I hate my job

Hi,

I am in the IT industry for past 7 years and I hate it. I dont even know how I got into it in the first place.

I want a career change but I am not sure what I want to do and I only confuse myself trying to decide. Marketing maybe. I dont know.

Any advice on career choice or postgrad marketing course (by disatance learning) appreciated.

Thanks
Sad Philip.

Hi Phillip,

Can I ask what you do in IT? Software developer? IT Admin? Testing?

I hate it so much

Piggy,

I've done it all, software development, testing, support, team-leading etc etc.
Good bucks but boring as hell. I hate sitting in front of a PC for 90% of the day.

Philip.

Re: I hate it so much

Why not become a Project Manager and then you can swan about the office and look important without having to do anything serious at all? Although you will have to be adept at using Excel from time to time (only joking - sort of).


But seriously,

It sounds like you're desperate to get out but you're hitting a bit of a wall. The first step is to decide what you want to do. I know that's why you're here and all...but I'm sort of passing the buck back to you. You don't have to answer with stuff like marketing, or whatever...but you should ask yourself what you want to do?

Do you want to work in an office? (All office jobs are the same y'know).
Do you want to work with the public?
Do you want to work outdoors? (Gardening for instance...great money and you have goals and tangeable achievements)

Given the fact that you have extensive knowledge, and that you've been in the industry probably a lot longer than me, have you thought about consultancy? In other words...moving up the boardroom ladder somewhat. I'm just throwing that idea out there. It's just a thought. Say...you could work in a large multi-national company...consulting on best practices in area x. Not having to get your hands too dirty by staring vacantly at a pc all day. Would that sort of lifestyle appeal to you? A decision maker more than a doer?

It's interesting to note that there's more and more IT people who feel the same way as yourself these days. I think it's sort of a burnout in some ways. A combination of boredom and burnout anyway.

I hate it

Piggy,

You make some good points. About consultancy/PM, I wouldn't even consider that (if it was in IT) because I dont even want to hear or talk about IT systems & projects, analysis/design, software/hardware etc etc. I hate IT so much now that I want to completely get out of it. I reckon most people are only in IT for the money.

Yeah, I think I would like to work with the public.

No on the outdoors e.g gardening - bad back from sitting in front of PC all day !!!

I dont think I am burned out yet. I am just 29.

Cheers,
Philip

Re: I hate it

I think it's burnout myself. And I am only 30. But I just got my notice there along with the rest of the developers here as the company are outsourcing to India. That's the second time in 3 years. The first time the company shut down. No way to live.

Re: I hate it

Sorry to hear that shnaek.

Do you mind me asking what area of expertise the company are in?

On a brighter note the market for IT people in Ireland is on the up (a little). Unless you're looking for a change that is.

BTW, I thought that Phillip was older. My bad. I'm just 29 myself but didn't go from college to IT. Worked in the Print sector first...so maybe my burnout is in front of me in a few years

Re: I hate it

Thanks, Piggy. Well, I got about 60 days left here to work so that should be fun! I am a senior web developer - .net stuff for the past two years. And I agree, the market looks good at the moment, but I may even nip over to the UK for a while and try life over there.
Or maybe I'll just turn to acting!!

Re: I hate it

Acting shnaek...do the acting. That's where the stability is!

As you know...if you venture across the waters you'll get paid a lot more. Good luck whatever you decide and enjoy the doss that'll be the next two months.

IT sucks

shnaek,

hard luck losing your job but it could be a blessing in disguise.

sometimes i wish i would get a layoff.

Philip

Re: IT sucks

Thanks guys. One of the guys here was saying that we should look at it as an opportunity - and it could well be that! Just need to get today over with and get out of here!!

It's funny y'know. The last job I was in I was beginning to think..IT sucks. Job satisfaction was low most of the time...mainly because of the idiots calling the shots. Then I started this job, which is a lot more challenging technically and suddenly my viewpoint has changed. I love a job where I learn an incredible amount of new things every day. I love travelling into work and working out all the crap I have to get working today in my head. It's stressful but great fun. And I was never the most analytical child in the world growing up. I was much more orientated towards english in school and originally wanted to study Arts in UCD. It suits me now though. Funny the way you change.
I'm not for a minute suggesting that it's just your job(s) that has you hating IT. I'm just pondering here...

Job satisfaction

Piggy

I'm not surprised you enjoy your job. You spend the whole day on the bleedin' internet !!

jobs

piggy,
any vacancies in your place
1

Job satisfaction

The fecking sad-assed begrudgers on this site sometimes. Ignore them piggy.

IT sucks

Hi lads,

I work as a tester and have done since I got out of college. I am completely bored with it now. I am 31 so is this a common thing in our age group?

If it wasn't for the mortgage and bills I think I would just quit but it wouldn't be fair on the wife.

I seem to spend my days wishing I was outside doing stuff rather than being infront of a pc sucking the life out of me or listening to developers talk about the merits of linux/unix over windows blah blah blah. I don't mean any disrespect guys but I would rather talk about cars or motorbikes.

I recently took up kayaking as a little hobby and now thats all I think about all day.

I can't see myself doing this mind numbing work until I retire so I am hoping I will cop on and get out sometime soon but got to pay the bills so lets hope I get made redundant again so I can take a few months time off.

Imagine if there was no internet at work! I think I would just kill myself.

Paul

40

Guys,
If your are not where you are going by 40 forget it.
Come 45-48 and you are out of a job, who will hire you? The new kids will be more up to date, mad keen, work all night cause its a hobby and a job and come much cheaper. Give them a T-shirt, some training, flexible use of the internet and a "vision", not much cash is required.

Been there and done that

I remember in the mid eighties a friend (civil engineer) saying he would not like computers as it changes too much (and this was pre internet and pre PC, I had a desktop running CPM and a VAX link)

Then you get moved into Proj Man, Management to meet the needs of the business and you get out of date very quickly.

If your firm goes then you are in trouble.

Don't get me wrong, I love computers, etc but they are only a tool.
You need to be an accountantwith computer skills, or a saleman with......., or a technican with............., or a..................

Re: 40

No offence a word of caution, but from your post you seem to be suggesting that working in IT is a dead end...or that once you hit your forties you'll be history. I'd have to disagree with you.

Then you get moved into Proj Man, Management to meet the needs of the business and you get out of date very quickly.
I don't know where you're getting that from because it's just not true. Languages change. New ones spring up but the core development practices change very little. If you're a good PM with years of technical experience behind you then you'll do okay. Keeping abreast of new technolgies/practices is what drives a lot of people in this industry and becomes par for the course in what you have to do.

I would stress that IT is no longer for the many in Ireland anymore. I got into it during the boom period as a tester myself. I could only stick that for about 6-8 months before I moved into programming/development.

IT is still big business in Ireland, but it's changing. A lot of it is going abroad (India and the like) and in years to come many believe we'll be specialising more and more in areas like research etc. There's still a big market in financial services development and is likely to be for many years to come.

I know how you feel kerinsp

I know how you feel. I feel like you a lot of the time.

As for IT, I have zero interest in learning about new technologies. I do enough to get by but even proj mgt in IT would be my worst nightmare.

But I dont want to moan, so can someone tell me a good way to expand my horizon.

What is a good beginners kayak too ?

hi phillip

Hi Phillip,
I like you do not want to learn any new IT stuff. I have only learned on the job and all of the training courses I have been sent on were a complete waste of time.

If you are dublin based I can recommend the canoe/kayak course I did recently in Lucan there at the strawberry beds. Its run by the Irish Canoe Union and for 160 beans you get lessons for about 4/5 weeks and all the gear you need. Well worth it. I really enjoyed it and will be doing some more soon. I have not purchased any gear but a good begineers kayak would be a dagger GT. (all the stuff you need is in the greatoutdoors shop). Just buy anything until you have tried it out first!

Hope the boss doesn't read these threads!