Hi all
Just thought I'd start a thread to see if I could get other peoples experiences of notice periods and going for new jobs.
So, a bit of background info for you:
I've been with my current employer for almost 10 years now. I started as a IT helpdesk guy and did that for 4-5 years. I then moved on to be an IT Infrastructure Engineer for 3-4 years and I am now a Datacentre Supervisor and have been for the last year. Over that time I've learnt loads about Citrix, VMware, AD, Windows Server, 3par and NetApp among many other things so I believe I have the skills to take somewhere else.
However I've reached a point where I feel that I'm not ready for the Datacentre Supervisor role and that I'd rather be doing the technical stuff still. Average days now consist of asset management, datacentre management, colo management, storage management etc and it just doesn't feel the same anymore. So I'd rather go back to doing the technical stuff as an Infrastructure Engineer. However if I were to do this at my current company it would almost certainly involve less money and more travel. (which I'm not interested in anymore.) With a wife and a 4 month old I want to be able to spend all the time I can with her and him as he's growing up so fast and travelling is counterintuitive to that. My company being quite big across Europe with little lesser skilled IT bods onsite at these locations means that our team in the UK travels a lot to these places to help out/do projects with/for them.
Along with the above I'm also feeling that IT isn't what I want to do anymore but at the same time I'm not sure if its just because of the length of time I've been here or just because its become stagnated without me realising. My company has also changed a fair bit and its starting to feel like the work/life balance is off. I get no overtime and any work out of hours/weekends is just expected and it never usually feels appreciated. I like to draw, paint and do arts and craft stuff in my spare time and that would be something I'd love to do full time however it doesn't really come close to being able to cover my current wage. I've done the sums and unfortunately they don't add up right now. So with that in mind, I think a new company and an Infrastructure Engineer position is the way to go for the time being. Preferably at a company with minimal travel... (I don't know if this is even a thing as my current position is all I know in the IT world)
So, with all of that in mind here are my questions:
Right now I have to give 3 months notice. I'm happy to do this although if I could leave earlier that would be great but at the end of the day that's what I signed so I wouldn't be too upset about it if my employer enforced it.
Do any of you have similar experiences of this? Did having the 3 month notice period hinder you getting other jobs? How did you go about tackling the issue with current/potential employers? etc
Hopefully there's someone out there who can share their experiences with me.
Just thought I'd start a thread to see if I could get other peoples experiences of notice periods and going for new jobs.
So, a bit of background info for you:
I've been with my current employer for almost 10 years now. I started as a IT helpdesk guy and did that for 4-5 years. I then moved on to be an IT Infrastructure Engineer for 3-4 years and I am now a Datacentre Supervisor and have been for the last year. Over that time I've learnt loads about Citrix, VMware, AD, Windows Server, 3par and NetApp among many other things so I believe I have the skills to take somewhere else.
However I've reached a point where I feel that I'm not ready for the Datacentre Supervisor role and that I'd rather be doing the technical stuff still. Average days now consist of asset management, datacentre management, colo management, storage management etc and it just doesn't feel the same anymore. So I'd rather go back to doing the technical stuff as an Infrastructure Engineer. However if I were to do this at my current company it would almost certainly involve less money and more travel. (which I'm not interested in anymore.) With a wife and a 4 month old I want to be able to spend all the time I can with her and him as he's growing up so fast and travelling is counterintuitive to that. My company being quite big across Europe with little lesser skilled IT bods onsite at these locations means that our team in the UK travels a lot to these places to help out/do projects with/for them.
Along with the above I'm also feeling that IT isn't what I want to do anymore but at the same time I'm not sure if its just because of the length of time I've been here or just because its become stagnated without me realising. My company has also changed a fair bit and its starting to feel like the work/life balance is off. I get no overtime and any work out of hours/weekends is just expected and it never usually feels appreciated. I like to draw, paint and do arts and craft stuff in my spare time and that would be something I'd love to do full time however it doesn't really come close to being able to cover my current wage. I've done the sums and unfortunately they don't add up right now. So with that in mind, I think a new company and an Infrastructure Engineer position is the way to go for the time being. Preferably at a company with minimal travel... (I don't know if this is even a thing as my current position is all I know in the IT world)
So, with all of that in mind here are my questions:
Right now I have to give 3 months notice. I'm happy to do this although if I could leave earlier that would be great but at the end of the day that's what I signed so I wouldn't be too upset about it if my employer enforced it.
Do any of you have similar experiences of this? Did having the 3 month notice period hinder you getting other jobs? How did you go about tackling the issue with current/potential employers? etc
Hopefully there's someone out there who can share their experiences with me.