OS and Software > No, I Will Not Fix Your #@$!! Computer > Are you passionate about your job?

Are you passionate about your job?

I've been in tech support for over 15 years now, though it's been my passion since I was 16, I still work on it and due to budget constraints and health issues I haven't moved up the chain of command much. I prefer being on the phones with clients and providing quality support.

I also can't pretend I know it all, I've worked as a 1st level, econd level but other then that, I do enjoy speaking with the public.

Yes you can't please everyone all the time, but the off "Thanks" or even the once in a while letter of appreciation makes it all worth it to me.

I still enjoy doing what I do, and probably will until the day I retire or die or whatever.

reply to Nightfall
I am a firm believer that the amount of thanks that you get has to do with the culture of the organization. I swear I get more thank you's in this organization in the last 2 years than I got for my 7.5 years in automotive. The culture really does define a lot.

When it comes to retiring, I really can't imagine retiring anytime soon. Not because I won't be financially ready. It will be because I love doing what I do. Why stop doing something you enjoy doing?
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My domain - Nightfall.net

reply to Nightfall
I guess I am surprised at the lack of responses. I guess I really must be alone in my overall career satisfaction.
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My domain - Nightfall.net

reply to Nightfall
The thing that drags down my "job satisfaction" is that all I hear from clients are complaints. I'm sure everyone else here can relate, as can most people in service industries. I don't mind the hours too much and I like the fact that every day is different, but at the end of the day, I rarely feel happy about anything other than the fact that I get to go home.

And when I get home, I get to fire up RDP and open up Outlook.

reply to Nightfall
Depends on the culture... I was 7 years in the same desk but worked for three different companies... (outsource company #1 then it was bought out by company #2, then we were brought back in house) when we were outsourced, I was happy with the culture... we had protection against the "crazies" and didn't have to deal with a lot of crap... sure we took a pay cut, but the stress was a lot lower. When we were brought back in (this was a k-12 system) they schools suddenly felt that we could now do lunch and bus duty (even though we didn't even do that before we were outsourced) and when the superintendents put the nix on that, a lot of our lives became a living hell...

I was put on an improvement plan because a principal complained that my shirt wasn't tucked in the day that I spent all my time under desks that hadn't been cleaned in 5 years installing netgear switches because someone got the bright idea of putting 3 computers in a room with one network drop.

That is one example... there are many cases of techs being put on improvement plans because the schools felt that the tech didn't socialize with the staff enough. As in spend a couple hours a day talking about grandkids, etc. or hanging out with them after hours.

I left a couple months ago and moved to higher education. I'm not looking back... not only did the k-12 just announce an 80 million dollar shortfall, but that IT would be the first to be cut...

The position I am currently in, is low stress, I have a chain of bosses that value my input now, and an opportunity to grow.

TL;DR

My personality hasn't changed from one job to the other, and I put my all into my job no matter where I am, but I do think that if management won't stand up for you, then it is hard to be passionate about your IT job

reply to Nightfall
14 years in IT and I feel like I'm not where I should be. I blame myself for that though. It is my own fault. 99% of my time has been spent as a government contractor so "moving up the ranks" isn't really doable.

Do I like my job? At times, yes. Other times I find myself wanting more but lack the drive, time, money, etc. to increase my knowledge. Again, that's on me.

What I find most enjoyable is the people I work with. They are all great people to work with and make the work environment a fun place.
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I'm actually not funny, I'm just really mean and people think I'm joking.

reply to Nightfall
I take great pride in fixing things. Helping customers and getting things sorted. I take great pride in fixing obscure or weird issues and tracking down faults.

The things that drag me down are clients who don't learn so they have the SAME issue over and over again. Some of them its more than once a month!

Customers who want to argue over whether what I just told them is correct. I tell do this and this and this and you will get the result you are looking for. Are you sure?! My friend, BiL, teacher told me not to do it that way...

I've gotten to the point that I don't even discuss it any more I just start over at the beginning and hand hold them through it. They get what they are looking for and they are still not convinced, but I've done my job.

Finally my biggest pet peeve is people who do not know how to use a computer. Can't copy files, use a mouse, don't know how to resize windows, can't detach files files from email, can't even read error messages properly.

The most fun one is "Your software doesn't work!" Ok, is that all of them of just one? Are you getting an error message? I have even been asked why I need to ask these questions can't I just fix it?

Usually internal helpdesk is pretty good. External helpdesk can be absolute hell. I prefer onsite physical access support far more than remote support. Most people just let you do your thing and be pleasantly surprised when it is fixed.

reply to Nightfall
I'm one of the younger ones in this crowd, I'm only 4 years out of school. I've been at the same company the entire time (including a summer intership). I work in consulting, and I love it.

I love being able to play with the latest and greatest toys on a weekly basis. Design a solution, sell it, slam it in, do a bit of post install support, rinse, repeat. I have a handful of customers that I support on a week-by-week basis, and I am extremely lucky to have the clients I have. They are always appreciative, and treat me like family.

Don't get me wrong though, there are days where you just can't wait to hit the door and get the hell out, but as mentioned by Drex , if it weren't for the people I work with, I couldn't stick with it. I have a fantastic group of coworkers that I can lean on when the feces starts flying.

I work in an organization that really pushes education and certification, so I always have resources available to me for learning and studying. We're also big enough that we are in many different markets, so I have a lot of variability in my work.

One downside though, one of the biggest markets I work in is education, which leads to summers being extremely busy. Doesn't leave much time for golfing.

reply to Nightfall
Leaving IT was one of the best things I've done. I would have been ok with it but strings of bad management and blind leadership peed in my wheaties.

I obviously keep in touch with things but I found a more rewarding thing to do.
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"If something about the human body disgusts you, complain to the manufacturer" - Lenny Bruce
What this country needs is a good five dollar plasma weapon.

reply to Nightfall
I really used to be there, but lately the company culture has changed so much that i am not really passionate about what i do anymore. Maybe it's time for a job change.

For example: i used to have this arrangement, where i would not have to fill out time off forms and in exchange, i would be available 24/7 on the event of any malfunction. No OT or extra pay if i worked on a holiday, but that was fine as i could just send an email and take any day off and would not count against my PTO. Now, this has changed. Now i have to fill out time off forms that count against my regular PTO, still expected to work on holidays and after hours without any paid OT or pay and a half on holidays.

I am really tired of dealing with end users. Even when i am a department manager. At this point i just want a developer job, throw me in a hole and come back to me when the project is due.

Screw the title, why have it if i have none of the perks..?

Take me 3 years back and my answer would had been a different story.

I agree PToN

Some companies think they can get away with screwing certain employees. I know I have had my share of getting screwed in the past, but nothing like you are experiencing.

At the last place I worked, I routinely worked every other weekend as a infrastructure manager. I really did enjoy my job so working over the weekend wasn't an issue. In return, if I wanted to leave a little early or take a day off every now and again, I was granted it. In January of 2011, we had a huge blizzard that rolled through the area and dumped about 2.5 feet of snow on everything. I couldn't even get out of my driveway. So I dug my way out to the road and waited for the plow to get there just like everyone else in my subdivision. Took me 2 hours to do it by hand. When the road was plowed, I went into work. I got in around noon.

I got a PTO form on my desk for a half day of vacation. Apparently, my boss made it into work and thought everyone who didn't make it in was going to get hit with a vacation day. This is after I worked on Saturday all day the previous weekend.

I am not saying this one instance was the reason why I moved on, but I made it clear to him that I was disappointed and he didn't change his attitude. My occasional days off were denied, but I was still forced to work weekends.

Fast forward to today, and now he has 2 people doing my job because he went through 2 previous hires in a year span who didn't like the job because of all the weekend and after hour work.

Culture is everything. You have to find a place to work where there is mutual respect for each other. The company I work for now is all about time with family. Yes, I spend time on the weekends working, but I also get days off in the week depending on how much time I spend at work.
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My domain - Nightfall.net

reply to Nightfall
No. I do not like my current job. I do not like the work or the environment.

reply to Nightfall
My position is only tangentially related to IT. There are some functions of my job that have an IT bent. I have been in this job for about 16.5 years and have worked for the university for over 20 years.

The job I'm currently doing is almost like my dream job. As part of my position, I am the local administrator for our course management system, I manage a small fleet of technology, and I get to do other things that fall well outside IT.

The only downside is the pay. I get at most 2% raises, if I get one at all, but that is university wide. While my pay may be slightly above average for the area, it still is a little low considering how long I have been here. Our benefits are good, not great, but the environment is totally awesome.

And there's good looking coeds around most of the time.
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reply to Nightfall
I'm in a similar boat link PToN on call 24/7/365 we have a rotation but if someone else can't resolve a issue then they call me. I get no extra pay because of my exempt status & I'm not suppose go out of town if my director is out of town (one of us has to be in driving distance in case of a emergency)

I like PToN want a developer job (some place else) so i can just turn & burn projects. The upper management beyond my director doesn't seem to value us or our knowledge, so that along with other gripes i have makes me want to leave this job.
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reply to Nightfall
I think after reading all of the responses here, this question could be twofold. "Are you passionate about your job" could mean do you like your chosen profession and do you like where you work.

I like my chosen profession. I work in a vocational school and the technology we work with is pretty good. My job is network administrator, help desk, Windows administrator, cable runner. We only have two people that do technology work in our school.

On the flip side, I don't like the administration issues. Higher ups that do not understand that you have a life outside of work and don't value that. I had an instance where one of our servers had an issue about an hour before I was to leave on a Friday. I stayed over to move roles to another server and have the network running over the weekend. I then spent six hours the next day, Saturday, away from my family to finish fixing DNS issues, Group Policy issues, login script issues, and shared folder permissions. Not once did I get a thank you from the administration.

It amazes me that schools would place people over technology folks and then dictate what needs to be done. Most of the time they want everything for nothing. I have said time and again that in order for everything to work properly, we have to invest some time and money to make sure we are doing it right. Snatching up the first solution you see and then throwing money hand over fist at it to make it work right will end up costing more money.

In an environment of tighter government budgets, I feel like we stifle the folks who will have to support the technology every day. I just can't understand why people have to make people feel like they are not valued in an organization.

I know that this post seems like a rant, but I feel like I came here to do one job and my entire job description was re written to be stuck with no way to advance higher or develop as a technology person. I was told one time that communication is the key. If I try to communicate to my supervisor, but they are not communicating to me, what good does it to for me to try to communicate. One way conversations don't get things done.

reply to Nightfall
Passionate is not the word I would use. I love what I do, and do it very well, however if I won the lottery and didn't have to work, I wouldn't.

I actually track my job satisfaction by how high the lottery jackpot has to be before I buy a ticket. Right now I'm at 100 million, so I play a couple of times a year. My worst job I played $5 every drawing.

I enjoy the variety of my work, no two days are the same and there is always something new to learn, that is what keeps me interested. When the job becomes the same dull boring trudge it is time to look for something else, fortunately that has never been an issue.
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“Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.” ¯ Robert A. Heinlein