Recognition, from customers as well as management, is certainly an issue. After all, the whole point of our jobs is to make sure nothing happens and no one notices anything going on behind the scenes.It's the 'ol Y2K argument: "Why did we spend all this $$ when nothing happened?" "Nothing happened because we paid our IT staff to work hard at making sure nothing happened!"
Another issue that's rampant in IT is the promotion of people to management who have no business being managers. HR needs to remember that IT managers need a combination of 'soft' skills and tech savvy to excel.
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Only thing that burns me is that my friends in Sales (or anything outside IT) seem to just coast after they graduated and got their foot in a good corporate environment; I on the other hand have to study 3 or 4 nights a week to remain relevant in IT and able to perform at a high capacity. I sometimes envy that they are getting paid the same or better and don't have to race to understand emerging technologies, only need to have good people skills and be able to network... I love learning but wish I had as much leisure time as others.
If you feel that way now, you will feel definitely worse in the future as you get older. Guess what, you are likely to find it really difficult to keep up with the never ending upgrade and certification circle. This is more true if you remain on the "techie" stream as opposed to management. I really don't know of many other professions that requires this kind of continous circle of studying in other to stay current. My advice is to start to plan ahead by acquiring softer skills with a view to obtaining different responsibilities or job role before you reach of the burn-out phase.
Actually, any tech job requires constant learning. Consider a primary care physician!
So true... Great words of wisdom. There is a definite age discrimination going on in the IT world today. It was my career for at least 28 years, and I excelled at it. It's sad to think of all the time I, and the other's in this field, if they are any good, put into their job. No matter what the hours, or to places at the end of the earth. One day you find yourself swept out the door with the trash. I know I am professional, and still look good and professional. They just look at the bottom line. I wasn't making all that much anyway for what I did, but it's more than nothing, which what my income is now, for the first time in my life. It's a hard time in your life to start making career changes. I can't even get a call on a resume sent in for a reception job. Not saying that is a nothing job, I've done it. Once they figure out your age... nothing. "I'm telling ya, we just can't get respect."
I was in the IT business for 28 years, yep, before PCs. I started selling and training on an Olivetti 8K internal memory. If someone unplugged it from the wall, it would lose the stored memory.
In all those constant changes over the years, I felt like I was going to school full time. I love to read, but I always felt quilty if it was not a manual.
After all that, self-sacrificing of personal time, and being excellent at my career, and great people skills. I still have not worked for the past 20 months. I'm actually living on zero income for the first time in my life. It was a career I truly loved, but when a company or firm can get someone with no experience and pay them half, or less, than you with no benefits... They will. I hope people in position start paying attention to this economy. And realize that people that have been there, done that, know how to quickly size up a situation and prioitize are worth more. We can do the job faster and with less hassle and downtime for the company. I was respected by the other staff people in all departments that I worked with, and the attorneys. But the head money counters don't seem to care these days.
In all those constant changes over the years, I felt like I was going to school full time. I love to read, but I always felt quilty if it was not a manual.
After all that, self-sacrificing of personal time, and being excellent at my career, and great people skills. I still have not worked for the past 20 months. I'm actually living on zero income for the first time in my life. It was a career I truly loved, but when a company or firm can get someone with no experience and pay them half, or less, than you with no benefits... They will. I hope people in position start paying attention to this economy. And realize that people that have been there, done that, know how to quickly size up a situation and prioitize are worth more. We can do the job faster and with less hassle and downtime for the company. I was respected by the other staff people in all departments that I worked with, and the attorneys. But the head money counters don't seem to care these days.
Last year we had two people commit suicide. One guy worked in our Technology department and the other worked in finance. The Technology guy told his wife he was taking training classes and went out, and then hung himself in a tree. The Finance guy shot his family and then himself. You just never know what a person you work with is thinking or going through in their life. Both guys were always up beat and acted like everthing was okay. I will never understand why people commit suicide and then no one really wants to talk about it either. I think it's terrible!
I know I am burnout!
Great article, Thanks!
I know I am burnout!
Great article, Thanks!
Interesting article as we can all share how easy it is to become burned out especially in the field of IT. In my situation, I was moved into an "higher" IT team for my employer expecting I would get a more challenging and exciting position. (this was all part of my employer amalgamating smaller IT groups). I thought this would be a grand move but unfortunately, it has back fired.
My previous position basically entailed everything from the Tier 1 to Tier 3 level of support and I had the chance to meet the users directly when it came to solving their problems. Basically, I was able to troubleshoot things from beginning to end. Now, I sit in a cubicle and get assigned more menial tasks?? It looks like I stepped backward in my career. Not too sure if this was intentionally done as well (I have heard from credible sources that my employer may be doing this to phase people out that they can no longer afford to pay their salaries even though it is in line with current trends)
The more I thought about what happened, I experienced a bit of deja vu and realized again that I was getting being "structured" by the corporate environment. I guess what I am trying to say is that there are more policies, procedures, and doors to go through for things to get done efficiently. Yes, yes I know there is are reasons for this but for one who has gained a lot of experience and satisfication from his previous duties as well as working in an IT team that gelled (I would give my right arm for them), my job satisfaction with my current position has just tanked. In addition, my boss was honest and he told me bluntly that job satisfaction within my current team is at an all time low.
I except change in any position as a challenge and my discussion may not be burn out per se but with the frustration, politics, "backstabbers", and BS that I am coming to learn more on my new team, I am quietly looking for new position with another organization.
My previous position basically entailed everything from the Tier 1 to Tier 3 level of support and I had the chance to meet the users directly when it came to solving their problems. Basically, I was able to troubleshoot things from beginning to end. Now, I sit in a cubicle and get assigned more menial tasks?? It looks like I stepped backward in my career. Not too sure if this was intentionally done as well (I have heard from credible sources that my employer may be doing this to phase people out that they can no longer afford to pay their salaries even though it is in line with current trends)
The more I thought about what happened, I experienced a bit of deja vu and realized again that I was getting being "structured" by the corporate environment. I guess what I am trying to say is that there are more policies, procedures, and doors to go through for things to get done efficiently. Yes, yes I know there is are reasons for this but for one who has gained a lot of experience and satisfication from his previous duties as well as working in an IT team that gelled (I would give my right arm for them), my job satisfaction with my current position has just tanked. In addition, my boss was honest and he told me bluntly that job satisfaction within my current team is at an all time low.
I except change in any position as a challenge and my discussion may not be burn out per se but with the frustration, politics, "backstabbers", and BS that I am coming to learn more on my new team, I am quietly looking for new position with another organization.
Unfortunately it is a no-win situation for IT staffers. The HR department doesn't speak IT (as another commenter said TCPIP, Word it is all the same to them). Couple that to Finance/Comptroller being another decision maker on promotion - you get IT staffers being managed by someone who was promoted to Manager without communication skills, any form of emotional intelligence, etc. However since the folks that promoted that person see what they want to see and do not understand IT and are not required to do so. Plus heaven forbid for HR, etc to admit they overlooked the leadership requirement - even if the IT staffers dare to take their issues over the IT Manager's head - it is no win - it is rare that someone higher understands ... as long as the incompetent manager confuses them with techno talk - and the IT staffers risk censure by challenging the skills of their manager and brining it to the attention of ... here we go again no-win loop.
What I get from my Manager even when using different approaches to address issues of stress, undervalued, kicked by users, etc is that it is my perception, my emotions that are wrong, always turned back onto me. The manager is perceived as running a happy department ( because staff are too afraid to complain or already know they will get shot down). When in reality the 'IT staff team' is toxic and bullying is rampant.
Sorry for the length of this 'piece'. One thinks one can be a positive force for change by being an upbeat, resilient, communicative IT staffer - just to get looked at suspiciously, as a troublemaker. Heck if management has run things this way for so long making any changes to the status quo is seen here as an admission of incompetence instead of a chance to progress, grow, evolve build a better company. Leaving isn't always an option.
What I get from my Manager even when using different approaches to address issues of stress, undervalued, kicked by users, etc is that it is my perception, my emotions that are wrong, always turned back onto me. The manager is perceived as running a happy department ( because staff are too afraid to complain or already know they will get shot down). When in reality the 'IT staff team' is toxic and bullying is rampant.
Sorry for the length of this 'piece'. One thinks one can be a positive force for change by being an upbeat, resilient, communicative IT staffer - just to get looked at suspiciously, as a troublemaker. Heck if management has run things this way for so long making any changes to the status quo is seen here as an admission of incompetence instead of a chance to progress, grow, evolve build a better company. Leaving isn't always an option.
I worked for 19 years in Corporate America.
I've been working since 2002 as an independent consultant to mostly smaller organizations (for-profit and non-profit).
Both have pros and cons. Right now I like being a consultant, although you get disrespected even in smaller organizations.
As a consultant, you can diversify your mindset and client base. Harder to do in a Corp.
For some clients, I will still be their Superman. I feel justified professionally, ethically and mentally to do so. For others, I am their Clark Kent, a good employee who will do what needs to be done but not much more because either they don't want it, won't support you, aren't ready for it or undervalue it. Remembering hat keeps me from burning out.
Over the years, the view of IT has changed and will continue to do. Management wants very badly to view IT as cheap labor although the skills require a much higher intellect and continued learning. Much of the working world is a better place because of technology but most folks could care less about building a statue to the creator of the remote control (ironic isn't it.)
What other fields are like that? Not many.
Most high-paid, highly respected professions are so because of one thing. The skill required is specialized and the bill rate is high. Think attorney, doctor, auto mechanic or HVAC technician. People may yell, but they will pay for these services.
To manage burnout, I try very hard to find organizations that NEED and WANT my services.
I try very hard to be an advisor to my clients and teach them. Some accept it some don't but at least I feel like I'm being heard. This is often more difficult to do in larger organizations, at least long term.
I have learned that when an organization grows to a certain size, you will get a level of politics and employee interaction that becomes unhealthy. When that happens, I either leave or divest myself of the need to be "superman" for them.
I try to keep in mind a couple of things.
1. I am in control of my career.
2. If I am any good, people will need/want my services. I just have to make myself available to them.
3. Industry was built on utilizing the cheapest labor possible. If you are a part of industry, you can get gobbled up unless you are at the top of the food chain and even then, things happen.
4. 20% of the people will value what you do. Only 5% of those will appreciate you. The other 15% may actually despise you. The other 80% just want to get the work day over with and have as few headaches as possible.
Balance you life and work. Your mental health depends on it.
I've been working since 2002 as an independent consultant to mostly smaller organizations (for-profit and non-profit).
Both have pros and cons. Right now I like being a consultant, although you get disrespected even in smaller organizations.
As a consultant, you can diversify your mindset and client base. Harder to do in a Corp.
For some clients, I will still be their Superman. I feel justified professionally, ethically and mentally to do so. For others, I am their Clark Kent, a good employee who will do what needs to be done but not much more because either they don't want it, won't support you, aren't ready for it or undervalue it. Remembering hat keeps me from burning out.
Over the years, the view of IT has changed and will continue to do. Management wants very badly to view IT as cheap labor although the skills require a much higher intellect and continued learning. Much of the working world is a better place because of technology but most folks could care less about building a statue to the creator of the remote control (ironic isn't it.)
What other fields are like that? Not many.
Most high-paid, highly respected professions are so because of one thing. The skill required is specialized and the bill rate is high. Think attorney, doctor, auto mechanic or HVAC technician. People may yell, but they will pay for these services.
To manage burnout, I try very hard to find organizations that NEED and WANT my services.
I try very hard to be an advisor to my clients and teach them. Some accept it some don't but at least I feel like I'm being heard. This is often more difficult to do in larger organizations, at least long term.
I have learned that when an organization grows to a certain size, you will get a level of politics and employee interaction that becomes unhealthy. When that happens, I either leave or divest myself of the need to be "superman" for them.
I try to keep in mind a couple of things.
1. I am in control of my career.
2. If I am any good, people will need/want my services. I just have to make myself available to them.
3. Industry was built on utilizing the cheapest labor possible. If you are a part of industry, you can get gobbled up unless you are at the top of the food chain and even then, things happen.
4. 20% of the people will value what you do. Only 5% of those will appreciate you. The other 15% may actually despise you. The other 80% just want to get the work day over with and have as few headaches as possible.
Balance you life and work. Your mental health depends on it.
..judging from your title , I seriously don't think you are qualified to comment in the same context as say, career-software developers, or programmers, or other types of support staff , who have spent most of their entire lives having to fight off "your kind" ..go back to the board room and read your Wall Street Journal ..
Recognition is an issue in a "behind-the-scenes" field. Whether we prefer to be behind the scenes or face-to-face with clients- we all still like to know that we are doing a job well-done and that our clients and employer is happy with our work... especially if we do something above and beyond. We just happen to usually get the short end of the stick. I think that's why so many of us tend to share our accomplishments or successes with others of our kind who appreciate where we are coming from.
I worked 12 years writing corporate software and am back to repairing computers etc. I WILL NEVER return to a cubicle again!
I do NOT want to work for Mega-CORP again,
however I would to eat and pay bills.
A smaller company you have a lot of
responsibilities but you do not have the
BIG CORP politics.
I may work for hours sometimes but it is
worth it!
however I would to eat and pay bills.
A smaller company you have a lot of
responsibilities but you do not have the
BIG CORP politics.
I may work for hours sometimes but it is
worth it!
I second this, IT jobs are already stressful. No need for additional politics and redtapes. Most of the time in big companies, other depts like to blame IT but never blame the policy and red tapes that prevent IT from doing their jobs.
...or I must be doing something wrong. Maybe it's because I am the quasi-DBA, the quasi-data architect, the quasi-reporting-application developer in addition to the BA, QA, and project manager too.
I spent months working on my own time to clean up the mess of those prior and automate more of the repetitive, mundane tasks and document only to be told by my manager that small companies do not believe in comp time and that he feels not enough is being produced. Yes, tons of hours were saved by the end-users, but that goes on their metrics, not mine because as said earlier in another post, most management do not know what is going on as a whole to see accomplishments being made, only what they are looking for, which half the time the don't even know that!
I spent months working on my own time to clean up the mess of those prior and automate more of the repetitive, mundane tasks and document only to be told by my manager that small companies do not believe in comp time and that he feels not enough is being produced. Yes, tons of hours were saved by the end-users, but that goes on their metrics, not mine because as said earlier in another post, most management do not know what is going on as a whole to see accomplishments being made, only what they are looking for, which half the time the don't even know that!
After years of no recognition and prejudicial behavior, I finally decided I wanted to do something that was more meaningful. I am in school now getting my Masters and I am moving into education. Those who can, do, those who can't, teach.
I can no longer do in this environment, so I will teach the next generation, and maybe help them so they don't burn out like I did.
I can no longer do in this environment, so I will teach the next generation, and maybe help them so they don't burn out like I did.
You know - everytime I do my financial aide paperwork, the lady always asks me "Do you plan on becoming a Teacher?" For some reason, although I've never pictured becoming a Teacher, I always answer with "I'm not sure..." I have been burnt out before and messed up about 5 years of my life because of it. I've always looked for a way to continue my education and yet make a difference...maybe teaching is the key?
Burnout is expected when you have bright, hard-working, dedicated employees tasked with keeping information technology up-to-speed and secure while they support end-users who have unrealistic expectations.
The reality is often your IT department cares more about your business than many other employees do but they are a very easy scapegoat. Let's face it, when the "big boss" doesn't know tcp/ip from a Word document, you can't REALLY defend yourself.
Politically, if you're one of the many people who survive at a job because you are in tight with the right person, it's a very wise political strategy to marginalize IT workers, or even the entire IT department. One more on your list of people to blame.
IT is an invisible thing to most upper management. Money spent on information technology is money management and business owners don't want to spend. That's true whether it's in the form of personnel, equipment, software, network deployments, consulting fees.....any of it.
Even as an independent, I still deal with it. I do have the power to decide if I want to work with certain clients, give discounts to certain clients, etc, etc. But I still haven't escaped the "I should just think it and it's so" attitude and after being in the business for near 15 years, I no longer expect to.
The reality is often your IT department cares more about your business than many other employees do but they are a very easy scapegoat. Let's face it, when the "big boss" doesn't know tcp/ip from a Word document, you can't REALLY defend yourself.
Politically, if you're one of the many people who survive at a job because you are in tight with the right person, it's a very wise political strategy to marginalize IT workers, or even the entire IT department. One more on your list of people to blame.
IT is an invisible thing to most upper management. Money spent on information technology is money management and business owners don't want to spend. That's true whether it's in the form of personnel, equipment, software, network deployments, consulting fees.....any of it.
Even as an independent, I still deal with it. I do have the power to decide if I want to work with certain clients, give discounts to certain clients, etc, etc. But I still haven't escaped the "I should just think it and it's so" attitude and after being in the business for near 15 years, I no longer expect to.
This is all too true. Thanks for the information. Ironically though, Im not yet burnt out
While system is up and everything is running smooth, IT staff will not get props for this task, however, as the system goes down or a problem happens, very often the IT staff will be blammed and looked as responsable for the issue, even though the issue, whatever it is, may be related to a "act of god", not fair, but... that's just how the bizz is, either we like it or not. Try to deal with it and make sure you get paid the big $$$.
Life is what you make of it - according to the survey, I am on the critical path to something disastrous. So here is my advice, develop a life plan and only stay in the stressful part of IT for as long as you have to.
We are the chosen profession no matter what anyone tells you, IT persons are the future and I guarantee you that if you are successful in IT - no matter which position - you can be successful in anything you do.
So, back to my advice - once your plan has succeeded, leave your job and do IT the way it was intended - enjoy it!! Remember, for those skeptics, it may be a long time before you stop focusing on the "I am stuck here" mentality to the "I am getting my plan in order" mentality. Once you there my advice will be the same "Enjoy IT"
We are the chosen profession no matter what anyone tells you, IT persons are the future and I guarantee you that if you are successful in IT - no matter which position - you can be successful in anything you do.
So, back to my advice - once your plan has succeeded, leave your job and do IT the way it was intended - enjoy it!! Remember, for those skeptics, it may be a long time before you stop focusing on the "I am stuck here" mentality to the "I am getting my plan in order" mentality. Once you there my advice will be the same "Enjoy IT"
IT is a "young" person's field. Even in management the average age is comparatively low to other industries. This trend will continue - older employees (individual contributors) who are highly paid, with expensive skills to maintain will eventually be managed out.
For the company, the cost/benefit of training for the skill set you need is low. It's cheaper to hire for it and manage others out of the organization. This situation makes it much more challenging to plan your exit strategy and the sacrifices are exponentially larger than they used to be.
Also, face it, youngsters just out of college come with more up to date skill sets, significantly greater passion about technology, and cost much less than the "experienced" professional.
However, I do agree with you that it is our responsibility to manage our own careers and having a life plan should definitely be part of that. However, sometimes, due to life situations, many of us fall into the trap of not having the time or resources to stay current.
I find myself in this unenviable position (I have children, a wife, church, friends, etc...) and it is AMAZING how quickly it happened. C'est le vie...
I am unemployed and am doing exactly what you mention above. Re-planning my life to have a work/life balance and a career entrance, maintenance, and exit strategy. I won't be making this same mistake again.
Sorry for the rambling...
For the company, the cost/benefit of training for the skill set you need is low. It's cheaper to hire for it and manage others out of the organization. This situation makes it much more challenging to plan your exit strategy and the sacrifices are exponentially larger than they used to be.
Also, face it, youngsters just out of college come with more up to date skill sets, significantly greater passion about technology, and cost much less than the "experienced" professional.
However, I do agree with you that it is our responsibility to manage our own careers and having a life plan should definitely be part of that. However, sometimes, due to life situations, many of us fall into the trap of not having the time or resources to stay current.
I find myself in this unenviable position (I have children, a wife, church, friends, etc...) and it is AMAZING how quickly it happened. C'est le vie...
I am unemployed and am doing exactly what you mention above. Re-planning my life to have a work/life balance and a career entrance, maintenance, and exit strategy. I won't be making this same mistake again.
Sorry for the rambling...
How true was the statement abut when the network goes down everyone knows who to call but if the network/IT is reliable then people seem to think you don't do anything ina days work!
This was highlighted in the case of a friend of mine who worked for a company who laid him off because they felt that because the network ran so well, it wasn't the result of his excellent skills rather the result of an excellent management purchase of equipment that seems to run itself! Another case of management offering an incentive to workers to work harder!
Anyone else think Dilbert might recognise this problem?
This was highlighted in the case of a friend of mine who worked for a company who laid him off because they felt that because the network ran so well, it wasn't the result of his excellent skills rather the result of an excellent management purchase of equipment that seems to run itself! Another case of management offering an incentive to workers to work harder!
Anyone else think Dilbert might recognise this problem?
Totally agree on the inverse law, had to work out wording like "calculate the productivity lost due to network/server/email/printing/website downtime this year, if that is near zero then I'm doing my job".
Yesterday restored a folder of cad files that had become corrupted, from the engineer sending the request to file restore less than four minutes, he was mightily impressed but unless I make a song and dance about the various backup methods to get there it would be more "Visible" to have a days cliff-hanger drama with a successful recovery party at the end for management to see what gets done.
Yesterday restored a folder of cad files that had become corrupted, from the engineer sending the request to file restore less than four minutes, he was mightily impressed but unless I make a song and dance about the various backup methods to get there it would be more "Visible" to have a days cliff-hanger drama with a successful recovery party at the end for management to see what gets done.
You, know, just to remind them of why you exist and why they need you.
but I hope that not long after they laid your friend off, their system went down. It would have been a great eye-opener for them. Unfortunately, it probably stayed up for a long time because of what he put in place. Another "nature of the business".
I agree. I'm burned out. This July I'm going back to school to earn my degree in Criminal Justice. Then I'm jumping ship. Ready throw in the towel this one is.
"burnout can result in depression, anxiety, and physical illness. Drugs or alcohol are often a problem. After an extended period of time burnout can cause physical and mental breakdowns, which include suicide, stroke, or heart attack."
I think it's a really ungrateful job. If there's no fire, people think your job is a walk in the park. if there's a fire, you're incompetent.
I also hate being judged by colleagues, based on printer jams and other stuff that's completely out of your hands.
I seem to handle it better over the years, but every once in a while I'm still thinking of a carreer change.
I also hate being judged by colleagues, based on printer jams and other stuff that's completely out of your hands.
I seem to handle it better over the years, but every once in a while I'm still thinking of a carreer change.
As a programmer, my accomplishments are highly praised as every accomplishment means more money for everyone (including bonuses).
To top it off, Programmers are hard to layoff without causing huge setbacks to a project. Especially for such a small group as us. Where only 1 person knows the system 99%, I have about an 80% knowledge, and everyone else is around 50%.
To top it off, Programmers are hard to layoff without causing huge setbacks to a project. Especially for such a small group as us. Where only 1 person knows the system 99%, I have about an 80% knowledge, and everyone else is around 50%.
With this economy, All anyone working in IT can ask for is to stay under the radar.
There isn't too many major companies out there who don't feel the urge to offshore/outsource their entire IT staff including local help desk . Until IT is treated
as an equal within any given organization , it will always be seen as an expense and a financial burden during crunch time . I'm not a fan of corporate mistreatment either , but I can tell you there are plenty of US IT workers on unemployment thanks to shady IT outsourcing/off shoring schemes that save even more $$.
Simply put, IT is an expense, and the higher your salary requirements become due to experience the harder it is to land a gig . Companies want the cheapest option out and best talent to salary price when it comes to IT these days .
There isn't too many major companies out there who don't feel the urge to offshore/outsource their entire IT staff including local help desk . Until IT is treated
as an equal within any given organization , it will always be seen as an expense and a financial burden during crunch time . I'm not a fan of corporate mistreatment either , but I can tell you there are plenty of US IT workers on unemployment thanks to shady IT outsourcing/off shoring schemes that save even more $$.
Simply put, IT is an expense, and the higher your salary requirements become due to experience the harder it is to land a gig . Companies want the cheapest option out and best talent to salary price when it comes to IT these days .
After being laid off one more time in January of last year, I had decided it was time to leave the whole IT field. I was considering social work (we do that already don't we?) or teaching. I enrolled in a career assesment class at my city college. What I found after researching career changes, expense, time, etc. with what I already knew, I realized that I LOVE what I do! I don't want to change it. I was burned out from the COMPANY I had worked for for the last 6 years. The one that didn't even provide me with a desk the first 4 years I was there. The one that groomed the young boy (who got his own office his first day)for the position of systems admin while us career and certified sys admins were either relocated into other departments or fired or given desk jobs like managing licensing, doing the required community volunteer hours for the whole team, etc. Our manager was lazy and lacked people skills. He couldn't stand up to upper management so we were always the ones to take the fall when something went wrong. After taking that class I got really grateful for being laid off. I spent the next 2 semesters taking refresher courses and applying for positions I really wanted with organizations I liked. Now I work for the government. No one that knows me can believe it but I'm so happy where I am. I work with very competent gifted people who work very hard even though they get no more money than if they just put in their required 40. I've already been sent to two trainings and have obtained 2 more certifications since my start in December. I love what I do and I think I love it more now than I ever have. I believe not being valued has a lot to do with burn out. So before you walk away in disgust and leave the field completely, consider changing your environment first.
I'm glad it worked out for you.
Maybe I'm just unlucky, incompetent, or have poor people skills but I've been part of 5 different organizations over the last 6 years. The situations were remarkably similar in each of them.
DISCLAIMER
Admittedly I was totally burned out, emotionally unhealthy, and exceedingly cynical and disillusioned with technology and its management in corporate environments when I left the first of those 5 organizations. I've struggled with what could probably be termed a professional identity crisis ever since.
With that said, I tried changing my environment each time I realized I was in for more of the same garbage I experienced at organization #1. Finally, I ended up with a situation worse than ALL of the others combined.
I was with my last organization for 4 years. We went through 3 CIO's and 2 extended periods with no leadership what-so-ever. Technology had been so mismanaged there was no easy solution to the relatively low cost/benefit of having an in house IT department. I thrive on these kinds of situations as long as there is ACTIVE executive level support. And prior to accepting the position, I interviewed my employer about roles, responsibilities, expectations, the environment's challenges, and executive support for our change strategy.
The bottom line is that they lied through their teeth about almost everything. The environment became toxic - everyone feared for their jobs. At last, a new CIO came in (I'm sure he had a mandate to "clean up" the IT mess) and started axing people and replacing them with his buddies. My original role became irrelevant and I ended up doing something that was both a backward career move and something I absolutely hated.
It all came to a head when I was asked to mislead our stakeholders regarding unresolved system issues that would impact their jobs. I not only refused, during a presentation to the stakeholders I aired some of the critical issues.
Post presentation, I immediately left for organization paid, out of state training. I extended my stay and went to Disneyland with my family. When I returned, I was informed I was no longer on the project (I was relieved) and 5 days later I was informed they were eliminating my position and my services would no longer be needed (again, I was totally relieved).
I am currently unemployed (18 weeks) but happier and more content than I've been in probably 8 years.
The moral of the story is that changing environments may have you jumping from the frying pan into the fire. And let me tell you, that sucks!
BTW: I also realize that when there are negative situations it isn't somebody else's fault. Each of us has to look at our own actions and reactions to identify personal things that need to be changed in our own lives. Take responsibility for our part of the problem.
Anyway - Cheers and Congratulations!
Maybe I'm just unlucky, incompetent, or have poor people skills but I've been part of 5 different organizations over the last 6 years. The situations were remarkably similar in each of them.
DISCLAIMER
Admittedly I was totally burned out, emotionally unhealthy, and exceedingly cynical and disillusioned with technology and its management in corporate environments when I left the first of those 5 organizations. I've struggled with what could probably be termed a professional identity crisis ever since.
With that said, I tried changing my environment each time I realized I was in for more of the same garbage I experienced at organization #1. Finally, I ended up with a situation worse than ALL of the others combined.
I was with my last organization for 4 years. We went through 3 CIO's and 2 extended periods with no leadership what-so-ever. Technology had been so mismanaged there was no easy solution to the relatively low cost/benefit of having an in house IT department. I thrive on these kinds of situations as long as there is ACTIVE executive level support. And prior to accepting the position, I interviewed my employer about roles, responsibilities, expectations, the environment's challenges, and executive support for our change strategy.
The bottom line is that they lied through their teeth about almost everything. The environment became toxic - everyone feared for their jobs. At last, a new CIO came in (I'm sure he had a mandate to "clean up" the IT mess) and started axing people and replacing them with his buddies. My original role became irrelevant and I ended up doing something that was both a backward career move and something I absolutely hated.
It all came to a head when I was asked to mislead our stakeholders regarding unresolved system issues that would impact their jobs. I not only refused, during a presentation to the stakeholders I aired some of the critical issues.
Post presentation, I immediately left for organization paid, out of state training. I extended my stay and went to Disneyland with my family. When I returned, I was informed I was no longer on the project (I was relieved) and 5 days later I was informed they were eliminating my position and my services would no longer be needed (again, I was totally relieved).
I am currently unemployed (18 weeks) but happier and more content than I've been in probably 8 years.
The moral of the story is that changing environments may have you jumping from the frying pan into the fire. And let me tell you, that sucks!
BTW: I also realize that when there are negative situations it isn't somebody else's fault. Each of us has to look at our own actions and reactions to identify personal things that need to be changed in our own lives. Take responsibility for our part of the problem.
Anyway - Cheers and Congratulations!
Having suffered this myself, I can agree. Certainly the orgasnizations I worked for have little in the way of support for this. There may well be procedures in place once someone suffers from the effects, however there is little or no training for managers, or the personell depts to see the warning signs, or take early action. The effects on the organization are also not recognized. The loss of a contributing member of staff can have a dramatic effect on ongoing projects, not to mention moral of co-workers. Time to wake up to the effects of burnout.
I'm not trying to start an argument here but you bring up an interesting question. The following references to "you" are not directed at "you" or anyone in particular.
Should an organization be responsible for providing support for your personal job burnout issues? What kind of support should they provide? Should they send you back to school and retrain you for another career?
On the flip side....Should you be responsible for seeking your own support for job burnout? Should you join a self help group that meets every week? Maybe you should spend your money and go back to school to find a new career? Or take a chance and turn your hobby into a career?
In the interest of disclosure - I'm on the flip side.
Should an organization be responsible for providing support for your personal job burnout issues? What kind of support should they provide? Should they send you back to school and retrain you for another career?
On the flip side....Should you be responsible for seeking your own support for job burnout? Should you join a self help group that meets every week? Maybe you should spend your money and go back to school to find a new career? Or take a chance and turn your hobby into a career?
In the interest of disclosure - I'm on the flip side.
the New Media and the support industries ignore the laws that were enacted to prevent overwork, and the onus is on the back office personnel to act like machines - with maximum efficiency at all times, in contrast to those accord human status because they have a public face - in order to compensate.
because in a typical shop the infrastructure is consolidated rather than distributed between self-invested producers and sellers, one hierarchy delivers rewards, and the producers aren't visible so they aren't acknowledged - just as in the cloth mills a century ago.
divisions that use the personality type that results in good output but don't honor the mentalities of that type are endemic.
because in a typical shop the infrastructure is consolidated rather than distributed between self-invested producers and sellers, one hierarchy delivers rewards, and the producers aren't visible so they aren't acknowledged - just as in the cloth mills a century ago.
divisions that use the personality type that results in good output but don't honor the mentalities of that type are endemic.
I have been there, burnt out, serious health problems, but the pressure to carry on was relentless. 3 years ago I finally came to the conclusion that the backstabbing, incompetent management was not going to listen and I quit, thus preventing a complete psychological breakdown. I am happy now, because I have my own company (I am retired from the NHS at 60), doing something completely different. The NHS Trust I worked for has lost 5 key people like myself in the aftermath of me leaving, others saw the same light, I guess. The IT department is now on the brink of being outsourced, but the management still is there where it has always sat, go figure....
If everything is going to move to the "Cloud", what is going to happen to all those IT jobs anyway??
(From some of the comments, I'm glad I work in a small company!!]
(From some of the comments, I'm glad I work in a small company!!]
Try this: http://baens-universe.com/articles/when_sysadmins_ruled_the_earth
Yes, I am glad I am no longer it IT support to Sales. All those hours on the road when I had things to do in the office, Salesmen who didn't know the capabilities of our equipment - They thought they didn't have to. ETC!!!
Yes, I am glad I am no longer it IT support to Sales. All those hours on the road when I had things to do in the office, Salesmen who didn't know the capabilities of our equipment - They thought they didn't have to. ETC!!!
I posted this in another group but it is worth time here too, the WORST job I EVER had and was physically ILL going to the train station every single DAY at the end of it. Real horror show.
*****
I supported a team effort for 11,000 systems at Roosevelt, St. Lukes and Beth Israel Hospitals in Manhattan. WHERE TO BEGIN? Virus, malware and porn were RAMPANT across the network. We would image a system and week later it all came back in again. Doctors could not get to patient data in PRISM because of these problems. 30 Computers were STOLEN FROM ROOM 617 at St. Lukes. First Consulting Group just adjusted the inventory to hide the theft. A system was stolen from the Pastor's office in St. Lukes and one from the Roosevelt Cafeteria commons area. GONE. First Consulting had low staff,overworked technicians and zero controls in place, JUST NONE. They were bought by Computer Sciences. THIS WAS ONE JOB I WAS GLAD TO LEAVE!!! TOTAL STRESS.
*****
I supported a team effort for 11,000 systems at Roosevelt, St. Lukes and Beth Israel Hospitals in Manhattan. WHERE TO BEGIN? Virus, malware and porn were RAMPANT across the network. We would image a system and week later it all came back in again. Doctors could not get to patient data in PRISM because of these problems. 30 Computers were STOLEN FROM ROOM 617 at St. Lukes. First Consulting Group just adjusted the inventory to hide the theft. A system was stolen from the Pastor's office in St. Lukes and one from the Roosevelt Cafeteria commons area. GONE. First Consulting had low staff,overworked technicians and zero controls in place, JUST NONE. They were bought by Computer Sciences. THIS WAS ONE JOB I WAS GLAD TO LEAVE!!! TOTAL STRESS.
What about asking if you are in your job just for the money and how this effects your level of stress
Every job seems to be interrupt-driven now but IT seems to have it worst of all. While I'm very grateful to have employment in these tough times, that doesn't change the fact I sometimes have to fight tooth and nail against unnecessary interruptions in hopes of accomplishing any of my projects, goals and initiatives.
Yes, IT is there to service the business, but there have to be standards for planning, scheduling tasks, and distributing work so IT staff and users can both do their jobs.
Being grabbed for help desk questions while working with a consultant on a system upgrade is unacceptable. Having someone stick their head into a departmental meeting to complain they forgot their laptop and need a loaner right away is also inappropriate. Having people run over while you're fixing Sally's system to breathlessly report "When you're done please come over and look at my Excel error, then Tom's browser problem, Jim's blackberry battery is dead, Carol can't log into the database, Ted's screen has gone black, Earl locked himself out of his computer, and...." means whatever you had on your task list is out the window. Ditto being accosted in the cafeteria, bathroom or elevator. Not sure why, but there's just something about the sight of the IT guy that sparks a flood of repressed memories in people and they immediately start chattering about the printer problem they had last week, the Adobe prompt they're getting, the shortage of disk space on their laptop, and other minutiae that will swallow up the rest of your day if you let it. Everyone wants a slice of your time, and there are only so many slices per day.
Interruptions can be a quick path towards burnout if they're not managed and addressed. It's crucial to have a central point of contact for problems, an established policy for workload scheduling with managerial backup, and the courage to tell users "I understand your Word error is annoying, but please submit a help desk ticket and we'll address it as soon as possible. At the moment I'm engaged in several initiatives that have been planned out and scheduled."
In every zombie film there's one poor schmoe surrounded by the raving undead who is quickly overrun by them. If you work in IT and are at the mercy of your horde of users (disclaimer: I love my users since they pay my salary), that schmoe is you.
Yes, IT is there to service the business, but there have to be standards for planning, scheduling tasks, and distributing work so IT staff and users can both do their jobs.
Being grabbed for help desk questions while working with a consultant on a system upgrade is unacceptable. Having someone stick their head into a departmental meeting to complain they forgot their laptop and need a loaner right away is also inappropriate. Having people run over while you're fixing Sally's system to breathlessly report "When you're done please come over and look at my Excel error, then Tom's browser problem, Jim's blackberry battery is dead, Carol can't log into the database, Ted's screen has gone black, Earl locked himself out of his computer, and...." means whatever you had on your task list is out the window. Ditto being accosted in the cafeteria, bathroom or elevator. Not sure why, but there's just something about the sight of the IT guy that sparks a flood of repressed memories in people and they immediately start chattering about the printer problem they had last week, the Adobe prompt they're getting, the shortage of disk space on their laptop, and other minutiae that will swallow up the rest of your day if you let it. Everyone wants a slice of your time, and there are only so many slices per day.
Interruptions can be a quick path towards burnout if they're not managed and addressed. It's crucial to have a central point of contact for problems, an established policy for workload scheduling with managerial backup, and the courage to tell users "I understand your Word error is annoying, but please submit a help desk ticket and we'll address it as soon as possible. At the moment I'm engaged in several initiatives that have been planned out and scheduled."
In every zombie film there's one poor schmoe surrounded by the raving undead who is quickly overrun by them. If you work in IT and are at the mercy of your horde of users (disclaimer: I love my users since they pay my salary), that schmoe is you.
Nice words. Users normally make me requests everytime, in every space in our office. I already encourage them to open a ticket via helpdesk. Is important to educate users, there is no other way.
Make them use the help desk, and prioritize the requests. Everyone thinks that their item is a priority 1, but I have the ability to modify that field in our help desk system--and do regularly!
Also completely agree that it's impossible to plan and complete projects, data calls, etc., when you're constantly getting interrupted by mundane (and often stupid) items.
Also completely agree that it's impossible to plan and complete projects, data calls, etc., when you're constantly getting interrupted by mundane (and often stupid) items.
the holier-than-thous who think any IT person expressing any frustration whatsoever with any aspect of their employment ought to get down on their knees and beg the user community for forgiveness, while self-flagellating themselves with a cat o'nine tails and chanting "I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy."
You know, the types who pop up on these forums screaming at IT staffers who vent a bit about dumb user antics and insist that said IT staffers are a bunch of ungrateful, whining jerks who should all be fired and "need to remember where your priorities are" etc. in an effort to browbeat them into thinking said IT staffers exist solely to service every single whim of ever user, at any time, place or occasion, without hesitation or question.
You know, the types who pop up on these forums screaming at IT staffers who vent a bit about dumb user antics and insist that said IT staffers are a bunch of ungrateful, whining jerks who should all be fired and "need to remember where your priorities are" etc. in an effort to browbeat them into thinking said IT staffers exist solely to service every single whim of ever user, at any time, place or occasion, without hesitation or question.
USERS = Useless Single-minded Entirely Retarded Stooges
Not politically correct, but it has made me and my staff laugh at various times over the years when our users frustrate us by asking for the impossible.
Not politically correct, but it has made me and my staff laugh at various times over the years when our users frustrate us by asking for the impossible.
....they aren't customers.
I can sit on my duff and watch TV and go broke. I don't have to solve problems to do that.
We (myself included) have put ourselves in this situation by giving away so much time, because we tend to be obsessed with getting everything right, and people have come to expect it.
When I started my own business, I said to myself, that was over. Of course, I still found myself giving away gobs of time and energy because of all the gray areas associated with this line of work. I nearly went broke because of it.
I've balanced that now. Long story short, if something's not going to be worth my time, I simply don't do it. I bill for anything beyond brief conversations. Some customers didn't like it when I made that transition but most of them keep calling.
If you let people take advantage of you, they will. You can take that to the bank. I'm not saying be a jerk. Don't do that at all. Just make sure, for your own sanity, you're not letting yourself be taken advantage of.
I can sit on my duff and watch TV and go broke. I don't have to solve problems to do that.
We (myself included) have put ourselves in this situation by giving away so much time, because we tend to be obsessed with getting everything right, and people have come to expect it.
When I started my own business, I said to myself, that was over. Of course, I still found myself giving away gobs of time and energy because of all the gray areas associated with this line of work. I nearly went broke because of it.
I've balanced that now. Long story short, if something's not going to be worth my time, I simply don't do it. I bill for anything beyond brief conversations. Some customers didn't like it when I made that transition but most of them keep calling.
If you let people take advantage of you, they will. You can take that to the bank. I'm not saying be a jerk. Don't do that at all. Just make sure, for your own sanity, you're not letting yourself be taken advantage of.
The reason we exist as a profession is to facilitate a competitive advantage for each of our organizations. That may be through cost avoidance (improving efficiencies in some way, shape, or form) or strategically adding to the bottom line through increased sales. This means we have internal customers to whom we provide a service. As frustrating as it can be, we should never forget this fact.
I spent most of my career in corporate and organizational IT before I started my own business. If leadership wants IT to call it's users customers, they need to accept the fact that ridiculous amount of time are going to be wasted dealing non-strategic issues.
I have CUSTOMERS now. But if I work on their problems or implement solutions, they get a bill. They are customers.
Even in this situation, though, the business owner or manager I'm working for is the only real customer, even if I'm setting up a network for many users. The employees aren't paying the bill and often enough the boss wants something the employees don't.
In organizations I had bosses that had different agendas than the users. I was hammered one right after another by people who REFUSED to follow the appropriate channels of requests and I was forced to be "rude" by their standards just so I could do what I was supposed to.
In cases like that the manager, quite often, will take the users' side, at least to their faces, because that wins him/her more political points. But he still wants HIS assignments carried out.
Say bad manager all you want. I won't disagree. However, the abstraction that exists between people who actually understand technology and people who just "want it fixed" creates a vagueness that can be taken advantage of by people who are somewhere between the two groups of people...as well as the groups themselves.
That is the vagueness of this line of work that causes burnout.
Working for myself, it's taken me a few years to learn how to deal with it, even as the guy who calls the shots. I still don't have a perfect system but basically my policy is if you have the money, I have the time. My rates are my rates though.
Either they will accept the terms and pay the bill or they won't get any energy from me.
You aren't going to make everyone happy. In this line of work, if you're working for a boss that insists on making everyone happy, you'll be burned out quickly.
I have CUSTOMERS now. But if I work on their problems or implement solutions, they get a bill. They are customers.
Even in this situation, though, the business owner or manager I'm working for is the only real customer, even if I'm setting up a network for many users. The employees aren't paying the bill and often enough the boss wants something the employees don't.
In organizations I had bosses that had different agendas than the users. I was hammered one right after another by people who REFUSED to follow the appropriate channels of requests and I was forced to be "rude" by their standards just so I could do what I was supposed to.
In cases like that the manager, quite often, will take the users' side, at least to their faces, because that wins him/her more political points. But he still wants HIS assignments carried out.
Say bad manager all you want. I won't disagree. However, the abstraction that exists between people who actually understand technology and people who just "want it fixed" creates a vagueness that can be taken advantage of by people who are somewhere between the two groups of people...as well as the groups themselves.
That is the vagueness of this line of work that causes burnout.
Working for myself, it's taken me a few years to learn how to deal with it, even as the guy who calls the shots. I still don't have a perfect system but basically my policy is if you have the money, I have the time. My rates are my rates though.
Either they will accept the terms and pay the bill or they won't get any energy from me.
You aren't going to make everyone happy. In this line of work, if you're working for a boss that insists on making everyone happy, you'll be burned out quickly.
I was visiting my brother in New York a few years ago (combined with an IT course to save my org. the travel accommodation costs) and got to attend the annual Christmas party at the Canadian Embassy where he worked. When we got to the head of the receiving line and my brother introduced me to our Canadian Ambassador, he said "You're an IT Manager aren't you?" After confirming this he said to me, "I'm having a problem with my computer, do you think you could come upstairs and have a look at it?" That night returning to my brother's apartment, his doorman asked if I could have a look at his computer as his modem was acting up!
... there are times I simply don't tell people I work in IT because I don't want to be surrounded. Furthermore, I will not attend some social events with people who know my occupation if I am not in the mood to brush off the incessant questions of "What kind of laptop should I buy my kid going off to college?" and "What's this iPhone thing I keep hearing about and should I get one?"
It's not that I'm antisocial, or bad-tempered, or disinclined to provide helpful advice or assistance to others. I do enjoy helping people utilize technology and solve issues they are having with it. If I went to a party and got one or two technology questions, I'd happily answer them. The problem is, sometimes it never stops. If you go to a party and tell someone your occupation, word might spread like wildfire that "Hey, this IT guy over here can tell you whatever you want to know about your printing problem." And instead of discussing current events, biking, hiking, weather, travel, books, movies, music, or whatever else you might like to spend the evening chatting about, you'll be working. For hours. Providing free advice. Sure, you might drum up some business if you do a consulting gig on the side, but if you have enough work and just want to enjoy a party (and maybe relax your mind with a couple of drinks) you have a tough choice: be firm or give up your recreation. Even being firm can lead to hostility. Smiling, I've told people "Yes, I'm an IT guy, but I'm off duty right now, so I recommend the Geek Squad for you. Now, didn't you and Edith go to Spain last year?" And then they stubbornly shake their head and say "No, no, this is just a quick question. My Blackberry seems to have this really weird problem with coverage whenever I'm on Route 95. I think that it's..." So then you have to interrupt, state "Sorry, but as I said, I'm off duty. This is a party and I'd like to enjoy it as a guest, not as an IT consultant." And then come the dirty looks and the "Geez, what's HIS problem" attitudes.
It really boils down to rudeness and the inability on the part of some to recognize that professional skills are a resource like any other, not to be raided or stolen for free. If I meet a plumber, I do not say "Oh, you're a plumber - great! I have this leaky faucet; can you explain step-by-step how I can fix it? What do you mean, I should make an appointment with you and pay you? You've got time to give me all the details now, don't you?"
It's great to be in a field that is in high demand (though it's frustrating to deal with the constant outsourcing/cloud computing is the future/IT is a cost center and does nothing for our bottom line mentalities that devalue our role). But to avoid burnout you have to be able to leave the field for a bit, to recharge, unwind and retain your enthusiasm.
It's not that I'm antisocial, or bad-tempered, or disinclined to provide helpful advice or assistance to others. I do enjoy helping people utilize technology and solve issues they are having with it. If I went to a party and got one or two technology questions, I'd happily answer them. The problem is, sometimes it never stops. If you go to a party and tell someone your occupation, word might spread like wildfire that "Hey, this IT guy over here can tell you whatever you want to know about your printing problem." And instead of discussing current events, biking, hiking, weather, travel, books, movies, music, or whatever else you might like to spend the evening chatting about, you'll be working. For hours. Providing free advice. Sure, you might drum up some business if you do a consulting gig on the side, but if you have enough work and just want to enjoy a party (and maybe relax your mind with a couple of drinks) you have a tough choice: be firm or give up your recreation. Even being firm can lead to hostility. Smiling, I've told people "Yes, I'm an IT guy, but I'm off duty right now, so I recommend the Geek Squad for you. Now, didn't you and Edith go to Spain last year?" And then they stubbornly shake their head and say "No, no, this is just a quick question. My Blackberry seems to have this really weird problem with coverage whenever I'm on Route 95. I think that it's..." So then you have to interrupt, state "Sorry, but as I said, I'm off duty. This is a party and I'd like to enjoy it as a guest, not as an IT consultant." And then come the dirty looks and the "Geez, what's HIS problem" attitudes.
It really boils down to rudeness and the inability on the part of some to recognize that professional skills are a resource like any other, not to be raided or stolen for free. If I meet a plumber, I do not say "Oh, you're a plumber - great! I have this leaky faucet; can you explain step-by-step how I can fix it? What do you mean, I should make an appointment with you and pay you? You've got time to give me all the details now, don't you?"
It's great to be in a field that is in high demand (though it's frustrating to deal with the constant outsourcing/cloud computing is the future/IT is a cost center and does nothing for our bottom line mentalities that devalue our role). But to avoid burnout you have to be able to leave the field for a bit, to recharge, unwind and retain your enthusiasm.
I hate being asked about computer problems that people have at home. I avoid providing free advice at all costs. Like all of us, I need my down time to not think about this stuff.
I've made it a point to never go to a party and say I know anything IT or Video. But then most times, they already know. I just say, I'd have to do a P.O. and look into it and leave it at that.
While in the field, I require no interruptions to keep the people whom jacked a system out of my hair. When done, I make it clear that I now have tracking logs installed, even though I don't, other than what is already active, and that I'll be able to look at the system remotely. Yeah, bit of a fib, but then we always get, "I don't know how wizards of warcraft got installed". So as I'm working, I think to myself, hahaha, I don't have to be here everyday! Mind over matter. If I don't mind, it don't matter! A good 50% of problems are from people who don't know how to install programs correctly. My last job, Win7 was installed with hardware, raids, and could not find a scsi card driver, so it installed SQL drivers to make it work, and make performance drop less than XP. Once I uninstalled the card and 6 SQL programs, defraged after removing Acrobat and other programs from start up, the edit system would not crash. GoodLuck All... stand up to the looky lou's and tell them you don't want any interuptions until you need info. But I rarly teach someone how to install a program, as I'll then get another hour rate at some point. I also don't let them know my utility disk, and uninstall their 30dollar downloads and install my own. They don't know, and I don't tell them they waisted 30bucks. A reg.clean and cookie delete, plus Services.msc setup generally does the trick. My old single AMD-FX3.8 performs better than some PCIe 2.4gHz systems, running the same HW/SW.
While in the field, I require no interruptions to keep the people whom jacked a system out of my hair. When done, I make it clear that I now have tracking logs installed, even though I don't, other than what is already active, and that I'll be able to look at the system remotely. Yeah, bit of a fib, but then we always get, "I don't know how wizards of warcraft got installed". So as I'm working, I think to myself, hahaha, I don't have to be here everyday! Mind over matter. If I don't mind, it don't matter! A good 50% of problems are from people who don't know how to install programs correctly. My last job, Win7 was installed with hardware, raids, and could not find a scsi card driver, so it installed SQL drivers to make it work, and make performance drop less than XP. Once I uninstalled the card and 6 SQL programs, defraged after removing Acrobat and other programs from start up, the edit system would not crash. GoodLuck All... stand up to the looky lou's and tell them you don't want any interuptions until you need info. But I rarly teach someone how to install a program, as I'll then get another hour rate at some point. I also don't let them know my utility disk, and uninstall their 30dollar downloads and install my own. They don't know, and I don't tell them they waisted 30bucks. A reg.clean and cookie delete, plus Services.msc setup generally does the trick. My old single AMD-FX3.8 performs better than some PCIe 2.4gHz systems, running the same HW/SW.
You forgot about the users who try to use IT as the scapegoat for why their work isn't done and as an outlet to vent their tech and work frustrations!
I'm definitely one of those schmoes...but the sad reality is that businesses survived without IT before we become so "Important" and at the same time IT has helped created some new business problems, added more costs than it was suppose to save, our technologies we deal with helped eliminate so and so's job, and thanks to the wonderful sales and marketing tactis of some IT technologies everyone in IT gets associated!
Like someone else posted:
Sometimes we are thought of like doctors. Other times we are thought of as the evil salesperson who helped sell them a lemon. Other times we're though of as just another IT person who thinks they are stupid and will lie to them to make them go away.
And yet other times we just help support systems that helped or made it possible to eliminate MaryJo's Job.
I'm definitely one of those schmoes...but the sad reality is that businesses survived without IT before we become so "Important" and at the same time IT has helped created some new business problems, added more costs than it was suppose to save, our technologies we deal with helped eliminate so and so's job, and thanks to the wonderful sales and marketing tactis of some IT technologies everyone in IT gets associated!
Like someone else posted:
Sometimes we are thought of like doctors. Other times we are thought of as the evil salesperson who helped sell them a lemon. Other times we're though of as just another IT person who thinks they are stupid and will lie to them to make them go away.
And yet other times we just help support systems that helped or made it possible to eliminate MaryJo's Job.
Toni hit it on the head, when she said: "While the CIO may feel a lack of respect in the boardroom, IT staffers are often faced with it every day."
At a job I had, the boss was a real...well let's say less than nice person (you fill in the blanks). In fact it would have taken him 2 years, just to get to miserable.
Well, I got fed up with the individual, and we were in a meeting late one afternoon. He told me "this, that and the other thing" needed to be done the next day. I responded, "OK".
Well, the next morning, I walked into HR, turned in my cell phone, note book computer, and employee ID. The HR head said I should be talking to my supervisor. My reply, "Why should I? He's the reason I'm quitting". Well within the week, I was driving to my new job, across the USA.
As for the comment of "Help desk personnel..." you have to look at it another way. For the companies that outsource their help desk out off-shore people (usually India), it is very frustrating for customer. Most of these outsourced (off-shore) help desk personnel are a joke. When I was with Earthlink (as a customer), and called in for a problem. I told countless people that I had already checked "this, that and the other thing", but yet they had no clue on what I was talking about. ABSOULTELY NONE OF THE OUTSOURCED (OFF-SHORE) HELP DESK PEOPLE I DEALT WITH KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING. In this example (when I was an Earthlink customer), I asked several of them what a PING or a TRACERT was, and they didn't have a clue!
Another thing is that you look at, is the %^%)) micro managers. Remember the one I mentioned above? Being an experienced DBA, I could perform maintenance (e.g. split, reload, partition, etc) on tables all at the same time, minimizing "down time". Well, this micro manager didn't want me to do that. He wanted only one table at a time to be worked on. The average time was about an hour (except reloads, which was done while the table was online. So for 12 tables, it would take 12 hours to do the work. Now some may think that having the table down for an hour was bad; WRONG! The database tables were set up, so at the end, you tell it to commit the action, and the system would suspend updates to the table, commit the transaction, and then resume operation. Any transactions that came in during the commit phase would just be held in "hold", and then processed.
So instead of 12 hours of work, it would only take about an hour. His response was that it isn't possible to do what I said above. Well, I disobeyed his orders one time and did it as I indicated above (all in parallel). He got mud on his face, and wanted to fire me; but I took it to his boss, and well let's say that was in April of year XX, and I didn't quit until the beginning of year YY.
He then was so unknowledgeable, he thought that "reloads" (compression) would take days and days. Generally speaking, if a standard "reload" (compression) would happen, this is true. We had one case where everyone was going ballistic because a table was at 99% full, and we couldn't increase the size. I laughed at him, and said I could have the situation solved in 20-25 minutes. He said there was no way. Well, 24 minutes later, the problem was resolved. What did I do? I created two new partitions, and loaded the old partition into the new ones. When you LOAD a partition into empty ones, the slack space is removed, and it is quicker than an reload (compression).
Among other things, besides this "manager" being a jerk, I started to have chest pains. Well in the new job I had, there was more stress, but during the entire time I was there, I had no chest pains.
At a job I had, the boss was a real...well let's say less than nice person (you fill in the blanks). In fact it would have taken him 2 years, just to get to miserable.
Well, I got fed up with the individual, and we were in a meeting late one afternoon. He told me "this, that and the other thing" needed to be done the next day. I responded, "OK".
Well, the next morning, I walked into HR, turned in my cell phone, note book computer, and employee ID. The HR head said I should be talking to my supervisor. My reply, "Why should I? He's the reason I'm quitting". Well within the week, I was driving to my new job, across the USA.
As for the comment of "Help desk personnel..." you have to look at it another way. For the companies that outsource their help desk out off-shore people (usually India), it is very frustrating for customer. Most of these outsourced (off-shore) help desk personnel are a joke. When I was with Earthlink (as a customer), and called in for a problem. I told countless people that I had already checked "this, that and the other thing", but yet they had no clue on what I was talking about. ABSOULTELY NONE OF THE OUTSOURCED (OFF-SHORE) HELP DESK PEOPLE I DEALT WITH KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING. In this example (when I was an Earthlink customer), I asked several of them what a PING or a TRACERT was, and they didn't have a clue!
Another thing is that you look at, is the %^%)) micro managers. Remember the one I mentioned above? Being an experienced DBA, I could perform maintenance (e.g. split, reload, partition, etc) on tables all at the same time, minimizing "down time". Well, this micro manager didn't want me to do that. He wanted only one table at a time to be worked on. The average time was about an hour (except reloads, which was done while the table was online. So for 12 tables, it would take 12 hours to do the work. Now some may think that having the table down for an hour was bad; WRONG! The database tables were set up, so at the end, you tell it to commit the action, and the system would suspend updates to the table, commit the transaction, and then resume operation. Any transactions that came in during the commit phase would just be held in "hold", and then processed.
So instead of 12 hours of work, it would only take about an hour. His response was that it isn't possible to do what I said above. Well, I disobeyed his orders one time and did it as I indicated above (all in parallel). He got mud on his face, and wanted to fire me; but I took it to his boss, and well let's say that was in April of year XX, and I didn't quit until the beginning of year YY.
He then was so unknowledgeable, he thought that "reloads" (compression) would take days and days. Generally speaking, if a standard "reload" (compression) would happen, this is true. We had one case where everyone was going ballistic because a table was at 99% full, and we couldn't increase the size. I laughed at him, and said I could have the situation solved in 20-25 minutes. He said there was no way. Well, 24 minutes later, the problem was resolved. What did I do? I created two new partitions, and loaded the old partition into the new ones. When you LOAD a partition into empty ones, the slack space is removed, and it is quicker than an reload (compression).
Among other things, besides this "manager" being a jerk, I started to have chest pains. Well in the new job I had, there was more stress, but during the entire time I was there, I had no chest pains.
despite being told otherwise, you brought the tonne of bricks down on yourself.
"The 'G-Man.'"
I don't agree with you. The problem is that this manager was a jerk, and that's being polite (I have a bunch of explitives to describe him). He had highly trained, and experienced people working for him, and he was ridiculous micro manager. He went to the extent of telling us how to type the command in (e.g. "SELECT * FROM TABLE_X" verses "select * from table_x" or "Select * From Table_X"), when it didn't matter on the case. This was to the extent of just at the SQLCI (SQL Command Interpreter) prompt, not in program, macros, etc. For instance, he even when to the extent telling us to put it in this way (multi lines):
SELECT *
FROM TABLE_X
Instead of "SELECT * FROM TABLE_X" (single line)
Again, this was at the SQLCI (SQL Command Interpreter) prompt; and the case didn't matter. This was just during normal operation".
A good manager will give a task to his/her people, provide the parameters (but not micro parameters), and let them go; especially when the they are highly trained and experienced. It's just like the example I gave: "So instead of 12 hours of work, it would only take about an hour. His response was that it isn't possible to do what I said above. Well, I disobeyed his orders one time and did it as I indicated above (all in parallel)."
This manager had no experience as a DBA, but I had years and years of experience. At one job, before I worked for him, had tables that were > 144 partitions. Additionally, when I had started a new job, I was in classes for 6 weeks, provided by the vendor that gave us nothing but the nuts and bolts of DBA work on their computer. How can a person that had no experience as a DBA, and only did development on small test tables, tell a real DBA how to do their job? They can't!
You might be saying where do I get off "putting down" my manager. Simple, I was in management positions/lead positions both when I was in the USAF and since I got out. I managed 30+ people from all around the country, and managed a shift in the Air Mobility Command's second largest data center in the world. My people were given their tasks, the parameters, and "I let them go". They were trained, to where if they came across something they couldn't handle, they knew who to talk to get help (other people on the shift, or me), and then report success, delays, failures accordingly.
During my time in the USAF my actions, as well as those of my people had a direct impact on command-and-control during things like the Grenada campaign/invasion. How was that, again allowing the trained and experienced people do their job. If I had tried to micro manage, then "stuff" would have hit the fan.
So having a manager standing behind you worrying if the command is all caps, all lower, or mixed case is nothing more than a micro manger who is too afraid of allowing his/her people do their job.
I had one manager (not the micro manager) that managed SQL Server, Oracle and Tandem (HP/Non-Stop) DBAs, with the background of Oracle Database (I think). Although he didn't know the "nut and bolts" of Tandem or SQL Server, he would ask questions (for understanding), assign tasks, and let his people do their work. He was excellant, because within a month or so, he picked up an excellant understanding of SQL Server and Tandem (HP/Non-Stop) databases.
If something would happen (say a customer called), he would get the information, pass it to his people, and let us "go for it". After the issue was resolved, be might say, something like "Was the problem like this, that or the other thing we had earlier in the month?". All we had to say was, "Yes", and that was the end of it.
So when you have a manager that micro-manages, he/she is worthless and insecure, and doesn't know their A** from a hole in the ground.
Overall, both in and out of the service, 25% of my supervisors that I remember were jerks and micromanagers, and eventually they all were removed from their position, or fired.
I don't agree with you. The problem is that this manager was a jerk, and that's being polite (I have a bunch of explitives to describe him). He had highly trained, and experienced people working for him, and he was ridiculous micro manager. He went to the extent of telling us how to type the command in (e.g. "SELECT * FROM TABLE_X" verses "select * from table_x" or "Select * From Table_X"), when it didn't matter on the case. This was to the extent of just at the SQLCI (SQL Command Interpreter) prompt, not in program, macros, etc. For instance, he even when to the extent telling us to put it in this way (multi lines):
SELECT *
FROM TABLE_X
Instead of "SELECT * FROM TABLE_X" (single line)
Again, this was at the SQLCI (SQL Command Interpreter) prompt; and the case didn't matter. This was just during normal operation".
A good manager will give a task to his/her people, provide the parameters (but not micro parameters), and let them go; especially when the they are highly trained and experienced. It's just like the example I gave: "So instead of 12 hours of work, it would only take about an hour. His response was that it isn't possible to do what I said above. Well, I disobeyed his orders one time and did it as I indicated above (all in parallel)."
This manager had no experience as a DBA, but I had years and years of experience. At one job, before I worked for him, had tables that were > 144 partitions. Additionally, when I had started a new job, I was in classes for 6 weeks, provided by the vendor that gave us nothing but the nuts and bolts of DBA work on their computer. How can a person that had no experience as a DBA, and only did development on small test tables, tell a real DBA how to do their job? They can't!
You might be saying where do I get off "putting down" my manager. Simple, I was in management positions/lead positions both when I was in the USAF and since I got out. I managed 30+ people from all around the country, and managed a shift in the Air Mobility Command's second largest data center in the world. My people were given their tasks, the parameters, and "I let them go". They were trained, to where if they came across something they couldn't handle, they knew who to talk to get help (other people on the shift, or me), and then report success, delays, failures accordingly.
During my time in the USAF my actions, as well as those of my people had a direct impact on command-and-control during things like the Grenada campaign/invasion. How was that, again allowing the trained and experienced people do their job. If I had tried to micro manage, then "stuff" would have hit the fan.
So having a manager standing behind you worrying if the command is all caps, all lower, or mixed case is nothing more than a micro manger who is too afraid of allowing his/her people do their job.
I had one manager (not the micro manager) that managed SQL Server, Oracle and Tandem (HP/Non-Stop) DBAs, with the background of Oracle Database (I think). Although he didn't know the "nut and bolts" of Tandem or SQL Server, he would ask questions (for understanding), assign tasks, and let his people do their work. He was excellant, because within a month or so, he picked up an excellant understanding of SQL Server and Tandem (HP/Non-Stop) databases.
If something would happen (say a customer called), he would get the information, pass it to his people, and let us "go for it". After the issue was resolved, be might say, something like "Was the problem like this, that or the other thing we had earlier in the month?". All we had to say was, "Yes", and that was the end of it.
So when you have a manager that micro-manages, he/she is worthless and insecure, and doesn't know their A** from a hole in the ground.
Overall, both in and out of the service, 25% of my supervisors that I remember were jerks and micromanagers, and eventually they all were removed from their position, or fired.
I just reread this, and I want to clarify something.
MY COMMENT: "I had one manager (not the micro manager) that managed SQL Server, Oracle and Tandem (HP/Non-Stop) DBAs, with the background of Oracle Database (I think). Although he didn't know the "nut and bolts" of Tandem or SQL Server, he would ask questions (for understanding)..."
MY CLARIFICATION: The reason behind his questions, was to have a basic understanding of what happened and what we did (he never tried to do our job) for future reference. Why? Because it was company policy that all problems were reported through proper channels (users weren't allow to contact the DBAs (for example) directly). In this way, my manager had basic knowledge to ask additional questions, to filter out whether it was a real issue or not; meaning was it UE (user error) or not. If there were any doubts, he would contact the appropriate team and get their input, but the user would not be talking to the DBAs.
He would pass issues that for sure needed DBA action to us and all that was debatable. The issue would be worked on, and resolved, and we would report back to the manager the basic information that was needed. Then on a weekly basis, the teams would get together with the manager, and review the previous weeks on-call problems. If something new came up, that wasn't of general knowledge. The team would discuss the situation, see if that was the best solution, and then the on-call DBA would write up procedures for the "on-call book". Once completed, the solution would be reviewed by the team, and approved as a "general procedure". Then, if the situation came up again, the procedure(s) was available. However, if the procedure was deviated from, you wouldn't get fired. The entire team and the manager knew that things can change and "general " may not be able to be followed exactly. Did the team (and manger) worry about the case of the commands, if a macro was used? No!
The basic policy of this manager was that during normal business hours, anyone could work on an issue, but they ALL had to inform the on-call DBA of what they were doing. But guess what, this is basic misstatement! It was his policy, because the TEAMS (Tandem, Oracle and SQL Server) wanted it that way, and he agreed to it. In addition to this, the on-call DBA would always be notified of problems assigned to other DBAs. Actually, as agreed to by the TEAM, all assignments (and resolutions) for DBA work was shared with the entire TEAM. For instance, if it was determined that a partition had to be split, once done, the resolution was basically like "split partition 10 from $prod10 to $prod20 and $prod30." We knew that there where some other minor work (like updating define files) to be done that goes along with this, but all that needed to be said was "split partition 10 from $prod10 to $prod20 and $prod30." Why, because we were experienced and highly trained, and we knew what else was involved.
After about 3-4 months after him becoming my manager, he was very proficient on understanding the Tandems enough to be able to know what was "hot" or not.
As you can see this one manager did allow his teams to be self-managing up to a point. The creation of the "on-call book" procedures was the idea of the team, not the manager, but he loved it. The idea of the on-call DBA writing up the "new" procedure was the team, not the manager, but he through it was great. The idea of notifying all DBAs of the assignments of the others was accepted as great.
Oh...this is just micro managing, some will say. No it isn't...it's called coordination. One DBA might be assigned task #2 and another one task #1, and they must be done in order. This way DBA#1 and DBA#2 can coordinate their efforts, and if DBA #2 task has to be delayed because of problems with DBA #1 task (say a timing issue), then they can notify the manager, who can feed it up the chain of command.
Oh...the coordination of efforts is a manager's job, some will say. I don't agree. Who knows better, on the technical side on what needs to be done first, second, etc then the experts; the DBAs in this case.
This manager knew what how to manage his people. He allowed us sufficient leeway to be self-managing, which increased productivity.
Finally, he did issue one order, that was non-debatable. He required each DBA to learn another platform (e.g. Tandem would learn SQL Server or Oracle). The Team (e.g. Tandem) sat down (without manager direction), and decided who would learn what. We lucked out that half of the team wanted to do Oracle and the other half SQL server, so it was equally distributed. It ended up the same on the other teams.
Why did he do this? Professional growth and efficiency. In this way, each team understood better another platform, and also gave the individual more marketability if they were to ever leave the company. Although it never came to the point, a Tandem DBA could assist a SQL Server DBA (for example) up to a point, if "stuff" hit the fan.
One of the very few managers I really respected.
MY COMMENT: "I had one manager (not the micro manager) that managed SQL Server, Oracle and Tandem (HP/Non-Stop) DBAs, with the background of Oracle Database (I think). Although he didn't know the "nut and bolts" of Tandem or SQL Server, he would ask questions (for understanding)..."
MY CLARIFICATION: The reason behind his questions, was to have a basic understanding of what happened and what we did (he never tried to do our job) for future reference. Why? Because it was company policy that all problems were reported through proper channels (users weren't allow to contact the DBAs (for example) directly). In this way, my manager had basic knowledge to ask additional questions, to filter out whether it was a real issue or not; meaning was it UE (user error) or not. If there were any doubts, he would contact the appropriate team and get their input, but the user would not be talking to the DBAs.
He would pass issues that for sure needed DBA action to us and all that was debatable. The issue would be worked on, and resolved, and we would report back to the manager the basic information that was needed. Then on a weekly basis, the teams would get together with the manager, and review the previous weeks on-call problems. If something new came up, that wasn't of general knowledge. The team would discuss the situation, see if that was the best solution, and then the on-call DBA would write up procedures for the "on-call book". Once completed, the solution would be reviewed by the team, and approved as a "general procedure". Then, if the situation came up again, the procedure(s) was available. However, if the procedure was deviated from, you wouldn't get fired. The entire team and the manager knew that things can change and "general " may not be able to be followed exactly. Did the team (and manger) worry about the case of the commands, if a macro was used? No!
The basic policy of this manager was that during normal business hours, anyone could work on an issue, but they ALL had to inform the on-call DBA of what they were doing. But guess what, this is basic misstatement! It was his policy, because the TEAMS (Tandem, Oracle and SQL Server) wanted it that way, and he agreed to it. In addition to this, the on-call DBA would always be notified of problems assigned to other DBAs. Actually, as agreed to by the TEAM, all assignments (and resolutions) for DBA work was shared with the entire TEAM. For instance, if it was determined that a partition had to be split, once done, the resolution was basically like "split partition 10 from $prod10 to $prod20 and $prod30." We knew that there where some other minor work (like updating define files) to be done that goes along with this, but all that needed to be said was "split partition 10 from $prod10 to $prod20 and $prod30." Why, because we were experienced and highly trained, and we knew what else was involved.
After about 3-4 months after him becoming my manager, he was very proficient on understanding the Tandems enough to be able to know what was "hot" or not.
As you can see this one manager did allow his teams to be self-managing up to a point. The creation of the "on-call book" procedures was the idea of the team, not the manager, but he loved it. The idea of the on-call DBA writing up the "new" procedure was the team, not the manager, but he through it was great. The idea of notifying all DBAs of the assignments of the others was accepted as great.
Oh...this is just micro managing, some will say. No it isn't...it's called coordination. One DBA might be assigned task #2 and another one task #1, and they must be done in order. This way DBA#1 and DBA#2 can coordinate their efforts, and if DBA #2 task has to be delayed because of problems with DBA #1 task (say a timing issue), then they can notify the manager, who can feed it up the chain of command.
Oh...the coordination of efforts is a manager's job, some will say. I don't agree. Who knows better, on the technical side on what needs to be done first, second, etc then the experts; the DBAs in this case.
This manager knew what how to manage his people. He allowed us sufficient leeway to be self-managing, which increased productivity.
Finally, he did issue one order, that was non-debatable. He required each DBA to learn another platform (e.g. Tandem would learn SQL Server or Oracle). The Team (e.g. Tandem) sat down (without manager direction), and decided who would learn what. We lucked out that half of the team wanted to do Oracle and the other half SQL server, so it was equally distributed. It ended up the same on the other teams.
Why did he do this? Professional growth and efficiency. In this way, each team understood better another platform, and also gave the individual more marketability if they were to ever leave the company. Although it never came to the point, a Tandem DBA could assist a SQL Server DBA (for example) up to a point, if "stuff" hit the fan.
One of the very few managers I really respected.
It is what it is - a mostly thankless job - but we do it anyway - have been on both sides of Large and small companies and it is all the same basically - high stress enviroment and it is not for everyone - nobody really cares and it comes down to money- I have left 1 (OutSAurCing outfit) in particluar that made me so miserable that wehn I left afeter a couple of days my wife said to me immediatly - WOW you are a different person - some jobs are not worth your piece of Mind and health - Why ??? because if it is that bad - the stress will kill you literally- Breath take a step back walk away clear your head and breath.
There are too many bitter hacks left in IT. If you love what you do, you don't need external validation. Early on when IT used to pay a decent wage, you guys didn't need validation, but now that wages are dropping, you want a pat on the back.
Face it, IT is a utility. Just like you don't care about who pumps the water and electricity to your home, your non-IT folks don't care about your existence unless something breaks. If you think you deserve a pat on the back, call your local electric and water company and thank them for the uninterrupted service. Pray to God and thank him for making sure the sun rises and sets.
If you want to bitch about anything, bitch about the pay. But as a utility, the nature of IT is thankless. If you loved what you do, you wouldn't need validation or commendation from the outside. No one knows or cares about your existance until the lights get turned off so to speak. It's called a utilitarian relationship. People don't like us, they don't appreciated us, they just need us for something.
Face it, IT is a utility. Just like you don't care about who pumps the water and electricity to your home, your non-IT folks don't care about your existence unless something breaks. If you think you deserve a pat on the back, call your local electric and water company and thank them for the uninterrupted service. Pray to God and thank him for making sure the sun rises and sets.
If you want to bitch about anything, bitch about the pay. But as a utility, the nature of IT is thankless. If you loved what you do, you wouldn't need validation or commendation from the outside. No one knows or cares about your existance until the lights get turned off so to speak. It's called a utilitarian relationship. People don't like us, they don't appreciated us, they just need us for something.
But well put. Thank you for outlining a different way to view things. Of course, now I'm wondering what all those electrical and water utility guys do when nothing's broken. Are they sitting around talking or are they keeping up with the next electricity technology that is coming out? 
IT can provide competitive advantage via cost avoidance or direct support of adding to the bottom line. Things like e-mail are a commoditized service and if that is your specialty then prepare to become irrelevant and marginalized.
As for pay, there are still highly lucrative roles in the IT space. You just have to read the trends, identify the next "hot" thing, and prepare yourself as quickly as possible to get while the getting is good.
As for pay, there are still highly lucrative roles in the IT space. You just have to read the trends, identify the next "hot" thing, and prepare yourself as quickly as possible to get while the getting is good.
If the individual allows it
I have seen people I thought would stay walk off the job because the customers berating left them upset
You can only do what you are permitted to do in your job qualifications and some of the problems customers experience are manufacturer defects but the customers do not want to hear this
Customers want IT to wave a magic wand or push a button and make everything new again
I have seen people I thought would stay walk off the job because the customers berating left them upset
You can only do what you are permitted to do in your job qualifications and some of the problems customers experience are manufacturer defects but the customers do not want to hear this
Customers want IT to wave a magic wand or push a button and make everything new again
For me, the reason of my burn-out was too much time spent on the necessity of the field.
Working 8 to 12 hrs a day, studying 2 to 4 hrs to keep up to date, working in my personnal lab at home to perfect my knowledge, taking week-end contract jobs, trying to squeeze in some time for my family and spending as little as possible sleeping...
After 15 years, the burn-out hit me like a ton of bricks and I ended-up taking a medical leave for almost a year.
That's when I realized that no matter how much time abd efforts you put in your trade, first you have to take care of the most important thing, your health, otherwize, you end-up loosing every thing you work hard for and you're putting unnecessary pressure on your entire family.
NOT WORTH IT!!
Working 8 to 12 hrs a day, studying 2 to 4 hrs to keep up to date, working in my personnal lab at home to perfect my knowledge, taking week-end contract jobs, trying to squeeze in some time for my family and spending as little as possible sleeping...
After 15 years, the burn-out hit me like a ton of bricks and I ended-up taking a medical leave for almost a year.
That's when I realized that no matter how much time abd efforts you put in your trade, first you have to take care of the most important thing, your health, otherwize, you end-up loosing every thing you work hard for and you're putting unnecessary pressure on your entire family.
NOT WORTH IT!!
The way I've dealt with burnout is to "Not give a sh*t."
Deadlines are entirely artificial, so I've ignored 'em for decades. What gets done, gets done, and too bad, so sad if the users don't like it.
That's not to say I don't get on a roll once in a while and do a ten or twelve hour day, but that is an extreme exception.
"Microsoft delenda est!"
Deadlines are entirely artificial, so I've ignored 'em for decades. What gets done, gets done, and too bad, so sad if the users don't like it.
That's not to say I don't get on a roll once in a while and do a ten or twelve hour day, but that is an extreme exception.
"Microsoft delenda est!"
for this article. It reminds me why I work for my company, and why I must stay with it. The salary isn't at the statistical level for what I do, but I don't encounter any of the points presented by you. I have recognition for my work, I have permanent contacts with the upper management, I don't need to work long hours. Since I work for this company, my level of stress reached the lowest level in my entire career.
A piece of advice: work as IT support for a non-IT company, with no more than 50-100 workstations, 10 servers, and max. 5 branches. It gives you lot of time for personal life and development. Now, I enjoy working in IT.
A piece of advice: work as IT support for a non-IT company, with no more than 50-100 workstations, 10 servers, and max. 5 branches. It gives you lot of time for personal life and development. Now, I enjoy working in IT.
to find my way after coming down in flames from my previous job as CIO.
I reordered my priorities and found that the job is that entity which pays your bills.
It took me one year on my present job to fix everything, automate the repetitive tasks and educate the users. Now, I have enough time to support everything in 40 hours a week. I work overtime only when the tasks involve unacceptable downtime during the working hours. I even have time to prepare myself for the dreamed Cisco certification.
One detail: I am the only IT guy for a company with three branches. Two of them are 4000 km away from my office and I support them remotely. I don't have budget responsibility, and I have to argument any IT expense needed by the company. And, I keep a very tight asset management so the upper management will always know what to expect in advance.
Again, I consider myself very lucky and I quit planning to develop my career further. Of course, I keep checking the jobs market and - at least, once a year - I go to an interview.
I reordered my priorities and found that the job is that entity which pays your bills.
It took me one year on my present job to fix everything, automate the repetitive tasks and educate the users. Now, I have enough time to support everything in 40 hours a week. I work overtime only when the tasks involve unacceptable downtime during the working hours. I even have time to prepare myself for the dreamed Cisco certification.
One detail: I am the only IT guy for a company with three branches. Two of them are 4000 km away from my office and I support them remotely. I don't have budget responsibility, and I have to argument any IT expense needed by the company. And, I keep a very tight asset management so the upper management will always know what to expect in advance.
Again, I consider myself very lucky and I quit planning to develop my career further. Of course, I keep checking the jobs market and - at least, once a year - I go to an interview.
Took the test and found I'm at 8.2 (Yellow light for burnout). If only I had some idea on how to reassess my priorities! Where I am, IT jobs are few and the politics branch from company to company. I used to like it where I'm at until an employee arrived with a luggage set of clout. Any advice guys? I have a passion for IT but now I'm so confused.
is due to the need of being permanently up-to-date with the technology.
The companies are not willing to pay anymore for training. So, the IT guys have to pay it from their own pocket, on their time, or find any way of getting their skills updated. Even when a company introduces new technologies and ask the IT personel to learn it, they don't pay for it.
The stressor is that you have to continuously develop your skills or risk to lose your job, while the company doesn't give a rat's a$$ on how you should do this.
The companies are not willing to pay anymore for training. So, the IT guys have to pay it from their own pocket, on their time, or find any way of getting their skills updated. Even when a company introduces new technologies and ask the IT personel to learn it, they don't pay for it.
The stressor is that you have to continuously develop your skills or risk to lose your job, while the company doesn't give a rat's a$$ on how you should do this.
The same is true no matter what industry or deparment you work in. Life-time learning is becoming a fact of life for everybody!
I do have to say that this is probably more so in IT, but that's a personal bias, and since IT technology mostly revolves around product and software lifecycles and most businesses and ourselves do not revolve around the same lifecycles there will always be this conflict.
I do have to say that this is probably more so in IT, but that's a personal bias, and since IT technology mostly revolves around product and software lifecycles and most businesses and ourselves do not revolve around the same lifecycles there will always be this conflict.
It is a fact of life. Even at home we have to learn more and more technologies. Look at the today's TV sets as an example.
The stress comes from the lack of balance between the company's requirements and support. They require you to know all the technologies they use, and even to learn technologies they want to start using, without providing the necessary time and money for doing this. Instead, there will always be a Sword of Damocles hanging over your head - as a danger to be laid off for not having the required skills.
While, not knowing how to configure your TV set will give you a bad TV image as the only result (and, maybe, a visit to the optician).
I have really no idea how much a sales rep has to learn for keeping the pace with his profession - this is not disrespect by any means -, but in IT this is a continuous requirement.
The stress comes from the lack of balance between the company's requirements and support. They require you to know all the technologies they use, and even to learn technologies they want to start using, without providing the necessary time and money for doing this. Instead, there will always be a Sword of Damocles hanging over your head - as a danger to be laid off for not having the required skills.
While, not knowing how to configure your TV set will give you a bad TV image as the only result (and, maybe, a visit to the optician).
I have really no idea how much a sales rep has to learn for keeping the pace with his profession - this is not disrespect by any means -, but in IT this is a continuous requirement.
I suffered complete burnout with an attendant emotional/physical breakdown about 6 years ago while working as an IT Manager for one of the largest wireless telcos. After the company was purchased, they started the process of consolidating IT and offered exceptionally generous layoff packages. I volunteered and left just to get my sanity back (Not that I wouldn't have been let go anyway).
Here it is 6+ years later - I'm in a much healthier place emotionally and physically, but my career is a wreck because I just can't seem to get back on the horse. I'm not even sure if its worth it. Once you've lost your mind and recovered it, you never want to go there again.
Even though it hurt my career, I have been able to focus on the really important things in life -
My relationship with my wife & kids.
Cultivating friendships with others in a purely social context.
Involvement with church leadership.
Volunteering.
Hobbies.
And a whole host of other things.
Each of us has only one life to live and its all too brief at that. Time is the currency of life; once its gone, its gone. Ask yourself whether you're squandering it or investing it. Then ask yourself if the stress is really worth it.
Here's to a much healthier work-life balance!
Cheers.
Here it is 6+ years later - I'm in a much healthier place emotionally and physically, but my career is a wreck because I just can't seem to get back on the horse. I'm not even sure if its worth it. Once you've lost your mind and recovered it, you never want to go there again.
Even though it hurt my career, I have been able to focus on the really important things in life -
My relationship with my wife & kids.
Cultivating friendships with others in a purely social context.
Involvement with church leadership.
Volunteering.
Hobbies.
And a whole host of other things.
Each of us has only one life to live and its all too brief at that. Time is the currency of life; once its gone, its gone. Ask yourself whether you're squandering it or investing it. Then ask yourself if the stress is really worth it.
Here's to a much healthier work-life balance!
Cheers.
God bless you for finding that inner peace. Your perspective is spot-on. Hoping I avoid the pains that so many others on here have gone through, but I see myself heading in that direction if I'm not careful.
"Time is the currency of life"...indeed!
"Time is the currency of life"...indeed!
Back in the 90's I worked 70 hour weeks on a regular basis. I had a gardener, a housekeeper, and a babysitter. My round trip commute was 5 hours out of my day. I was on 2 antidepressants, I weighed 250 pounds (I'm 5'3)my personal life was a mess.
It had nothing to do with the company I worked for. The situation was created by me. Once I realized that, I started making changes.
The dot coms were falling, the real estate market was booming and I got out. I got out from under my $3000.00 monthly mortgage, I got out of the Bay area (although Im now back because it's home), and I got out of a very dysfunctional marriage. and then I had a complete breakdown. That breakdown saved my life.
The relationships I have with my children, friends, co workers, neighbors, etc. are richer now that I ever thought possible. lowering my standard of living took some getting used to. But the rewards of not HAVING to work myself to death in order to keep up with some pre-conceived materialistic notion of what "successful" means have been ten-fold to who and what we used to be.
I don't have to work for "Huge Techno Corps". I don't have to have impressive positions. I just need to work and do a good job in order to be able to live the way I see fit. I take no meds today and I weigh a comfortable 140 lbs. Suicide and terminal illnesses are no longer entertained in my head. I joined a woman's cycling team and I ride almost daily. I love life and I love my career. But I had to be the one to recognize where I was, get honest about how miserable I had become and then be willing to do something about it in order to survive.
It didn't happen on my own, and its taken years to get where I am today. Im not defined by my career, I know too well it can all disappear tomorrow. And if it does it won't be so bad as I no longer live beyond my means and I have plenty going on in my life to occupy my time. That is not to say I wouldn't be concerned but somewhere life has taught me that a job is just a job and nothing more. Either you like it, hate or endure it and ultimately, its up to you to create your own happiness.
It had nothing to do with the company I worked for. The situation was created by me. Once I realized that, I started making changes.
The dot coms were falling, the real estate market was booming and I got out. I got out from under my $3000.00 monthly mortgage, I got out of the Bay area (although Im now back because it's home), and I got out of a very dysfunctional marriage. and then I had a complete breakdown. That breakdown saved my life.
The relationships I have with my children, friends, co workers, neighbors, etc. are richer now that I ever thought possible. lowering my standard of living took some getting used to. But the rewards of not HAVING to work myself to death in order to keep up with some pre-conceived materialistic notion of what "successful" means have been ten-fold to who and what we used to be.
I don't have to work for "Huge Techno Corps". I don't have to have impressive positions. I just need to work and do a good job in order to be able to live the way I see fit. I take no meds today and I weigh a comfortable 140 lbs. Suicide and terminal illnesses are no longer entertained in my head. I joined a woman's cycling team and I ride almost daily. I love life and I love my career. But I had to be the one to recognize where I was, get honest about how miserable I had become and then be willing to do something about it in order to survive.
It didn't happen on my own, and its taken years to get where I am today. Im not defined by my career, I know too well it can all disappear tomorrow. And if it does it won't be so bad as I no longer live beyond my means and I have plenty going on in my life to occupy my time. That is not to say I wouldn't be concerned but somewhere life has taught me that a job is just a job and nothing more. Either you like it, hate or endure it and ultimately, its up to you to create your own happiness.
The wrong environment can bring this on so fast that you wonder what happened to your passion for IT. I'm almost there after only 2 years as CIO (at a small company it's just a title). I am currently in a situation where the boss has grandiose (and unrealistic)ideas, the staff are averse to any change, the company is small which gives me little ability to gain experience with new technologies, and office politics rule everything. Constant interruptions, etc...just about everything everyone here has mentioned is happening daily. I thought moving to a larger company was the answer but now that I've read the other posts I see that this is an IT world phenomenon that can only be escaped by the grace of finding the perfect IT environment. Well I'm off...wish me happy hunting.
Your point ".....you will encounter people who seem to work less, but have more political clout"
Well this is 100% and absolutely right!
I have found from my own personal experience that you work hard and others eat the fruit in the end for sitting "nicely" idle.
Well this is 100% and absolutely right!
I have found from my own personal experience that you work hard and others eat the fruit in the end for sitting "nicely" idle.
I figured out early on that this career was thankless and really unrewarding. I was able to create my own company and create rewards myself. If it wasnt for the 200k+ money I make I would have given up long ago.
I would suggest that we start some awareness about this topic and how difficult our job is. Lets start some ideas, how about a IT Workers Union, where were protected against adverse job conditions, or what about a strike? LOL, that would shake things up huh. Kind of like the Mexican workers did a few years ago. We all realized how important they were after it become a widely discussed topic. What about some non IT people education, to educate the NON IT related person on how really hard it is for us and how we want to make things work but effing cant because of blah blah....
I would suggest that we start some awareness about this topic and how difficult our job is. Lets start some ideas, how about a IT Workers Union, where were protected against adverse job conditions, or what about a strike? LOL, that would shake things up huh. Kind of like the Mexican workers did a few years ago. We all realized how important they were after it become a widely discussed topic. What about some non IT people education, to educate the NON IT related person on how really hard it is for us and how we want to make things work but effing cant because of blah blah....
You did it right, by creating your own company and specialty. That got you much farther than a union would have. Look what unions have done to other industries; we don't need them destroying IT. And realistically, if American IT unionized, all but minimal IT operations (and maybe even entire companies) would be moved overseas.
Good on you for going out on your own... I did IT consulting for several years and got tired of fighting everyone else's fires to my own detriment. I loved the money, but ultimately it wasn't worth it to me.
As an IT manager in a previous life, it was my duty to be a solution provider at the cheapest cost possible. Before outsourcing had gone mainstream it was part of my job to downsize (right size) my team by outsourcing work to India (Tata Consulting).
I faced a moral dilemma with respect to taking away a dedicated, skilled person's livelihood and started to consider the long term implications for our industry (fewer and fewer domestic jobs) and the personal toll soon to be inflicted on thousands of IT workers. Unions started to look pretty attractive at that point.
Realize, I am totally against unionization and have been since long before becoming a manager (opens the door for major corruption, nepotism, and tremendous inefficiencies).
Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that a union wasn't the answer, at least not long term.
Our industry is all about change and is evolving at a frenetic pace. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, I see this trend continuing for the foreseeable future. This, combined with many other industry trends, portends a rocky road for the "established" IT professional.
BTW: I'm not all doom and gloom. Change brings opportunity and that is a good thing.
Cheers!
As an IT manager in a previous life, it was my duty to be a solution provider at the cheapest cost possible. Before outsourcing had gone mainstream it was part of my job to downsize (right size) my team by outsourcing work to India (Tata Consulting).
I faced a moral dilemma with respect to taking away a dedicated, skilled person's livelihood and started to consider the long term implications for our industry (fewer and fewer domestic jobs) and the personal toll soon to be inflicted on thousands of IT workers. Unions started to look pretty attractive at that point.
Realize, I am totally against unionization and have been since long before becoming a manager (opens the door for major corruption, nepotism, and tremendous inefficiencies).
Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that a union wasn't the answer, at least not long term.
Our industry is all about change and is evolving at a frenetic pace. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, I see this trend continuing for the foreseeable future. This, combined with many other industry trends, portends a rocky road for the "established" IT professional.
BTW: I'm not all doom and gloom. Change brings opportunity and that is a good thing.
Cheers!
Back in the mid-90's I experienced a burnout and crash into a depression. It was the lowest point of my life, and I do NOT want to do that again! It wasn't due to lack of pay, respect, etc., just pressure to keep the systems running and almost always something to do on the weekend. Fortunately, I was able to transfer to another organization and things started going much better...
RE: " In a bad economy, raises and promotions aren't forthcoming."
Why limit this to a bad economy? I work for a large multi-national IT company. They have NO policy on raises and promotions. We have had wage freeze which is now in it's SIXTH year!
Try THAT for lack of recognition and stress.
How do I maintain my family's standard of living when most prices have risen 20 to 50 percent in that time?
Leave? I am in my late 50's and in a specialised role... Jobs are just not there for us "almost retiree's"...
Why limit this to a bad economy? I work for a large multi-national IT company. They have NO policy on raises and promotions. We have had wage freeze which is now in it's SIXTH year!
Try THAT for lack of recognition and stress.
How do I maintain my family's standard of living when most prices have risen 20 to 50 percent in that time?
Leave? I am in my late 50's and in a specialised role... Jobs are just not there for us "almost retiree's"...
I think you pretty much answered your own question. The company is not giving you a raise because they know you won't leave. Why pay more to retain you when they can keep you for the same price?
They don't care about you or your family; you are merely an entry in the Liabilities column of the balance sheet.
I don't mean to seem so unsympathetic, I think many people are getting a raw deal in situation like this. I'm just telling you why you haven't been getting raises.
They don't care about you or your family; you are merely an entry in the Liabilities column of the balance sheet.
I don't mean to seem so unsympathetic, I think many people are getting a raw deal in situation like this. I'm just telling you why you haven't been getting raises.
Been working in IT supporting corporations and writing customer solutions for 24 years now. Change is constant for nearly all professional pursuits. This is what drives humanity and evolution of species. Stress is self-imposed. It is about managing expectations. Get that right and its a breeze.
Those expectations can be the killer of many things. Like happiness, relationships, goals, careers. If EVERYTHING is going wrong and EVERYONE is against you try lowering your expectations and see what happens.
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