My theory is that job descriptions are a thing of the past - kind of like
static content on web pages (bear with me).
In the past, you had your job description and that's what you did - if
anyone asked you to do anything not included in this description, you gave
them a 404 error and that was the end of it.
Now, job descriptions have become 'dynamic' and you are expected to
'diversify' according to 'corporate demands', 'industry trends' and (my
boss's favourite) 'key deliverables'. This basically means that if you are
qualified in one area of IT (ie. "you know stuff about computers"), you can
administrate the network, write access databases, install and configure
strange bespoke software, draw complex diagrams in any number of graphics
packages and answer luser questions like "I'm thinking of getting a computer
at home, what should I buy?" (I was once asked this exact question by a
policeman who, at the time, was booking me for having bald tyres and had to
write my occupation on his form).

I started my current contract as general luser support bloke and now, after
many many role changes, I'm currently working on the rollout of ZENworks on
an NDS tree that has been created and modified over the years by several
different admins to whom the idea of documentation is strangely alien;
whilst simultaneously assisting with the year 2000 contingency plans and
fielding calls from lusers who "can't log in to the intranet from home" or
"want to print to the colour printer upstairs".
Speaking of year 2000; someone here had the bright idea of buying 5 machines
from a different supplier to be distributed between our 150 users 'just in
case' _all_ of our Dells spontaneously combust on the 1st January.
Unfortunately, they must have had a budget of approximately a tenner because
the 5 Fujitsu's we have are the most hideously unreliable piles of shite
I've ever had the misfortune to work with - they even have apparent hardware
conflicts with their pre-installed network cards!

Anyway, I have obviously succumbed to the dark forces of BOFH as what was
originally going to be a brief note has turned into a page long rant.
Now it's 12 o'clock all of a sudden and time to fulfil the weekly Friday
ritual of Guinness at lunchtime.

Er, keep up the good work and stuff.

Name and address withheld.
(Contractors eye view of the IT department, a large financial institution)