Disillusioned With IT? 1027
cgh4be writes "I have been working in the IT industry for about 12 years and have had various jobs as a consultant and systems engineer. Over that time I've had the chance to do a little bit of everything: programming, networking, SAN, Linux/AIX/UNIX, Windows, sales, support, and on and on. However, over the last couple of months I have become a little disillusioned with the IT industry as a whole. Occasionally, I will get interested in some new technology, but for the most part I'm starting to find it all very tedious, repetitive, and boring and I'm no longer really interested in the hands-on aspect of the business. I suppose going the management route is one option, but I would still be dealing with a lot of the same frustrating technology issues. The other route I had in mind was a complete career change; take something I really enjoy doing outside of work now and try to make a career out of it. The only problem is that I have a wife and kid to support and my current job pays very well. Have any of you been through this kind of career 'mid-life crisis?' What did you do to get out of the rut? Is making a complete career change at this point a bad idea?"
My vote... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:My vote... (Score:5, Funny)
But pr0n don't pay if you are male
doing what you love (Score:5, Interesting)
Do what you love. In the end it is all that matters.
But pr0n don't pay if you are male
Sure it does, start your own paid porn site. Actually about 10 years ago I read an article in an internet magazine about how Asia Carrera taught herself how to program so she could start her own porn website, I think it said she made a lot more from the website than she did acting.
FalconThats irrational and selfish. (Score:2, Insightful)
If you want to do what you love for all of your life, you shouldn't have kids. The moment you have kids, what you love no longer matters anymore.
The moment you have kids, all your hopes, your dreams, you can throw all of it in the trash. Once you have those kids your purpose in life is those kids and nothing else matters besides those kids.
Just because you feel like doing something else it doesn't change the fact that your purpose in life is to protect your family (your kids). It does not change the fact th
Re:Thats irrational and selfish. (Score:5, Insightful)
Your kids MUST be your number one priority, but should NOT be your only purpose.
If they are, there won't be much left of you or your marriage or your future once they leave the nest.
Having only one point to your existence is unhealthy. Your kids your first priority? Good. The only purpose? Bad -- even for the kids.
Re:Why would you need more than one point? (Score:4, Interesting)
Humans are human, we are not machines and assuming you are a machine generally ends very badly for everyone involved.
Re:Thats irrational and selfish. (Score:5, Insightful)
You're making the implicit, and totally unwarranted, assumption that the sole measure of a father's success is his ability to bring in money. Dropping out of IT might mean a drop in income, but it doesn't mean he can't find a different way to make money, which is what I assume he intends. There is absolutely no reason to think that he can't raise his children to be at least as healthy and happy on a smaller income.
Depending on what he goes into, he may end up with more time to devote to his family, which is worth more than money.
I'm not saying money is irrelevant, but it is not nearly so important as some people make it out to be.
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I've been thinking along the same lines as the theme of the posted article. And I can see taking a smaller income if it means more time to spend with the family. One of my daughters was complaining the other day that "We don't g
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Seriously though, the idealization of greed is hardly monopolized by people in their early 20s. I have a long-tem understanding with my friends and family that if they ever feel I am devoting my entire life to a job i hate that they are to do whatever necessary to get me fired so I can re-evaluate my priorities.
Work to live, not the inverse.
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Re:Not at all (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Just goes to show you (Score:4, Funny)
Get in comrades, we'll stop the capitalist pigs this time!
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You've been working for 12 years, right? (Score:5, Insightful)
If you do, then start thinking about doing that right now while you have this well-paying job, and spend some of your evening hours developing a business plan, potential clientele, educating yourself.
If you don't, then you need to take a few years to build that nest egg up, to be responsible to your wife and kids.
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Re:You've been working for 12 years, right? (Score:5, Interesting)
Raising a family while very young is the trap that lords and masters have laid into the path of the peasant since lords and masters have been around. See, once you have children, they have something they can use to keep you honest (read, subservient, read also, shackled). See, a man who accepts that all is transient, and family comes and goes as does youth and riches and poverty, will be hard to shackle down, or to enslave.
I'm 25. Been married for nearly 5 years. We had our first child when I was 22. Lived in this house for two years. And despite having two kids and a wife to keep me "subservient" or whatever you propose, we've paid down nearly 10% of our mortgage, and put about 25% of my net income per month away in savings and investments. It isn't hard to do if you are committed to it. Having kids early, getting married early, really isn't a strain if you are disciplined in money management. And if you aren't disciplined in money management, you'll blow it on loose women, cars, computers or beer as a single guy anyways.
Re:You've been working for 12 years, right? (Score:4, Insightful)
No kids, no house payment, no car payment, $250k in the bank = you do what you want, and if you need to find another job, you find another job.
PS - Most of my money I spent on loose women, liquor, cars, and computers. The rest I just wasted.
Re:You've been working for 12 years, right? (Score:4, Interesting)
No kids, no house payment, no car payment, $250k in the bank = you do what you want, and if you need to find another job, you find another job.
And from a boss' perspective ... I wouldn't miss that person (nor expect them to be around that long anyway). They bug off anytime they are asked to make some committment or sacrifice ... 6-12 months at each job on the resume. Sure, hire them for some contract gig, but otherwise, no thanks. I've moved when I felt it was necessary. I've asked my employers to give back when I give my all. If they don't (and haven't), I move on.
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The people at the nursing home that he checked himself into and your kids dumped you at?
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It's amazing how little you actually NEED, as opposed to how much y
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It's amazing how little you actually NEED, as opposed to how much you want. Once you differentiate between the two, a complete career change won't look nearly as daunting.
Indeed, since in a first world country like the US or most of Europe, you don't need a place to live, a job or anything really else. You can beg for food or dumpster dive and live under a bridge or in shelter. That will pretty much bring you down to an income of a few dollars a month that you find while walking around all day. That's all you strictly need: a place to keep out of the rain and food.
In fact, he may want the two cars and large screen TV more than he hates his job. It's all a trade off. They wouldn't call it work if it was always entertaining and fun. Perhaps a small change is in order, like moving to a different area or changing industries (while remaining in IT.)
Reality check, please! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Reality check, please! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Reality check, please! (Score:4, Interesting)
It should also be pointed out that
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Helicopter pilots are desperately in need.
CNC machine operators are in need.
If you qualify, neither of those takes much training to be employable. 2 years, tops.
While you can probably do all your helicopter pilot training in 2 years, you'll need $110,000 in cash to pay for it, and the price is going up with the quickly rising price of gasoline. You can get student loans, of course, but these are usually limited to $70k, plus with the collapse of Silver State Heli
Surely it's obvious (Score:2)
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Ask elsewhere too (Score:4, Funny)
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Also, consider some business management night school courses, as you'll probably need them no matter which direction you decide to take.
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Same goes for the Pakistani restaurant around the corner from my house which is also run by a guy who used to be in the IT business.
They both tell me they are happier and make better money.
Man Up (Score:5, Insightful)
I know this is a bad thing that Americans don't like to dwell on but you should be happy you have a solid source of income and work in comfortable environments. Most people outside of the industrialized world can't say that.
On the other hand, I recognize that the young idealist in us all strikes [flickr.com] every now and then. But you've got a family and a paying job so I would recommend you focus on those aspects instead of risking them. I guess if you do decide to act on your instincts, ask them if they're willing to accept the risk for your happiness at work. They're now part of your life and depending on you so respect that and be responsible.
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The family thing is real, but usually if you can do something like IT then you're suited for a lot of other work as well. All you really need is a decent wage and insurance. Lot of times you can move to a place where the cost of living is different, and a lowe
Re:Man Up (Score:5, Funny)
Peter Gibbons: This isn't so bad, huh? Makin' bucks, gettin' exercise, workin' outside.
Lawrence: Fuckin' A.
Peter Gibbons: [nods] Fuckin' A.
- Office Space
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Are they good eating?
Re:Man Up (Score:5, Insightful)
I think he may have misinterpreted what he really means by boredom as burnout.
What do Soldiers, Firemen, Paramedics, and IT person have in common?
Jobs that have times of lulls and then complete disasters that were never the same as before. This is why they attribute post traumatic stress symptoms to soldiers due because its a constant emotional rollercoasters of pure boredom and then unexpected disasters.
Now, IT is no where as bad as being a front line soldier (no ones buddy was ambushed by a sniper in the server room) but overall the same issues that are bad for the mind for the soldier are the same for the IT person.
An IT person sits around until the phone rings, Blackberry goes off, or gets an email and then they have an unexpected issue on their hands they they could have never predicted. It might be as simple as having to show someone how to install a printer to a complete disaster where the exchange server goes down and the CEO needs an important email for a big contract.
A single issue in itself isn't that bad, but the issues keep happening and they are often not the same or at a predictable interval.
I remember a psychological test done on lab rats with such a scenario where they shocked one rat with electricity at regular intervals and then shocked the other at random. Even though the one at regular intervals was shocked more often, the rat that was shocked at random ate less and slept less and could not adapt to the situation.
Same thing with IT and burnout... From an anectdotal experience, I work IT but I have also worked in places like warehouses lifting boxes and sorting orders for a mail order company.
The warehouse was hot and the boxes were heavy and the task with hurt your fingers but for the life of me I miss the job because my job was straight forward and the task was predictable. Sadly, I had to give it up for money and moved back into IT and just deal with the stress as best I can.
So while farming and assembly line work is mundane and boring as heck, the stress levels aren't that bad because the tasks are predictable and your aren't running to one issue or another like a fireman trying to put out fires or a soldier who keeps getting ambushed.
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It basically sounds like you are just jealous of the guy having a good job and good family, and want to sound off on that as opposed to actually giving him some advise on where he might take his life next.
That being said, I would caution the original poster to not take another hobby and ruin it for himself by turning it into a career. Most IT people got into the industry because we enjoy this stuff.
I saw "be thankful for what you have" (Score:3, Insightful)
While job satisfaction is something we should always strive for we seem to have a generation who doesn't see a reason to sacrifice, for however long, to meet truer and more important goals.
Sorry, family comes first. You provide for them then you provide for yourself.
So basically I saw "suck it up" "quit whining" etc... and I think its valid, sorry but IT is easy street. If you don't enjoy your job then look elsewhere but make sure the important stuff i
Re:Man Up (Score:5, Insightful)
That being said, I also appreciate the value of coming home after a long day of work feeling like I accomplished something, even if it was just bucking bales.
Or maybe you can talk to my other uncles and aunts who aren't into farming. A few of them tried it but you know there's these things called "corporate farms [wikipedia.org]" that (at least when I was younger) had tax loopholes, subsidies and Republican style protection from taxes. They have been known to put together a failing business model, buy up land, get investors, flood the market with one product for three years while they operate in the red and then just, you know, file for bankruptcy. Since it was all under a corporation they just regroup and do it again next time.
What does all this excess in the market do to the family farm? Kills the income for that year. Family farms can't operate in the red for more than a year. And if you file for bankruptcy, that's your name.
So you basically have to be business smart and have lawyers to be a farmer these days. Just ain't worth it. Easier and more stable to be a Java monkey (look at me!).
Couple that with the tricks you have to pull to pass on the farm and machinery to the kids and you got an impossible sustaining source of income. Happened to the entire generation of farms before me, I'm out.
Sorry to go on a tandem there, but if you are seriously thinking about "working the land" and "accomplishing something" and feeling tired from good hard work at the end of the day, don't do it. It's a crap shoot these days.
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Remember everybody, to escape poverty, you just have to magically say "I'm outta here!" and just like that *poof* you're living the sweet life.
Sigh. Disingenuous bullshit won't make you right. It will just make you look like a disingenuous bullshitter. Try a little less asinine and a little more insight.
I have never stated that you "just" have to do that, and that "poof" something happens. However, you do have to try, and in many cases, after a lot of work, it happens. No magic. Just hard work. That is the reason we are not still in caves trying to figure out where there is a forest fire so we can get our fire going again.
Now, sitting on you
well.. (Score:5, Insightful)
I say take the chance, or risk looking back in ten years and wondering where your life went, seriously.
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My wife is currently going through a graduate program in Psychology (after six years at home with the kids, and a totally unrelated field before then.) It's well worth it - she's going to be a terrific therapist, and she loves it. We're able to manage it by taking out loans for her (>$100K for her), living off of my income (which we've been doing for six years now), and because we are lucky e
Re:well.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Amen to that. Unless something terrible befalls you (unlikely) people rarely regret the choices they made and the chances they took. The regrets you have are the chances you never took. The opportunities you had but never caught.
Go to your next reunion and talk to the people who are there. It is usually astonishingly depressing. A huge part of them still remember school as the best time of their life and they always will.
The best time of my life is in the future, and it always will be. Take chances, try new things, and that will always be the case. Don't listen to those who tell you to "be responsible" and "content with what you have". There is only one reason they are giving you this advice. They hate to see you on a new adventure. It reminds them of all the opportunities they passed up in their miserable lives. When you get successful some time in the future, and if you try hard enough you might be, they will tell you about all that they "could have done, only it was... [wife, kids, job, weather, house payments, sick mother - take your pick] that prevented them from becoming successful.
Oh, and BTW, if you succeed, these people will resent you for it.
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The real world can be a harsh place.
True, but also leaning towards defeatist nonsense. Follow that line of thinking and you achieve nothing but a boring life.
You have to take some risks..
Also, I don't live in the US, so I don't have to worry about medical treatment being withheld because i don't have insurance...
First, look at what you like to do (Score:3, Insightful)
Then go for it. Plenty of people change careers and are happier for it.
Your wife (Score:2, Insightful)
Here ya go... (Score:4, Funny)
http://www.diamond-jim.com/catjuggler/ [diamond-jim.com]
Family is all that matters in life. (Score:4, Insightful)
Everything should be a means to an end with the goal being to protect and support your family.
If your job pays good money, be a man and provider and sacrifice your happiness so your child can have a better life. Having 8 hours of boring yet high paying work is better than having 8 hours of fun yet low paying work, because the boring life is better for your wife and kids welfare.
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Not if you're single with no kids!
Don't you want a gf and kids someday? (Score:2)
You're right, if you are single with no kids then you can do what you love. If want a girlfriend or wife, then you have to do some things you don't like doing, and if you have a wife and kids you might have to do some things you hate.
Re:Family is all that matters in life. (Score:5, Insightful)
From my point of view, it's better to take a fun but low-paying job, because you'd inspire your kid to follow his own dreams instead of taking the easy way out. (There's also the side benefit of perhaps not being so materially-focused.) Plus, even with your responsibility for others, it is still your life -- as long as you can still keep your family in food and shelter, why not enjoy it?
Also, don'tcha want to be the "cool dad" everyone else's kids want to have?
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The real question is: how many of your needs (and your family's) are wants, and how many are actual needs? People have raised well-adjusted kids on what would now be considered abject poverty. It can be done again.
Re:Family is all that matters in life. (Score:5, Insightful)
Tell me then... what exactly did his parents sacrifice for? Is his child expected to also sacrifice his happiness, so that his grandchildren can be happy? What of them?
I say, find balance and moderation in all things. Don't give up on happiness, but don't pursue only that. Lots of people manage to make career changes and support a family, and many of them are happier for it.
/. is being an awfully depressed and pessimistic bunch today.
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I'm the son of a single mother who worked bat-shit hard as a doctor. It meant we got to live in an upper-middle class neighbourhood, and I received all the opportunities I could ever need. Unfortunately it meant I effectively had NO parent, and was pressured to act as a parent to my younger brother and sister. When my teenage years came around my mother was too stressed to deal with my emotional neglect and ended up kicking me out
Re:Family is all that matters in life. (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's a better alternative - be smart, and research into what you like and make a plan to go towards it. That way, you are working towards a goal. And when you finally do accomplish it, you'd be happier for it.
The whole "be a man" and do stupid things for life is the biggest load of nonsense I've heard.
My Dad quit his job as a banker and became a lawyer when I was in school, and now he's very successful and quite happy. My Mom quit her job when she had me, and went back to being a daytrader.
My girlfriend is in premed and we're thinking of getting married and having kids -- but that does not mean that I do not plan on going to business school sometime, or that she's not planning on doing medicine.
You can have both. You just need to be smart about it.
Be realistic (Score:2)
Everyone dreams about having the dream job and the dream life with the perfect family and picket fence.
But thats an unrealistic goal. So sure, you can search for jobs but during a recession?
It's all about the benjamins. (Score:5, Insightful)
This is why it pays well.
Don't expect to be able to hop out of the field and be able to command the same salary unless you have some well-established, lucrative backup profession.
If you really can't take it anymore, expect to downsize your life somewhat. Lack of stress may make up for lack of cash.
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The IT industry is maturing (Score:5, Insightful)
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What exactly is boring? (Score:2)
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Find a hobby
Do some contract work
Find a long-term project at work that you can work on alongside your regular tasks
Find a hobby you can share with your family
Since you're an IT worker, I'd suggest the best thing to do would be to start putting more emphasis on your non-working hours. Talk to your boss about cutting back on your hours if you need to, and supplement your work with contract work. Variety is the spice of life; make
Here's a suggestion (Score:5, Funny)
Time to become a drunk (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh well.
Take some of that dough, get yourself a nice tv and a good bottle of whiskey, enjoy your family at home. You hunter now, must bring home bacon for family. and, if the job you picked sucks, well, at least you got the big tv and a bottle of booze.
welcome to america buddy....
Re:Time to become a drunk (Score:5, Funny)
Wouldn't his hands get tired?
Re:Time to become a drunk (Score:4, Interesting)
--
.nosig
Do what everyone else does (Score:4, Funny)
Seriously though, everyone goes through this sort of thing. Since you have responsibilities, you basically just have to decide if the money you make in this field is worth the crap you have to deal with. Keep in mind that a lot of the frustration you're feeling is probably directly related to the fact that you're encumbered with responsibilities, and you aren't free to move around like you were when you were single and childless, so you would likely feel trapped in your job no matter what you were doing at this stage in your life.
If you decide it isn't, you have to come up with a plan that will allow you to pursue something else without making your family live in a box. You may decide to go to school part time at night and work during the day. This means you see less of the family in the short term and it means you have to keep dealing with the crap for a few more years, but it's sacrificing now for a better tomorrow. I've done it, and it kind of sucks, but if you're the sole or major breadwinner in the family, it's probably either that or just deal with the IT crap until the kids graduate from college.
What did I do to get out of the rut? (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously. I got together with a friend of mine who is a mechanic and put together a race car to go drag racing. We've won events with national sponsorship, got on TV and even have magazines asking for photoshoots.
I was able to learn alot and I even applied my IT skills in tuning fuel injection and ignition control systems. Now there are people begging me to tune their cars for them and I might actually have a side business that is quite lucrative for not alot of effort given my extensive computer based background. If I play those cards right, I could end up being a legitimate chassis builder and tuner. Kinda cool when you think about how something that was just intended to get my mind off my problems turned into something like that.
Baskin Robbins (Score:5, Insightful)
Unfortunately this cycle is perpetual. Baskin Robbins Syndrome applies to any profession. So even if you're immensely interested in what you do for a living, you will eventually grow to hate it. Don't you think Taco and crew have had mornings where they wake up and go "wow, fuck slashdot, im going to go be a hamster farmer..."
I went through this a few years ago with IT security. I even tried going into gaming. Eventually I solved the problem by taking a year off of anything work related to travel and clear my brain. This isn't an option for a lot of people, but if you can do it, it will change your perspective in a huge way.
Life is about sacrifce. (Score:2)
We sacrifice all the time to get what we want or need out of life.
We go to college, sacrificing our youth so that when the time comes we can afford/support to maintain a wife and child (family).
What is the cost of maintaining a family? Often we have to settle for a boring yet high paying career path because thats what will get us the woman of our dreams.
Despite what people say, women want men who have good high paying jobs rather than men who are happy but total bums. And children NEED a parent who makes en
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So where's the reward for all this sacrifice? You sacrifice your youth for education. You sacrifice your middle age for remuneration. At retirement, if you did well, you're too old to enjoy it, and if you didn't you're trying to decide which generic dry pet food tastes best. And the cycle repeats in the next gene
Construction (Score:5, Funny)
Ease out. (Score:2)
I'm in the same boat... (Score:2)
So I'm going back to school. I'm getting an EE degree, going to pick up an education degree and maybe a busin
Adminspotting (Score:3, Insightful)
Choose no life. Choose sysadminning. Choose no career. Choose no family. Choose a fucking big computer, choose hard disks the size of washing machines, old cars, CD ROM writers and electrical coffee makers. Choose no sleep, high caffeine and mental insurance. Choose fixed interest car loans. Choose a rented shoebox. Choose no friends. Choose black jeans and matching combat boots. Choose a swivel chair for your office in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose NNTP and wondering why the fuck you're logged on on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting in that chair looking at mind-numbing, spirit-crushing web sites, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last on some miserable newsgroup, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up lusers Gates spawned to replace the computer-literate.
Choose your future.
Choose to sysadmin[1].
[1] It might fuck you up a little less than heroin[2].
[2] ObFootnote.
stay out of management it's a one-way street (Score:2)
Change is scary but change can be good (Score:2)
The only problem is that I have a wife and kid to support and my current job pays very well. Have any of you been through this kind of career 'mid-life crisis?'
Yes. I'm an engineer by training and by vocation for the last decade. However I realized a few years ago the career prospects for me in my engineering field are somewhat limited, not to mention boring, compared to what I ultimately want to do. So I've been diversifying, learning about finance and several other fields necessary for my goals and slowly changing my career path.
What did you do to get out of the rut?
I went to graduate school personally but that's not the only way to do it. It was just the most condensed way to get the educatio
Tough one (Score:4, Insightful)
What I'd suggest is to keep your current job for the time being, and spend some time looking around for what you do enjoy doing. This may or may not be work related. Start and abandon some hobbies, take up martial arts, take some college classes either inside your field or far away from it. But your goal is just to find something you find meaningful.
Supporting a family and loving your work is a tough balance - it would be much easier if your focus was one way or the other, and you will make little compromises on either side. If you make too big a compromise either way, for too long, you will end up regretting it.
So my balanced suggestion is - look around for something that excites you. Give yourself some time to find it. Meantime, don't quit the day job.
Maybe think about technology research? (Score:3, Interesting)
In fact, people with you experience are very valuable in research teams, as those who use the current technologies routinely have the best knowledge of their shortcomings and pitfalls and can give the most valuable input into improving them - sometimes many times more valuable than people who created them.
Additionally, research gives much more satisfaction - instead of just creating something useful, you create something better and more powerful as well, probably easing the work of all those you worked with before, who still do their daily administration routine.
And be assured, there's no shortage of jobs in the network technology research field - fiber optics, high-speed wireless, large-scale routing, extreme load-resistant and distributed systems, and many more.
My solution was to go freelance (Score:2)
I feel the same way - Here's what I did... (Score:3, Insightful)
So what can we do about it?
A lot of this depends on your life circumstances. Since you're married with kids the career change can be a scary challenge. However, perhaps you and your wife have an excellent financial position (i.e. low debt) and can afford to scale down your quality-of-life a teeny bit and you can take a pay cut. Or, if you're totally insane you can start your own company. Start a Subway franchise or something.
So here's some of the options as I saw them:
-Complete career change: The problem here is that this is kind of the same solution as "rewrite all the code from scratch". Read this [joelonsoftware.com] to realize why this is a bad idea. You are throwing away *TONS* of sunk costs in experience and education.
-Go back to school (maybe at night) and learn another trade, then transition to that. Safe, but slow. Initially expensive.
-Get a hobby, part-time night job, or something that peaks your interest. I started teaching adult algebra classes at night and I love it! Yes, IT during the day still sucks but teaching at night makes it way more bearable.
-One-off career change...can be difficult but doable. Maybe hire a professional career counselor or resume writer.
The closest I've come to solving this dilemma is getting hobbies and part-time night jobs that scratch my itch. Also, I try to force some of the fun back into my day job. For example, once a week I'll take a few hours and just play with a new language or tool just for fun (although my boss would probably get mad if he found out I was on-the-clock).
Unfortunately, its hard to find a practical solution to career burnout. I believe in a lot of ways this is a spritual problem. i.e. "true happiness is wanting what you have not having what you want", etc. See if you can find satisfaction in your family, in making a salary to feed and care for them, and in focusing on fun stuff outside of work (camping, sports, gaming, arts&crafts, reading, whatever...). Difficult, I know. But be happy that your job is Mon-Fri 9-5 and you're not roofing houses or something REALLY sucky.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
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Not leaving until I can start a business (Score:2)
Chase your passion (Score:4, Insightful)
1. Chase your passions. Work in a field that you can be passionate about. The best way for you to be happy and successful is to chase your passion. Crazy examples: maybe you want to create new content in Second Life. Maybe you'd be happier teaching troubled teens how to use woodworking tools. Maybe your dream is to be a park ranger. Figure it out.
2. Don't worry about money. Restructure your life so that you can chase your passion. Figure out a way to live with half of your current salary if you have to. Live somewhere that you don't need a car. Hike with your groceries. Use public transportation. Work from home.
3. If you don't know what you're passionate about, hurry up and find out now, before you're dead. You only have one life. Don't waste it as a slave, doing what you don't want to be doing.
Consider this very seriously. Nobody is forcing you to do what you've been doing. Don't be a sheep, take control of your life, because if you don't there's plenty of other people who will.
I'm sitting in the same place (Score:2)
I'm not ready (and neither are my families finances) for what I have always pegged as my retirement career. I am hoping the log jam breaks soon.
At least for me what has lead me here is the one hot project, with it's new tech and all that stuff that had me all excited, got dumped. Its really taken the wind out of my sails. There are other issues as well, but that is really the snowball that started the avalanche.
Re:I'm sitting in the same place (Score:5, Insightful)
Get your finances under control. Reduce your need for money. The difference between how much you make and how much you must spend reflects the size of choices available in your life. Reduce your dependence on needing a lot of money each month, and the number of choices available to you increases dramatically, and your freedom increases dramatically.
In my case, I used to own two cars, now I own none. I moved to another state that is 1/2 the price for housing. I quit eating out, started buying things like pinto beans and rice, and cook all my own meals. After restructuring my life, I have far more money and options available to me.
Once your finances are in order, and you learn to do without things like starbucks every day and whatnot, you may find you have the freedom you need to pursue your dreams. It may take years to get to that point, but you must try to take control. Otherwise you forfeit control of your life to the will of others.
I am going through this exact same thing (Score:2)
I still work on boring technology, but only 40 hours a week, and I don't take it home with me.
So I pretty much focus on other things when I am not at work.
They other great advantage is that if a completely different opportunity opens up, I might be able to laterally move into something more interesting,and and still maintain my benefits.
I know what you mean... (Score:2)
I feel pretty burned out at times as well (14 years in IT doing most of what you named except for sales and AIX). It pays well, but sometimes it just doesn't excite, right?
There is NO RIGHT ANSWER here.
How important is the money to you and your family? If you are in debt and living paycheck to paycheck then you need to handle that first.
Is work that important to you? Many people I know use work to pay the bills while they pursue their passions outside of work. Do you have passi
I had a similar problem (Score:2)
Luckily, there was no one depending on me once I reached that point of dissatisfaction, so I packed up and went to grad school to study biology. Turns out though, I'm doing more programming now when I left my old job. And I love it
Web development or Lawn mowing, same thing (Score:2)
If you don't like the p
I'm changing careers into music (Score:3, Interesting)
Several years ago I decided to change careers into music [geometricvisions.com]. I taught myself to play piano many years ago, and since making that decision I've been studying it intensively with the aim of enrolling in music school someday, where I will major in music composition. I want to write symphonies!
Of course I realize that musicians rarely earn as much as computer programmers. It's going to be a while before I can pass the entrance audition; during that time I'm continuing to work as a coder, while paying down my many debts as fast as I can. I'm pretty sure I can be debt-free by the time I start school.
I'm also developing a GPL audio application called Ogg Frog [oggfrog.com], whose website also has articles and HOWTOs on the general topic of digital music. The software isn't released yet, but I'm pretty sure that by the time I do go back to school the software will have been available long enough the website will earn enough money through advertising to provide for myself and my wife.
Musicians need to be well-known to be successful. One way I've been promoting my music is by giving away free CDs [geometricvisions.com] of an album I recorded in 1994. If you'd like to receive one, email your name and postal address to support@oggfrog.com [mailto]
I'm absolutely serious! I've given away almost two thousand of them in person; a few weeks ago I plugged my CDs here at Slashdot and got fifty requests in just one day. I expect to finally mail them on Friday. And yes I am happy to ship internationally.
The music is instrumental piano, and is all my own original compositions.
Work for free where you're appreciated (Score:3, Insightful)
But I *work* for a non-profit that I love and enjoy (check the homepage). It's got all of the same pitfalls that my jobs have had (petty power struggles, empire builders, personality conflicts, budget BS, the works), but the overall mission and work environment are awesome. I watch mistakes get made at my job, and I get to *not* make those mistakes. I learn about something new that could move us forward as an organization? I've got a near consequence free environment to try it out.
And one of the best parts of it all....as a volunteer I can just walk away. When going out to the hangar and hanging around WW2 bombers just isn't fun, or I don't want to deal with some of the people....I don't. I exercise the luxuries that I just don't have at my job.
I've heard that several of the Apollo astronauts have problems with depression after their missions were over. They had become men with no mountain left to climb. They had focused their lives on a goal and, once they'd achieved it, they were left with a giant, empty "what next?"
Rather than going all 'Fight Club' and destroying what you've made of yourself in favor of becoming a self-actualized burger inversion specialist, why not try and create something greater. Use your skills somewhere that make you happy, even if you've got to log 40 hours of boredom to support those 10 hours of doing something interesting.
Okay, well (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm creeping up on my 10th year where I could be said to be doing computer support professionally. I went through about 5 years where I was like, "wow, this sucks and isn't very challenging".
I figured out though that there's real benefit in having a job where I can go home and the end of the day and forget about work and do stuff I like. Not to mention that even though the things I do from day to day aren't amazingly challenging, it isn't that way for everyone I work with, and as such, it's much easier to stand out and be regarded as excellent in my professional field.
So yeah, look around and consider all the options, but my advice? Don't make your work your life... unless you're getting paid millions of dollars quarterly, then make it your life for 10 years and retire. :D
I'm going to disagree with many here... (Score:3, Insightful)
Left IT and glad I did (Score:3, Interesting)
Well if you have gotten past the slurry of goatse references, random trolls, and at least one or two (hundred) Vista jabs, I laud your patience and thank you for reading my $0.02. I was in IT for about 10 years, worked hard, made great money, and never lacked for a job.
But I had to leave.
It wasn't just the continued feel of deja vu. I mean, if you switch jobs or do consulting/contracting, you get used to arguing for the benefits of process, unit testing, design, etc... But everything just was getting so boring. The options of tech people -- staying in the trenches and fighting the same battles year after year or going into management (yawn) weren't really appealing to me. And really at the heart of it was a nagging feeling of there being something that would be better for me to do (more complimentary to my strengths, more intellectually interesting, more personally satisfying).
I think you need to look at what you feel is missing with your job. Many people have suggested looking for a different job in the same field. That is good advice. If you do not think you can get what you need in the field, then consider a job switch. If you think you need a job switch, make sure you and your wife are in agreement on the course of action (well - since I do not have a wife, I would assume this is the best course of action :)
Even though you have a wife and kids, many things are possible. I switched from IT to medical school, and am almost 1/2 way done with my M.D. I have many classmates who are in the 40s (and some in their 50s) with wife and kids and manage to make things meet. I do not regret the switch one bit, and while the loss of income is difficult, it is only temporary.
Many will argue that you need to stay where you are for your kids. Perhaps that is true, although giving your kids an example of having strength/tenacity/etc... to make a positive change in your life might be good as well. You have been given a gift of having options in your life. That is not something that many people in this world have (even in the US). As an engineer you know that there are many ways to fix a problem - the trick is to find the right method for the given situation.
Not sure if this has helped out at all, but you know what they say about free advice...
IT is becoming like stationary engineering (Score:4, Insightful)
Around 1880 or so, an exciting, growing field was "stationary engineering". Factories and cities were getting steam and electric power, and people were needed to make it all work. This was a good field for a bright young person interested in technology. "Stationary engineers" installed the equipment and kept it going.
Stationary engineering is still an active field. There are about 120,000 members of the Stationary Department of the International Union of Operating Engineers, [iuoe.org] keeping the wheels going around, the boilers hot, and the pressure within limits. The symbol of the IUOE is a steam pressure gauge. These are important jobs. Without them, industrial civilization would literally grind to a halt.
It's been a long time since stationary engineering was an exciting growth industry. Today, it's a dull maintenance job. That's where most of information technology is going.
Except that IT isn't unionized.
Re: (Score:2)
The traditional treatment for mid-life crises: (Score:2)