Quote: Original post by d000hg
While many programmers see IT meaning "technical support", at a high level aren't software development, network administration and tech support all in the IT category?

Yes and no. The problem with attempting these classifications is that common functions exist in all industries - is an accountant in a software vendor part of the accounting industry or "IT"? In truth, it's a little bit of both. Ultimately, I lean toward the "I do <type of work> for the <nature of business> industry" description.

In the 5 multimillion dollar companies I've worked for (4 US/1 UK), IT is the infrastructure and maintenance department. They setup and maintain the intranet hardware, routing, software (project management to accounting), security, and personal workstations of every employee. Any company that refers to IT in any other way is speaking about a definition I am not familiar with. Many people have differing views of what IT is. Much like testing, it's an ill-defined role that's necessary. It can be defined as simply as whatever the department's skillset or responsibilities have been defined as by (project level or above) management.