Personal Story - Wan Chan

What is IT? Some might think it is physical computers, our smartphones, or maybe some dark magic that you use every day but you do not quite understand what it is. That is what I deal with every day, yes, weekends as well. When I first started attending our church about fifteen years ago, I can remember my pastor could not hiding his excitement because, finally, there was someone that he can go to when IT related issues came up.

I grew up in the 80’s and early 90’s, when the entertainment was TV, LPs and CDs. The computer was not a necessary item yet. During my middle school, my father brought home a monster one day. A monster that communicates through strange words that you type on a keyboard. I was questioning, “Dad, what are you doing? What is that clicking sound?” “This is a computer, I’m communicating with it through computer command, and I am talking to your aunt on the other side of the world.” He replied. I asked skeptically, “Really? Prove it.” A new line of words started appearing on the little TV, include my DOB, the name of my school, etc. “Wowww, that is magic. How does it work?” “How would I know? Who do you think I am? A magician?” My dad laughed.

A few years later, I decided to study magic; no, I meant IT when I attended the University of Maryland.

With an undergraduate degree in Information Science, I landed a job as helpdesk technician at the Clark School of Engineering. Fast forward 25 years, and I am still trying to understand the magic that we call IT.

So what is IT then, you may ask. While it may have various subfields and specializations, I define it overall as how we communicate and pass knowledge to each other.
 

From the September 2024 CBMG Newsletter