IT Employment

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Feeling useless at work

0 helpful
9 replies

by tech06

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.
I work in a small manufacturing facility as their IT person. In order to stay competitive in the industry, my employer has been holding off many IT projects to save $$ in favor of its production area. Because of this, I?m unable to implement projects that I?ve been planning for this company like computer upgrades, ERP improvement, new server domain etc. This makes my job ?less interesting? as I don?t seem to have much to do besides watching over the 60-user LAN. I?ve been doing researches online, taking free online lessons (SQL- that I one day hope to help with in-house reporting), lots of documentations etc. but I don?t see the need of these as the company doesn?t seem interested in updating its IT department. What would you suggest in a situation like this? There?s so much potentials here but I feel like I?m getting nowhere.

9 replies

by bfilmfan

If you are not being challenged and the work environment isn't likely to change you can either stay put and be happy or move on and be happy.

Best of luck in your decision.

by joshuaguttman

You are there to serve a function. If they aren't ready for that function then you should move on. It will seriously hurt your career if you allow youself to go at their pace. I know you are training yourself, and that's admirable. But unless you are making a boat load of money, you should definitly move on. Reading about something is not the same as doing it for real.

by jdmercha

If you are bored and you have the time, prepare a report that shows how an investment in tecnology can improve the overall performance of the organization. Include a cast benefit analysis showing how the IT investment can improve the bottom line. Show how upgraded technology can give the company a competitive edge. And be sure to include figures on ROI.

by onbliss

Even if this report does not get you anywhere within the company, I am sure it will be a nice experience to make this report. I for one, do not know how to make such a report and to me it means an opportunity to do research and compile the data. In the process one is bound to learn something useful.

And, you can comfortably state in future job-interviews that you have done this sort of thing, and if necessary can do it again. Your value definitely goes up.

by shellbot

take what you've learnt and put in into practice.
-Prepare the report as suggested.
-Create Reports using what you've learnt, make them better than the current reports they use
-take thier existing technology and create examples to demonstrate how much better it could be if they upgraded.

Even if they don;t go for it, your keeping yourself busy and actually using the stuff you are learning. When you are confident in you skills, move on. Even if the work you did was never implemented, you still did the work to create it and can therefore claim the experince of doinf it.

Good luck

by ericl_w199

I know at my last job things got to where I was able to do my job without hardly thinking about it and my boss never wanted me to implements new ideas.I came up with this whole report and plan to upgrade our server security.my bosses responce?"well we have insurance to cover things like that".i eventually got really bored from not being challenged and started to look for a new job.a few months down the road my boss found out i was looking for a job and they fired me for it.that was the best thing they ever did for me.2 months later i got a new job with a 60% raise and tons of places to move up.im not saying quit your job or anything but i would just start looking and see what other companies can offer,who knows if you put ur resume out their somone may call you without you even doing any looking.

by dr dij

not all jobs are perfect. how about people who put pieces into cars on assembly lines? they don't say 'well, I'm not getting enuf satisfaction..' Not all jobs use all our abilities.

In your case, as others have mentioned, you are likely getting less money than you might. Maybe not, as there are many unemployed. If you're happy supporting this place as it is, stay. If you can't find anything else, stay.

I think the others are right. A valuable prep for other jobs would be to think up projects, one by one and outline what would be involved, how it would help the company, what it would cost, etc.

Don't do this as a report. Instead do it as individual projects. The more promising / likely ones you could do ruf estimates of the figures.

This exercise would be valuable to you even / esp. if you move on to a new company, and you have free time to do this. If asked, summarize the most promising / important projects in descending order with most value first.

Also, if you have free time, minor stuff like keeping documentation spic and span - both paperwork and cleaning up infrastructure in minor ways - would seem indicated.

And keep up with online courses or other form of learning so you'll be ready for new challenges when you decide to. Would you be ready for stresses of new job, maybe unpaid OT, drop-dead deadlines, etc? If not, be happy where you are!

by jgarcia102066

One area where IT sometimes falls short is in ensuring that users are utilizing the tools at their disposal to their fullest capacity. If you took the time to look around to see how people are working you would probably find areas where they are working inefficiently. You could feel useful by creating some solutions without additional cost to help your company work better. Once you are labeled as the solution provider for your company (not just the IT person) the users will then create opportunities for IT projects to get back on track as the demand for more solutions increase.

Once you have created some solutions you can then approach management and let them know that you could do more if you were allowed to upgrade, provide ERP improvements, etc. When the demand for more IT services comes from outside of the IT department, it seems to hold more water with upper management.

by ebeck

If the money is good - hang in there.

I was right there with you six years ago, and would've died for a real challenge. So I took it, but gave up over $50k in salary and eventually grew bored there too, only to move on again. I keep in touch with my crew back on that old job and the company has since expanded to four other countries and is constantly moving now - even while they are cutting back on spending.

My lesson learned is to look long and hard before jumping as it may be just a dry spell instead of desolation where you are. Things might turn around - especially if management changes or some other mojor event happens in the biz.

In my case, I'd be a hell of a lot better off $$ wise, traveled more and still living on the beach if I had just weathered the moment (even if it was one of many...).

Regardless of what you do, keep an eye open in the market, keep learning and accomplishing something.

If the money sucks and there is no other pull to stay, then do as others here have said and move on.

This discussion is closed to new replies.