IT sucks

Hethrir · Post by **Hethrir** » 2003-05-09 10:16am

You know, the other day i sat down at my job and thought, "IT really, really sux."

I was a contractor in the little town of Toowoomba with a particular company for two and a half years on ordinary pay, got a transfer to the wonderous city of Brisbane at the head office with still ordinary pay, and have had enough. Granted i do not have a technical role this time around. I was a field tech for my contractor days (only desktop), and am currently an "asset and change administrator."

In recent years, IT has slumped down hill further and further. Computer skills are more common, IT professionals are in less demand, there in no IT union, wages are NOT rising with CPI and quite frankly, customers are rude and have no idea how much you bend over backwards to help them out.

I decided i am looking for another job now. Non IT, and local.

Current Job Pros:
--------------------
1. It's a job

2. I can say i work for "xxxx" company

3. I have a really good (immediate) boss

4. We get free beer and pizza once a month

5. There are some really nice people there
================================

Current Job Cons:
---------------------
1. The work is really crap

2. The pay is really crap

3. I have to drive into the city each day - about 20kms. I am car pooling now, but the old "seven" really chewed the petrol. Not far i know, but peak hour freeway traffic is not "free."

4. Parking (in the city) is not cheap

5. I am so right pissed at the end of each day it takes all evening to cool off (if i do)

6. Sometimes it's bad enough dealing with customers, but when you have to deal with your own work mates....

7. Too many procedures

8. Not enough people know aforementioned procedures

9. I get paid monthly

===================================

The list could go on, but arggg!

The trouble is, i have no idea about the sort of jobs that exist outside of computers! Any suggestions?

EmperorMing · Post by **EmperorMing** » 2003-05-10 01:33am

See if you can specialise in the IT sector; something like mainframe/AS400, Office apps, Lotus Notes or becomne a database admin(exchange...). Most people were run through the helpdesk BS a couple of years ago.

The way to go now is specialise. Even Cisco is seeing a leveling off.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2003-05-10 02:56am

Not in demand!? Move to the US. True, wages are not what they once were but on the west coast and midwest there's pretty big demand for both entry-level help-desk type people and specialized network administrators or engineers or whatever you want to call them.

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2003-05-10 03:58am

EmperorMing wrote:See if you can specialise in the IT sector; something like mainframe/AS400, Office apps, Lotus Notes or becomne a database admin(exchange...). Most people were run through the helpdesk BS a couple of years ago.

The way to go now is specialise. Even Cisco is seeing a leveling off.

Specialise? in this market? hell no! best to be able to a number of things. mind you, I live in NZ, you have to be able to turn your hand to a range of jobs.

Hethrir · Post by **Hethrir** » 2003-05-10 04:49am

Thanks for the replies, but no way i would ever do help desk. I am a little over qualified. I have just had enough of IT. Someone told me i should work at a skirmish range. I like that idea.

I am thinking of perhaps moving to US though. Maybe Canada.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-05-10 10:27am

Specializing in this market is not a good idea. ( Not here in California anyway)

IT is hit really hard, wages are going flat. Most high tech companies have been devestated. However, even though wages are flat, they are not crap.

Help desk can be a chore in the wrong company. But there are losts of small to midsize companies that do not have a call center and you get to roam around helping people in person or working with something like Dameware.

The 8 week contract I had was not bad. Customers would call me and and I would help them diagnose hardware or network problems. Some people would call and it was their first time building a home network. While not really out responsibility, we would teach them how to put stuff together to get going. I found that to be rewarding.

As for money, it is not crap here. If you have 3-4 years Desktop Support experience you can expect to make $45-55K/year. The problem is right now nobody is hiring.

BrYaN19kc · Post by **BrYaN19kc** » 2003-05-10 11:15am

I'm supposed to be an Oracle DBA in our data center. Unfortunately, our university has a hiring freeze on right now, so I end up doing everything from web stuff, help desk, back-up, and working on these horrible machines that staff brings in to us.

As soon as this graduate degree is done, I'm OUT of the IT market. This shortage of help and having to do all this stuff outside of my area kind of angers me a little bit.

I won't argue about the pay though. I make a great salary and I get a 70% tuition waiver on my graduate work. Plus, I get to work on campus, which is very very handy.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-05-10 11:20am

BrYaN19kc wrote:I'm supposed to be an Oracle DBA in our data center. Unfortunately, our university has a hiring freeze on right now, so I end up doing everything from web stuff, help desk, back-up, and working on these horrible machines that staff brings in to us.

As soon as this graduate degree is done, I'm OUT of the IT market. This shortage of help and having to do all this stuff outside of my area kind of angers me a little bit.

I won't argue about the pay though. I make a great salary and I get a 70% tuition waiver on my graduate work. Plus, I get to work on campus, which is very very handy.

What degree are you getting? Being asked to wear many hats is kinda common in the US job market right now. Graduating might not change anything for you.

BrYaN19kc · Post by **BrYaN19kc** » 2003-05-10 11:25am

So far, my degree field has landed me with two job offers. YAY!

I have an MCSE from Microsoft (Okay, don't throw-up - LOL) I also have and OCP from Oracle. And my Bachelor's is English/Electronic Research . . . It's a weird degree - just think of it as being an "electronic library science" degree.

My graduate degree is research related - it is much more literature/research related with an IT background. It's a weird degree, but the research/database background is a very good place to be right now. There seems to be a much wider market in that area. I have received a couple of offers, but the problem with them is that they are fairly intensive jobs and it would be difficult for me to complete my master's and work at the same time.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-05-10 11:34am

BrYaN19kc wrote:So far, my degree field has landed me with two job offers. YAY!

I have an MCSE from Microsoft (Okay, don't throw-up - LOL) I also have and OCP from Oracle. And my Bachelor's is English/Electronic Research . . . It's a weird degree - just think of it as being an "electronic library science" degree.

My graduate degree is research related - it is much more literature/research related with an IT background. It's a weird degree, but the research/database background is a very good place to be right now. There seems to be a much wider market in that area. I have received a couple of offers, but the problem with them is that they are fairly intensive jobs and it would be difficult for me to complete my master's and work at the same time.

Thats good that you are getting job offers. Congrats on that! Also sounds like your work will be far removed from helping users.

This is a really bad time for new college grads that want to work in IT. Companies are asking for lots of experience and not paying as well as they were a few years ago.

Heck this is a bad time for anyone seeking a job. Count your blessings if you get a good one.

BrYaN19kc · Post by **BrYaN19kc** » 2003-05-10 11:54am

TrailerParkJawa wrote:
BrYaN19kc wrote:So far, my degree field has landed me with two job offers. YAY!

I have an MCSE from Microsoft (Okay, don't throw-up - LOL) I also have and OCP from Oracle. And my Bachelor's is English/Electronic Research . . . It's a weird degree - just think of it as being an "electronic library science" degree.

My graduate degree is research related - it is much more literature/research related with an IT background. It's a weird degree, but the research/database background is a very good place to be right now. There seems to be a much wider market in that area. I have received a couple of offers, but the problem with them is that they are fairly intensive jobs and it would be difficult for me to complete my master's and work at the same time.
Thats good that you are getting job offers. Congrats on that! Also sounds like your work will be far removed from helping users.

This is a really bad time for new college grads that want to work in IT. Companies are asking for lots of experience and not paying as well as they were a few years ago.

Heck this is a bad time for anyone seeking a job. Count your blessings if you get a good one.

I've been really fortunate that I have been able to work in the computer center here on campus for over four years. Even though the job sucks sometimes, the experience has been almost as valueable as the degrees.

Yeah, the job market really is bad right now. In our local paper, nurses seem to be the "in-demand" thing right now. At least in our area.

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2003-05-10 05:25pm

BrYaN19kc wrote:I'm supposed to be an Oracle DBA in our data center. Unfortunately, our university has a hiring freeze on right now, so I end up doing everything from web stuff, help desk, back-up, and working on these horrible machines that staff brings in to us.

As soon as this graduate degree is done, I'm OUT of the IT market. This shortage of help and having to do all this stuff outside of my area kind of angers me a little bit.

I won't argue about the pay though. I make a great salary and I get a 70% tuition waiver on my graduate work. Plus, I get to work on campus, which is very very handy.

Dont complain about doing work outside your area, its good experience. You may find yourself in situtions where you cannot get the exact work you want, but being able to do something else just as well really helps pay the bills.

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2003-05-10 05:28pm

BrYaN19kc wrote:I'm supposed to be an Oracle DBA in our data center. Unfortunately, our university has a hiring freeze on right now, so I end up doing everything from web stuff, help desk, back-up, and working on these horrible machines that staff brings in to us.

snip

Heh, this reminds me of one time I got a call for a bit of help on our interpreters computer.
This help consisted of me explaining the convoluted intracacies of putting a shortcut on the desktop.

such is life...