Most admired person?
Apple’s Steve Jobs took the crown as the person most admired by our interviewees, with Bill Gates and Tim Berners-Lee close runners-up. Given his company’s leading-edge design ethos and an incredibly devoted customer base, it is easy to see why Jobs would lead in this category.

Most influential IT vendor?
In a reversal of the above, Microsoft just edged ahead of Apple in the vendor stakes – though IBM, SAP and Dell all got mentions too. No room for HP, Intel or Oracle or any of the other big players, though.

Most useful qualification or training course?
Project management and leadership qualifications were highly prized by our Hot Seat candidates, with Prince 2 the most popular, followed closely by other project management courses, MBAs and Itil training. Technical courses came a distinct second to the more business-focused qualifications, a reflection of the pressure on IT chiefs to broaden out their skills. Vendor-specific training from firms such as Microsoft and Novell received only the odd mention.

Technology that has made the biggest impact?
This question generated a fairly mixed bag of answers. BlackBerrys and broadband were the two technologies that appeared most frequently, with both receiving more nods than the humble mobile phone and the internet. Almost all of our candidates owned a BlackBerry, with most admitting it had a tendency to take over their lives.

What keeps IT chiefs awake at night?
Security was the biggest concern for our respondents, followed closely by keeping email systems up and running. While budget management and system failures are also the cause of sleepless nights for IT chiefs, for one it was his two children and the cat.

If you weren’t in IT what would you be doing?
It certainly seems that IT directors do not suffer from a lack of ambition. Prime minister, professional footballer and children’s book author were all cited as alternative career options by our candidates. We also had wannabe inventors, lawyers and classic car engineers – while one simply wanted to hang out on the beach and play with his blues band.

Most ridiculous support request?
The prize goes to the IT worker at Betfair who was asked by a user for help with buying a flat in London.