…or IT Director, or Administrator whose duties include IT. It sure can be a thankless job: No one notices when everything is running smoothly but one little thing goes wrong like the Blackberry server crashing, and everyone points their finger at you. Here are some more professional hazards from both the top and bottom…

Are you leading changes in technology and how your company uses it, or are you just setting “acceptable use” policies? There is a tension between innovation and operations that IT Directors, CIOs, et al have to manage. Leadership wants a tight ship, but at the same time might want a few more suggestions out of you for productivity improvements. In a recent Forrester survey, 60 percent of CEOs like their CIOs, but less than a third of the time viewed them as leading the charge in innovation or process improvement.

The Young Bucks think you are the Dinosaur. Another tension is between generations within companies, between those who have learned IT on the job and those that have grown up with it. Those young people who grew up with Instant Messaging question why that port is blocked and why they can’t Skype their friend in Europe. They just don’t understand that to ensure a consistent experience for everyone, certain limits need to be set which means locking down the desktop.

So the lessons learned from these criticisms: keep the lights on but be proactive about have to help the business improve through technology; and be a little more open to ideas from the young ‘uns. So to manage all that you will probably need a little help every now and then from vendors and consultants unless you already walk on water.