Screw IT

[Agall]

28 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Nothing will make you hate the IT career path than that if you end in an unpleasant working environment and workload.

 

My advice, cut and run. Find a position you'd find more satisfying if you can. Don't hate your job and just bare with it unless you absolutely have no other choice. 

@AngelaHornung With in mind that there's nothing wrong with being in these kinds of positions for a couple of years then upgrading. Its also potentially worth staying in a position for at least 2 years, since plenty of employers will see less time spent as a liability when hiring.

 

I wouldn't be at the job I have now without having worked Geek Squad between managing networks. It really comes down to how much you're willing to get out of it, in my case, it was an insane amount of 'customer support' and end-user type experience, especially in the malware detection/removal department that you don't see on locked down firewall protected corporate networks.

 

There's plenty of organizations who simply need a 'jack of all trades' IT professional who's resourceful. Even if that involves slotting into a specific role but having sufficient cross training/experience to bat above your peers.

[AngelaHornung]

17 minutes ago, Agall said:

@AngelaHornung With in mind that there's nothing wrong with being in these kinds of positions for a couple of years then upgrading. Its also potentially worth staying in a position for at least 2 years, since plenty of employers will see less time spent as a liability when hiring.

 

I wouldn't be at the job I have now without having worked Geek Squad between managing networks. It really comes down to how much you're willing to get out of it, in my case, it was an insane amount of 'customer support' and end-user type experience, especially in the malware detection/removal department that you don't see on locked down firewall protected corporate networks.

 

There's plenty of organizations who simply need a 'jack of all trades' IT professional who's resourceful. Even if that involves slotting into a specific role but having sufficient cross training/experience to bat above your peers.

I appreciate it, I know what my plan is going forward as I know where I want to go long term. 

Goal: To become a Computer Science teacher for Hartford Public and dedicate my life to the educating and well being of youth in my city with both the traditional classroom and First Robotics Competition mentoring/volunteering. 

Prerequisites: Bachelors in Computer Science

I'm going to do the following:

1. Keep my current position and take full advantage of the flexibility it offers.
2. Do the absolute bare minimum at this position and instead focus the majority of my energies on three things
   1. School Work (Bachelors)
   2. Gym (Health)
   3. Personal Development Projects (Keep My Skills Sharp)
3. The second I graduate I'm putting in my two weeks and giving everyone the bird on my way out.

 

I think I just needed a place to vent my frustrations, get the toxic thoughts out of the brain if you will so I can go back to focusing on what's important. I will seriously never work an IT role again after this. lmao 

[Agall]

9 minutes ago, AngelaHornung said:

I appreciate it, I know what my plan is going forward as I know where I want to go long term. 

Goal: To become a Computer Science teacher for Hartford Public and dedicate my life to the educating and well being of youth in my city with both the traditional classroom and First Robotics Competition mentoring/volunteering. 

Prerequisites: Bachelors in Computer Science

I'm going to do the following:

1. Keep my current position and take full advantage of the flexibility it offers.
2. Do the absolute bare minimum at this position and instead focus the majority of my energies on three things
   1. School Work (Bachelors)
   2. Gym (Health)
   3. Personal Development Projects (Keep My Skills Sharp)
3. The second I graduate I'm putting in my two weeks and giving everyone the bird on my way out.

 

I think I just needed a place to vent my frustrations, get the toxic thoughts out of the brain if you will so I can go back to focusing on what's important. I will seriously never work an IT role again after this. lmao 

IT is a lot like being a parent, you get yelled at for doing your job even when what you're doing is the right thing and in their best interest. Takes a lot of patience, sometimes having to simply tell someone 'no'. A lot of people act like children when it comes to the world of IT, they're ignorant to what is best which is what your job is for.

 

Sometimes it takes putting your foot down and getting mean (in the proper way). Its a lot of instruction/ordering and not a lot of lecturing. If someone isn't listening, you sometimes have to lecture them. Its usually easy to overwhelm those people with knowledge when they start asking stupid questions. I'll gladly answer someone's question to the fullest extent of my knowledge, usually something they regret .

 

I don't think degrees are that useful in the IT world. Its mostly based on certifications and experience, but you can 100% get a 6 figure IT job without a degree or certifications. Most people will need some structured program, most people don't succeed in self-teaching.

[Erioch]

2 hours ago, OddOod said:

You can set up gmail to be the front end for that email...

Gmail lets through a ton of obvious phishing emails as well.  I rarely get any from Outlook.

[AngelaHornung]

18 minutes ago, Agall said:

IT is a lot like being a parent, you get yelled at for doing your job even when what you're doing is the right thing and in their best interest. Takes a lot of patience, sometimes having to simply tell someone 'no'. A lot of people act like children when it comes to the world of IT, they're ignorant to what is best which is what your job is for.

 

Sometimes it takes putting your foot down and getting mean (in the proper way). Its a lot of instruction/ordering and not a lot of lecturing. If someone isn't listening, you sometimes have to lecture them. Its usually easy to overwhelm those people with knowledge when they start asking stupid questions. I'll gladly answer someone's question to the fullest extent of my knowledge, usually something they regret .

 

I don't think degrees are that useful in the IT world. Its mostly based on certifications and experience, but you can 100% get a 6 figure IT job without a degree or certifications. Most people will need some structured program, most people don't succeed in self-teaching.

I agree, worked as a Web Applications Developer without my degree. But I want to be a public high school Computer Science teacher and my area understandably requires you have a Bachelors in the field you want to teach.  

[jaslion]

2 hours ago, Agall said:

Biggest problem I run into now a days is obsolescent hardware that they won't give me the budget to replace. Execs would rather wait till it dies than proactively replace stuff actively failing, but still mostly working. Really testing the BC/DR plan that I also write and maintain...

We had a good year so now it's lets do a terrible leasing agreement with fuckall support on it but get the fanciest laptops possible!

 

Except IT was not being involved in the spec choosing for wave one and guess what i5's with 32gb of ram in a 14 inch lattitude with only 256gb of storage didn't go well for multiple departments as one size fits all does not work :D.

 

And now the numbers are slightly down because guess what last year was an exception due to many many many good abnormal events going on in our favor so suddenly wave 2 has to cost nothing wooo! But we have 7 year old devices going so ya know I pushed a broken update to couple execs laptops and guess what we got a new better lease contract in 3 weeks time because they had to go back to some old 7th gen core i7's hahaha.

 

 

[Agall]

11 minutes ago, jaslion said:

We had a good year so now it's lets do a terrible leasing agreement with fuckall support on it but get the fanciest laptops possible!

 

Except IT was not being involved in the spec choosing for wave one and guess what i5's with 32gb of ram in a 14 inch lattitude with only 256gb of storage didn't go well for multiple departments as one size fits all does not work :D.

 

And now the numbers are slightly down because guess what last year was an exception due to many many many good abnormal events going on in our favor so suddenly wave 2 has to cost nothing wooo! But we have 7 year old devices going so ya know I pushed a broken update to couple execs laptops and guess what we got a new better lease contract in 3 weeks time because they had to go back to some old 7th gen core i7's hahaha.

 

 

I've been DIYing desktops and even one server so far. The prices are absurd for what you get even on servers compared to Asrock/Gigabyte/Supermicro barebones servers.

 

Spend an extra $3000 just to get a front VGA port..

 

Only downside with not going Dell's Premier is Windows licensing, but that's only a problem if Microsoft decides to audit your company  Still, its cheaper to get a consumer laptop under Best Buy's Tech Support annual plan that includes 2 year GSP and then buy an additional VLSC Win10/11 Pro license.

[jaslion]

2 minutes ago, Agall said:

Only downside with not going Dell's Premier is Windows licensing, but that's only a problem if Microsoft decides to audit your company  Still, its cheaper to get a consumer laptop under Best Buy's Tech Support annual plan that includes 2 year GSP and then buy an additional VLSC Win10/11 Pro license.

It's 2200 for the latitudes over the lifespan of 3 years and we return them with no compensation or anything after. No day one supprot or ANYTHING extra basically.

 

For 1350 a piece I buy them with 5 year warranty + 3 years dell day one support + device replacement refurbishment agreement built in. AND WE OWN THE FUCKERS.

 

But no leasing is the new buzz even tho they are 10 years late.

[Agall]

4 minutes ago, jaslion said:

It's 2200 for the latitudes over the lifespan of 3 years and we return them with no compensation or anything after. No day one supprot or ANYTHING extra basically.

 

For 1350 a piece I buy them with 5 year warranty + 3 years dell day one support + device replacement refurbishment agreement built in. AND WE OWN THE FUCKERS.

 

But no leasing is the new buzz even tho they are 10 years late.

It made more sense 15 years ago when laptops went from unusable to slowly more usable, until toady's world where you can simply replace a power user's desktop with a laptop.

 

Personally, my next work laptop won't be a last gen gaming laptop but a handheld like a Lenovo Legion Go, as long as it gets a RAM upgrade. I have no problem using a <10" screen when needed and docking it like I already do with this 5800HS equipped Zephyrus G14. Already having to use dongles for everything, so why not go full R.

 

Minisforum's V3 is compelling, especially since I could use the type-C DP-in as a KVM replacement. GPD's KVM equipped mini was very compelling, but I don't trust either of those companies enough to be my main company device, reliability and security wise.

[jaslion]

On 8/7/2024 at 6:25 PM, Zodiark1593 said:

“Oh god, I’m the admin…”

…

“OH MY GOD! You morons made me admin!? How!? Why!?”

Simple!

 

You're the last one left

[jaslion]

On 8/7/2024 at 6:25 PM, Zodiark1593 said:

“Oh god, I’m the admin…”

…

“OH MY GOD! You morons made me admin!? How!? Why!?”

Simple!

 

You're the last one left

[AngelaHornung]

I would like to say there are good days, I don't want to be a negative Nancy, like today was decent. Got some stuff done, people weren't jerks, it was fine. But I suppose the primary issue is that even on the good days I'm left feeling unaccomplished or at least not accomplished enough for me to justify the difficult days. 

[Zodiark1593]

1 hour ago, jaslion said:

Simple!

 

You're the last one left

“Oh my shit…”

 

“Time to execute Plan Z”

 

me: opens up GlassDoor. 

[Erioch]

I feel like I'm the only one who loves his I.T. job.

[wasab]

If i could be 18 all over again, i would not have chosen software engineering as a career either. I would sign up for trade school to become either an electrician or something in health care like oral hygenist instead. Part of the problem is that the job has so little meaning. No one appreciates you for the work. You are always pushing out code with bugs and people keep filling up bug tickets and always giving you a sense that your work is not good enough and need to be "fixed". it kinda sucks. Doctors and tradesmen on the other hand do get peoples recognition, respect, and appreciation. This is very important for a fulfilling career. I always tell people career is more than just about the money. I mean you can go prostitute yourself and sell your body to rich old man, especially if you are an attractive young guy selling your body to rich old gay men, and probably make a lot of money doing this but why have very few people chosen to go down this path? obviously there is a point in which people just realize whatever money they get is simply not worth doing something they hate or look down on. 

 

Teacher is a good career in the States. People like to say teachers are underpaid compare to other professions with similar education requirements. People do not realize however is that public school teachers get an insane amount of vacation days. Heck, they have two months out of the year during summer in which they are not working. This means of course their annual income might be lower but on per hour basis, they are being paid decently. 

[AngelaHornung]

16 minutes ago, wasab said:

If i could be 18 all over again, i would not have chosen software engineering as a career either. I would sign up for trade school to become either an electrician or something in health care like oral hygenist instead. Part of the problem is that the job has so little meaning. No one appreciates you for the work. You are always pushing out code with bugs and people keep filling up bug tickets and always giving you a sense that your work is not good enough and need to be "fixed". it kinda sucks. Doctors and tradesmen on the other hand do get peoples recognition, respect, and appreciation. This is very important for a fulfilling career. I always tell people career is more than just about the money. I mean you can go prostitute yourself and sell your body to rich old man, especially if you are an attractive young guy selling your body to rich old gay men, and probably make a lot of money doing this but why have very few people chosen to go down this path? obviously there is a point in which people just realize whatever money they get is simply not worth doing something they hate or look down on. 

 

Teacher is a good career in the States. People like to say teachers are underpaid compare to other professions with similar education requirements. People do not realize however is that public school teachers get an insane amount of vacation days. Heck, they have two months out of the year during summer in which they are not working. This means of course their annual income might be lower but on per hour basis, they are being paid decently. 

Sorry to hear you wouldn't have chosen your field, thus far I don't regret getting into computers and programming at all. Loved my time as a Web Applications Developer. As for teachers, I think whether they're under or over paid is entirely dependent on the state, district, cost of living and realities of the position. There are also a lot of perks to being a teacher too. 

 

I personally want to dedicate my life doing three things (outside of activities whose purpose is to maintain good health and knowledge).

 

1. Teaching both in terms of a traditional classroom and in terms of volunteering as a First Robotics Competition mentor.
2. Supporting and helping to clean up my city/neighborhood both by being a good neighbor and keeping my area pristine but also by participating in City Council.
3. Being a good Catholic.

[leadeater]

11 hours ago, wasab said:

Heck, they have two months out of the year during summer in which they are not working. This means of course their annual income might be lower but on per hour basis, they are being paid decently. 

Just be careful equating the time students are not at school to time teachers aren't or don't need to work. Been in the education sector my entire career, there is a lot, a lot of planning and professional development teachers have to do and that is all outside of teaching time. If you happen to be more than "just a teacher" i.e. department head then you are doing even more of this type of work that is not classroom teaching.

 

Then there are lots of other expectations like helping out run school sports teams for zero monetary compensation or time off in lieu for the time spent in the weekend managing the team during season games etc.

 

Whether or not teachers are under paid, I think they are, they are definitely under valued and society wise vastly downgraded in status to what they were 50 years ago. In my country teachers used to get paid and were equal social status to members of parliament, it's not even slightly close today. 

[Mitko_DSV]

@leadeater I'm in the education sector as well - the only system administrator and one of the IT teachers at a local public high school. Like you said there's a lot more work than just teaching classes, so I agree with everything you said.

And while we do in fact have a lot of paid days off like @wasab said, it's not as simple as students not in school = no work.

Don't know what country you are in, but I'm in Bulgaria - recently teachers salaries have been increasing, still not very high, but I'd say they're decent (especially if you live in a small town/village), though teachers are definitely undervalued.