I'm done with IT

You haven't had a sales career where it is common to go from Sales manager at one company to telemarketer at the next.

As a licenced mechanic you will go from senior tech earning $46.00/hr to Tire tech earning $23.00/hr when the tides turn.

Many posiions become obsolete, not just IT, and it's a continuous struggle to make sure you have the latest training and certifications that THE COMPANY is looking for not just yourself.

But hey, I get bored of careerd after one year and look to change my direction so I guess you gave it a good shot.

Maybe it's time to get a non technical trade and then no matter what happens you will always have desired skills.

Machinist, Welder, Boilermaker, Mechanic, Civil Engineer, there's a bunch of them. They pay better and offer more stability.

But he forgot plumbing. Demand is high - everywhere. As long as people need to take a dump there are going to be clogged toilets.
The technology is pretty much in place and not changing or about too very quickly.
Pay is in $75/hr range. Apprentices earn, at least in this area, $22-$27/hr starting. Each call is paid a minimum of 1 hour. If you want a real shocker call one of these guys when you arrive home @ 04:00 AM from a New Year's Eve party and find your toilet doing a more than reasonable imitation of Niagara Falls. You call a plumber, he comes, works twenty- thirty minutes. Then he hands you a bill for $375 and will that be check or MasterCard? Mind you if you don't need a receipt and pay cash he'll knock off $50. You've had a bad day. The "executive" is an as*hole who probably can't get it up with his old lady and his boss is shouting at him so he wants to take it out on you. Any time you take a job you should get your resume up to date and start sending it out. This doesn't mean you are going to change jobs immediately but it keeps you aware of what is happenning on the job market. This can work to your advantage because its possible your boss will be aware that you are hunting and might not be so inclined to drive you away. Right now you are pissed and angry and you shouldn't be making any snap decisions. Turn off your cell, take the phone off the hook and start making up a plausible story for whoever asks how come you couldn't be reached? A family emergency invoving a sick kid is usually good for a little sympathy.
Hell years ago it worked for me and I wasn't even married but then there were no cellphones at that time. Snuggle up with your significant other, grab a cold one, put your feet up and just sit back and relax. Never make career moves or decisions when angry. Once you've cooled down you will be able to think more clearly and be able to plan your strategy and tactics accordingly. We've all been there at one time or another. A friend has this definition of stress on a plaque,"Stress is the condition created when the mind overcomes the body's natural urge to choke the living sh*t out of some a*shole who so desperately needs it." Have a good one.

... if it weren't for a career in the computer industry I would probably have become an air traffic controller. Hence my moniker.

I think if you look at a lot of old movies, like from the 1940s, you will see that the office job has always been high stress. Managers are idiots and people are assholes. ( But I'm not bitter. No sir. Not me. )

I am 32 years old and been unemployed for about a year. my unemployment insurance ran out in May. Through out the year I have had nothing but time on my hands to hone up on my technical knowledge about computers. I am currently trying to start my own repair biz but the funds are kinda short. I don't have the money to get the degrees. I may not be as experienced as alot of the people on this site but i consider myself very knowledgeable and am always looking for more.
In my opinion, hold on to your job, for you are lucky enough to have one while there are millions more people like me that can't seem to get one.

First - I appluad you for you choice - Best of luck and enjoy the smiles on your childrens face when they see you every morning making Breakfeast...

Second - We are just the modern day Steel Mill worker of the Information Age... Corporations believe anyone can be trained to do IT - code a program - write JAVA - Develop a web page - and why not their 13 year old son does it at home.

So they abuse what they have employed - and if you don't like it - you can depart an they will hire someone for much less money ... and abuse them.

The tide has changed - no longer are we IT folks a black box - turning out magical code to add 2+2/4=1 ... Now everyone knows what it takes - and with some of these softwares - any Tom, Dick or Mary can create the reports...

Again - I wish you the best of luck ... Remember family is number 1 --- The company will replace you so fast they will forget your name in a day... I worked at a place a guy dropped dead at his desk - the next day they had someone sitting there doing his job... like he never worked there before... Your family will miss you more than the office - and when your old and gray - who's going to come see you - not your old bosses - not your coworkers - Gee Family ...

I appluad you for your choice! Best of Luck - And Enjoy the glory of seeing the Smiles of your Children when you make them Breakfeast ... Money isn't the root to happiness -

I was about ready to change careers to until I found I think the .001% company that actually cares about people - granted I did take a cut in pay from the "Big" company, but at least I'm appreciated and don't have to work the 60 hour work week anymore. I agree whole-heartedly with you - corporate America is all about senior management lining their pockets with as much money as they can, if they make a mistake well they have their money and the worker bees suffer for their incompetence. It took me 3 years to find this great job after spending 11 at a major Computer Manufacturer, not to name names but you know the one bought by HP... I definitely DO NOT recommend anyone starting school to start down the IT path, I have alot of friends out their that still are unemployed, learn something from their fate - become a doctor, real-estate broker, anything besides an IT professional...
J. Ritchie
Software Engineer / Network Admin

I understand your frustration - but not every employer is the same. Many, including mine, pay overtime(except of couirse for management). Many understand work life balance.

Do you still enjoy technology?

I don't want to dissaude you - many people many career changes in many industries and become happy better adjusted people - but that doesn't mean the industry they were in was bad.

I would agree too many people entered the field in order to make a quick buck and have been burned. I've interviewed more than a few who got a job during the boom, and are working in a different field now, if they are working at all. But if their motivation is true - if they love technology, it may be tough but they should try. The IT field may be down, but its cyclical - am I the only one who remembers that the software field had a downturn in the mid 80s??

James

In the last months I made that exact decision. After years of training, lots of certifications upgrading my skills, looking,with no luck for a job, not even the perfect job,...justa a job in the field with no success (because I don't have "all that experience") I have just hang the towel and start a new carrer in the health field. The way I put it is your same way, there is no way nobody is going to call a doctor in china...it must be my luck but all the companies I have work for so far have closed several of their offices here in the states and send all the bussines overseas.
When the time to make a decision came...putting more money in a carrer that I know for sure is almost imposible to land a job or start something, maybe with less pay but with a sure job...I just made the jump.
I wish you luck and the best. I know. It's just too frustrating. and life goes on.

I couldn't agree more!

Been around 35+ years in this field - and one thing you learn in the military (30 yr)- you are guarnteed 2 hours sleep a day... Period ...

So whatelse can they have you do - Working -

Now that I am in the civilian world - one thing they can't do - is force me to workover time ... I don't mind 1 or 2 hours extra a day - but they can kiss me where the Good Lord split me - for more than that. If they don't like it they can terminate me - or not give me a pay raise ... Oooh scary -

I am willing to accept those conditions - but the funny thing is - gotten good raises the past 5 years in the civilian world - Those that put in the 16 hour days - are scared when the boss says jump they ask how high - me I just chuckle - then they look at you ... as I tell them Hey - been in Nam - and many other dangerous places so you don't scare me with words and a job. These management types - fresh out of school, think they know how to handle people - Not.

But I applaud your - move - if you don't like your AO (Area of Operation) - its time to redeploy and move on ....

Life is to short not to enjoy the riches God has placed before you!

hello!

i am yashwardhini chauhan a counseling psychologist.i am actually thinking of working on I.T. sector for resarch purpose, could we communicate further i am intrested in talking to you on the aspect you mentioned in the discussion.

thankyou very much.
my email is (yashphd1@hotmail.com)

with warm regards,
yashwardhini.

Jim HM got it righter than he may have realized. IT is the steel industry of this area and Silcon Valley will soon be the new Rust Belt.

I usually prefer to use the auto industry for comparison because everyone in America is familiar with it, at least as a customer. Although we didn't invent the automobile, the U.S. invented the auto industry. For decades our risk-taking, independent-spirited approach was what the industry needed. Cars were the stuff of dreams and we added features that only dreamers could have come up with, such as rocket-ship tail fins and 500 cubic inch (8 liter) engines mated to 2-speed close-ratio automatic transmissions.

But in the late 1960s and early 1970s, driving became more chore and less fun, everybody already had a car, somebody noticed that the supply of petroleum was finite, and cars suddenly became appliances instead of toys.

Japan, a culture with a more disciplined, less dreamy approach to work, started turning out cars with the innovations that the new era required in place of gaudy styling and size for its own sake. Their rebuilt-from-the-ground-up post-WWII plants with their imported American management policies turned them out better, faster, and cheaper.

Today the U.S. auto industry survives by occasionally either inventing something practical that the other guys didn't think of, like the minivan, or something that briefly appeals to dreamers, such as the farm truck disguised as a station wagon for Klingons.

IT is where autos were thirty years ago. What it needs now is not innovation and inspiration, but quality and security. Those are not America's forte, to put it mildly. Other countries are stepping in with a workman's instead of a cowboy's attitude toward their professions. They will rule.

It's time for us to move on to the next dreamer's industry. Biotech, nanotech, or something that a grad student is cooking up in his lab that we haven't heard of yet.

In the meantime don't waste your time and money on a college education for your children that may be obsolete before they graduate, unless it's in a relatively secure field like chemical engineering. Spend the money sending them on an extended world tour so they can see the competition (and the customers) first hand and in the process learn that this is one small planet.

Then apprentice them to a plumber.

If the place was that lousy to you, why didn't you leave and work for somebody else?

I hope this does not work out like a lot of second marriages, where the victims go on to repeat exactly what they did the first time. Because, friend, it looks like you learned how to screw yourself at work.

It really really is a crappy field. The pay is horrible and its all consulting and contracts. I hardly ever see any companies hiring full time employees, only consultants and contractors. I used to enjoy working with PCs (and I still do) but once I graduate I am leaving this crappy field. Glad I am realizing this when I am still single, as opossed to being married with kids.

In my opinion, IT is a long way from dead in America. I've had a 30 year career in the military (private through colonel); was recruited as a VP with SAIC; have worked as a private IT consultant (still do part-time); and am in my third IT career as the Deputy CEO & CIO of the County of Orange County, CA. I've done a couple of things along the way however. I've kept up my technical, management, and leadership skills. Much of that's been done on my own nickel. BA, Master's of Science, PhD (just a few years ago), conferences, courses, and more. Yep, I also still keep up with my personal life as best I can (I've been an avid board surfer for over 40 years & just taught 2 of my grank kids to surf during their vacation to California). Back to IT. There are enormous opportunities within both the private and public sectors. Yes, the hours are long. Yes, the financial rewards may not be what they were just a couple of years ago. Oh well -- that's life! My advice is network, network, network. If you haven't built a network -- you are way behind the power curve. The network needs to include technical, management, leaders and especially decision makers. Oh by the way, if you call one for help, be prepared to help as well. If you only want help, but have never given it, you are out of luck. I hire people and ask that people be hired. It works. It's not perfect, but IT is still as robust a career as ever. dr dan