But IT doesn't have occupational props anymore. We don't wear lab coats, it was always silly to , and everybody has a computer. Who are we?

Nor do most of us patrol a delimited territory in the enterprise. Most IT professionals no longer work in raised-floor, climate-controlled data centers. We've been and most often work in , most of the tools of our trade residing unobtrusively within our hard drives. Where we work physically doesn't give much of a clue as to who we really are.

An anthropologist coming across IT might classify our tribe as what the celebrated international studies scholar Benedict Anderson called an "imagined community" -- it exists in the individual and collective minds of its members but is otherwise nebulous. And yet, ask yourself honestly if there is a consensus even within our own community regarding who we are or what we do.

Collectively, then, we need to take a page from the manual of the modern politician, who has learned that electoral success hinges on being able to define yourself before your opponent does it for you. To not do so leaves our identity in the hands of others. We may not like the identity that accrues around us without our input.

The comic Demetri Martin may be on to something of relevance to IT. Having been told by a store clerk, "If you need anything, I'm Jill," Martin wonders, "If I don't need anything, is she Alice?"