Discussion on:

10 alternative careers for burned-out IT workers

I was IT pro, SA/SE 1st. Class, Instructor and Team Leader, in days when computers with 32Kby was "MainFrames", and ones with 1 MBy were "Super_Computers". We know we could depend on hardware, OS and compilers, and if we know and love our jobs (some study the programming because it was highly paid job and did it mechanically, just copying correct programs and changing data description and list output), nothing can upset us, so we did not ever understand why would Americans say that whoever program for more than 5 years would went mad :-)) It was true that they could have earned in those 5 years 10 times more than we in whole work life of 40 years could, so they need not do it after 5th year pass. I learned and used 36 programming languages, many from several vendors, in several generations and on several platforms. I more offten than not was working 2-3 or more jobs at same time, since good and reliable workers were scarce, and studying Economy and IT evenings. Yet I never have been "burn out". Problem started with Microsoft and PCs, as they hired hackers to develop OS, instead of professional programmers, and those introduced fashiom of bug ridden programs as something "unavoidable". True, if they have at once made perfect OS, what would they sell later? It was interesting how OS for PCs were intentionally handicaped because there were nearly failproof OS-es on IBM Mainframes
that could have been used as they managed to work with much less memory than 640 KBy of first PCs. But, who would buy Mainframes, then, whose cost was measured by millions of US $?
I am retired now, and I work on perfect Compiler for still not wholy implemented OO programming paradigm, and more than ever increasing need for reliable and hackproof OS. I also invented new Wind and Solar Power Stations, which was my hobby in time nobody would even consider such electricity production because polution was disregarded as unavoidable and electricity just like oil was cheap to produce.
So my suggestion for those who feel "burnt out" is to try to employ skills they developed in IT field (if you are not fans of bug ridden software, which is main reason for feeling "burnt out", I presume) to try to build applications, compilers, OS-es that would be reliable and foolproof? You can use skills of System Analyse to study contemporary devices or programs to find faults and suggest better solutions? That way you would not have deadlines to meet and could concentrate on one thing at time, and your work would help company whose product it is and more to users of that product that lose time bypassing bugs or using inefficient devices that may be perfectly designed in aestetic sense but are hardly made with practical work to be done in mind. For instance I invented new turbine for windpower stations that have much better efficiency than contemporary models, so much so that existing formulas cannot apply (i.e. Betz Limit) and it could be built using recycled materials that are cheap (i.e. recycled clear bottle plastic) therefore electricity would be cheap also, where they have near zero "Land Footprint" because there are Greenhouses built in. Moreover, they can work in groups, producing synergic effects and saving on materials (i.e. in group of 7 windpower stations 12 common walls are unnecesary) and needing less support while being able to work productively with weak wind, and do not need to stop in any kind of wind strenght, as they have air outlets that would exhaust surplus internal pressure downwind, and force of wind itself, together with Gravity and Centrifugal Force would do all work, so no electricity would be spent, therefore they cannot bring the Grid down, no matter how many of them start working at once :-))
I invented also Solars capable of working 24/365, reliable and dependable, because of redundant capacity of Solar Concentrator units that can harvest energy of the Sun that can last 25 hours in electricity production.
WindSolars are those two types of Power Stations joined together, enabling for energy harvested from the Wind to be stored as heat into thermal storage of Solars, thus making appearance of the Wind inconsequential.
In IT area, I have invented "Random Sequential Split Cell with variable record lenght" organization, I solved "Traveling Salesman Problem" using Fractal adressing for the cities, I even have solution for massive paralel processing by introduction of "Virtual Time" and would build truly inteligent OO compiler for one language that would have capabilities of all other existing programming languages and which would evolve according to plan, not haphazardly, Java style.
So, find unsolved problems and make solving them Your future job, if You have not been doing jobs in IT only to earn salary, and You have talent for solving the problems, that is.

People of the IT world can also be people of faith. Consider spending some time teaching and preaching. Work with inner-city youth. Build churches. Or perhaps even use your passport to go to that far-off land to minister to people from other countries.

Sell drugs to those you once worked for...they must be on drugs, what else can explain the way management thinks?

Operate a hot dog stand at the beach. I can eat all the dogs I want, watch the girls, and spend the day reading. What more could you ask for? (Dog with chili; $2)

I have to disagree - Programming is a lot more stressful than and Admin job or a consulting job - it's creative and intellectual! Consultants do not build things and get them working - they produce pointless presentations and excel spreadsheets they have never really seen a project through nor supported it! - i.e. accenture 12 year old inexperienced 'consultants' both of which are not creative or intelectual activities they're glorified secrateries as are admin staff! Admin is going to meetings and writing documents - hardly a difficult creative or intellectually challenging activity - hire a secratary instead they're cheaper!

I don't think I'd say that the NFP world is easier. In fact, I'd say it's harder after having worked in both the corporate and NFP worlds. In my own case, its about doing more with much, MUCH fewer resources than what you have in the corporate sector, and for less money. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do and who I do it for, but if you think getting a gig at a NFP is a "break", you're in for a rude awakening.

Thanks for including technical writing as an 'alternative' to IT. Twelve years ago I left the 'traditional' IT world of systems analysis/design/development for the world of technical writing. I came to realize that I had always liked designing UI and writing documentation much more than programming so I switched out. It's one of the best things I ever did and in the 30+ years of my IT career I have done soup to nuts - QA, training, PCs, minis, mainframe, programming, networking, support. I firmly recommend this vibrant field. It has come into its own in the last few years going beyond the manual and quick reference card to architecting/developing information. Wherever content is required we are there - website, infobase, user interface, translated content, graphic interface. If you like research and methodologies you can branch out into user experience design. There is also design for mobile and voice driven systems. It is wide open! Now if only there were actual positions...

Geeks are hot, most of us just don't realize it. When your ass is sticking out from under that desk what do you think they are looking at? Yup, that's right. Just ask them to pay for it. Don't give it away for free anymore.

I keep telling my wife. I'm gonna quit my job and become a burger flipper. Really, how much stress can their be flipping burgers???

The Burgermeister Meisterburger, that's me!

All kidding aside. CNC Machinist isn't too bad. NOT an operator, but a machinist. Big difference. You still get to work with computers. You can program, setup, operate and get 10x the exercise that you would at a desk!

no comment

I agree that writing technical documentation would be a great fit for a burned-out IT professional. However, I also find that IT professionals can be the worst writers on the planet. Being able to speak the language does not qualify you to be a writer, especially if you've forgotten everything you learned in high school about grammar and sentence structure. So, if you choose to go down this career path, please work on your writing skills first.

I spent 25+ years working on cars... Now I have a job I love.

Don't do it! It is MUCH easier in the fortune 500-100 world. I left a "big" company and now am the CIO of a SMB, it sucks. I am responsible for everything, and I do mean everything! Security, Database, Servers, Desktops, Computer Room, Phone Systems, Fire Alarms, Light Bulbs......... Yes I have 4 employees but they are all niche players, everything falls on my plate and I make less than when I was with a Fortune 500.

OK The commute is 10 minutes but I find I make it at 4:30AM. I didn't leave for NYC until 7 when working there.

When I worked for a small company there was "the Guy" who kept us coming back to a small computer consulting and CAD shop for his expertise and communication skills. The last thing he sold us was AutoCAD 14... you do the math, IT burn-out is nothing new. Around that time he chucked it all and went back to lobstering. I ran into him a few years later, and he was happier than I'd ever seen him.

I've worked on a help desk for 10 years and have enjoyed it. I'm moving to a new city and I'm ready for a new and different challenge. Although my math skills are sufficient, I'm by no means a math lover AND I actually love working with people and using analytical skills. I must be a fluke, lol! I am actually considering cosmetology, so I'm happy to see #9 on the list. My only concern is losing critical thinking skills and that I would miss using analytical skills.

Or living somewhere simply.

My plan is to become a professional musician.

What a world....I have a bachelor's in Sociology, a Master's in Theology, I am currently a Database Administrator (Oracle/SQL Server) and have also been a UNIX SysAdmin (HP-UX/AIX/Solaris/NCR UNIX/IRIX) - but since I was a little girl, I always wanted to be a locomotive engineer (!) - I LOVE trains; I did work for Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) in the early 1980's, out in various freight yards (you have not lived until you have walked ankle deep in: (a) anthracite coal (b) bituminous coal (c) iron ore pellets), and I kind of liked that, but I had no seniority to hold on to that position (first and only time I've ever been in an union) - hauling 100 cars of coal or ore or orange juice or LPG can't be more stressful than working 16-18 hour days moving to the THIRD data center in 10 years and working with an offshore company.......

I'm a 20+ year IT pro, and I'd love to give this up for my own restaurant.

No one can accuse you of writing the "same old link bait" here, Jack.

The step from a fortune 500 to a smaller company is a *difficult* transition.

I went from Intel to a company that, at the time, had fewer than 100 employees and supported less than 300 users total. My first week, when the COO called me into her office and asked me to install a wireless modem card in her notebook, I had serious reservations about what I had done. I spent the next 3 years trying to help the executive staff understand that they had specialized staff with specific skills and training that they were not using in their most productive capacity. On the other hand, I also learned that in a smaller organization, things that would normally be far outside my scope become my responsibility, simply because we don't have the scale or economic justification to have those specialized roles filled. In fact, hiring managers often will disqualify a candidate based on their background of working only for smaller or larger companies. This is one of the liabilties Fortune-500 workers face when laid off in an economic climate that means that most available jobs are with smaller organizations.

For my part, I always liked the way the developer from Office Space went after the office burnt down in the movie. If I were younger, I'd be tempted to get a job on a dock or working for a landscape company.

Before I was employed at the company I currently work for, I went on several interviews at smaller companies (I'd worked in IT, on the B2 ('could tell ya, but then I'd have to kill ya'), and when I described a 'normal' day for me - most of the smaller companies' hiring people (after they picked their jaws up off the floor) told me that their shop 'wouldn't nearly be enough of a challenge for me (translation: "you'll get bored in 2 months and quit") )

I heard the same thing more than once when I was looking at smaller companies after leaving Intel.

hh where to start...Bachelors, Masters IT, MBA; worked for a smaller company (yes wore all the hats); put in v successful ERP system to reinvigorate / re-energise said company...& got made redundant. Struggled to find a job since...but some good ideas here.

...cooking and baking..same thing really, follow process, define key ingredients, discern correct environment (temp of oven), understand workflow, combine skills, be patient, ignore any criticism...simple really

You really need to consider the age of the person that is burned out. At 49, I don't see myself doing most of what you listed, but I am no where near ready (nor will I ever be) for the job as greeter at wally world. The other thing is, with age discrimination, how does one start over in a new field? It more than a young person's world just in IT.

I opened a full nude gentlemen???s club... How is that for a leap!

I always love being underestimated and I don???t think you can get a better example of that then looking at the faces people make when they find out that their ???propeller cap??? wearing IT guy commands a stable of 20 beautiful exotic dancers. The funnier part is that I don???t generally tell anyone about it; others seem to do it for me.

I have my computer controlled video, lighting, and sound system, Point of Sales, website, and local network to keep me in the IT world. I can also, should I chose to do so, control that entire club from my Office computer and/or iPad. I love numbers so I decided to bypassed the heavy accounting software for good old fashions Excel . After 12+ years of serving internal customers for large and small companies, I can apply my customer service experience in ways that are not traditionally grasped in that industry. Moreover, I also find my guests (customers are people who come and go, guests are people who stay and want to come back) are far easier to interact with than just about any other executive or department member I have ever supported. Best of all, all I put into it, the blood, sweat, and extensive amount of time, it all comes back to me; not the company that barely shows any appreciation or may one day lay me off to ???reduce their budget???.

It???s definitely not something I would recommend for everyone but if you are one of the few, and you can do it right, it can really be a positive move for you; not always for your career if you get the wrong hiring manager.

Easy transition for me. I already had a BS degree, just refresh my sciences and four years & internship/residency later I'm a chiropractic physician. Great pay, healthy lifestyle and I'm my own boss.

Well, I don't really know why one would really leave IT.

I can only see two reasons:

1. I spend the whole part of the best weather indoors, but I get out on the bad weather and the place I'll see will most probably be a mall or a theater . IT fairs are placed always indoors too for that matter.

The most sporty activity of mine is driving - to or from the customer, that's why I started to collect tickets. Maybe cycling, in rare days of IT acalmia AND nice weather. (These two do not really meet, here I have to cheat)

Sometimes I even consider skating instead of driving. Then I wake up and resume typing some more cmd's

2. I have to deal with computer illiterate persons, they are highly demanding and many times they will put on me what they cannot foresee or that theyr project was not really documented/consulted and I am called in very late, when nothing works anymore. Well, they account for the well known 80% in the 80-18-2 and this is my job so at times I do the education they never ment to follow (doing the education here, why leaving for teaching


But, I'll leave today my IT carreer driving,
to get back tomorrow - probably skating.

Have a nice IT career everyone!

Ah, the romance of farming... except for those of us who came off a farm, perhaps.

The glamour of watching crops die from lack of rain or early frosts. The fulfilling job of nursing calves sick with scours all night, and killing the ones which are too sick to make it. Local government informing you that you will be fined if you don't get rid of the noxious weeds that have made it onto your property (from their road going along your fenceline) while your organic farming neighbor threatens you with legal action if you use chemicals. All the while knowing that if your farm/ranch goes under, you don't get to simply go find another farm like you do in IT when a company collapses.

There's a little more to farming and ranching than a stress free pastoral life - particularly when you didn't grow up in it.

One field totally overlooked is GIS. It's growing by leaps and bounds, shares a lot on the tech side, and GIS personnel who can do programming and customization in Python and work with ArcObjects won't find it very hard to get employment.

I ran to GIS from IT when outsourcing took off after Y2K. I chose the more outdoors end of GIS, focusing on GPS surveys and natural resource mapping. I think being well paid to fly around in some of the most spectacular mountains on the continent in a helicopter is a very viable career choice indeed.

I got a laugh reading this article! I was a mechanic and can tell you that if you think its better than IT, you're dreaming. You'll trade long hours behind a computer or in a server room with long hours bent over a hood or under a car. Your hands will not come clean no matter how you scrub them. When its cold outside, you're cold. When its hot you're hot. When its wet, you're wet. You have to beat the flat rate time for each job by 50% or you're losing money. There's no time to research new technology because the customer needs their car tonight. If you think this is a great change, read the posts on websites professional mechanics frequent. They're looking to get into IT.

I have family who farm and this is for h2owe2 who says: "many of these tasks are not particularly time critical." Feeding animals, planting and harvesting are pretty much time critical. "Doing a different task according to your mood" isn't realistic. You are often at the mercy of the weather and other factors. If the cows break the fence at 10 PM, you'll be out all night fixing it, then up early to feed animals. When the livestock were being born, they worked shifts around the clock. I recommend you speak with a professional farmer to get an accurate picture of farm life. I never worked harder than when I vacationed at the farm.

I predict the number of responses to your article will grow immeasurably - many resources (and we ARE resources in this industry, rather than PEOPLE) can identify with this 'feeling'.

I haven't made the jump yet, however I am making headway to doing so. I'm 30 years in the industry in a variety of roles and am so done with it. The passion and excitement have gone.

You failed to mention a GREAT career. Medical Equipment Repair. There are over 25,000 of us who repair medical devices inhospitals and imaging centers around the country. We are well trained in electronics, medical device operation, and the safety concerns of medical devices. We in-service nurses onthe proper operation of medical devices. But we need help in the connectivity of medical devices, electronic health record, and the other sophisticated medical devices. For more information, visit www.AAMI.org or me, at 704-941-0116. plynch@gmi3.com .

Jack,
A few generalizations you have assumed-
- All IT folks have an inquisitive learning penchant (most don't, in my opinion) - the entrance barrier into IT is low - as an admin, helpdesk etc.

- Programming is trivial - you just exhibited your lack of expertise in this area - true programmers are hard to come by (IT exists because of programs) - the depth and insight required into building a new program / sub-system or system is simply enormous

- IT folks have the ability to fix things: Incorrect - IT folks have an inclination to google things and look for answers in message boards and make things work - if you did that with cars, we will end up with duct-taped auto parts and chewing gum based glues. I would be wary of any previous-IT now-mechanics

You should have simply referred to burnt out people to take a Myers Briggs personality test or some similar to figure out who they are - burnt out people are mostly self-deceiving folks; so are most people in my opinion.
"What one says who they are is quite different from who they are" - hence the suggestion to take these tests (they are simple helpful tools).

Based on the outcome of these tests, one could explore potential societal roles -

Okay, I'm frustrated. I'd love to get paid writing articles.

What suggestions do you have pcasey?

Besides sitting on your self wallowing butt and not opening your mind.

Good luck doing at doing nothing

Because I'm frustrated at this article doesn't mean I'm doing nothing, or that I'm not open to alternatives. My job search includes several possible avenues of career change, some of which will mean retraining and taking significantly less money than I made before. Perhaps I'm the only person to respond to this blog who didn't agree with the writer?

I only lash out because he says provide alternative thoughts at the end of his article. You gotta look at everything these days and take the risk. Hedge fund guys...wow...how did they get where they are today...where is their qualifications???

I once thought of starting a fishing boat business and day trading at the same time.

I now make more as a theatrical designer. I work less than half the hours, have a fairly flexible schedule, and deal with creative people that come up with some really interesting stuff. AND I DO NOT EVER WEAR A TIE !

There's a huge need in developing countries for skilled IT workers. Working overseas can be a great way to get perspective on the rat race back home (ie it's not worth all the stress). There are also tons of local and overseas volunteering options too. Some long term like Peace Corps, or shorter term like Geekcorps (if that's still running).