Recently, I've been thinking about the people I know and the tech experts I've talked to over the years. My thoughts drifted toward how different many of these people have been, despite all being in the same basic field with similar careers.
I also realized that although these differences are varied, each individual's focus might be on IT, giving them common ground regardless of those differences. Thinking about this, I was looking at a Zodiac chart when it occurred to me that techies' personalities are similar to that Zodiac chart. So I built a new one, with a computer at the center and a surrounding circle of personality types centered on it.
Geekus
Standing above the computer at the center of the Tech Zodiac
is Geekus. You are most likely male, and you are not only the social
epitome of Erkel and Rick Moranus (doesn't matter what movie) but you
are clueless of the fact. Your life revolves around IT, and you likely
speak fluent Klingon and Binary.
Socionomicus
Unlike Geekus,
you are a real personality. You socialize constantly and have multiple
accounts on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and other social media sites.
You fraternize continually with others at various events and measure
your success by the size of your social network and followers. You are
also most likely to check your iPhone for daily application updates
with excitement.
Excitico
Unlike the other tech types, you
are not just a Geekus or a Suavicorn. No, you are Geekus Maximus. The
largest difference between yourself and Geekus is your overuse of
stimulants and your continued experimentation with sleep deprivation.
You are rarely seen without a Mountain Dew or coffee.
Inepticus
You
are in nearly every way exactly like Geekus except for one important
factor. Inepticus, you have no ability with technology. You've
mastered nothing but HTML, and even that has been deprecated. Despite
your technological ineptitude, you still have the social skills of a
leper. You find updates to your iPhone applications to be a nuisance.
Suavicorn
You, Suavicorn, are unlike any of the other
members of the Tech Zodiac. You can not only talk Geekus into doing
your projects for you but you can convince Socionomicus to introduce
you to her hot friends at the latest Meetup. Your Javascript is like
reading poetry and causes both men and women to swoon.
Goldio
Unlike
all of the other members of the Tech Zodiac you, Goldio, are not really
a techie. You have few skills in anything IT-related, but you are the
money behind the machine, the payroll, the provider of the latest
gadgets. You are the business that makes it happen. Java coding?
Nope. Spreadsheets and client schmoozing? Oh yeah.
I know
there's only six, but that's my Tech Zodiac. Where do you fit in? Are
you a solid Excitico? Maybe you're on the cusp between Suavicorn and
Goldio? Tell me in the comments and I'll tell you where I fit!