Are Are Today’s IT Worker’s Missing Out on Understanding the Demands of the Job?

 

When I first started my career, back in the days of the dinosaurs 😊, positions in IT required a university degree. Coming from that background myself, having earned both an undergraduate and a master's degree, I initially supported this approach. As I moved into leadership and evaluated the fast-changing landscape of IT, I started questioning whether traditional degrees were necessary for success in the rapidly changing IT field. My experience with university education, both from a personal perspective and those that I have worked with over the years, is that most university educations taught outdated and obsolete technology and don’t really prepare employees for the technical aspects of their jobs. This led me to re-evaluate hiring practices, and I began prioritizing specific skill sets and certifications over formal education. It seemed like a win-win: employees gained valuable, job-ready skills quickly, and organizations benefited from their immediate contributions.

However, after several years of hiring employees without degrees, I began to notice a concerning pattern. Many of these employees, often younger and without formal university training, did not seem to understand the full demands of a salaried IT job. Unlike their counterparts with degrees, they appeared to expect a strict 40-hour workweek and consistently sought comp time or flex time for any hours worked beyond that.

When I reflect on my own experience, I realize that my time in university wasn’t just about learning technical skills. It also prepared me for the realities of a professional career. In college, it was regularly emphasized that certain fields, like accounting and IT, required flexibility. There were times when more than 40 hours a week would be expected, whether due to month-end closings or critical system maintenance. These discussions helped me understand that salaried positions often come with an expectation of extra time and effort, and the compensation reflected this.

In contrast, employees without university backgrounds often don’t seem to arrive with this understanding. While they are more technically proficient, they might not anticipate the broader responsibilities that come with a salaried role. This has emerged not just at one company, but across different employers and cities.

To be clear, my observations are anecdotal and may not fully capture the root cause of this issue. It’s possible that what I’m seeing is more of a generational shift, with younger workers in general expecting a stricter work-life balance. Or, perhaps, the trend reflects a difference in how skills-based training programs prepare individuals for the professional world compared to a traditional university experience.

As IT leaders, it’s worth considering whether this is an issue of education or simply evolving workplace expectations. While I don’t have a clear solution yet, I believe this is a topic that deserves attention. How can we better set expectations for new hires who come through non-traditional education pathways? Should we do more to explain the demands of salaried IT roles during onboarding? Or is this part of a larger shift toward rethinking work-life balance in tech?

I’m curious if others have noticed similar patterns. And if so, what steps have you taken to address this challenge?