5 Personality Types You’ll Meet in an IT Training Session

Yes, IT training sessions—a magical place where professionals of all backgrounds come together to learn (or pretend to learn) the latest tech wizardry. If you’ve ever attended one of these sessions, you’ve likely encountered some of the same characters, time and time again. Here’s a humorous breakdown of five personality types you’re bound to meet in an IT training session.

1. The Overachiever (a.k.a. The Showoff)

This person finished the entire training module before everyone else and is either exploring other parts of the system or waiting for the trainer to ask a question just so they can answer before anyone else has processed what was asked. They’ve got three screens open, their own set of notes, and an expression that says, “I could teach this class if I wanted to.” The trainer loves them and resents them in equal measure.

Signature Move: Answering rhetorical questions as if they were on a game show.

Catchphrase: “Oh, I already did that step. What’s next?”

2. The Overwhelmed Newbie

This person is in IT training because their boss signed them up against their will. They barely know what’s happening, and every new instruction sounds like an alien language. While everyone else moves to step four, they’re still trying to figure out step one, hoping no one notices their frantic Googling.

Signature Move: Whispering “Wait… where do I click?” to their neighbor every two minutes.

Catchphrase: “Can we go over that one more time… but slower?”

3. The Reluctant Veteran

They’ve been doing IT longer than the trainer has been alive and don’t understand why they’re even here. They sit in the back, arms crossed, sighing audibly every time a “basic” question is asked. Their laptop has more stickers than a rockstar’s guitar case, and they refuse to participate in group activities unless bribed with coffee.

Signature Move: Rolling their eyes when someone asks what a VPN is.

Catchphrase: “Back in my day, we didn’t need a fancy UI for this.”

4. The Chronic Overthinker

This person takes IT training very seriously. Too seriously. They ask incredibly specific, complex questions that aren’t relevant to the rest of the class and often send the trainer down an unintended rabbit hole. While the rest of the group wants to move on, the Overthinker is still analyzing potential edge cases that nobody will ever encounter in real life.

Signature Move: Taking copious notes and highlighting entire paragraphs in three different colors.

Catchphrase: “But what if the server is running an outdated kernel and we need to implement a redundant failover strategy using a hybrid cloud approach?”

5. The Office Tourist

This person has no idea why they’re here. Maybe they signed up for the free snacks. Maybe they’re avoiding real work. Either way, they have absolutely no plans to retain any of the information being taught. They nod along like they understand but secretly spend most of the session scrolling social media.

Signature Move: Pretending to take notes while actually doodling in their notebook.

Catchphrase: “Wow, this is so interesting! I’ll definitely look into this later.” (They won’t.)

No matter what type you are (or have encountered), IT training sessions always bring an interesting mix of personalities. The real question is—which one are you?

Let me know in the comments if you’ve met (or are) any of these characters, or if I missed a classic IT training personality!