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Questions for People Working in Tech

avespanthera

i've been interested in tech basically my whole life, but i've recently been thinking a lot more about the possibility of getting into a (more) tech-related job. currently i work as a video game QA tester at a AAA game developer/publisher, and really the only positive to it is i really like my current team. i want out, but i lack direction and have yet to figure out what i'm interested in enough to pursue.

 

i wanted to ask anyone here (as i figure there would be a pretty good concentration of people with tech-related jobs on this forum) some questions about tech work.

 

1. what are some tech jobs that are more likely to let me not take my work home with me? i want to be done when i leave whenever possible. i'd also like to avoid as much overtime as possible--i'm sure i can't have none at all (though that would be nice) but i especially want to not deal with the type of ridiculous OT/crunch you get in the games industry.

 

2. are programming crash courses effective/worth it? i'm not sure i'd want to do programming, i've dabbled a tiny bit for site layouts as a means to an end of pretty pages but i don't have much of a mind for it i find. but i am curious if the "crash courses" i've seen here and there are worth it if i do decide to go with that.

 

3. if you have any advice or anything else to say to someone like me with an interest in tech jobs but not much experience with them, i'd be happy to hear them.

 

my brain is more geared towards art & creativity but i'm of the mind that a creative career isn't for me--too much risk to suck the passion out of doing that stuff for myself if i'm also doing it as a career. so i'm looking at tech as a possible alternative. i've wanted to avoid going back to school, but i know it might be needed and i'm definitely not opposed to it if it leads to a proper career path for me. i just got sick of schooling/homework/etc at a certain point.

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There's tech jobs where you can keep somewhat 40 hour weeks, but the nature of IT is that you'll likely find yourself at least on call, and there will be at least limited OT, especially when rolling new updates or entirely new software or equipment. That type of deployment is always done after hours, and usually involves a large time investment. The smaller the org you work for, the less chance you'll need to work after hours or OT, but it's pretty much unavoidable.

 

Programming is a good skill to have. Even if you're just doing tech support or infrastructure (i.e. not something that is a "programming" job), being able to write shell scripts and such can be a huge benefit. If you don't have a passion for programming, though, you definitely should not pursue that type of career. Everyone can code, but not everyone can do it well. There's enough bad programmers out there as it is.

 

One final thing. When you work in tech, part of your job is to always be learning. If you're "sick" of that, tech is not for you. Things change at a rapid pace, and you have to be able to stay on top of it. You don't need to spend your life in University, but you need to read blogs, tech articles, trade publications, etc. You need to try new technologies, and maintain a fairly wide breadth of knowledge.

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47 minutes ago, Chris Pratt said:

There's tech jobs where you can keep somewhat 40 hour weeks, but the nature of IT is that you'll likely find yourself at least on call, and there will be at least limited OT, especially when rolling new updates or entirely new software or equipment. That type of deployment is always done after hours, and usually involves a large time investment. The smaller the org you work for, the less chance you'll need to work after hours or OT, but it's pretty much unavoidable.

 

Programming is a good skill to have. Even if you're just doing tech support or infrastructure (i.e. not something that is a "programming" job), being able to write shell scripts and such can be a huge benefit. If you don't have a passion for programming, though, you definitely should not pursue that type of career. Everyone can code, but not everyone can do it well. There's enough bad programmers out there as it is.

 

One final thing. When you work in tech, part of your job is to always be learning. If you're "sick" of that, tech is not for you. Things change at a rapid pace, and you have to be able to stay on top of it. You don't need to spend your life in University, but you need to read blogs, tech articles, trade publications, etc. You need to try new technologies, and maintain a fairly wide breadth of knowledge.

oh, trust me, i'm not adverse to learning at all. my burn-out with school was more around the stress, lack of passion for what i was studying (especially with the required classes outside the program i was in), and homework. the learning in itself wasn't a problem for me--hell, i really like learning about things, at least on my own time.

 

anyway thanks for your insight! i figured OT wouldn't be entirely avoidable, but with mandatory OT/crunch looming over every tester's head, i'm hopeful i can find a job where that's not such a concern. i love video games but i don't think i want to work in the industry with the state it's currently in, in large part because of the terrible crunch culture.

 

i find programming interesting, and i'd love to have the skill to make a website for myself or even a program or two, but yeah i'm not sure i have the passion necessary to pursue it. i have the same conflict with 3d modeling. i want to get into it, but i've never found the motivation to overcome the necessary learning curve.

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At the end of the day, it's all going to come down to what you're looking for on salary, and what you actually want to do.

 

Last June/July, I lost my five year Teaching Assistant job (which I was burnt out on, and I figured for a while that I wouldn't be continuing due to frequently butting heads with the principal I worked for) and ended up getting my A+ certification and pivoted into doing IT work for school districts.  I spent six months in a temp job with one district that dovetailed into a permanent position with another local district (it rocks when the people above you REALLY value you and have connections, even if they can't make your current position permanent) that I started two weeks ago.  For me, this new position is a considerable pay hike over what I was making at any job I've ever had, but it wouldn't be like that in all situations for sure, which is the big hitch here.  But so far I haven't taken any work home (and it doesn't seem like that happens, from talking to my new team) and overtime doesn't seem super frequent unless I were to take on certain extra tasks, like if I volunteered to run video streaming for extracurriculars like some of my coworkers do.  Plus, so far they've been really great at supplying me with equipment and any tools/supplies I've asked for so far. (Though I think I've been fairly conservative in my requests)

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1 hour ago, CrowTheRobot said:

At the end of the day, it's all going to come down to what you're looking for on salary, and what you actually want to do.

 

Last June/July, I lost my five year Teaching Assistant job (which I was burnt out on, and I figured for a while that I wouldn't be continuing due to frequently butting heads with the principal I worked for) and ended up getting my A+ certification and pivoted into doing IT work for school districts.  I spent six months in a temp job with one district that dovetailed into a permanent position with another local district (it rocks when the people above you REALLY value you and have connections, even if they can't make your current position permanent) that I started two weeks ago.  For me, this new position is a considerable pay hike over what I was making at any job I've ever had, but it wouldn't be like that in all situations for sure, which is the big hitch here.  But so far I haven't taken any work home (and it doesn't seem like that happens, from talking to my new team) and overtime doesn't seem super frequent unless I were to take on certain extra tasks, like if I volunteered to run video streaming for extracurriculars like some of my coworkers do.  Plus, so far they've been really great at supplying me with equipment and any tools/supplies I've asked for so far. (Though I think I've been fairly conservative in my requests)

the ever-important question, "what do i want to do?" i've been struggling to answer that question for a loooong time. i can say i don't want to work in a customer-facing job and i'd prefer not to be freelance (job security/stability is important to me), but other than that i don't really know.

 

i appreciate your input! i feel like i have a stepping stone for IT work where i'm currently at, if i could land a position on the QA support team (basically the people that provide tech support for the QA teams). but i applied a few months ago when there was an open position and didn't get the job, so i think i'd need to work on my skills/qualifications before i can do that--and who knows when another opening on that team is going to come up.

 

it's tough, because you don't always know what you'd want to do without trying it first, and you can't really "try out" jobs. classes can help but if they're not so hands-on they might not give you the full picture of what a job entails.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The best advice I will give you is to search for a great company as opposed to a specific job.

A great company will support you in your work/life balance and give you opportunities to move around within the firm.

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3 hours ago, Tech87 said:

The best advice I will give you is to search for a great company as opposed to a specific job.

A great company will support you in your work/life balance and give you opportunities to move around within the firm.

makes total sense to me. the benefits and people i work with are what keep me at my current job, despite its drawbacks. i think it'd be a pretty comfortable place to work if i didn't dislike the work itself so much (and if it paid better).

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On 4/18/2021 at 7:32 PM, avespanthera said:

what are some tech jobs that are more likely to let me not take my work home with me? i want to be done when i leave whenever possible. i'd also like to avoid as much overtime as possible--i'm sure i can't have none at all (though that would be nice) but i especially want to not deal with the type of ridiculous OT/crunch you get in the games industry.

Work in the gov't. OT is not allowed without written auth from God himself.

NOTE: I no longer frequent this site. If you really need help, PM/DM me and my e.mail will alert me. 

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