Four years ago, a series of carrer convolutions led me back to the medium-sized city where I grew up, and the job market at the time encouraged me to cultivate an interest in IT. Starting with a well-known outsourcing firm. I learned the basics of high-speed internet troubleshooting and, after a lot of fits and starts, have advanced to a stable position at a call center.
The downside of this is that there aren’t many opportunities here for a confirmed introvert who has absolutely no interest in what the management labels “teamwork”, but this writer prefers to dismiss as corporate politics. Almost all the job postings here involve continued, and more stressful, contact with a simplistic public which expects far more personal attention than the system can deliver. And one thing you can’t do is tell the simple truth.
Equally frustrating is what happens when business slows up; the temporaries are terminated, and front-liners who worked with broadband technology are put to work teaching disfunctionals how to program a TV remote or, worse yet, making sales pitches.
At age 55, I’ve completed most of life’s major challenges; I have a strong work ethic, would feel lost without a job. I enjoy the company and respect of all the younger people I work with, and have broadened my knowledge of several IT basics such as HTML and A+ certification. But I need the insurance this place provides to protect my life’s savings, and have little clue as to how to identify and cultivate specific skills in a market which seems intent on devaluing them as soon as they’re mastered.
So until either the E-sweatshop closes, or some nameless actuary finds a way to prove I’m too expensive to keep, it looks like I’m stuck. Any observations from the floor are welcome.