IT has radically changed culturally from when I started and since a CIO was hired. No longer warm, inviting, and loosely run and heading rapidly toward the “big corporate IT” ethos. Necessary, no doubt, but still tough. Management is mercurial: Oddly draconian, paternalistic, and punitive some days; seemingly reasonable and open other days. Not particularly transparent. Radical cultural changes were made without a clear vision or direction from CIO level on down. Honestly never seen or experienced anything quite as odd and difficult to predict and read in my many years in the tech. business. Certainly my perception is more than colored by my long history, but it was still quite clear many significant changes were implemented without warning.
So… long term such changes are probably better for the company (time will tell…) but the culture of the past is now long dead. Certainly it was not all roses back then: Lots of randomization, lack of transparency and openness, no clear vision, we just “did our jobs” and yes it was fun and quite low stress most days. I don’t suppose the management and departmental ownership was very “adult” for most of my time there but it was a fun ride while it lasted. You don’t get the ability to entirely chart your own course very often in your career.
Nearly all internal IT infrastructure is heading toward the cloud (slowly - it will take years) and what remains of that carcass into managed service providers. Almost no internal ownership and technical expertise is left. IT management's perception is technical talent is a commodity and it's cheaper to purchase it hourly vs. invest in people internally. The ultimate message was clear: You are disposable. Typical big corporate IT impersonal outsource-it-all playbook execution.
