You might not expect a Hollywood sci-fi film to resonate deeply with IT professionals, but The Martian—yes, the one starring Matt Damon stranded on Mars—has become something of a cult favorite in tech circles. And no, it’s not just because it features cool space gadgets.
There’s one line from the film that particularly stuck with me. Matt Damon’s character, Mark Watney, says (I’m paraphrasing):
"Space wants to kill you. You’re going to be faced with problems. If you solve enough of them, you get to live. If you don’t, you die."
That mindset? It’s the life of an IT professional in a nutshell.
Now, I don’t mean to say we’re facing life-or-death scenarios (at least not usually). But our daily reality in IT involves solving problem after problem, often in unpredictable environments. Whether troubleshooting a server issue, dealing with a network outage, or mitigating a cybersecurity threat, the job demands creative thinking and perseverance.
Watney survives because of one trait: relentless troubleshooting. He doesn’t panic. He analyzes. He adapts. And that’s precisely what good IT professionals do—figure it out, fix it, repeat.
I remember telling one of our newer employees, who was frustrated that something didn’t work the way it was supposed to:
“Yep. That’s normal. Get over it.”
In IT, you’ll often have to do the same task multiple times, each with slightly different results due to subtle environmental changes, software updates, or even, as we joke, “acts of God.” The truth is, things rarely work precisely the way they should—and that’s why our job exists in the first place.
If you’re someone who watched The Martian and found yourself fascinated by how problems were solved—how systems were rigged together with duct tape, math, and sheer determination—maybe you’d make a great IT professional too.
Because at the heart of IT is a simple idea:
“We fix things. That’s what we do.”
If that excites you more than it scares you, this might just be your calling.
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Stay safe out there, and keep solving problems.