I hate my job.

fatchowmein

As a professional senior computer geek, I hate my job. I spend all day working within the beuracratic system or circumventing the system to get my job done. My experiences are for naught since management never asks opinions before they implement a policy that turns into a roadblock. The only time my experience comes into play is when something breaks then management demands to know what I'm going to do to fix it.

Since day one, my job has taken longer to perform due to all the steps involved and all the rights taken away, given to another dept, sometimes newly created, to perform a task that I once did to get my job done. I now have to submit a request and wait for somebody to enter the same info into a system to get a result that I now have to wait for somebody else to give me the answers to.

If I were a common laborer, my job would be great. I watch the janitorial services work harder than me at a much lower pay. They'd propably love to be in my position: get told what to do, do less, and get paid more. In fact, I don't even get in trouble for taking longer to get my job done.

My job is frustrating, intellectually demeaning, and demoralizing. Funny thing, so was my last job and the job before that. Must be my field or me. Common denominators you know. :rolleyes:

So, what books should I read to learn to handle the beauracratic manure? Obviously, I'm not management material.

Maybe I need a shrink. Stupid is probably it for sitting on a good/easy thing and not realizing it.

RuSsMaN

Sounds about where I found myself 3 or 4 years ago. IT was draining me. Everyone I talked to was pissed, all day, every day, on call etc. Granted by the end I always took care of whatever was wrong, but the initial interaction was stressing me. I started bringing it home, and that's when I got out.

I didn't really quit, I just kind of stopped going.

I work in real estate now as a transaction coordinator for the largest real estate office in Texas. I work part time for Polk Audio. Life is a LOT less stressful, even without the security of a salaried position with bennies.

What do you REALLY want to do?

Cheers,
Russ

fatchowmein

RuSsMaN wrote: »

Sounds about where I found myself 3 or 4 years ago. IT was draining me. Everyone I talked to was pissed, all day, every day, on call etc. Granted by the end I always took care of whatever was wrong, but the initial interaction was stressing me. I started bringing it home, and that's when I got out.

I didn't really quit, I just kind of stopped going.

I work in real estate now as a transaction coordinator for the largest real estate office in Texas. I work part time for Polk Audio. Life is a LOT less stressful, even without the security of a salaried position with bennies.

What do you REALLY want to do?

Cheers,
Russ

I like what I do. Problem is I feel like I have to sell my soul to the devil in order to do it.

Thanks, Russ. I'll have to think long and deep on this one.

F1nut

Best advice I ever got was figure out what you love to do, do it and you will be successful. That doesn't mean you'll become rich, although you could, but you'll like yourself and life a lot more.

Perhaps in your case, since you say you like what you do is to find a way to be your own boss.

Kris Siegel

I was originally going to go into IT but I knew/know quite a few people in the IT field (including myself at one point). Basically, you either find a company that knows what the IT department needs/requires and you usually have a very nice job. Unfortunately those jobs are few and far apart.

Unfortunately you described how many IT position are. I agree with F1nut as that is exactly what I did and I have been very happy since I started doing what I loved over a year ago (my career change started at Polk ).

bobman1235

"Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar."

- Drew Carey

m00npie

IT is a dumping ground of incompetent business folks that want so desperately to get into Mngt, their executive VP’s simply passes them over the fence to become Project Managers or CIO's in IT. This is not true for all as I have met many brilliant people along the way. It is true for many fortune 500 companies that I have worked for and it’s especially true for Gov’t workers. The cause is simple; HR Dept’s have a fear of firing anyone so they must place them somewhere. “Hey pass them over to IT, let them work on the ‘Insert Project Name here”

It’s these folks that like to grasp something like the Sarbanes Oxley Act, completely misinterpret its intent and then create mile long paper trail processes that takes a simple task of a minor fix to production into a binder full of nonsense and VP sign-offs.

Feeling everything you have felt in the past, I have decided to take F1’s advice several years back. I have not found what truly makes me happy as of yet, but what I did in the meantime was go Independent for myself and keep 100% of the bill rate. At the end of the year, I can only curse myself out if I don’t get a bonus. Although I still have to deal with the same BS, it’s a different feeling knowing that I really don’t work for them. I just have to repeat to myself in meeting’s full of egotistical simpletons that their incompetence means more $$ for me.

Keep your head up, and keep moving. A wide variety of experience from different companies is more attractive than doing the same job over the last 5 years. As soon as you get bored, it’s time to go. You’re not doing yourself any good by staying there and there is no such thing as loyalty anymore. It’s just business. Just be sure you have something else lined up with a contract signed before you make your move. As soon as you get to your new job, start looking for the next one. The point is to always keep your eyes open for the next opportunity because you never know…

If you have never read these books, do yourself a favor and read them. They single handedly changed my life!!

Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
The Power of Positive Thinking - Norman Vincent Peale

cfrizz

Welcome to life in corporate America! It sucks no matter where you work in the chain unless you're a VP or higher!

movtarget

Agree on Sarbanes Oxley. Totally misinterpreted the intent and required actions.

Seek better employment. I think I've found employment Nirvana in the IT field, working for a 500+ employee organization for the past 9 months.

I've worked in IT/IS at the bigger shops (Nortel, GlaxoSmithKline), and run IT at a couple of smaller shops. This current job is the first privately held business. What a difference. I think the stock market takes the soul out of a company. The greed factor of the stock market has cost me 3 jobs over my 20+ year career.

Company has been family owned for 59 years, with the grandson of the founder running it today, with two of his sons as VPs, readying for their future.

Look for old, privately held companies that are in a field that interests you.

Movtarget in NC

PolkThug

SOx is fun!

dkg999

cfrizz wrote: »

Welcome to life in corporate America! It sucks no matter where you work in the chain unless you're a VP or higher!

It still sucks at the VP and higher level! Granted, it's a different kind of stress and headache, but the sh$t doesn't go away as you move up the chain.

Sometimes you have to look at your job as a means to an end! Mine pays the bills and allows me to work on a future state where I get to do something completely different in 7 more annual payments on my farm!

Systems

m00npie wrote: »

IT is a dumping ground of incompetent business folks that want so desperately to get into Mngt, their executive VP’s simply passes them over the fence to become Project Managers or CIO's in IT. This is not true for all as I have met many brilliant people along the way. It is true for many fortune 500 companies that I have worked for and it’s especially true for Gov’t workers. The cause is simple; HR Dept’s have a fear of firing anyone so they must place them somewhere. “Hey pass them over to IT, let them work on the ‘Insert Project Name here”

It’s these folks that like to grasp something like the Sarbanes Oxley Act, completely misinterpret its intent and then create mile long paper trail processes that takes a simple task of a minor fix to production into a binder full of nonsense and VP sign-offs.

Feeling everything you have felt in the past, I have decided to take F1’s advice several years back. I have not found what truly makes me happy as of yet, but what I did in the meantime was go Independent for myself and keep 100% of the bill rate. At the end of the year, I can only curse myself out if I don’t get a bonus. Although I still have to deal with the same BS, it’s a different feeling knowing that I really don’t work for them. I just have to repeat to myself in meeting’s full of egotistical simpletons that their incompetence means more $$ for me.

Keep your head up, and keep moving. A wide variety of experience from different companies is more attractive than doing the same job over the last 5 years. As soon as you get bored, it’s time to go. You’re not doing yourself any good by staying there and there is no such thing as loyalty anymore. It’s just business. Just be sure you have something else lined up with a contract signed before you make your move. As soon as you get to your new job, start looking for the next one. The point is to always keep your eyes open for the next opportunity because you never know…

If you have never read these books, do yourself a favor and read them. They single handedly changed my life!!

Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
The Power of Positive Thinking - Norman Vincent Peale

That’s true and not true. I worked at UPS for 15 years and 10 of them were in IT. Called the "marine corpse of the business world" (no pun intended). UPS would move people who had no business being in IT into IT. People who had never even touched a computer before with the exception of logging into a computer and using word. On the flip side there was people like me with an EDUCATION in computers (aka Computer science in my case or more specialized degrees in network administration). IT is an *Engineering* field and how many engineers end up being CEO's of large companies? What happens is that you have an IT group with stars and failures. The stars end up having to do just about everything as the failures cant even open up a computer case. What happens is the starts get sick of the low pay and responsibility of having to do everything for everyone and they leave for smaller companies as I did to be the IT manager (for a lot more money). What’s left at these big corporations is the fluff that have no education and no options, they are locked in for life. Users at companies like UPS are left with people that cant do the job.

Recent studies have shown that IT is the *MOST* stressful job there is out there, barely in front of medial. Why? Largely because of the responsibility of having to maintain systems 24x7. If the systems fail it can cost a company big bucks. IT has to be available 24x7 at all times for this.

I am also sick of IT and I run the show at my company. My network admins have to deal with a user base with bachelors/masters and PHD’s that have no business using a computer. I have to deal with executives that have no concept of a network and how it works yet want to be *involved*.

For example SPAM. My spam system has taken in 3 million emails in the past 2 years and have deleted 2 million strait off before hitting peoples box’s. 70% of email is wiped as spam. It has a 98% effective rate catching spam. But users have no concept of that. If they get 1000 spam sent to their box and they receive 2 they will freak out and want us to investigate why they have 2 spam messages (those being extremely well formatted emails that there’s no way the system can catch them). Users want to know why and upper management wants that “fixed”. IT in the middle sits there on there hands and think “these guys are comp-u-tards). What’s best is when they go off on us for getting spam. You cant explain to them that 95% of their spam is generated from being **** bags and putting their work email address out on **** sites (true) and myspace.

sucks2beme

My job has love it, hate it days. Most companies of any size have too much
politics. I'm a remote employee currently working for an senior engineer who
is about as focused as a needle. Get it done by what ever means possible
right now. I do crazy stuff off the cuff all the time. Get on a plane.
work all day and night, then leave. Drive somewhere, do the same.
Different kind of pressure. While other techs are still thinking about it,
I'm doing it. I don't know if I'll ever to be able to work again in the
"300 emails before you can even start" environment.

opus

Sorry to hear that.


I love my job. I like the people I work for and work with.

Its all puppydogs and lollipops here.;)

dkg999

opus wrote: »

Its all puppydogs and lollipops here.;)

Screw the puppy dogs and lollipops I need more rabbits for my hat :eek:

shawn474

Russman- "I didn't really quit, I just kind of stopped going." Reminds me of Officespace- one of my favorite movies.

fatchowmein- sorry to hear about your unhappiness with the job. I am fortunate enough to have a job I love and enjoy going every day (well most days). While maybe not the exact type of book you're looking for, I suggest "Who Moved my Cheese?" A short read but one that may help a bit.

Take Care,
Shawn

sucks2beme

shawn474 wrote: »

Russman- "I didn't really quit, I just kind of stopped going." Reminds me of Officespace- one of my favorite movies.

fatchowmein- sorry to hear about your unhappiness with the job. I am fortunate enough to have a job I love and enjoy going every day (well most days). While maybe not the exact type of book you're looking for, I suggest "Who Moved my Cheese?" A short read but one that may help a bit.

Take Care,
Shawn

Damn! There was a big layoff at the main Nortel site in Richardson a few years ago. Some dumbass
had copies of that sent to all the departments being fired(downsized, rightsized) just prior to the deed.
Many of those guys will go ballistic if you mention that particular document.

wallstreet

Throw your resume out on Monster and look for a nice contract gig. You'd be surprised how much the pain of incompetence around you vanishes. I sometimes feel like I'm in a foreign country going to some clients. Of the 60 people on the team, 4 were born in America.

dudeinaroom

It could be worse. You could not have a job, which means no place, no food to eat, no way to pay for insurance or gas. Get your resume out their, like wallstreet said, but don't limit your self to monster, search "job" and 'career", then dot the same search with your zip code, county, and/or state with it. Put your resume on any of the free sites that come up, shoot if you wanna pay, put your resume on the pay sites too. Some on will see it. There are a decent amount of IT jobs out there if you look.

PolkThug

fatchowmein wrote: »

Since day one, my job has taken longer to perform due to all the steps involved and all the rights taken away, given to another dept, sometimes newly created, to perform a task that I once did to get my job done. I now have to submit a request and wait for somebody to enter the same info into a system to get a result that I now have to wait for somebody else to give me the answers to.

I feel your pain, same thing going on in the financial industry. Something I could do in 5 minutes, now takes hours to get done.

jflail2

I hear that polkthug. Exact same thing for me. Way too many hoops to jump through to get a simple taslk accomplished,

Fireman32

Fatchowmein sorry to hear about the job woes. I was starting to feel the same way recently untill this job relocation came about. I have been in this new position for less then two weeks and I could not be happier. In a few months time I am going to be running the IT department here. Hopefully things will turn out for the better.

krabby5

bobman1235 wrote: »

"Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar."

- Drew Carey

I love that one:D

fatchowmein

Man, I appreciate the quotes, books, suggestions, and anecdotes. Glad to know I'm not the only one walking around thinking, "WTF???"

tonyb

Yeah,all the money in the world won't amount to a heap of crap when/if you get Aid's pal.Sure hope your jokeing.