We truly are living in the Digital Age. It might sound a little hard to believe at first, but the majority of the people living on Earth—a whopping 5.44 billion—now have access to the internet. And, with the rise and spread of artificial intelligence, being tech-savvy is more important now than ever. With that comes an opportunity for deliciously funny new memes focused on IT. And everyone needs a fun break from all the seriousness in life.
That’s where the massively popular ‘IT Humor and Memes’ online community comes in. Members of this Facebook group share some wonderfully funny content, and we’ve collected some of their wittiest and freshest posts to bring a smile to your faces, dear Pandas. Scroll down to check them out!
We reached out to the creator of the awesome group, Trevor Paquette, and he was kind enough to answer our questions about thriving in IT as a professional and how AI might affect employees in the industry in the future. Read on for Bored Panda's interview with him, including why it helps to be adaptable and curious.
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According to Paquette, the creator of 'IT Humor and Memes,' adaptability is crucial in the fast-evolving field of IT. "Technologies and best practices change rapidly, and being open to learning and embracing new tools or methods is essential," he told Bored Panda.
It's vital that IT professionals don't become too set in their ways, otherwise, the industry is apt to leave them behind. "This includes the 'I only have a hammer, so everything is a nail' mentality; aka: OS [operating system] bias," Paquette shared.
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"Critical thinking and problem-solving skills also stand out as vital, helping professionals efficiently tackle challenges and innovate. Moreover, a collaborative mindset is beneficial given the typically project-based nature of IT work, where teamwork can significantly impact project success." He added that resilience and a good sense of humor are also a big plus because they help IT pros navigate high-pressure moments better.
Bored Panda was curious to get Paquette's thoughts on how AI might affect IT workers in the future. After all, many employees in various industries are low-key worried that they might be replaced at some point, leaving them out of a job.
"As we've seen in the past year, the integration of Generative AI tools in the workplace is causing some anxiety about job security. Word to the wise for the decision makers: AI is not the silver bullet, cost-cutting Pangaea many companies tout it to be. At least not yet," Paquette warned.
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"AI still makes mistakes, also called hallucinations. Lots of hallucinations. Always check what comes out from your question before pasting the answer someplace else," he advised everyone.
In Paquette's opinion, in many cases, AI is more likely to "augment the capabilities of IT professionals rather than replace them." He told Bored Panda that, for instance, "AI can handle repetitive tasks, data analysis, and even some levels of customer service, which can free up IT employees to focus on more complex, creative, or strategic tasks that require human oversight."
On top of that, there's a growing demand for professionals who can develop, maintain, and manage AI tools. This, according to Paquette, could lead to new job opportunities in the IT sphere. "Emphasizing continuous learning and adaptability will be key for IT professionals to leverage AI as a tool for enhancing their roles rather than viewing it as a threat."
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Statista reports that there were 5.44 billion internet users around the world as of April 2024. At the time, this amounted to 67.1% of the entire population of Earth. The vast majority of these internet users are also social media users: they comprise 5.07 billion people or 62.6% of the global population.
Norway, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates embraced internet technology the most. As of April 2023, 99% of their population used the internet. On the other hand, barely anyone has internet access in North Korea.
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Asia ranks first globally, with over 2.93 billion internet users. In second place is Europe, with around 750 million users.
Internet use is the most widespread among young individuals between 15 and 24 years of age, no matter what part of the world we’re talking about. Meanwhile, internet access is closely correlated with a country’s income level. For example, 92% of the population of high-income countries use the internet. Compare that to barely 26% of the population of low-income nations.
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The ‘IT Humor and Memes’ community will be celebrating its 5th birthday in late May. The group has grown massive over the years. At the time of writing, it boasts nearly 1.5 million IT-loving members from all corners of the planet. It’s continuing to grow at an impressive pace, too. Just last week, 6k new members joined the community. If you enjoyed this community's content as much as we did, consider joining up, too.
According to the team running ‘IT Humor and Memes,’ the group is meant to be a “small corner in the big Facebook world” for the sake of letting off a little steam. In short, it’s all about escapism and having a bit of fun.
However, the team points out that humor is a very subjective thing. Many of us have a different sense of humor. So, there will be moments when something that we find utterly hilarious might not get the audience cracking up.
On the flip side, someone’s jokes might not land with us either. There will also be times when you need very specific IT knowledge or context to ‘get’ the joke.
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Something to keep in mind is that ‘IT Humor and Memes’ is a public group. Anything that you post or comment there is going to be visible to your family, friends, and coworkers on Facebook.
In other words, it’s a reminder to be kind and courteous to everyone. What’s more, the team running the group has created a rule that an account has to be at least 1 month old to participate in the community. Simply put, the group is so big that there’s a backlog of pending posts.
During a previous interview with Bored Panda, the creator of ‘IT Humor and Memes,’ Paquette, told one of our colleagues about the roots of the group.
“I created the group when I realized there was a lack of general IT meme groups. The keyword there is ‘general.’ There were developer/programmer groups, the odd networking group, a few hacker groups, but no general IT ones I could find. The posts I submitted to an IT support group tended to get lost in all of the great support questions being asked. So, I thought, ‘Why not start a general IT humor group?’” Paquette said.
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According to the creator, he never expected the group to even hit 10k members, let alone attract the massive number of followers it has seen recently. “The group has become a place to share things that many find funny using shared experience. (In the words of Sybok, ‘Share your pain and gain strength from the sharing.’) The group banner of the ‘ESC’ key leaving the keyboard is on purpose. Many have commented it gives them a needed break, an escape, from the constant stress and pressure they feel at work,” he told Bored Panda earlier.
“For some of the posts, it definitely helps to have a background in some aspect of IT, whether it be programming, networking, cybersecurity, administration, or tech support. The play on words and concepts can be somewhat confusing if you don’t understand them,” the creator explained.
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“That being said, a majority of posts are general enough that anyone should be able to get the humor. What I like to see are posts where ‘It’s funny because it’s true’ could be a caption. When humor mirrors real life with experiences the reader has had, it’s a connection and makes it all the funnier for them.”
For Paquette, one of the best parts of working in IT is that it’s always changing. “There’s something more or something new to learn. Never a dull moment as the underlying technologies advance and change. There’s always a way to look at a problem differently, and for the most part, if you need help, someone else has usually encountered the issue you are having and might be able to help,” he said.
Some posts and discussions on the group get closed down because they get a bit too tense.
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Paquette urges everyone to let people enjoy things and to remember that what unites all the members is their love of IT. “There are generally ‘two camps’ in tech; ‘Us’ and ‘Them,’” he noted. “For example, Android and iOS, Linux and Windows, Apple and Microsoft. Techs have their favorite OS, device, tool, app, or method of doing something; we all do. The Dunning-Kruger effect is alive and well within IT as quite a few techs have the ‘my way or the highway’ mindset. This results in a religious OS war between rivalries, with some discussions of ‘Us and Them’ [becoming] ‘Us vs. Them,’ devolving to ‘Me vs You’ very quickly, with comments becoming insults,” he said.
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In another interview with Bored Panda, Paquette opened up that he has over 30 years of experience in IT. “With 30+ years under my belt, I’m more of a jack of all trades when it comes to IT. Plunk me down in just about any situation, and I’ll either get going right away or figure out how to get it done. However, if I had to pick my strongest suit, it would have to be systems administration and being able to connect high-level ideas to the low-level systems and processes. Because I’ve done both throughout my career, I’m great at connecting the two,” he told us.
What first got him interested in computers was a classmate who brought his Apple II+ to school to show them the ‘Lunar Lander’ video game. “My mind was blown. I knew at that moment I wanted to program and work with computers as a career,” Paquette said.
“Over the years, I’ve gained loads of experience in software development, system administration, DB management, vendor management; you name it, I’ve probably touched on it from doing the work, all the way to managing others that do the work.”
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