I hate my job

Go for it!

Hi Philip,

Referring back to your original thread. I’m getting out of the engineering industry and will return to college in September for reasons very similar to your good self.

I’m 33 and have worked in a variety of multinationals both here and abroad. In the past few years, I was getting increasingly frustrated and disillusioned with the whole 9-5 sit in front of a PC scenario. Initially, I found that changing companies would somewhat alleviate the torture but inevitably the same things that annoyed me in previous jobs would reoccur again. The curse of working life I guess!!!

Over a period of time, I realized that any job in engineering, be it working on tools, in front of a pc, in project management or senior management would have the same outcome. And there is no way I want on my gravestone, “here lies your one….45 years (eek!!!!) in engineering and had a miserable life because of it!”

So, this is where I’m lucky. Outside of work, I have a consuming passion for playing music and have being doing so on an amateur level since I was a wee one! So, about two years ago, I decided to see if this was something I would want to do on a full time basis. Essentially, I started taking music lessons to improve my playing technique and spent hours, every weekend and night practicing and practicing. At the end of the year, I was much improved and realized that I’d loved every single minute of the lessons / practicing etc. and this is what I would be happy doing for the rest of my living days.

Long story short, through some creative finances and savings, I’ll return to college to study music fulltime in September – handing my notice in any day now!

All I can say to you is that it’s all very well changing careers – just make sure that the second career is what you will really enjoy and not just a vanilla flavour of the first. If you have a hobby that you love, look at it realistically and see if there is something that you could do full time from it. And then spend a year improving on it, while continuing to work and see if you still enjoy it. If you haven’t got a hobby – (watching TV doesn’t count!!!), spend a few weeks doing your day to day stuff and figure out what gives you a buzz and what doesn’t…and again go from there.

Lastly – the very best of luck to you!! I promise you won’t regret doing this. All of my friends are behind me 110% and are really proud of me for being so brave. I don’t think I’m brave….I’m just looking after myself. In truth, they too are in their early –mid thirties and would love to do what I’m doing but feel that they can’t – either from family circumstances or, which I feel is worse, from a lack of self-belief. And at the end of the day, you can always return to the IT world, if it necessitates it – you’ll never know if you don’t try.

Enough of the clichés – good luck

C71

FOR SCHNAEK

Hey Schnaek,
Sent you a private message regarding our company currently looking for experienced .NET developers...feel free to answer here or to that message
La Legend...

Thanks Claddagh

Thanks C71 for the uplifting post. I reckon it does take courage to do what you have decided to do so well done and best of luck. I have a lot of thinking to do......

down sizing

Many people today seem to be unhappy with their jobs. The reason for this is that they expect too much from their jobs. They are being brainwashed by their employers (especially multinationals) into thinking that they should be having fun at work and feel pressured into pretending to be enjoying it. At the end of the day work is only a means of earning money so that you can buy all of lifes necessities and THATS ALL. In times gone by people had much tougher jobs than we have now. They didn’t expect to enjoy their work they did it for the sole purpose of earning money in order to live.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp I would suggest that if you hate working in IT then get another job which may be unskilled manual work. Of course you may not earn as much money but it is less demanding in terms of deadlines and rubbishy ridiculous meetings and you can leave your job behind you when you finish. Of course many people will not take this move because they think they need the higher earnings from their existing jobs. They also fear the loss in status that such a move entails. So really it is a simple choice between continuing in the rat race and hating your job or quitting it in order to gain independence and freedom.

Re: down sizing

Hi joe,

I wouldn't necessarily agree with everything you said but I do definately see where you're coming from.

The reason for this is that they expect too much from their jobs. They are being brainwashed by their employers (especially multinationals) into thinking that they should be having fun at work and feel pressured into pretending to be enjoying it
I think people do expect a lot from their jobs. This is largely due to the more affluent nature of our society these days. We have more money and more time to ponder so we've naturally evolved into taking more notice of our working lives and trying to ensure the experience is as pleasurable as possible.
Of course...some people thrive off the rat race. It makes them tick. I'm not necessarily one of them but I like to think I'm somewhere inbetween that and the 'this sucks' feeling.

At the end of the day work is only a means of earning money so that you can buy all of lifes necessities and THATS ALL
That's quite true. That's all it is. The thing is, some people are fortunate enough that they work at something which they love...like being a VET for instance, if you love animals. A lot of people strive for that sort of satisfaction and I don't blame them. Work is about earning money...but it's what you do 5 days a week (or more) so you might as well get some kick out of it if at all possible.

40

Piggy ,
I don't know what age you are, I'm in 50s and have been in so many restructuring, takeovers, closeowns, pay freezes, share options, downsizing, pay freezes, expansion, etc, you would not believe.
A big problem is when you are in a job at Xk and then have to looking for a new job and are offered 1/2Xk.

I've seen great hardworking dedicated people let go and kids out of college come in and say they had to go as their skills were out of date.

Don't get me wrong, I've done OK but friends of mine have done as well and better in various occupations inc the public service without the stress of the job ir the stress of redundancy (i would not advise my children to make a career in IT, it should be IT + something else, even IT + a secure job would be great)

Re: 40

Hi word of caution,

I'm 29. Well....nearly. I suppose you can only base these things on your own experiences alright so I hear what you're saying.
Personally speaking I have a couple of family members working in IT in Dublin who've done incredibly well out of it, one of whom is now running his own successful IT company. I think a lot depends on what sector of IT you work in etc. For instance...I used to work in E-Learning, working with Macromedia technology. Unfortunately if you do a search in any recruitment site for Flash experts you'll come up with a big fat zero most of the time. So I took the plunge into J2EE instead. I think the future's much brighter here. A couple of the lads who've been working in here for about 6 months are still getting phone calls nearly every week asking them about positions elsewhere (and they're not looking for work).
Things have been very topsy turvy of recent years in IT so I do think that colours some peoples perceptions of the industry. Obviously you've seen more of it than I have though.
Can I ask what area you work in?

As for advising people whether to get into IT or not...I wouldn't necessarily say no. I'd tell them the truth that because of the thinning out of jobs you have to be the best at what you do to not only survive but to make a good living out of it. 5 years ago you could get a job as a mediocre developer. Even bad ones could get jobs. Now you have to be really good to get and keep your job. Or at least that's the future. I was still working with people who barely knew what an object was in my last job.

I think we're all coming out of our quarter-life crises, that's what's wrong.

I'm also 29 and I did something similar a couple of years ago, had been working in IT (customer service/tech support/training/team lead) for about six years but had really just drifted into it rather than planning it. I was ready to leave after four years but it took a long while to really go for it. Had a long think about what I wanted to do and kept coming back to what I had wanted to do as a kid. And that's what I'm doing now. My first job didn't quite work out the way I expected but I'm moving to a new one in a couple of weeks and feel much more positive about it. So, try and remember all the things you wanted to be when you were a little kid and see if that list would help you get anywhere.

Also, the evening courses books have just started coming out. Get yourself one of those and have a look through it for some ideas of areas you might not normally think of.

monster.ie has a kind of a quiz to try and see what areas you're suited to working in and I'm sure a lot of other recruitment websites have similar things. Some of the recruitment agencies will also offer advice on areas you could consider. I think it depends on whether you catch them on a busy day or not.

In the meantime, as a good starting point, no matter what you decide to go for, get your CV updated. Even doing that will make you feel one step closer to freedom. As long as you have an up-to-date one it's much easier to then tailor it to fit any particular position you might want to apply for.

40

I agree with Janet. If you can have some "passion" about your work or what you do then you are made.
Programmings great in your 20's & 30s.
Ask youself what do I want to be doing in 5 or 10 years time especially in terms of your needs (stability, money, family, etc) at that point in your life.
I programmed, analysed, software support, scripting, rdbms,4gl, network setup and configurations.
Regret that I did not just go for a sales role.(I did pre sale but did not make the leap as I was a permanent professional employee and the poor old sale people were only on a year to year contract and won't get any payoff if let go) Boy was that codswallop. Come the downsizing, the techies were let go faster than anyone (cheap contractors brought in instead ) and the sales DID get the same redundancy terms even though they could have just refused to renew their yearlt contract.
I read one time that to make money in computers you needed to make them or sell them everything else is a waste of time. (and they were right)

I'm not saying I have all the answers and the future may be different but this me looking in my rearview mirror.

Do things really change in any area of life?

A word of caution

what I wish I'd known when I was 20

don't work in IT, am in my 40s.

with that disclaimer out of the way, I'd still like to contribute to this debate.

Some people know what they want to do from an early age, some don't get there till late. I was one of the latter. I've worked in all sorts of settings and had at least 3 careers I later backed out of. Didn't even get started in present field until 33. The one thing all the experience did for me was refine exactly what what I wanted out of a job, and also made me aware of strengths and weaknesses. Problem was, my school Guidance Counsellor had told me all this in my teens! But you have to do it to know it.

I found out I wanted a job that was of social benefit, I wanted control over my work and a good bit of autonomy, I wanted variety in the job, I wanted it to be stimulating, I wanted to work with people, and I wanted a decent salary.

What I disliked in other jobs was Bosses, Orders-from-Above, no control over rate of work or how to do things, routine, repetition, isolation, being outdoors, and animals.

Problem with starting a career late is that it's hard to up the salary to the same level as if you'd done it to start with.....

Hope this helps give you some ideas of what to think about in terms of changing career.

Believe me - It's NEVER too late.... 40 might seem ancient, but I am 50, and this year I have done lots of new stuff.

I work in technical services - won't go into too much detail cos my position is a bit unique and i might be recognised,.... But like one of the other contributers I went back to college two years ago (night time) to study for qualifications in an area which is my hobby and passion in life. I will be graduating in September. I have just now been accepted onto a part time MA in a related area, where there are loads of opportunites.. So, although I don't "hate my job" ... I will now have far more opportunites than ever before - including self-employment if I decide that's what I want.

The previous contributer said it all really - but it's like giving up smoking, YOU have to decide what you want and go for it. There is a very good book called "The work we were born to do" by Nick Williams. It is a series of exercises designed to jog your thought process to see what you ENJOY... (if you can get a job incorporating elements of what you enjoy, then you are less likely to end up feeling like you do right now....) I got it through Amazon,.... worth buying. But you need to work your way through it , rather than just "dipping" into it. Just the process of doing that, will change your perspective and give you back some control.

Finally, you could always see an occupational pyschologist - they do some paper exercises, which help to highlight what areas you would be good at. You can get a bit of "career guidance". A couple of hundred euro might be well spent.

BigMaggie.
p.s. I am not going to tell you about the other "new" things I have been doing this year - suffice to say that when the big 50 was looming, I decided to waste no more time, and get on with doing some of the things I always wanted to do...... So again, I have to say : IT'S NEVER TOO LATE - WHILE THERE IS LIFE THERE IS HOPE.... Stress comes when you have no control - take back control....

book

Thanks BigMaggie. Have ordered that book. Have to say I've had one of the worst weeks of work ever. Brutal. Hopefully there will be light at the end of the tunnel soon.

Re: book

Philip: Sound like you need a year out to travel & work and to recharge and decide what you want.

If you have no wife/kids or mortgage it could be straight forward, you would just need to make a plan . .

ACME sample plan:- keep your head down at work and save as much as possible . . plan to leave in the middle of the next tax year so as to get most of your tax back and have a years tax credits to use up over 6 months when you return . . in the meantime do a TEFL course & and anything else that interests you (lots of courses start in September) . . when the time comes ask for a career break in your job but if you don't get it just leave.

My brother did a week long TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) course and is currently teaching in Thailand and he's a chancer. You could always do bar work or seasonal working like fruit picking or whatever.

If you have a mortgage you could rent your house out for the year. If you have a family however it could prove logistically problematic.

Hate my job

I have just order that book "the work we were born to do" hopefully it will help me in knowing what i want.
Im working in same job for 10 years. When I first started I was so eager to learn (accounts), now I think you get so used of doing much the same thing everyday, that you just bored, and working on your own then doesn't help. I would love to work with people, be busy, good variety of work, and no 2 days to be the same.
Any suggestions!!!

Re: Hate my job

You may want to have a look at
[broken link removed]
while you are waiting for the book. There you can also sign up for an e-book, looks like it may be of some interest.

Some of the (free) books on this site might also be of interest if this is not specifically a work related issue and may encompass more general life/direction issues:



This one in particular might be of interest:



They're an entertaining read in any case.

Having read this thread it makes me wonder if people have forgotten why were here in the first place.!!

Philip, you are like 90% of people in the world, ie, doing a job you really dont want to. Lets face it, work is a pain in the ar£$!! The majority of people do it to earn money it doesn't mean you have to take it seriously, just get on with it and then go home and then do it again the next day.!! Think of the money, think what you can do with it.
I too found myself working in IT by accident, and to be honest its as boring as hell. I have absolutly no interest in my job and have no interest in the ejits that talk about unix,mainframe and if I here the word "Network" one more time i just might snap. But then I stop and think, well it could be worse, I could be unemployed and bored with NO money at all, believe me, 2 years on the dole with all the time in the world and not a penny to spend is not funny.
So the next time you think of your job and how much you hate it,,,,,stand up and say to whoever your working with, "back in a minute, im just going for a coffee/smoke, wont be long" and if they open there mouth, just keep walking, cause its ONLY a job, thats all, do it for as long as it suits you and then have a look around for another one if you feel like changing, there's plenty of them out there, but if you dont like IT then dont do it.
Its as simple as that.

Rgds
Vincent.

> I too found myself working in IT by accident

I would fundamentally disagree with statements such as this. Life doesn't just happen to us by accident and, consciously or subconsciously, we all make decisions that contribute towards leaving us in the situation in which we eventually find ourselves. If we end up in a situation that we don't like (be it work, relationships, family etc.) then it's our own responsibility to act to change the situation so that we do like it or else get out of it and into one that suits us better. Otherwise there is no point in blaming external influences (the work, one's colleagues, one's partner, one's family etc.) for what makes us unhappy. Other than that I would agree with Vincent about the importance of keeping work in context and fitting it in with one's other goals and hopefully having it fund the attainment of non work life goals.

Philip, Michaelm's proposal is quite a good one - I requested 3 months sabbatical from my job and used it to go travelling. Not sure if you have committments that may prevent you from doing this - even if you can't leave the country, use the time to explore other options - eg work experience in an area you're interested in but are afraid to leave your job for...

For the record, I spent 7 years in my current IT role (which I fell into by accident), enjoyed it for a few years - good pay etc- but have now come to the realisation that it's not really what makes me tick. I now plan to leave and get some experience in the food industry for 6-12 months (yes, there'll be a drop in salary), with the eventual aim of starting my own sandwich bar sometime next year.

See - once the plan's in place, you can make the rest of it happen!!!

job satisfaction

Hi,

Didn't realise this post was still going...

I know I am in a good position in that I have a well paying job and I can use this fact to change my life. I realise I will have to take a big pay cut or take a year out but I am now prepared to do so. Money isn't really that important to me anymore. I am married with one child though so I need to think it all thru.

And yes I realise that most people dislike coming to work but sometimes I feel I am doing the worst job I could pick. But that is not to say that I do it bably. I take pride in my work even though it gives me nothing. IT is soul-less in many respects.

As for a sabbatical, I took a year off 4 years ago and travelled the world. I promised myself I would leave IT but I fell back into it when I returned to Ireland. The only plus is that I left Dublin for Galway.

Am reading "The work we were born to do" now so I reckon I have made the first small step....

Thanks,
Philip.