It doesn’t matter what era you were born in, innovation and change occurred. It must have seemed miraculous in the 70’s to be able to store data on a thin portable disk. Think about it, the 5.25” floppy disk was introduced in 1976 but actually invented at IBM many years earlier. Portable storage is still alive and kicking today but will it be forever? Who knows. There is only one thing you can count on, innovation and change.
Over the past several decades there has been a remarkable parade of new technologies invented. Checkout this cool infographic and timeline. What are your favorites? I about fell out of my chair when I read the Seagate 5MB hard-disk drive went for a whopping $1500 in 1980. Today we buy a 256GB SSD for far less.
IT Professionals have played an important role throughout the age of computing. They’re the folks that build, fix, manage, secure and update the infrastructure most the of the 7 billion people on this planet take for granted. Checkout the KPCB 2013 Internet Trends published by Mary Meeker and Liang Wu. There are some fascinating statistics on internet growth and penetration.
PC computing is alive and well. It just comes in thousands of form factors. The smartphone you use daily today is more powerful than the computer that supported the Apollo mission to the moon. That same smart phone uses many applications running in cloud data centers designed, built, secured, and operated by IT Professionals.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the market for Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts, Database Administrators, Systems Analysts and other IT Pro roles will continue to see strong growth well into the future. This expansion of computing form factors and services will drive opportunity and growth in many ways we can’t predict. Invention and change are inevitable. IT Professionals will continue to be at the core of that change. The future is bright. Your opportunity to lead once again is right in front of you. Are you ready?
We hope you enjoy the infographic and some of the amazing inventions and innovations over the past decades. We also can’t wait to see what you create next!
Also, if you're attending TechEd North America 2013 in New Orleans, please visit the Windows Azure Booth on the showroom floor to pick up your own copy of this fun look at the Evolution of the It Pro, or you can download it here.
