Where to next?

[greatblondino.livejournal.com]

It's no secret that most techies hate their jobs (or communities like this wouldn't exist). I got into what I do (tech/sysadmin) because that's how it happened, and I'm pretty good at it. I never studied any kind of tech, but I know it. There comes a time, though, when you realise that learning Vista, helping stupid people, fixing group policies, testing backups etc. simply doesn't do anything for me. I'm 25, sick of what I do, and I want to move on. Not to another ten years in a bigger, better server room, but to something completely different, something less meaningless. So, I'm posing the question, what?

Some people here must have had the same thought, and either done it themselves, or know others who have done it. So, please, share stories about the day you swore never to touch a computer for money again, and did something you've always wanted to. Bonus points if you admit you're happier now.

Comments

[cybirea.livejournal.com]

I sometimes toy with the idea of becoming a plumber...

[mouser.livejournal.com]

Yea, nothing that involves anything electrical....

Mmmmm!


Actually, I just want to find an area where the people I work with have the same passion I do to get it *right* - if I had that here I wouldn't hate it so.

[greatblondino.livejournal.com]

Personally, I was thinking, join the police. I hate the police, but it's about the polar opposite of what I do now and it pays the same so hey, why not be brave and do it?

[freakbarman.livejournal.com]

Dang either the cops where you live get really good pay, or you're not making what you should for a sysadmin. The cops here start at 26000 yr. The ones that have more then 5 yrs are making in the mid 30's.

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

Pornographic web comics!

[tallanvor.livejournal.com]

The question isn't what do we want to do, it's what do you want to do?

Do you primarily want to create things, fix things, or work with people? Think about what you do right now, and decide what parts of the job you like, and what parts give you the most satisfaction. IT has a mixture of everything, it's just not always as tangible as some other professions. So if you know what part of the job satisfies you the most, it can make it easier for you to actually find a career.

[sheryls.livejournal.com]

i want to flip houses and sell them!

...bad market though.

i know you're not getting a lot of "i did this!" posts but. i know i'd be so happy doing that.

...although i'd have to be independantly wealthy and out of debt to do it :D

[xforge.livejournal.com]

One of the guys at work does that.

On the clock.

While he's supposed to be closing L3 support tickets.

He uses the company's fax machine to send legal documents back and forth, too.

::twitch::

[ptstech.livejournal.com]

DJ at a jazz radio station. I'd probably starve, but I love the music.

[ravenofdreams.livejournal.com]

I'm a scientist - a neurophysiologist. Soon, hoepfully, when I've got my PhD, I'll never have to fix a computer again - I fully intend to play dumb and hope that no one ever notices that my computers never misbehave.
That makes me happier than being a tech ever will, even on the good days when the users learn things and I successfully fix the difficult problems. In the meantime, though, being a grad student pays shit. Teching, however, maintains the overall highest ratio of pay to actual work that I know.

[xforge.livejournal.com]

Pastry chef. Totally.

OTOH I love my job. I like helping people. It's just the 1 in every 100 or so who do not listen to your questions and babble endlessly about God only knows what when you're trying to help them solve a problem, that make me want to go on a neck-stabbing spree. But really, I like being on a support team.

[kostika.livejournal.com]

I'm no longer on the phones but I'm still in IT. I moved sideways into ITIL Configuration Management and Procurement. Unfortunately I still deal with users and it still makes me insane. But my other job that doesn't pay the bills is as a games journalist. I make an ok amount of money doing it but not enough to leave the day job. I've been at it a couple years now and the goal is to get out of IT and into just playing games and writing about them. That is a job I'll love because it won't be a job to me as it's 2 things I trully enjoy.

[canray.livejournal.com]

What I want to do is be a Field Tech, so I can stare someone in the eye and explain how stupid they are. I did that throughout High School, educating Fellow Students and Teachers alike.

But there was a day when I knew I couldn't do phone tech no more. It was the day I found myself curled up in my living room, realizing I didn't remember doing anything but sob for the last hour and a half. That was after a nasty infection that had me off work for a month.

Currently, I do Data Entry. No idiots, but boring, and I was hired, and I quote, "So, you're a Computer Tech... That means you can type, right?"

*Sighs*

[merlin-t-wizard.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend being a field tech. You still can't tell the customer they're full of ****, and you don't have the mute button available either.

[knirirr.livejournal.com]

Actually, I have gone from another field (biology) into computing, and found that I prefer it. Someone I know from the university computing services has gone half-time so that he can re-train as a solicitor (3 years of classes). One of the physicists where I work left research to become a stockbroker.
If I were considering a completely different sort of career from science and IT I would want to join this lot (http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafregiment/) . Now I am too old, though.
I am not sure whether it is worth joining the police due to the amount of bureaucracy at the moment.

[kizayaen.livejournal.com]

I stayed in IT and now do SQL database import/export automation.

It's still IT, and still frustrating at times, but hell... no customers to deal with. And I work from home. Damn right I'm happier now.

[10001110101.livejournal.com]

I'm also 25. I used to be a baker, but I hated the hours and the company I worked for, so I moved into IT.

If you're looking for something as far removed from IT as possible, baking isn't even in the ballpark.

Just a thought.

[greatblondino.livejournal.com]

Ok, here's a question - what I might want is something where there's a different challenge every day, something new to do. Does anyone here work in IT and enjoy that? No two days the same?

[jimbojones.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you want small-biz IT, not corporate IT. If you've got the skills - technical, personal, and business - for it, you can open up a freelance consulting business and focus on outfits in the 10-50 workstation range to do outsourced admin and consultation for 'em. Definitely a very wide range of stuff to do, definitely potential for a lot of honest appreciation from the clientele.

I <3 most of my customers.

The setup phase could be pretty painful for you though. If you haven't already built a clientele, you're going to need to do so, and it's going to involve a lot of door-knocking and a lot of going-through-savings before it becomes profitable. (Note: this is true of nearly ANY business - this one is just included.)

[random-c.livejournal.com]

A *lumberjack*. No, hang on, that's not right... Well I've been toying with the theater costume thing for a while, but buggering off to Spain and running a little guest house or something appeals. Apart from the whole 'own business' thing which scares the crap out of me, frankly.

[ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com]

I promised myself at 18 that I'd never do computers for money. Didn't quite work out that way. But I'm out, taking care of my two year old daughter and in school for human services. Funny, she behaves better and more predictably than my customers on the helldesk. And I'm happier, as it feels like I'm making the lives of people better, rather than just making profit I'll never see for people and companies far far away. I always wanted to improve the place I live with my work, and I am well on my way already.

[wxgeek.livejournal.com]

I stopped being IT for a local real estate company when the market went under, realized I hated IT, and users, and computers, and went to work in the restaurant business.

A year and a half later, I'm at the call center...

[jimbojones.livejournal.com]

I know a guy who quit IT in his early forties to open and run a bar. With his twenty-something, ridiculously good looking, really nice, wholesome, non-bar-slut-ty wife.

I am not sure if I hate him like Gollum hates Frodo or just covet his life like Gollum covets the Precious, but either way I seem to be coming out Gollum on this one.

Dammit.

[pne.livejournal.com]

That reminds me of jwz, of Mozilla fame, and the nightclub he runs (http://www.dnalounge.com/).

[brothersterno.livejournal.com]

I want to run a little cafe, with a kitchen and some tasty beers in the evening. Oh, and wireless you pay for ;).

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

I'm dipping my toe into real estate. I figured that if I can spot patterns in tickets and workflows of the IT department, I can spot patterns in housing. So I wrote an algorithm to cherrypick properties for me and sweet-talked a bank into bankrolling my broke ass.

Easy made more than my old salary in the first year or so. Absolutely zero work involved apart from signing papers twice a year or so and daydreaming. I spend my days sleeping in late, trying new hobbies, and trying to work off a ten-year-desk-job gut (20 pounds down, 20 to go). For all intents and purposes, I went from scratching around to effectively comfortably retired in about 18 months. Should have done it ten years ago.

Best thing is that now I have the time to try out all those crazy-ass things I wanted to do when I was working 9-5. For my next set of ideas, I'm gonna try and talk a Japanese bank into lending me just under one-point-four billion yen for a little personal project. If that pans out, I have some ideas on making real money.

[tecie.livejournal.com]

I was at a similar point around your age. I did end user tech support and eventually moved into working in a call center. I was miserable, deeply in debt from college, not making enough to make ends meet if I worked below 60hrs/week, and receiving no support from my management chain when I tried to lay the smackdown on idiot users.
I thought I had grown to hate computers, but I was finding that I still loved geeking and solving problems in my free time. I came to realize that I still love computers, I just don't like end users or any of their problems. So I've spent the last few years putting as many layers between myself and those who are not technically literate as possible. I took down the subroutines in my head that made me more pleasant to be around, and concentrated on larger, more complex issues so my job would consist of being left alone to think about things and program for them.
I don't love my job, but I'm a lot happier with it then I was when I was at the helpdesk. I get to think about issues here... and the people who come to me are fellow techs. My attitude precludes end users from thinking I'm their friend, and I'm shielded from upper management except when I want to be by the general knowledge that I'm both highly competent an an asshole. Everybody wins because they get good work out of me, I get to work on what I want on my own schedule, and management has a phantom employee, which is the best kind.

[kathygnome.livejournal.com]

Been there and done that, but the big problem was money. I went to school for a few semesters to get my masters in social work and become a psychotherapist. I loved it and it was something I always wanted to do. But eventually it got down to money. It doesn't pay as well. Not even close. I could build a career for the rest of my life as an MSW and never make what I make now.

[kuang.livejournal.com]

I worked in and around IT for 12 years or so, building up from unofficially helping the department, to running cross-campus academic networks. I left in October to become a youth worker (which I'd been doing as a volunteer for 2 years already) and love it.

TBH I'd got sick of the shift from having the opportunity to apply myself to interesting and unusual problems and working out ways to make the best use of what was on hand, to unclogging cheap printers and battening down the hatches for the 6-monthly MS replacement cycle. There was just no joy in it anymore and I felt like the balance of power had shifted from those that know, to those that hold the cash (and the ultimate recipients of said lucre), and that was a depressing thought. Looking at a future of trying to justify somebody elses bad decisions didn't exactly fill me with joy, so I jumped ship.

In my current job I still use technology a hell of a lot, but for positive things. My experience means I'm not chasing my tail and don't have to put up with the usual nonsense, and everything I do is aimed at directly making somebody's life better.

I'm not looking back..

[wignersfriend.livejournal.com]

Invent a cure for cancer, or AIDS. Wait, how about both? That should be meaningful enough for you.

[spitfire-sam.livejournal.com]

i got into tech support merely because it paid better than being a secretary.
i have a BA in studio arts, but no passion for the art world. so i'm going back to school this fall to get a better paying career that doesn't have me sitting in front of a computer screen all day- cosmetology.

doing hair is a passion for me. it's a creative endeavor and it's highly hands-on. i'm hoping it will be that much more satisfying than tech support for me precisely because i'll be doing a lot more creatively, which should re-awaken my passion for art and life and everything in between.

then again, who knows for sure? all i do know is that while tech support can be a very good job, it is not a good fit for me. so i'll be moving on, even though i'm really good at what i do.