Hold your nose! IT's dirtiest jobs

Somebody's got to do them these tech tasks -- and hopefully that somebody isn't you

InfoWorld |

Working in IT isn't always pretty -- we can't work on the cutting-edge technologies all the time. Some of us have to get dirty -- in some cases, literally.

Unfortunately, dirty jobs -- whether you're being chained to a help desk, hacking 30-year-old code, finding yourself wedged between warring factions in the conference room, or mucking about in human effluvia -- are necessary to make nearly every organization tick. (Well, maybe not the human effluvia part.)

The good news? Master at least one of them, and you're pretty much guaranteed a job with somebody. That may be a real advantage in these tough times. We don't guarantee you'll like it, though.

Here are seven of the dirtiest jobs in IT, and why your organization needs them.

Dirty IT jobs home
Dirty IT job No. 7: Legacy systems archaeologist
Dirty IT job No. 6: Help desk zombie
Dirty IT job No. 5: On-site reboot specialist
Dirty IT job No. 4: Interdepartmental peace negotiator
Dirty IT job No. 3: Enterprise espionage engineer (black ops)
Dirty IT job No. 2: Datacenter migration specialist
Dirty IT job No. 1: Sludge systems architect

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Dan Tynan has been writing about technology since Mark Zuckerberg was in nappies. A prolific freelance writer whose work has appeared in more than 70 publications, he is the former editor in chief of Yahoo Tech and a longtime contributing editor for InfoWorld and PCWorld.