Anyone else sick of IT Career?

run_Forrest_run

secret_squirrel wrote:

Must admin Im rather jaded with IT at the mo. Spend far too much time with mindless bureacracy just trying to get the simplest things done. Incredibly frustrating when other sections of your own department are the biggest bar to getting things done.

Constant threat of being outsourced, Senior and middle management incompetance - they seem to think anyone can manage IT - when it takes specialised skills imo. Deliberatly persuing mediocre strategies, making us under perform to strengthen the case for outsourcing. Have same amount work and same bullshít procedures as when we had 50% more people.

No-one is interested in supporting the business - just following outdated procedures that are no longer relevant.

Love delivering for my customers - shame I spend most of my time beating my head against a brick wall. Also have to listen about how other it sections have let them down.

Stuck in lower management watching techical skills and marketabilty decline. Only plus sign is Im earning pots of cash - but not enjoying it. Dont have the cynism and doublestandards needed for Senior Management. Have no tolerance for their Bullshít.

New head of IT is talking about outsourcing Application Development whilst keeping commodity services like desktop/and sys admin work. Stuff that IBM etc could do in their sleep.

Spent 3 weeks ago actually doing some technical work. 12 hour days to get something done for my users - actually heaven!

HERE HERE! I second that! Let's have another meeting to discuss something useless just to make sure we get our voices heard! What's worse is mid-management and test who don't fully understand the business/software involved and hold meeting after meeting as a means to try and understand what is going on! Oh yeah, I've worked with a few of them!

Friday...it aint too bad but wait until Monday!!

run_Forrest_run

incisor71 wrote:

After 5 years in, a few years out of, and the previous six months back in IT - specifically, telecoms software development - I know for absolute certain that this is not the career for me. Same goes for my experience of PC administration/support . My dearth of people/management skills (unfortunately nobody on here so far has cited ways of improving those skills) also keeps me trapped on the same rung of the ladder. It's starting to get shiny from the number of times the soles of my shoes have scraped against it.

The thing is, I don't think I can bear to give up the modest paycheque that saves me from having to return (yet again) to relative poverty, not to mention dependency on poxy Irish public transport!!

So I just shut my mouth and do my best to feel grateful for having a job. But don't get me wrong, I'm not telling anyone else to shut their mouths.

you sound like a carbon copy (oh no...Object.clone()) of me! Yep, IT is wrecking my head also and I was in telecoms dev for 3 years and ditched that...now doing dev for totally different type of business but it's still the same old crap...mis-management and people looking to hang others for bad decisions etc..I can think of things I would love to do but it's not practical at this moment in time (when is it ever I hear you ask!). I would love to give a shot at photography..oh well.

bonkey

run_Forrest_run wrote:

mis-management and people looking to hang others for bad decisions

I don't think this is particular to IT. It seems more a product of company size.

jc

Evil Phil

Maybe more appropriate to the other thread but I think a very important skill for any job, particularly development, is to be able to leave the job and go home. I'm a demon for not doing this and it only makes things worse. Its something I have to put my mind to and force myself to relax when I get home some evenings/middle of the night.

run_Forrest_run

bonkey wrote:

I don't think this is particular to IT. It seems more a product of company size.

jc

Perhaps this is true overall but I have worked in large IT companies and small and there is always a snake hiding in the long grass. Maybe these people need to be ruthless because it will be the only way they can progress.

As someone said earlier, if we work for others this is always a risk.

secret_squirrel

run_Forrest_run wrote:

and test

You have a test department? You're spoilt!

dimitri wrote:

Well this isn't very hopefull! I'm repeating my first year exams for comp sci in cork, is it really that bad? what area's are the best for avoiding the (many) problems encountered above?

Technically you have strike a fine balance between in demand skills and niche skills. Be careful of picking up too many commodity skills (eg Java). Make yourself indespensible to the business. Anybody can pick up another programming language - its your understanding of business processes which make you worth your weight in gold to the company. eg every comp sci graduate knows java - how many know how a supply chain works?

Work on your communication skills - a developer who can explain IT to non-IT person is a rare beasty indeed.

Keep an eye on the job market - try to angle your skills towards those in demand. Oracle always seems in demand. BI is another good one. Incompetent Managers alway like to be surrounded by reports.

Seriously consider funding some of your own training if your company wont spring for it.

fatherdougalmag

Tell you what though. There's nothing worse than working with a team of eejits who have no interest in what they're doing. The result is multiple cycles of rework-build-test because they only fix what's reported as a defect and take no pride in what they're producing. They don't use the product themselves and won't fix the little niggly things that they know will be reported by QA at some point in the future.

That's where I'm sitting right now. Saving a project because other's just don't have the interest and would sooner hope to be made redundant. Maybe it's just project hangover since it's been dragging on so long. At the same time dealing with customer requests and bug reports. All in an area from middle-ware down to hardware level. Problem in this territory is that it gets quite specialised and the jobs are few and far between. Like a skill trap. Having a mortgage and kids doesn't make things easier. You get trapped in a job in a career that you gradually grow to like less. I still love computers and helping people out and responding to customers but if you're working with people who just see it as a job and get away with as little as they can, it p's you off.

The only way out that I can see is to move to somewhere like Oz. Sell up here. Buy a house with no mortgage, a nice car and maybe a boat with a few quid left over. And, ultimately, change career. Hell, if plumbers, hairdressers and refrigeration technicians are in demand out there, I'm sure I'll land in something interesting.

Mind you, with the recent vacuum of IT students there's bound to be a sudden need for people in the next couple of years. Especially if all us board'ers shag off to do mountain washing in New Zealand or something different.

Llama shaving. Or bikini patrol.

secret_squirrel

fatherdougalmag wrote:

Like a skill trap. Having a mortgage and kids doesn't make things easier. You get trapped in a job in a career that you gradually grow to like less. I still love computers and helping people out and responding to customers but if you're working with people who just see it as a job and get away with as little as they can, it p's you off.

Nail on the head there - I hear you brother. Id think we work at the same company apart from the fact we dont have a QA dept!!

If they ever see how many Jobserve Australia mails are in my Inbox they'll start sweating.....

rsynnott

Yes, IT is indeed highly unsuited to those who see it as just a job. It isn't by any means the only profession to be so, but the .com boom attracted lots of disinterested money seekers. You can easily identify them; they're the clueless ones.

cormy

Me: 5 years and counting in IT (consultancy which in my case is a bit of everything - from project management to sys-admin to training/teaching). At the start I was all full of enthusiasm, putting in the (extra) hours, taking work home, feeling bad when - even if it wasn't anything to do with me - the job wasn't ticking along as it should etc. etc.

This eventually led to me getting p1ssed off just like the OP (and several others) described. I've recently come round to liking the industry so let me share what I hope would be practical steps the OP could take to improve the situation (i.e. this is what I did):

1) Become a contractor - you feel way more motivated 'cause you feel that the work you do is directly linked to the (bigger) bucks you are getting (especially when you know a day out sick means lost money) AND you see the experience you get as making you more marketable over time.

2) Detach from work - this is a mental step: Don't take work home; try to keep to regular working hours (if you're doing a good job and working hard yet it doesn't fit inside the normal working day then that's your manager's problem to sort out - not yours - i.e. s/he needs more hands or a new approach); don't get emotional about problems - problems *happen* they are normal and to be expected from time to time - your job is to help solve them and figure out ways of avoiding them next time;

3) Rise above whatever you don't like about work: This is kinda like #2 but applies to all aspects of life - incompetent management/policies? = you need to detach and change what you can and then accept that there's idiots in jobs they shouldn't have but all you can do is a good job in your position. Someone acting the maggot on the motorway? = laugh at them and tell yourself you're happy you're not like them etc. etc. you get the picture. The world will make sure you get rewarded in the long run.

Dizzyblabla

humm.. I did my degree and ended up in techincal support, not that I wanted to program anyway, I prefer the support, maybe administration or something, but I know that I plan on doing a massage course and getting out of IT totally in the future!

The Corinthian

RicardoSmith wrote:

I actually like all the people and management side of things. I think after a certain point its the only way to progress your career in IT.

I would agree broadly, but not entirely, with this sentiment. As with any job, you must evolve or die. Even as a developer you should keep current with emerging technologies and the same is true on a broader level in your career path. You have to realize that in ten years time you’re going to be in a different place in your life to now; at twenty-five being a code monkey may be a lot of fun, but at thirty-five it’s not going to pay a terribly big mortgage and the hours may not be compatible with your young family. By forty-five you’ll be that sad bastard who’s line manager is younger than your kid and are only still there because you’re essentially institutionalised.

In short, if a shark stops swimming, it drowns.

Where I would disagree is that a simple upward move to management is not necessarily the only one to take. Moving into a parallel career stream is another option too, especially if it has good long-term prospects. There you’ll find that you IT experience will actually benefit you immensely - BA’s or salespeople who actually understand the technology are highly marketable individuals.

wes wrote:

If I wanted to be rich I would be better off being an entrepreneur, more risk but all the rewards.

Most entrepreneurs would make a lot more money if they just got normal jobs.

In entrepreneurship the danger is often not that you will go bust, but that you won’t. By that I mean you will find yourself keeping a business afloat for years by sacrificing your own income. Sometimes that pays off, but most of the time it just means you’re going to be living hand to mouth until you see sense.

incisor71 wrote:

My dearth of people/management skills (unfortunately nobody on here so far has cited ways of improving those skills) also keeps me trapped on the same rung of the ladder. It's starting to get shiny from the number of times the soles of my shoes have scraped against it.

Then do something about it; post on the Personal Issues board on it, Google for courses or books that may help or take up a hobby that will teach you to interact with people such as debating or public speaking.

TBH, the reason you’ve not risen in the corporate ladder has less to do with people or management skills and more to do with the fact that you appear to be looking for others to solve your problems for you (you’re complaining that “nobody on here so far has cited ways of improving those skills” after all). Ability to act upon your own initiative is as important as people or management skills, if not more so.

bonkey wrote:

TBH, I don't think any job is exempt from moronic management. The Peter Principle virtually guarantees that you will have to work for incompetent idiots at some point, no matter what industry you're in.

It probably should be mentioned that as a compliment to the Peter Principle there is the so-called Dilbert Principle, whereby if an employee is too competent at what they do they’ll never get promoted as they are too valuable where they are.

run_Forrest_run wrote:

What's worse is mid-management and test who don't fully understand the business/software involved and hold meeting after meeting as a means to try and understand what is going on!

That’s a little unfair. Of course you do get incompetent middle management, but you’re only looking at what happens from a single point of view. Often, as a middle manager, the incompetent decisions you enact are not your own, but have been passed down to you. You’re just putting a brave face on them. What a lot of rank and file employees who complain about middle management seem to forget is that it’s often it’s the very director or senior manager who will put a credit card behind the bar for everyone on a Friday evening is the same person who told your line manager three days earlier you couldn’t have a raise this year or that next week will tell your line manager to tell you that you’ve been laid off.

Dizzyblabla wrote:

humm.. I did my degree and ended up in techincal support, not that I wanted to program anyway, I prefer the support, maybe administration or something, but I know that I plan on doing a massage course and getting out of IT totally in the future!

It’s interesting you mention a massage course as it reminds me of a chap who did an IT course I did a good few years ago. On the first day of the course he exclaimed that we would all be rolling in money within a year. Last time I spoke to him he’d left IT to do a massage course (as he reckoned the money would be good in it, as it happens).

So I would have to point out that there are far too many people in IT to begin with who should never have gotten into it. The late nineties in particular saw an influx of people applying for IT related courses because they thought it would be an easy road to making lots of money - you actually saw the same thing in the eighties with the financial services as people suddenly wanted to become yuppies. Many muddled their way through these courses cutting and pasting other people’s code, only to find that even when they did get those jobs they didn’t really like them too much and / or they weren’t up to them.

rsynnott

The Corinthian wrote:

So I would have to point out that there are far too many people in IT to begin with who should never have gotten into it. The late nineties in particular saw an influx of people applying for IT related courses because they thought it would be an easy road to making lots of money - you actually saw the same thing in the eighties with the financial services as people suddenly wanted to become yuppies. Many muddled their way through these courses cutting and pasting other people’s code, only to find that even when they did get those jobs they didn’t really like them too much and / or they weren’t up to them.

A frightening number of these people haven't been eliminated, and are still doing things that they are completely incapable of doing correctly. There are great examples on http://www.thedailywtf.com

Zaph0d

run_Forrest_run wrote:

Hi Folks,
Perhaps I am a little bitter after being in the IT industry for 6 years but is anyone else just sick of the way the IT industry is?? I love programming but I am becoming more and more fed up with the overall IT business! Any programmer will tell you they love programming but hate the peripheral issues like meetings, last minute change requests etc..maybe I just got out of the wrong side of the bed today (or for the past year!)...does anyone else share these feelings?? Maybe time for a career change but not qualified to do anything else!

I believe that this dissatisfaction stems from incompetence in soft business skills. You have a growing sense of your powerlessness to control your environment. And you're right. At some point in your past you may have decided to concentrate on what you're good at- technical skills. You reason that to improve your technical competence is your best strategy.

But if you're tired of being a cog in a badly designed machine, you need to discover how to change that machine.

Rather than honing your technical skills further, here are some skills that you might consider
Systems Analysis
How to write persuasive business cases
How to run meetings
How to negotiate
How to sell

I found these skills relatively easy to pick up compared to technical skills and yet they had a much higher return in terms of pay and job satisfaction.

These skills have more general application than technical skills so they can be of use in other areas of your life or other careers you might move to.

You can either do courses or read books or search the internet. Whatever works for you.

Civilian_Target

This story always makes me a bit jealous - this guy took the leap...
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/3/19/133129/548

secret_squirrel

Zaph0d wrote:

I believe that this dissatisfaction stems from incompetence in soft business skills. .....<snip>...........Systems Analysis
How to write persuasive business cases
How to run meetings
How to negotiate
How to sell

Thats a rather simplistic way of looking at it tbh - yes soft skills definately help but they only mask and help you manipulate the underlying problems - which are generally ignorance towards IT at the Company and senior management level. The only way to actually make a change is to start climbing the slippery pole binning your technical skills (and job satisfaction) for the mickey mouse skills of management.

Oh and incompetence is too harsh a word tbh.

Dont get me wrong I have a massive amount of respect for good senior managment - unfortunately most companies seem to promote by attrition or mediocrity, meaning the higher you go the less there are.

Which gets me onto my other bugbear - I dont believe non-IT management have any idea how to use IT most effectively. (Which is why outsourcing is so popular.) You very rarely get a non-HR manager at the senior HR level - the same should be true of IT.

Zaph0d

secret_squirrel wrote:

Thats a rather simplistic way of looking at it tbh - yes soft skills definately help but they only mask and help you manipulate the underlying problems - which are generally ignorance towards IT at the Company and senior management level. The only way to actually make a change is to start climbing the slippery pole binning your technical skills (and job satisfaction) for the mickey mouse skills of management.

Many technical staff see soft skills such as written and verbal communication as either

• Too easy to bother with
• Unethical forms of trickery
• Incompatible with technical skills

In fact all of these beliefs are myths and disproven in my experience. I believe they are often used subconsciously by techies as a way to avoid facing up to their own weaknesses.

Oh and incompetence is too harsh a word tbh.

How would you describe the communication skills of a programmer who can't write a clear description in English of the feature set of a piece of software he has written? I've seen many programmers who either point blank refuse or procrastinate eternally or produce unreadable tripe when forced to write a document - let alone make a verbal presentation. How can you get anywhere when you can't even explain to your client the benefits of your labour?

So long as your analysis of the problem is "it's because everyone I work for is so stupid", you will certainly feel unhappy and powerless. Your feelings will be clear to those you resent who are unlikely to take kindly to your arrogance. They will disrespect or pity you in return for the gaping holes in your people skills.

Any analysis of an environmental social problem that concludes that the causes are all external and impossible to influence is cowardly and self-defeating. Even as a leaf in an organisational tree or a team leader you can greatly extend your power by improving your soft skills.

Is Dilbert your hero? Remember that Dilbert is often defeated by his dustman or his dog or even his cretinous boss. His tie curls up as a metaphor for his inability to control his environment. Scott Adams presents a choice between life as a frustrated powerless nerd and that of an evil incompetent manipulator. This plot appeals greatly to frustrated techies who can fool themselves that they have chosen the path of technical purity against the dark arts of management trickery.

iggyman

why dont yous all start your own business in it...that should sort all your problems out..or spend your time building an animal program...thats everyone needs...

the_syco

Meh. Tried to get into programming to make the big bucks. Never really got into it. Got into IT Support. External support is a no-no, but internal support ain't too bad. My dream job: IT maintenance. Fixing computers, etc. Currently on work experience, and my boss is pretty much where I'd like to be. Spends every day fixing stuff.

I'm a geek. You'll see middle-management weenies doing their job. Thats the difference between all the weenies and the geeks. For the weenies, this is a job. To make lots of money. For the geeks, its about how much we enjoy it. How much we live for it. Its no longer a weekend hobby, its how we earn our income.

Oh, and the difference between middle-management, and higher-management, is that a PC will take a week or two to be set up for the middle management people, but has to be done within 2 days for the higher-management. Thats the difference. For the higher-management people you must more or less drop what your doing, and fix their PC, and then continue on. Whilst also doing any small jobs. And dropping off stuff to middle-management. And fixing the users PC's.

iggyman

well if ya like computer maintenence so much why dont ya open your own small computer maintenence business...

Hobbes

the_syco wrote:

I'm a geek. You'll see middle-management weenies doing their job. Thats the difference between all the weenies and the geeks. For the weenies, this is a job. To make lots of money. For the geeks, its about how much we enjoy it. How much we live for it. Its no longer a weekend hobby, its how we earn our income.

Thats what your manager tells you guys everyday I bet. "Don't think of the money, your doing something great!"

Hobbes

secret_squirrel wrote:

Which gets me onto my other bugbear - I dont believe non-IT management have any idea how to use IT most effectively. (Which is why outsourcing is so popular.) You very rarely get a non-HR manager at the senior HR level - the same should be true of IT.

Outsourcing is so popular because it saves* insane amounts of money. There are positives and negatives but I got a demo from a manager of what they factor into it when costing a normal engineer vs an outsourced one. It goes way beyond benefits and pay. They would even factor down the price of hardware used, electricity used, phone, stress of dealing with employee to keeping them happy. Etc.

Zaph0d.. Excellent piece.

* relative term. Should be insanely cheaper vs inhouse. Saving money is a questionable issue.

bonkey

the_syco wrote:

I'm a geek. You'll see middle-management weenies doing their job. Thats the difference between all the weenies and the geeks. For the weenies, this is a job. To make lots of money. For the geeks, its about how much we enjoy it. How much we live for it. Its no longer a weekend hobby, its how we earn our income.

You seem to be implying that a geek is a programmer, and middle-management are all money-grabbing weenies.

What about money-grabbing weenies who aren't in middle-management? Or geeks who are?

Oh, and the difference between middle-management, and higher-management, is that a PC will take a week or two to be set up for the middle management people, but has to be done within 2 days for the higher-management. Thats the difference.

In your experience.

In the company I work for, the owner will ask that something on his machine be done when the techies can find time from doing their "real" job. Except, of course, when his need is ultra-urgent (like preparing a machien to give a presentation to get work for his programmers). Course...when programmers/managers need is ultra-urgent, his time is equally available to us.

Middle and Upper management do not have to conform to the models of incompetence that we'd like to shoehorn them into. And they very often don't.

As a (newly-appointed) middle-manager, one of my main jobs will be something my predecessor did a lot....making sure the developers in my office have what they need. This includes me making and fetching them coffee so they don't have to get up, me going out to the shops to buy the milk / sugar when it runs out, me offering to do the donkey-work on late projects, and so on. I'm gopher and manager rolled into one, and y'know what....I think thats exactly what I should be.

If anyone here hasn't read it...I'd heartily recommend getting a copy of Peopleware. If you're not a manager, convince your boss to read it too. Some of it is a bit too "corporate 'merica" for my taste, but *so* much of that book makes sense. One of the biggest points it makes is that a managers job is to remove obstacles from the developers path...not to dictate what that path should/must be.

jc

the_syco

iggyman wrote:

well if ya like computer maintenence so much why dont ya open your own small computer maintenence business...

Because I don't have enough money to have all the spare parts. It costs a sh|t load of money to always have the correct parts, thus why most companies don't have internal IT maintenance: its waaay cheaper to outsource it.

bonkey wrote:

You seem to be implying that a geek is a programmer, and middle-management are all money-grabbing weenies.

What about money-grabbing weenies who aren't in middle-management? Or geeks who are?


In your experience.

I'll accept I'm wrong, as I've only worked in a few IT places.

=-=

I'm a geek. This is what I want. I may regret it in a few years time, but I think its better than mopping the floors of a university, flipping burgers, peeling pots of carrots, cleaning up someone else's puke in a nightclub...

bonkey wrote:

If anyone here hasn't read it...I'd heartily recommend getting a copy of Peopleware. If you're not a manager, convince your boss to read it too.

May do that. Any idea how much is it? I take it I can it gt it in Waterstones, or Hodges & Figgis?

Kernel32

Personally I love the business, its treated me well. I've been plugging away for 9 years now. I would consider myself pretty technical but I became the software development manager this year where I work. I spend more time responding to email and on the phone than I do writing code. You have to evolve or you won't get anywhere in my opinion. A couple of years back I hit a career roadblock. I couldn't demand any more money, I was frustrated because I had the responsibility of a manager but not the authority. I tried some contracting, made some cash but it was souless.

Now I am a manager by day and I do consulting on the side for another company. My consulting gig is interesting. I was brought in to help out because the existing development team was so set in their ways, so heads down coding that they became useless. In the end they cleaned house, let go most of the developers and brought me and several others in as consultants and contractors. I get paid way more than those developers for my time but we are producing results. Don't become one of those developers.

Bonkey made some great points. Right now I am faced with doing performance reviews, its not as easy as it sounds. I also take some of the crappy work for myself so the other developers stay on track. I recently had to modify old crystal 8 reports for a foxpro application, horrible stuff. I did it because the developers would pi$$ and moan about it and they don't consider that there was a huge business value in updating them.

bonkey

the_syco wrote:

I'm a geek. This is what I want. I may regret it in a few years time, but I think its better than mopping the floors of a university, flipping burgers, peeling pots of carrots, cleaning up someone else's puke in a nightclub...

Don't get me wrong...I'm not knocking geeks...I still consider myself mostly one. It just that I don't work in a traditional geek job any more...I've moved into management because - frankly - coding was getting boring, and the niches I wanted to fit into would effectively have required that I work for a large corporate, or a large corporate consultancy...neither of which I was willing to do.

Any idea how much is it? I take it I can it gt it in Waterstones, or Hodges & Figgis?

No notion. I picked mine up on amazon.de some time back, and have bought so many books I tend not to remember prices. It may seem slightly overpriced (its a relatively thin book) but I still recommend it. So do Joel Spolsky (joelonsoftware.com) and Steve McConnell (Code Complete / Rapid Software Development) which are pretty good references in my book ...evne if both of them come out of Microsoft

jc

secret_squirrel

Hobbes wrote:

Outsourcing is so popular because it saves* insane amounts of money.

Massive over simplification. Yes it can save pots of money. If the management go into it with clear goals and objectives. If its done because they cant be bothered to spend their time and energy managing their IT depts properly then it can also blow up in their faces.

Personally I wouldnt hesitate to outsource pieces of an IT dept that are pretty much commodity items. However, I dont believe there is a substitute for an IT dept that is close to the business (thats my softskills coming into play Zaphod )- most outsourcing failures are due to the outsourcing companies not responding flexibly enough to changing business environment or not having the business knowledge to do an effective job. Obviously this can happen with internal IT and often leads to outsourcing in the first place!

I do believe that outsource is sometimes used as a cover for inneffectual management of an IT dept.

I defy anyone who has worked for a big corporate not to find something relevant in a Dilbert strip. Yes I am aware how he is his own worst enemy thats part of the humour.

zaph0d wrote:

How would you describe the communication skills of a programmer who can't write a clear description in English of the feature set of a piece of software he has written? I've seen many programmers who either point blank refuse or procrastinate eternally or produce unreadable tripe when forced to write a document - let alone make a verbal presentation. How can you get anywhere when you can't even explain to your client the benefits of your labour?

Since I would describe the above skills as fundamental for any IT professional - I would have to agree thats incompetence. But thats not what you originally suggested. My basic assumption would be that there is a minimum level of soft skills necessary to perform in IT, and having more helps you excel. Hell my soft skills have got me where I am today. (yes I am aware of the irony of that last statement) Which is acting Manager in a dept that already has 1 manager (team lead really) to every 3 developers. (Long story not just the company's fault.)

I would strongly deny however, that softskills are a magic cure for severe problems at senior management level, which is what you seemed to be implying.

I am well aware thats its very easy to develope a seige mentality against management, but I would also suggest that sometime just because you are paranoid doesnt meant that they arent out to get you.

scojones

Civilian_Target wrote:

This story always makes me a bit jealous - this guy took the leap...
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/3/19/133129/548

That's a great article. It emphasises that no matter what, you have to work, so if you can, make sure you work in a job that you like. Working is hard enough, and working in a job that you do not like is torture.

Thanks alot for introducing me to kuro5hin.org too. Great site.

RicardoSmith

sjones wrote:

That's a great article. It emphasises that no matter what, you have to work, so if you can, make sure you work in a job that you like. Working is hard enough, and working in a job that you do not like is torture.

Thanks alot for introducing me to kuro5hin.org too. Great site.

Thats true. But that guy was is a bit of an idealist. No dependants or financial obligations. It also doesn't account for being off work through injury or sickness.

Basically theres no future in it.

Zaph0d

secret_squirrel wrote:

I would strongly deny however, that softskills are a magic cure for severe problems at senior management level, which is what you seemed to be implying.

I didn't mean to imply this.

I was claiming that a technical employee can cure his unhappiness and frustration with mismanagement using non-technical skills. He may not cure the management problems that led to his initial unhappiness. After all he can't hot swap his manager's brain.

If it's raining you can curse God and start to cry or you can plan to bring an umbrella the next time you go out. Managers are not gods and, if you have the right skills, can often be talked into changing their counter-productive business methods.

Giving up because the causes of your problems are external to you is easy but changes nothing.

You share the same goals as your boss- project success, so you need to agree how to get there.