| reply to netboy34
Re: Are you passionate about your job? said by netboy34: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
This!!!!
I've been in IT about 15 years and have learned much. I work in government so I can relate to those people here that do. I really love what I do, but when you have a supervisor that doesn't support you (but gives your work) and a supervisor that has chosen his favorites (obviously I don't kiss ass so I ain't it) it makes for a lousy job. I thought of leaving to another department, but I already know it'll be the same (or similar) thing.
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 NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
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| said by Boricua65:said by netboy34: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
This!!!! I've been in IT about 15 years and have learned much. I work in government so I can relate to those people here that do. I really love what I do, but when you have a supervisor that doesn't support you (but gives your work) and a supervisor that has chosen his favorites (obviously I don't kiss ass so I ain't it) it makes for a lousy job. I thought of leaving to another department, but I already know it'll be the same (or similar) thing. I do agree. I can say that having passion for your job really does offset some of the negative bullcrap that can come up. I worked in automotive for 7.5 years which was a constant siege of negativity. In the end, I stayed there because I knew the ownership and I felt that I owed them after they gave me a chance to forward my career. In the end, the owner retired and the company closed up on 4 of its 6 buildings. When they closed their corporate HQ, I knew that I was going to be next. Sure enough, I was laid off a day later.
Anyway, the point is to find a job where not only you like the work, but management respects you. If you find that job, grab on with both hands and hold on tight. Its very hard to find that happy balance.
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 KilroyPremium,MVM
join:2002-11-21
Ann Arbor, MI | reply to PToN
said by PToN: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 don't have a problem how they do things, just so long as it is understood up front, and works both ways. If you want me to account for every minute, I will, and expect to be paid for every minute. You let me slack, I let you slack, but things will be even. I don't need the money from overtime, so I'd rather have the time off. I know that some days overtime can't be avoided, and I will work it without complaint, but it shouldn't be the norm.
Fortunately I work for a great company that values the work life balance and doesn't think that you should spend your life at work.
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 tubbynetreminds me of the danse russePremium,MVM
join:2008-01-16
Chandler, AZ
kudos:1 | reply to Nightfall
i think the biggest thing about job 'satisfaction' is understanding what you need from a company and making sure that you can fit in with the culture of said company.
some people enjoy being left alone to do their thing. they manage time well, don't like answering questions, etc.
some people enjoy the problem-solving from end-users/customers.
some enjoy the routine work and some enjoy being challenged.
i don't think that there is enough emphasis in 'work personality' testing during high school and college to get people to not just look at the 'field' of study -- but the types of roles within $field that exist to ensure that you're happy with what you're doing.
personally -- i'm very happy with my role and employer. i've been working there for about 6.5 years (started right after high school -- was part time during college) and i've made quite a few large leaps in terms of promotion and pay. currently, i function as a route/switch solutions architect/principal engineer in the southwest region. i'm a subject matter expert on several different cisco platforms and my background in engineering has helped me understand hardware limitations, etc. my job -- while stressful -- is rewarding. i'm working with sales to design, i'm working with the customer and oem to set future vision from a hardware and design perspective, i have anywhere from 8 to 35 engineers dotted line to me from a technical escalation and deployment methodology standpoint, and i still get dirty on the cli every now and then. i'm asked to work long hours and late nights sometimes (i've pulled several 32+ hour shifts during deployment and support cuts), but i'm rewarded with working from home 5 days a week when i'm not onsite at a customer site, lots of freedom and flexbility (if i get my work done, it doesn't matter what hours i work), bench time to relax/study, and they've been very willing to work around my life. plenty of pto helps too. and six-figs at 25 doesn't hurt either.
does the job get old on some days -- absolutely. but i'm in a field i love. i am working in the role that makes me get up every day (i love solving problems and being challenged) and i love that i'm not micromanaged hour by hour.
q.
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NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
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| said by tubbynet:does the job get old on some days -- absolutely. but i'm in a field i love. i am working in the role that makes me get up every day (i love solving problems and being challenged) and i love that i'm not micromanaged hour by hour.
q.
I am in the same boat as you. The job really doesn't get old to me though. IT is what it is. Some things are routine that need to be done every day. 
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 DarkLogixTexan and ProudPremium
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX
kudos:3 | I am sometimes but lately after I do so it just leads to disappointment
As an example I'll go through setting up a server to take over for another server and spend lots of time on it, even put in some weekends and stay late, then after all that just as its about ready to go into production, I get told oh we're going to do it differently.
After such happens enough times it kinda drains the passion out of you.
The good part of the job doesn't get old, the part that does if finding that you've just wasted hours of your time being very detailed and doing it just right only to have it all tossed out and done in a sub par way that doesn't even come close to best practices and knowing you'll still have to support the mess that was forced on you instead of the elegant work that you had done.
Or even designing something that's so ideal for its task and then no one cares.
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| reply to Nightfall
I don't know, to be honest.
I have been in the corporate IT world for 8 years. I started when I was 20 working as a 'Jack of all trades' IT support for a medium sized regional company. I did helpdesk work, solved tickets, fixed and replaced computers/printers/servers/switches/phones, planned and implemented system and network upgrades, supported the Active Directory environment, etc. My proudest moments were designing and implementing Exchange and BES to replace our old email system. I did all the end user training and configuration and post production support. I also implemented a SAN solution shortly before I left. I was with that company in that role for 3 years. Eventually I got tired of putting out daily fires instead of working on projects, being on-call 24/7 six days a week, working late hours (like being on the phone until 8PM with Microsoft support or coming back in to the office at 10PM to fix an AS400), and no ability to learn new things or move on in the company. I really wanted to learn more of the networking side using our Cisco equipment, but my supervisor wouldn't let me learn, see, or touch the router/switch configs. There were only three of us in the IT department and he never let my co-worker in on the networking side either. Very frustrating.
I left there and went to a large Fortune 500 company as a System Analyst in their Networking group. I was in that job for a year, liked it, but then moved on as a IT/Business Analyst. I have been in that role for the past four years and I do not like what I am doing now. I am looking to move on as something else, but I'm not sure what. I have an itch to get back in the IT Support world, but I don't know if I could go back to world of supporting end users or servers or being on-call (especially now with a young family), I make good money now, espcially compared to other people that I know that are the same age as me. I just don't know. |
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| reply to Nightfall
I like most of what I do. I'm a network security engineer these days. I started out in desktop and small network consulting, then did VoIP support and domain administration for a very small VoIP provider until they died. Then I worked at Check Point for a year before being headhunted by a large enterprise security company for a very large bank. Now I work for the smallest and fastest growing MSSP that's rated on Gartners and I really like my job. I have enough projects to keep me busy, and enough troubleshooting random other pieces of technology when I don't have a project to keep me busy. I learn new stuff all the time and get to work on just about any network security platform I could want.
The company respects us and gives us a good work/life balance, and I get to do my engineering the way I want as long as I keep my customers happy. I'm on call for a week every 6 weeks or so, but because of our shift coverage I really only get calls on Friday nights and Saturday and Sunday mornings until noon. The pay and benefits are excellent as well. I keep getting offers from other places that will tip me over the six figures mark, but nobody has found my price yet. I'm not even sure what it would take to get me to leave here.
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NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
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| reply to bmantz65
I hear you bmantz65. Sometimes trying to find that workplace with the right work/life balance is the hardest thing. From the way it sounds, you would love a place where you are working on higher end IT projects but with a life outside of work. As you said though, you really have to discover what you love to do in order to find that job that you are going to love. No one can answer that question for you. Once as you figure out that answer, then you will have a clear direction.
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| reply to Nightfall
I run my own small IT business. Work with small and medium sized companies. I love what I do, I love when I get a call, I even love boring tasks I always have to do. Even after a long day of dealing with networks, computers and helping people with their IT issues, I come home and do the same. Sit at my computer for hours, help out friends, family and online buddies with their issues and mess around with my equipment.
What can I say, I love the IT world. |
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NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
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| said by cpsycho:I run my own small IT business. Work with small and medium sized companies. I love what I do, I love when I get a call, I even love boring tasks I always have to do. Even after a long day of dealing with networks, computers and helping people with their IT issues, I come home and do the same. Sit at my computer for hours, help out friends, family and online buddies with their issues and mess around with my equipment.
What can I say, I love the IT world.
I am the same way. I am in front of a computer doing something all the time. It could be recreational when I game or learning something new in my lab at home. Either way, I love learning new things. The IT world was really for me.
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| reply to Nightfall
said by Nightfall:I hear you bmantz65. Sometimes trying to find that workplace with the right work/life balance is the hardest thing. From the way it sounds, you would love a place where you are working on higher end IT projects but with a life outside of work. As you said though, you really have to discover what you love to do in order to find that job that you are going to love. No one can answer that question for you. Once as you figure out that answer, then you will have a clear direction.
Yep, you hit the nail on the head. I don't regret leaving the regional company. If I stayed there, I would be making about $25,000 less a year than what I get paid now at the Fortune 500 company. I also receive a bonus. There is no way I could have stayed at the regional company doing the same things I was doing when I left there almost five years ago. There was no where for me to go there. No way to move up as me and my co-workers were equals and we reported to the IT Director who is only in his mid-40's and he is still there today. I couldn't really move on to another skill position there as that was only for salesman-sales/finance manager. One good thing about a large company is you can move to different jobs and learn new skills and you don't have to worry about your benefits or paying being impacted like if you would move to a new company. That happened to me as I am now pretty far removed from my days four years ago of swapping out routers or deploying new VOIP phones, but that was my choice. Now I feel it is time to move on again. |
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DarkLogixTexan and ProudPremium
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX
kudos:3 | reply to Nightfall
said by Nightfall:I am the same way. I am in front of a computer doing something all the time. It could be recreational when I game or learning something new in my lab at home. Either way, I love learning new things. The IT world was really for me.
Ya learning new things is awesome, but whats not awesome is having to help people that sometimes refuse to listen to you.
Or in some cases can't even seem to read.
case in point I was helping someone use our autocad license server over vpn, I said select "Single license server" he said he didn't see that, even when he was later in the office and I pointed it out he read it as "network license server" I mean really.
another one I said ok go to itunes.com and install itunes I'll be over shortly to help, his response was I don't know how to go to itunes.com
I like learning new things and gaining understanding of things but having to do every little thing for someone because they can't read the words typed and screen shotted is rather disheartening.
I did enjoy learning about the whole activesync admincount issue (FYI on exchange 2010 any user account that's a member of a protected group can't use activesync.
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KilroyPremium,MVM
join:2002-11-21
Ann Arbor, MI | reply to Nightfall
said by Nightfall:I am the same way. I am in front of a computer doing something all the time.
This is kind of a pet theory of mine. I believe there are two people in IT, the one who loves what they do and do it all day long and the one who do IT for a job and don't touch a computer outside of work. The ones who love computers are the ones you want working for you.
That said, I'm in the love computers group. I wake up turn on the computer and drink my coffee. Turn it off when I head into work, where I work on them all day. Come home turn on the computer and relax. Cook dinner for the wife and watch something, on the computer (projected to a 92" screen), turn off the computers and go to bed.
One might say I'm addicted to them, but I have no problem being away from them, to go camping or on a cruise or something else. However, if you give me a choice I find computers a very entertaining way to spend my time.
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DarkLogixTexan and ProudPremium
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX
kudos:3 | I agree there's 10 types of IT, those that love tech and those that use tech.
I've met some that used to love tech but now just use it.
As for me I love tech (how many people do you know that have as complex of a home net as me?) (dual etherswitchs load balancing intervlan routing (and one of them powering a AP1242AG) a DL380 G4, and an iSCSI array for home storage.
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| reply to Kilroy
said by Kilroy:said by Nightfall:I am the same way. I am in front of a computer doing something all the time.
This is kind of a pet theory of mine. I believe there are two people in IT, the one who loves what they do and do it all day long and the one who do IT for a job and don't touch a computer outside of work. The ones who love computers are the ones you want working for you. That said, I'm in the love computers group. I wake up turn on the computer and drink my coffee. Turn it off when I head into work, where I work on them all day. Come home turn on the computer and relax. Cook dinner for the wife and watch something, on the computer (projected to a 92" screen), turn off the computers and go to bed. One might say I'm addicted to them, but I have no problem being away from them, to go camping or on a cruise or something else. However, if you give me a choice I find computers a very entertaining way to spend my time. I agree with you wholeheartedly. I've met people in IT and can tell which camp they fall in. I am like you Kilroy  , except I keep my desktop on 24/7 (unless a reboot is needed). When I jump on my computer at home, I would play a game called PrettyGood Solitaire 2K (it has over 330 different solataire games) and/or log in to DSLR. On occasion, I would decide to built a PC for the hell of it.
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DarkLogixTexan and ProudPremium
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX
kudos:3 | Ya, I leave my home server on 24/7
but need to get a 2nd ups as the current one shows it overloaded when my computer is on. |
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| I was looking into getting a home server or building one. I haven't decided yet. If I were to build, it would be a linux server.
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DarkLogixTexan and ProudPremium
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX
kudos:3 | Well I wanted something reliable (long ago I had a win 2k home server, a drive died on it and I lost data, since then I wanted my home server to always be reliable)
So I had a proliant 1600 for quite awhile (actually need to get off my lazy *** and remove the 1600 from my rack) and now have a DL380 G4 running server 2003 32bit ent (got the OS key as a student discount long ago)
so Y I have a windows domain at home.
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NightfallMy Goal Is To Deny YoursPremium,MVM
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| reply to Kilroy
said by Kilroy:said by Nightfall:I am the same way. I am in front of a computer doing something all the time.
This is kind of a pet theory of mine. I believe there are two people in IT, the one who loves what they do and do it all day long and the one who do IT for a job and don't touch a computer outside of work. The ones who love computers are the ones you want working for you. That said, I'm in the love computers group. I wake up turn on the computer and drink my coffee. Turn it off when I head into work, where I work on them all day. Come home turn on the computer and relax. Cook dinner for the wife and watch something, on the computer (projected to a 92" screen), turn off the computers and go to bed. One might say I'm addicted to them, but I have no problem being away from them, to go camping or on a cruise or something else. However, if you give me a choice I find computers a very entertaining way to spend my time. This right here, but of course there are times when I find being away from a computer can be difficult. Here in about a month I am going to be at an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica for 8 days. From a techie perspective, I am sure it will be a pain not being plugged in very much, but I am sure I will love sitting at poolside, drinking margaritas, and relaxing.
I am addicted to computers though. They really are what I love doing.
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