Programming

I'm not in IT but used to work with a very old terminal based data storage and retrieval system.

If the original programmers had implemented a particular feature, it was very easy to enter a command and have it spit out the relevant info.

But as times changed, the product outgrew its original boundaries, and on a regular basis clients would ask for specific info that would require printing out decades worth of data before searching and editing it to get what the client wanted.

I can not tell you how many times I heard the phrase, "Can't you just push a button or something and get the information now??"

The thing that infuriated me the most was the idea that somehow we could do that, but didn't want to, as if there was some secret button under the desk that we could push for our favourite clients. Ugh.

It goes a bit farther than that, even: IT work doesn't always equal IT work. Someone can be an expert in managing Linux-based load sharing servers and have no idea how to help a family member troubleshoot why their windows install is slow. Sure, they might have a better idea about how to start, but they'd be essentially starting from scratch for that specific problem rather than being able to apply any of their expertise to it.

Think of it like a programmer is a car builder, some IT people drive them for a living, others are mechanics. Someone who specializes in driving F1 cars might not have any idea why your car is rattling. The programmer might be able to figure it out if they built that car or the cause is something similar to what they see in the ones they have built. But if they build semis, odds are that isn't the case. But they might have a better idea than say a doctor.