Overclocking

While a lot of IT people are really into cars, the hot rodding culture bleeds into technology in a big way. Not simply modding things but making them faster. In many ways CPU speeds are moot. For the vast majority of people, whatever comes in their Best Buy computer is fine for the 3-4 years they will have it. After 3 years it will have the spyware, malware, desktop icon wasteland equivalent of a Thai shrimp farming pit.

But for some people who love first-person shooters, edit video, do effects and 3d work or just like fast things, overclocking, modding, SSDs and the like are where it's at. And when you get a bunch of smart, motivated, overly caffeinated people on the case... Watch out.

The IT Cave

Every company has one. That room where the "IT people" live. It may have been born of the need to segregate early IT types from the rest of the company as they scared all the marketing girls and tended to be really messy.

It grew into part of the fabric of IT culture. IT people work in the IT room where all their "stuff" is, piled up to the ceiling where if you look at it, you can notice the strata representing the history of computers.

It also came from the "need" of IT people to stay away from constant drive-by requests that made it nearly impossible to get work done. So, rather than meeting those challenges head on, we retreated into caves, taking our junk with us, never to be seen again.

I personally dont think IT people should work in IT caves, it only reinforces antisocial stereotypes and an us & them attitude but it will be a long time before most of us come out from the caves into the sunlight.