Thanks to a Silicon.com article, I came across a list of the most stressful and least stressful jobs as rated by CareerCast.com.  I was surprised to see that people in IT related jobs such as computer system analyst and software engineer are considered to have some of the least stressful jobs around.  Really, less stress in IT?

I wasn't always in information technology and my previous jobs over the years have ranged greatly from dish washer to meteorologist.  My career in IT has brought to me fun challenges, stable work hours, good money, and many other rewards.  However, I also have to say that the same IT career has brought me more stress and anxiety than any other job I have had in my life. 

If you are in IT, do you feel the same high stress as I do?  Or am I some type of computer geek oddball feeling more stress than I should?  I really want to know! So please, take the latest poll at CMS Report and answer: How stressful is your information technology job?

In keeping with tradition, the following are seven articles that were posted here at CMSReport.com and received less attention than I had hoped.  Either the reader didn't show up to view the article or there was little discussion on the subject matter.  I'll let you be the judge on whether these articles deserved the obscurity they received in 2008.

1. Walt Mossberg on the Asus Eee PC
2. The Content in 1996
3. Revealing numbers from Alfresco regarding the enterprise stack
4. Are there not enough girl geeks in the world?
5. U.S. Falling Behind as Academics Goes Global
6. The case for a boxed CMS: Security
7. Is Microsoft finally seeing the light with Office?

eWeek has an interesting article regarding women working in IT, or rather, women not working in IT.  The article is, Where Did All the Girl Geeks Go?

A professor says he has only one girl in a computer science major class in 2008, down from 40 percent in 2000. What happened? eWEEK gets field experts to weigh in.

While women hold 51 percent of professional jobs in the United States, they make up only 26 percent of the IT work force, according to the National Center for Women & Information Technology. Furthermore, fewer women worked in IT in 2008 than in 2000.

The article later discusses about the need to put more effort into convincing women that working with technology can be cool.  This argument and others the article makes for how to get more women involved in IT and computer science is a problem.  I don't know a single geek, whether male or female, that had to be convinced that technology is cool.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I've been very fortunate to see CMS Report's numbers of visitors grow as much as it has this past year. While I don't always have all the CMS answers out there, I hopefully have shown that I do have the enthusiasm to keep plugging away. Better yet, I've been able to connect with some people who are just as obsessed as I am with content management systems and other information systems. This year has been a good one!

While my enthusiasm for CMS remains, once again it is time to turn this computer off and rest my weary eyes. I put in some long hours last week at my real job and I need the break. The week started with a software load on our operational systems with a post-install that never seemed to quit. It was one of those weeks that leave you with just one thought: "I hate computers". Those of you in the IT business know the kind of week I'm talking about so I don't think I need to explain further.

To regain my love for computers, I plan to use the holidays to also take another week-long break from IT. I may do a few minor post here or there, but don't expect too much. Perhaps, it is also time for you to turn your computer off and rest your eyes too?  Go ahead, make yourself a cup of hot chocolate and take the break you deserve.  Three out of five IT professionals recommend it. 

Once again, Happy Holidays and I'll see you again as we approach 2007!

"But where would we be without the information technology workers whose vision and drive made those technologies come to life within their corporations?

It's a question that chief information officers find themselves asking more often these days. Indeed, CIOs are staring at a future with an aging workforce, a shrinking number of computer science students and an intensifying competition for information technology talent."

Complete Story

"One year after Hurricane Katrina, many IT managers in New Orleans have shored up their systems. But they still face a shortage of available workers and an overload of fatigue and stress."

Complete Story