Friggen sick of IT work.....what else?

[Vipergrün]

Man, I am sick of working in IT, staring at a computer screen all day, dealing with the same stuff day in and day out. Been doing it for 16 years. Caveat: It's what I know and pays well.

I feel empty at the end of each shift, like something is missing. My job is easy, too easy.....and boring. Some guys would drool at this opportunity, I guess I am more motivated to sit around and watch DVD's when it's slow. BTW, I work a 3/12's overnight shift at a major SW Corp as a Linux/UNIX/Network administrator.

What other fields could one jump into that could provide a quick ramp-up time and offer decent pay?

I'm in love with cars, but don't wan't to be a grease monkey at some low-life dealership.

Everyone is playing the real estate game....so that's out

And, to make things worse, at the ripe old age of 40, I have yet to figure out what my purpose or passion is. How screwed is that!!!

Maybe I just need to rant, who know, but if anyone has advice, I'd appreciate it.

Cheers
-B

[billwagnon]

I'm in IT audit and I love it. My IT background is not as strong as yours.

IT audit for external clients is a good area because you get to see a lot of environments, you get to use your expertise, and at the end of the day it's up to the client to solve the problem. I have some travel (about a week a month), but I don't have to work overnight.

Internal audit for a big company would be a good job too, but the internal politics could be frustrating.

Drawbacks are that after awhile it may become too much of the same thing after a few years.

[masraum]

Try going from PC's to the networking side of things (Cisco routers, switches, firewalls, etc...), similar work, but new stuff to learn/new challenges, and less of the crap to deal with as far as I can tell. It'd probably be fairly easy for you to slide into since you're already in IT and would give you a change. There's good money in it.

One word....Plastics.

[arcsine]

"work to live" and not "live to work"

If the pay is good and the job allows you to live a life you want, don't fight it. Just need to find a way to accept the job as a job and not as something that defines your and your person.

[masraum]

Originally posted by arcsine
"work to live" and not "live to work"

If the pay is good and the job allows you to live a life you want, don't fight it. Just need to find a way to accept the job as a job and not as something that defines your and your person.

Hmm, I can't agree with that 100%. If I don't enjoy my work I shouldn't be doing it. Work is too large a portion of your week to do something that you don't enjoy just because it makes you money.

[Deschodt]

Funny (or sad), I can totally identify with that post !

Not sure what the solution is, but a job change in the same field could do you good... Don't leave IT, It is easy money compared to practically all other fields... Just change job, IE from networking to programming or testing or desktop engineering, or DBA or something....

Personally, being on the same boat, I've decided work was work, I was never gonna be one of those lucky few "loving" their jobs. I get my kicks outside of work ;-) If it was fun they would not call it work ;-)

[HardDrive]

I have been in IT for almost 10 years. I can't say I feel particularly satisfied with what I do. After you have killed the same dragon 100 times, its not much of thrill. New dragons come along, but they all go down the same way....it can get boring.

I guess on the upside, I have a great work environment, damn nice offices (27th floor facing the Cascade mountains with views of Mt. Rainer), great boss.

You might have noticed my thread the other day about flipping real estate. Its because I have been looking at non IT opportunities as well...

[cantdrv55]

Sell what you know. Sell IT for your company.

I was in field service (BS in MIS) then I moved on to sales for the same company. Love every minute of it!

[id10t]

Get into Education!

[Vipergrün]

Originally posted by id10t
Get into Education!

My wife a teacher, while fulfilling, the pay is not great. But heck, a little satisfaction could go a long way

Keep it coming!!

[widebody911]

Sounds like someone has a cas of the Mondays!

[Shaun @ Tru6]

You could always go with girl's clothes and media. I managed a custom media department for NetworkWorld magazine prior to G9Girl. Tons of money in that, not very fulfilling getting sales leads for Cisco, et al. who would just dump them anyway.

This is more fun, more rewarding, bigger future payout.

[Vipergrün]

Originally posted by widebody911
Sounds like someone has a cas of the Mondays!

Been there, huh, Thom? I wish it were that easy. Maybe I should just have a few martinis and chill out....dunno.

The main driver of this is that I asked my manager if I could shift my schedule by ONE dang hour next Sunday so I can get to the AFC championship game on time. He said he could not do that because that would be condoning an activity other than sleeping, which he claims I should be doing so I'll be fresh for my shift at 10:00pm. I cannot believe he actually said that...*********. Guess he's never heard of Bawls and No-Doze

[Z-man]

I've been in IT since 1990. Hmm - that's 15+ years.
First started doing systems assurance/QA/scheduling on mainframe sysetms. Shortly thereafter, I moved into storage management, and have been in storage since then.

I have been very satisfied with my career thus far. The key to my satisfaction is that my position has evolved from just a mainframe storage guy to a SAN (storage area network) administrator where I single handedly manage about 30 TB of storage for not just the mainframe, but open systems (UNIX & Windows) systems as well. I also manage the switches/directors on the SAN fabrics.

And the cool thing is that even SAN systems are evolving with stuff like virtualization, newer infastructures, newer DASD - so I'm constantly learning about new hardware/software and theories and trends. Keeps me on my toes.

Oh, and since working for Mercedes-Benz, USA, I've also been responsible for the mainframe disaster recovery processes, and I've got my fingers in change control and daily operations too.

Bottom line: so far, my field has been constantly evolving and expanding - without those, I'd be looking for a career change.

Just my personal experience,
-Zoltan.

[Moses]

Originally posted by masraum
Hmm, I can't agree with that 100%. If I don't enjoy my work I shouldn't be doing it. Work is too large a portion of your week to do something that you don't enjoy just because it makes you money.

You know what? You're right. I'm quitting my job. I'm gonna be...




...the next American Idol!

[Moses]

Originally posted by Z-man

Oh, and since working for Mercedes-Benz, USA,
-Zoltan.

Hey Z-man! Mind if I ask a MB related question? It's about COMAND NAV

[Z-man]

Originally posted by Moses
Hey Z-man! Mind if I ask a MB related question? It's about COMAND NAV

Is your question: why is it so complicated? The answer: 'Cause that way I-drive makes COMMAND look easy!

Ask away - I may not have the answer, but may have access to those who do.

[Moses]

Originally posted by Z-man
Is your question: why is it so complicated? The answer: 'Cause that way I-drive makes COMMAND look easy!

Ask away - I may not have the answer, but may have access to those who do.

Sorry for the hijack!

I have an '06 E55. I love everything about this car. It has exceeded all my expectations in every aspect but one. The NAV seems to have a bizarre deficiency. Let's say you are driving in an unfamiliar town and want directions to the nearest Home Depot. You are out of luck. Need to find Macys? Sorry. You may only search within NAV defined categories; RESTAURANTS, PARKS, MUSEUMS, AIRPORTS, etc. You cannot search for an establishment by it's NAME! Every other navigation system that I have seen, both OEM and aftermarket allows a search by NAME. What's up with that?

[Dixie]

My wife a teacher, while fulfilling, the pay is not great. But heck, a little satisfaction could go a long way ...

Perhaps you're thinking of the wrong level of education. Look and see what a college professor in IT or business makes. I think you'll be surprised.

All you need is a PhD...