might work in Ops for a few years and learn design skills and try to move into Deployment Project work. He may then move onto Design and Architecture work. Operations work are normally 24/7 all week 365 days of the year and this require weekend shift and night shifts and oncall work. Project and Deployment work are generally day time office hours work but the site installation work is somtimes done after hours in a planned maintenance window. Architecture and Design is mostly 9-5 business hours work. Some operations roles are now done internationally in a follow-the-sun manner across countries and across timezones. This means that in one country when it is daytime their engineers are on call and are running the system and after sunset another country wakes up and engineers in that timezone are handling the operations in their daytime. This is called follow-the-sun operations and in organisations running like this ops work also is in daytime only. Normally these are large organisation spanning the globe with presence in multiple countries.

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