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Five Signs it?s Time to Move On

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by too old for it 2 views

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To every time and career there comes a time to move on. But maybe we don't always see the writing on the wall.

Here is a helpful guide:

1. Your position has morphed into being all about metrics or the process rather than any useful IT activity.

2. Budgeting is all about reducing expenses (real or imagined) rather than acquiring the newest technology. Bonus points if the CIO reports to the CFO rather than the CEO.

3. There is a hiring freeze. Bonus points if this means that when people leave, key positions remain unfilled.

4. There are no annual raises, but your annual ?bonus? is based on business metrics, rather than IT performance.

5. IT leadership is blocked from promotions. Bonus points if your IT Manager is blocked but takes a CIO position at a NYSE listed firm across town.

58 replies

by jdmercha

must not be time to leave yet.

But then I'd change #4 to: Annual raise does not keep pace with pay band increase. Thus you always move closer to the bottom of the pay scale.

I'd also replace #5 with: New IT manager has no clue what a copmuter is, but micro-manages anyway.

by w2ktechman

looks like I am closer than you!

Although # 1 was coming to reality, then suddenly went away -- oh yeah, I had to leave IT for that part....

by jamesrl

1. If all of your job is about metrics or process, you could be a manager. You may define that as unproductive, but I've done a process job and managed to make a manjor improvement in the project management processes at a company. If all you do is collect numbers, then get out.

2. Budgeting always has an element of reducing expenses. If everyone in the organization isn't looking for ways to do things with more quality and at less cost, then sometimes management has to impose targets based on their own financial projections. Sometimes its reduce expenses or reduce heads - which would you prefer. Acquiring the latest toys is NOT a valid goal. Exploring how new technology can improve quality, increase revenue or reduce costs is a valid exercise and should be funded as far as practical. Companies that don't do this, are beaten up by their competitors that do.

3. Hiring freeze. As a manager with tasks to do, this is a pain. But again, what are the alternatives? I know you are going to suggest that the execs give up their perks. Gee in my company that might buy me someone for a day. But there just isn't an unlimited pot of money, and if you raise your prices in the short term, you may lose customer and revenues in the long term.

4. My bonus and my team's bonus have elements of both. Business metrics help determine how big the pie is going to be, and group and individual objectives shoudl determine how much of the pie a group/individual gets.

5. This is a struggle in some organizations, for a number of reasons. Some old boy networks see IT folks as geeks and not business oriented. If it makes you feel any better, I'm a techie who currently has additional responsibilities in marketing.

James

by neil higgins

(1)You dont recognise any of the staff.(2)They dont recognise you.(3)Your office is now a fileing cabinet.(4)Someone asks..."do you work here?"

by fbuchan

...is when you wake up at 2 AM screaming, and you're in your chair at the office.

by w2ktechman

1. running too many metrics is stupid. More and more companies seem to run more and more metrics which gets in the way of actual duties. And not all metrics are run by managers. I was asked to run stupid (evil) metrics on our department, but have not been a manager in it. After getting them setup and myself and a backup trained (2 weeks), it was decided that we were going to be cut anyway, so we never actually ran any.

2. Many managers in charge of the budget look at things in a very short term basis. Sometimes it is better to spend the extra $$$'s now for a better reduction of spending later.

3. It depends on the reasons for the hiring freeze, and if someone leaves can they be replaced. I have seen key people leave on a project, and not be replaced. The company kept funding the project for months, but wouldnt replace these skillsets. Finally, the project ends up scrapped because it falls apart, even if it was not in trouble before.

4. Bonuses. Many companies only give out real bonuses to departments that generate money. Those in positions that do not, are out of luck.

There really is no 1 format, it depends on many other factors. But I did find the original post (and your comments) informative and helpful

by jamesrl

1. Running too many metrics IS stupid, agreed. You can achieve more by doing less. What I mean by that is that if you have 10 objectives, and you are determined to achieve them all, you risk achieving none. If you have three and focus on them you might achieve them.

Once you achieve a goal, then the metric may no longer be needed, and you need new goals and metrics. You may measure customer satisfaction forever, but if you have had great stats on wait times for a year, why continue measuring that, unless a problem occurs.

2. Spend money to save money? Absolutely. I have written a lot of business cases and I calculate the ROI or payback. Generally if there is an 18 - 24 month payback and ongoing benefits, you should do it. If the payback is less than a year, its a no brainer. Some investments are like insurance, you won't save money unless you are avoiding a disaster that may never come. You have to assess those on a case by case basis.

3. Hiring freezes - if they impact a project, then the project manager should escalate. Better to cancel the project when you know you wont get resources, than to pour money down the drain.

4. Bonuses. If there isn't an economic reason for having a department then it shouldn't exist. All departments have an impact on revenue, just some are more easily measured. But for example, if the customer support teams aren't great, they will have a negative impact on revenue. And studies have shown that it is far cheaper to keep an existing customer happy than to find and land a new customer.

by too old for it

Your statement "Acquiring the latest toys is NOT a valid goal." exemplifies one-half of the disconnect between C-level management and IT staff.

Ask any IT staffer what motivates them, what do they look for from management, what would keep them in IT and you find some variation of ?new toys?: training in new skillsets, latest technology, replace old technology, more interesting projects, what have you. The other half is usually more money, more respect, or some variation of that theme.

C-level management, on the other hand look at IT as something that must be controlled, generally by some forced alignment with ever-changing dynamic business objectives, and reducing cost.

The disconnect occurs when the C-level makes the leap to ?what motivates our IT staff is alignment with business objectives and reducing cost? and truly believes that.

Note to management: Quit referring to new technology as ?toys?, especially if you want to keep your IT staff churn under 100%. It is tired of hearing that tired old mantra.

Where I?m at had the HR-driven trifecta going: Hiring freeze, non-replacement of key positions, blocking promotions and watching IT managers (and staff) leave for better positions elsewhere. To this was added a buyout offer in order to reduce ?stranded costs? from a recent divestment ? all this while on an acquisition spree.

The math on CEO perks here is fairly straight forward: Divide his annual bonus by the $83,000 is costs for some $40 an hour guys, and I can put over 190 guys to work for next year. I don?t need them all, so I?ll trade some heads for some real servers to replace that rack of desktops running Win2000 & SQL, those laptops we got back from sales that look like they were run over by a truck, and oh yeah some ?toys? for the IT guys.

by jamesrl

I don't consider replacing your servers ever 4 years toys - thats prudent because hardware doesn't last for ever, and its better in the long run to make those expenditures.

As for new technology, I've seen it all come and go. If we invested up in every new technology that came out we'd be broke and no one would be working. New technology has to be looked at as to how it can help the business, because IT exists to serve the business. The business does not exist to provide you a paycheck.

I've been an IT staffer for decades. I've managed IT staffers for a long time. All of my senior staff, with 15, 20 and 25 years in the business, are probably more jaded than me about "new" technology. I don't consider a laptop for someone who works at home on occasion a toy - and my senior staff all do that, so they have laptops. I don't consider a toy a product that we are investigating to sell. Gee my staff churn in the last three years? One employee went to another department for a better opportunity (she wasn't a techie) and 4 new hires. People ask me constantly if we have any openings because they want on my team.

I worked at one organization where they had a whole team of "goodie monsters". This team had a lab full of experiments that never went anywhere. They had jackets, T shirts, spent a lot of time at conferences and seminars. At the end of the day they produced nothing of value to the company. They and their manager were tossed in the next reorg. No one really noticed they were gone.

If you are at a place where it is that bad, why not leave? My problem with your attitude is that you obviously work in a rotten workplace, and you then assume everyone does.

I'm having trouble with your CEO bonus math. Does your CEO get 16 million in bonus?
Thats about 10 times what my CEO gets, and he heads a company with a billion dollars a year in revenue.

For the record, we don't have racks of desktops, we have real servers with RAID and Win 2003 server. My staff who need laptops get them new. They get the software they need to do their job, no more, but no less either.

James

by xloggr

About point 2:

I worked at an industrial job where management took on a crusade to cut costs. As employees, we learned to accept (and even welcome) cost reductions that reduced waste and actually improved the process.

Eventually, though, the costs were pared to the realistic limit, but management was locked into acheiving set targets.

"Costs were reduced by 10% last quarter, and thou shalt reduce costs by an equal or greater amount next quarter. We must improve the ROCE (return on capital expenditure)."

Pushing ahead with reductions ended up harming the ability of the company to make profit, which was further impetus to reduce cost, which led to reduced profits, and so on... Not to mention the effects on morale.

You usually have to spend a buck to make two, and sometimes deep analysis of a so-called cost center will reveal that it is really a profit enabler.

About point 3:

If the company can't afford to hire the people it needs to do the job, then it can't afford to be in business. It is no different from inability to pay for rent, supplies, or utilities.

It is a common solution to cut staff or defer replacement of staff who move on, but in a truly efficient operation it is unrealistic to offload the departed staff member's work onto other workers for any length of time.

If there is true efficiency, adding duties will impair efficiency, which leads to an increasingly vicious circle. See point 2.

I could go on and on about this, but I won't. I've learned something from what happened in my company, and it's this: bean counter blindness is an early warning sign of disaster. Get out as soon as practical when it appears. Worse things will follow.

by maevinn

The time to move on is when I determine that coming to work is a burden, rather than a joy.

I hit that not too long ago--dreaded going in, came home literally wiped out. I started looking for a new position immediately.

by w2ktechman

when you wake up screaming, you notice that you are not alone, several others are doing it too.

Or
you wake up when the mail person comes by (in the office) and realise that you are almost the only one there.

Or
when your office gets moved into the basement, and you get asked to take care of the rat problem (since you are there already).

by drowningnotwaving

6. When you answer the phone and the person says "Ernst and Young - Business Receivership Division returning (insert boss name) urgent phone call" .

7. When you haven't actually had a new client in 3 years, and every renewal of client maintenance contract is celebrated like a major win.

8. When the spare desks in the office are rented out to non-related companies on a 3-monthly basis.

9. When the wife of the boss calls up demanding that we tell her at which hotel the boss is at with his mistress, or she will come down and do inhumane things with the phone receiver and our good selves.

10. When your boss starts dating your ex. You're truly $ucked then.

by stress junkie

Hey. These lists must have ten items. I don't make the rules; I just enforce them.

I like #6. I worked for a company that went into recievership. You couldn't cash your paycheck. You had to deposit your pay check and wait for it to clear before you could use the money. That's not so unusual for a private party check, but it's the only time that I couldn't cash a corporate paycheck.

by bg6638

When recruiters suggest that your next IT position is operating a cash register at McDonald's!

by drowningnotwaving

How about this (toungue firmly in cheek but based upon real situations I've been in, screwed up myself or seen):

1. Build metrics that actually have nothing to do with importance or relevance to the strategy or objective:

We were encouraged to use the paper recycling bin. As always with these things, most people did it most of the time.

The boss decided it wasn't enough, and thus had his PA measure daily recycling performance, graph them meticulously and random attacks on individual waste bins to find how many pages could have been saved.

Of course the reaction was to do less recycling 'cos the random searches were just too much fun.

2. Spending or saving - god where do I start? I remember getting slammed in an internal review by my staff for not buying a new, big allsinging-alldancing printer, but happily taking clients out on huge $uck-off lunches.

(ha ha - got around that one by regularly inviting at least one staff member. Open Communications are good but bribery always gets results).

3. Hiring Freezes. IBM, classic. Hiring freeze on personnel and consultancy but no real examination on expenditure.

Got our consultant on a critical project to register a new business name to change from 'xyz consulting' to 'xyz services'. Never had a phone call once from accounting to find out what it was about.

4. Bonuses.

Now the trick here is to not actually confirm the bonus structure until after the end of the activity or end of the time period. Ever had that happen?

Or like M'soft in Australia where a friend works: gets hired into a pretty good job with the promise of the potential massive year-end bonus. Really good - six-figure stuff just for the bonus.

Performs brilliantly, as does the entire company. At bonus calc time, gets informed that the bonuses for ALL STAFF are actually put on a performance bell curve, and individuals then get their statistically calculated percentile band according to the entire company.

Net result is one person made 100% of bonus, one person made $0, and most in the 40% - 60% band, when the ENTIRE company blitzed every number imaginable.

5. IT blocked from going up?

Well that's the way it should be too. Seen and not heard. And let's face it, the less seen the better normally. What is it with those beards?

(Insert smiley thing with kevlar helmet on).

by jamesrl

I worked at a small Apple VAR in the 80s, and my first mistake was chosing that over another offer.

Its started off ok, but after a time, when thing got more difficult, the owner stopped caring. A huge chuck of the staff left, but young and naive as I was, I kept on showing up for work. Eventually it became harder and harder to catch the boss at work. What made my mind up was when he offered me a computer in lieu of a paycheck. At that point, I quit.

James

by too old for it

That's what he is getting this year. Is sole accomplishment was to divest a orders cow (lots of backlog) that never seemed to be able to make a profit, and a couple small acquisitions, one of which has been an integration nightmare on the IT side.

Actually I like the people I work with, I like what I do, I just wixh there was less of a dissconnect. You don't, for instance, bring in a nightmare integration, but reduce staff for it. And you don't try and run a 24/7/365 global enterprise with desktops as servers. Unless of course your CIO is from the business side, reports to the CFO instead of the CEO, and your CEO is all about "keep those IT boys in line".

You are probably right: I need to find a place to do what I like, with people I like where the management isn't so disconnected.

by jamesrl

No one gets a great bonus for the status quo. You might get 80% of bonus target if you bring in the same revenue as last year. Targets are set for growth and you attack them.

Desktops as servers is short sighted to say the least. We have sold our customers (who are notoriously cheap) desktops as servers for applications with 5 or less users, and we get a disproporionate amount of headache from it. Even my little webservers here, that never get more than 5 -10 concurrent users are on low end servers with mirrored drives and tape backup. Having spent a night recovering a "desktop" server that someone had set up before I arrived, I vowed never to waste my time. I am lucky in that my company leases some server, and I can buy the lease return servers. My lab is well stocked.

Integration is never easy. When we acquire a company, and we do alot, we basically give up the idea that its integration of two partners. We basically teach the acquired our way of doing things and it works out better. So we just need to ensure our existing systems have enough capacity to handle the extra workload. Then someone migrates their existing data onto our system.

James

I've worked for a CIO that reported to the CFO, and in that case, it wasn't so bad. There is pressure in every

by too old for it

I was working for a division of one of the big three auto makers (Ford) in the 70's. According to the story, some of the banks in southern California got proactive in checking account balances before accepting checks for deposit. Seems reasonable, except thtat pay roll was a "flow through" account. It never had any real deposit, was just a local number for a master acount somewhere in Michigan. Suddenly, all our paychecks couldn't be cashed or deposited.

This was the same period of time where banks were refusing to cash California and US Treasury checks because they took longer than a week to fund. I remember wadding mine up into a ball and bouncing it off the chest of a bank manager because he had just got done telling me it was worthless (or the functional equivalent of worthless).

Fortunately for my career in IT, my ability to suffer fools has grown over time.

by drowningnotwaving

[b]"my ability to suffer fools has grown over time"[/b]

Stuff the 7 Habits etc etc, this is THE most important skill in longevity.

I mean, look at how tolerant we all are or Republican voters in the workplace JUST JOSHIN sheesh.

by too old for it

I'm that weird truly independent beast: Fiscally conservative, socially libertarian. Given that there is no major political party vying for our vote, I tend to the Republicans, even though their fiscal policy is [b]way[/b] too liberal for my taste.

That said I find that I personally am better off financially during those times when the Democrats have a stranglehold on the government in DC. Strange how locally(Columbus anyway) the Dems have done [b]nothing[/b] except drive industry and middle class blue collar jobs out of town, but on a national scale they do something magic so that old Too Old has steady employment. When the Republicans are in control, while it tends to be better for the country overall, I tend to be out of work a lot more often, and for longer periods of time.

On the plus side, it gives me more time to write, something that has been in short supply of late. I still think I could hold my own in print doing op-ed in a HR publication. Something like "View from the associates". You know, those people that HR forgot?

Not only was working more enjoyable before buzzwords like metrics became more important than actually doing something, but it was so much better when HR was "Payroll and Benefits" and actually did something to improve those two aspects of work.

I would write the book, but my current writing project has a deadline 100 days out from January 8th. Maybe an outline this weekend, would that be ok? :)

by tony.hancock

1. Oh God don't measure what I do! - Now that's scary.

2. The newest technology will always fix it - and don't worry about the cost, in fact spend as much as we can.

3. We can't have a hiring freeze - I need someone else to blame.

4. IT is meant to help the Business?? - get out of here you must be joking! I know the system doesn't meet your needs but its really fast and the latest technology (see point 2)

5. I don't want a sheet I have to balance on - I just need a good sleep.

Should have read ...
If you believe these these 5 signs it's time to move on!

by markr1980

Could someone define "metrics". I am a student on the road to an IT career, and I haven't come across this term yet. Is it IT or "business" related? Thanx.

by markr1980

Could someone define "metrics". I am a student on the road to an IT career, and I haven't come across this term yet. Is it IT or "business" related? Thanx.

by jamesrl

Its not IT specific. There is an old saying that you cannot manage what you cannot measure, and metrics are the values that you meaure.

In IT, it varies by role. A programmer may be measured by the amount of code written per period, or the number of bugs per line of code. A help desk person could be measured on the number of calls taken per hour, or the number of calls closed on the first call.

The mistake many people make is taking them out of context. You can't and should not compare the number of lines of code written by a COBOL programmer versus someone writing C#. You should use metrics as an instrument but not as a sole determinant of anything. Like polling, you can use metrics to spot trends, but its is a mistake to read too much into them.

James

by snak

There's only one sign you need to look for. When you'd rather go fishing, or stay in bed, or play World of Warcraft or online poker, or indeed anything, rather than go to work.

In short, the only sign you need to look for is: When you don't enjoy it any more.

by 50kilroy

or at least since the first MCSE boot camp was established.
Management as a whole seems to think that the Microsoft toilet-paper system 'engineer' certifications are an indication of ability.
But then, they also mistake process for management.

by bitwise

As long as hiring / firing / budgeting decisions are made by technophobes who register no comprehension when told for the fifth time what you do, job satisfaction is going to be an elusive goal.

When the stuff comes down, get out the umbrella and start working your way down your contact list, which you keep fastidiously up to date for just this reason.

And what's this 'too old' stuff? "Too Old to be a Professional Stuntman" I might buy, but IT? I'd take someone who has been around awhile over some trade school brat any day. The schools might teach one all the 'cool' keyboard shortcuts for the latest Microslop offering, but only experience teaches one how to think. Only thinking gets you out of the situations where running through the textbook 'decision tree' five times still leaves you staring at an error message.

by domiller0550

Remember a dilbert cartoon a few years back that had "certified man". My company has sent me to some of that training which equaled the ability to take a test. This was from one of the most promeniate cert schools out there.

by dancer1117

I agree. I enjoyed my work more before I became a "resource". You know, when we were all still human beings with thoughts and feelings. Now they request my help on a project on the same form on which they request a server. It is called, appropriately enough, a "Resource Request Form".

by sjohnson175

My job at a major bank was eliminated the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

In hindsight many of those signs were glaring.

But today is my first day at a new place. A tiny company with a loyal customer base and a bright future. I may finally be off the corporate merry-go-round.

by dr_zinj

1. Metrics should only be about things that effect the business' bottom line; otherwise it's not a Critical Business Function. If the business is big enough, or grows big enough, your position can morph into being all about metrics or the process and still be of critical use to the company.

2. Budgeting IS about reducing expenses (real or imagined),a funding needs critical to the success of the company. New technology should only be purchased if it drives success for the company. That includes necessary periodic upgrades and replacement of systems as they reach their life expectancies. Yes, some business managers mistakenly think a PC and OS has the same life expectancy as a building. Your job is to show them why they don't. By the way, in most hospitals I've worked at the CIO does report to the CFO rather than the CEO.

3. If a 'key' position remains unfilled, and the business continues operating as normal, then it wasn't a key position.

4. Bonuses? What's a bonus? You only pay bonuses when people exceed expectations. If you have job expectations planned out properly, only the top 20% of your people should ever be making a bonus.

5. If it's a small business, then there may not even be an IT career ladder. There are a lot of places where you have a layer of worker bees, a few supervisors, and a single manager over them, and that's it. The only choice is to move outside the company for a 'promotion'.

by jamesrl

1. Many things impact the bottom line indirectly. Customer satisfaction impacts customer retention and sales, and in turn employee satisfaction impacts customer satisfaction. Many things impact employee satisfaction.

2 & 3 agreed.

4. Many companies make it their policy and practise to make bonuses part of the overall pay structure for a number of reasons. The only people in my company who don't get a bonus are those who are consistently not performing up to par and are on a performance improvement plan.

5. There is always an end to a ladder, but with the right skill sets, there should be no barriers to move between departments. Of course many IT people will complain when a non IT person is made a manager in IT, and also complain when IT managers don't make it in opther departments. I'm of the one size doesn't fit all school. Some IT managers would be good in other groups, others not. Same with outside managers coming to IT - some would adapt and thrive, others well are doomed to fail. Knowing which one is which is always the trick.

James

by too old for it

2. Budgeting is about adequately funding the operation of the business, not just cut, cut, cut. If you have to cut all the time, maybe what you sell isn't worth selling any more?

3. The presumptin I was making is that it was key, operation of IT would suffer, and the business side didn't give a damn because they "saved money" on the HR side.

4. Bonus has taken over for the annual raise, and usually has some oddball calculation to make sure those in IT do not reap the rewards of their own efforts.

by locolobo

I don't have any answers but can think of 2 situations.

In the first, a person quit and wasn't perceived as key. So their position wasn't filled. One little thing they took care of wasn't. In the end did it cost more to fix the resulting disaster than to hire someone? I don't know, but the manager in charge had to look for a job after.

The second, a friend was working with antiquated equipment. He was always finding tricks and tweaking the system to keep it live. He asked his boss for upgrades but was always told they didn't need them because the equipment was working. Finally he moved on to a better job with newer equipment. Two months later they bought the new equipment he requested because nobody else knew how to keep the old equipment going.
By definition he wasn't a key person. Since in fact the business improved when he left! The new equipment was so much better! So maybe the second is more of a comment on budgeting.

by gardoglee

1a.) You attended 35 hours of meetings last week in which the entire point of discussion was whether the work products match the required formats and naming conventions for deliverable documents in the new development methodolgy, but not one word was said about the actual system design...and it was a typical week.

by becca alice

Another variation: What bonus? Your annual raise is now based on pay for performance, but the performance system is not funded.

by kelly

I have a Bachelor's degree in IT Management, but I was the victim of strategic downsizing from the company I was with a few years back. (They weren't making their numbers, so they cut 40% of their staff.)
The Project Manager 90 day contract I was hired for after this (just to pay the bills) lasted 3 years, but finally ended September 29th. Actually it didn't 'end' so much as management decided that they wanted to bring contractors in as full-time employees.
Sounds good, the only problem being that the positions they made available were all Help Desk Agents - no management or project management work at all. When I declined to apply for these, they let me go - although I had to make sure all my documentation was up to date so the agents left there could handle the issues I had been dealing with for so long.

So I've been out of work since the end of September. There seem to be lots of positions available on the job boards, but even though I've been on a few interviews I've found no job match as of yet. I think since I've not been doing true management work for the past few years, people aren't impressed with my credentials.

Lesson? Don't just decide it's time to move on until you find someplace to go. I have lots of time to look for a job, now - but it's Christmastime, and I'm not sure how much longer my unemployment pay (such as it is) is going to last. Maybe people will be more likely to hire in 2007? Wish me luck!

by rbosgood

I got cut at the end of Oct, and its really hard to find work durning the holidays. Being 53 aint helping much either

by jamesrl

I had similar experience a few years back.

I was laid off of a management position, and it took some time to find anything. I came back to a contract position at a bank as a business analyst. I had some good interviews, came 2nd out of 500 applicants at one place, almost had an offer at another until a hiring freeze. My generous severance ran out and I did live for some time on emploment insurance.

I did eventually find full time employment. I hope you never let up and keep pushing. If you don't get enough interviews, change your resume. Join a networking group/job hunting club. Keep up your social network.

Some employers will see it one way, others will be more flexible. You may have to settle for less pay, as I did.

I would never counsel anyoen to leave without a signed offer in writing.

James

by too old for it

There is only one problem with acceptance of "You may have to settle for less pay, as I did."

It means you also accept that the American Dream of every generation being able to improve over the next is dead.

Maybe it is, and the next generatiion will reach 50 and the only jobs available will be serving each other McDonalds hamburgers. If so, I think we will have done a huge disservice to the middle class of both Canada and the US in the name of corporate profits.

by girlgeek12

We're overqualified for that position, the sad thing, when we get laid off, you couldn't even be a greeter at Walmart! Too much experience, too much education!

by jamesrl

Yes, I'm earning less than I did. But when you look at it, there was a big IT boom in the late 90s that inflated wages, and after the bust and a steady growth, they are just recovering from the cycle.

I'm not far from 50, and I'm doing much better than my parents thank you very much.

My kids may do better than me economically, or not, depending on which career they choose. The one who wants to be a minister will likely not do as well. The other two are up in the air.

There are no guarentees, and never were, that the economy could and would have good growth for ever. My granparents were married just before the depression and suffered for a decade before times substantially improved.

James
James

by montanavp

I'm also reaching 50 and had many positions over the years. Where I am at in michigan the market sucks. I am taking time out to bring up my educational credentials so that I can get past the HR hiring filters for my next adventure. If I don't get back into IT, its no big deal, I rode the wave and made my mark. It may be time to leave and retire from the dog and pony show. Those of you who stay will have to fight harder for those good paying jobs. The truth is its not what you know its who you know. The new corporate mantra is penny wise pound foolish and imcompetance realy does rise to the top. good luck

by agaetos

We might forgot to summarize these signs(Management Secrets):

#The organization was generous enough to offer early retirement program to all employees who wants to avail. However, the management already have a secret list of employees they want to lay off.

#The organization now plays a virtual computer chess game. Two opposing teams CFO team against the CEO Team. CFO team always criticize the CEO team project accomplishments.

#Management junks CIO & CSO posts. Now, The IT management people reports to either CEO and/or CFO directly. Providing conflicting business directions with intense pressure. Rapidly, removing IT management employee(s) as they go along.

by nocubes4me

(Bonus points if your supervisor
has implemented "coverage" policies which are actually about covering his/herself. Double-points award if said coverage is for an affair.)

by ibanezoo

Whoohoo! What do I win?

I'm to ignorant and stubborn to move on. I always think I can fix everything, including the company as a whole (I look at it as a big machine...and I've yet to find a machine I couldn't fix). I guess the worst part is I totally realize it, and yet I remain....

by sambo1580

This wonderful company has given me all 5. I came here under the promise that I would use my skills as Windows Server/Networking admin to help their I.T infrastructure develop.

Instead I am only doing PC support work being bored out of my brain and not getting challenged at all.

by wayfarer

All 5 points are universal. Doesn't matter if it is "IT" or anything else. Despite whatever the headlines say, jobs are just tigher.

Because ?I'm older?, or have a ?bigger paycheck? (therefore a target) or whatever, truth is that unless you are low cost or indispensable, companies are looking for ways to cut.

This isn?t just ?IT?. It is every job in every company in every country.

I don?t understand the incompetence that seems to survive in most companies, maybe it is perpetuated by ineffective supervisors who want someone to make them look competent. Whatever, unless you are your own boss, you are dispensable.

by wayfarer

All 5 points are universal. Doesn't matter if it is "IT" or anything else. Despite whatever the headlines say, jobs are just tigher.

Because ?I'm older?, or have a ?bigger paycheck? (therefore a target) or whatever, truth is that unless you are low cost or indispensable, companies are looking for ways to cut.

This isn?t just ?IT?. It is every job in every company in every country.

I don?t understand the incompetence that seems to survive in most companies, maybe it is perpetuated by ineffective supervisors who want someone to make them look competent. Whatever, unless you are your own boss, you are dispensable.

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