Wanting new job - No direction though?

Delvis

Delvis

Delvis

Caporegime
Joined
7 Nov 2004
Posts
30,197
Location
Buckinghamshire
Hello all

I started a job back in October-ish time last year at an IT support company, and I loved the first few months, since then its just gone down hill, and it's affecting me at home as in health wise or atleast begining to.

I'm begining to think I can't stay in IT, especially the support side of it, it really does not do anything for me long term...I love the hardware aspect of IT, and installing new system from scratch etc, researching new tech and the lot...But just cannot do support anymore.

Problem is, I have no idea what I can go into if I want to change my career direction...My g/f mentioned to me about my art/drawings skills, as I used to be able to draw pretty decently, and with a few months learning / training I could no doubt pick it all up again and get better at that...Point is how do I go about doing this? And would there be anywhere I could go to learn and earn somewhere or anything?

Bit of a silly post but hey, let the banter commence
 
North North East? Try that.

honestly though I dunno how people stick with IT Support at all. Personally i love PC's fiddling about with them and putting them together, but when someone rings up with the same bloody problem day in day out, which is invariably through their own stupidity, I couldn't hack it.
 
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Have you thought about going into design? I know nothing about the area but there seems to be a fair amount of jobs advertised for graphics designers and such, there's bound to be courses/qualifications you can study for too.
 
All depends what you want to do. I had no idea and just started applying for anything and everything, which I thought I might be interested in. Remember you can always turn offers down, but you can't accept non existent offers.
 
Hi Delvis, I'm in a similar position to you at the moment.

I work as a sysadmin but I do a lot of support work, but I'm finding now that I'm losing enthusiasm for the support side of my job, but I thrive in analysing new tech. For example, I've introduced the company I work for into virtualisation, implemented an open source ticketing system, instigating a complete IT security revamp etc etc.

Because I love infrastructure work I'm doing a Microsoft course in my spare time, and intend to get some Cisco+Vmware certs later on. I'm hoping this will lead me into a more consultancy-based role, and move gradually further and further away from first line support.

To be honest my love has been with networking since I was 16, but there's just not enough demand for networking specialists now, so I'm focusing on Servers+Networking+Virtualisation to try and strike a happy balance between being a jack of all trades to being completely specialised.

You mention liking working with hardware and new tech, perhaps you can do something similar? Everyone has to start from somewhere, and IT support seems to be a good place if one wants to get into integration/infrastructure/consultancy.
 
Le_Petit_Lapin said:
North North East? Try that.

honestly though I dunno how people stick with IT Support at all. Personally i love PC's fiddling about with them and putting them together, but when someone rings up with the same bloody problem day in day out, which is invariably through their own stupidity, I couldn't hack it.
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Indeed, it gets silly after a while...I spent over an hour on the phone to someone, trying to get him to connect to his wireless network...he was insistant it was our fault...His son speaks to me and does it in 2 minutes :(

Andelusion said:
Have you thought about going into design? I know nothing about the area but there seems to be a fair amount of jobs advertised for graphics designers and such, there's bound to be courses/qualifications you can study for too.
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I have...and might like it, sorta enjoy the idea of thinking about it actually...I just have no idea were to start from really? :confused:

kiteloopy said:
Shame OP.

I remember how stoked you were when you got the offer. :(
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Indeed :) I loved the first few months...But I just cannot do it, its actually making my head hurt day in day out...That among other things (not just a head ache)

AcidHell2 said:
All depends what you want to do. I had no idea and just started applying for anything and everything, which I thought I might be interested in. Remember you can always turn offers down, but you can't accept non existent offers.
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Aye, I just put myself down...I don't see how I can apply for a job I have no experience for at the end of the day, and no real work experience in it

sr4470 said:
Can I take your job please? :p Seriously though, you could do a lot worse..
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Heh :) If you want, have to apply to the company though no doubt

I could yes, but it's hard to explain...Last few months my heads actually been spinning every morning, while at work it feels like theres a pocket of air in my head. I did goto the docters about it a while back but i'll probably have to go back if it carries on
 
DiscoDave said:
Hi Delvis, I'm in a similar position to you at the moment.

I work as a sysadmin but I do a lot of support work, but I'm finding now that I'm losing enthusiasm for the support side of my job, but I thrive in analysing new tech. For example, I've introduced the company I work for into virtualisation, implemented an open source ticketing system, instigating a complete IT security revamp etc etc.

Because I love infrastructure work I'm doing a Microsoft course in my spare time, and intend to get some Cisco+Vmware certs later on. I'm hoping this will lead me into a more consultancy-based role, and move gradually further and further away from first line support.

To be honest my love has been with networking since I was 16, but there's just not enough demand for networking specialists now, so I'm focusing on Servers+Networking+Virtualisation to try and strike a happy balance between being a jack of all trades to being completely specialised.

You mention liking working with hardware and new tech, perhaps you can do something similar? Everyone has to start from somewhere, and IT support seems to be a good place if one wants to get into integration/infrastructure/consultancy.
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Thank you for the reply everyone

Well I hope it all works out for you in the end :) If you carry on how you are I don't see why it can't

I'll have to have a look around, baring in mind the current climate is naff at the moment as well :p
 
Delvis said:
Heh :) If you want, have to apply to the company though no doubt

I could yes, but it's hard to explain...Last few months my heads actually been spinning every morning, while at work it feels like theres a pocket of air in my head. I did goto the docters about it a while back but i'll probably have to go back if it carries on
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May I ask which company that is? You can email me if you don't want to say on here.
 
I know how you feel OP.

My first proper corporate job was with Atkins, I was one of the IT support analysts who'd be on the other end of the phone to any one of the 15000 employees who could call us up at any time. It was an easy job if you knew computers (some of my colleagues didn't, lol). This was on a gap year just before I went to do computer science at uni. I worked there for pretty much a whole year and eventually got sick of it. The same crap day in day out.

It wasn't so much talking to the callers, that part was fun, it was more the fact that we were pressured to focus more on keeping call duration down rather than fixing the actual problems, and management could never seem to grasp the idea that the two were related. Some 15 minute calls simply couldnt be solved in under 5 minutes, and if it was a busy day, the person calling might not be able to get back to us until the following day, meanwhile they're sitting with a machine that can't do anything. Anyways I digress. It was a type of job I promised myself never to do again. I would never ever do a job where I'd have to wear a headset for as long as I live. It was like I was physically chained to my desk via my ear. After that I knew I wanted to avoid IT support.

Since graduating last year, I decided to try out working in the banking industry, and did 6 months as a Marketing Analyst at Barclays head office. It was interesting, and was a nice change of scenery. Much more relaxed atmosphere, no running around solving people's endless problems, just a few assignments to do in my own time and having lots of laughs with my workmates while I'm at it.

Now I've decided that I want to try out this banking thing and am just finalising my permanent contract with RBS, doing more or less the same thing.

I love building machines too and looking up the latest hardware/benchmarking etc, but I realised that it should stay as a hobby. It is unlikely you'll ever get to do *just* the things you like, regardless of your favourite kind of activity. E.g. if you like building PCs and get a job at a computer modding/building shop, you'd likely have to deal with customers and probably end up having to remove spyware and crap all day long. IMO, keep your career and hobbies separate, otherwise one side may put you off the other, and you may end up not knowing what you like doing anymore.

My advice is just take a wild stab at anything (I chose banking, but what you choose doesn't matter), chances are you'll like the change. But don't worry too much about the direction. Nothing's permanent if you don't want it to be :)
 
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Delvis said:
Hello all

researching new tech and the lot...But just cannot do support anymore.

Problem is, I have no idea what I can go into if I want to change my career direction...My g/f mentioned to me about my art/drawings skills, as I used to be able to draw pretty decently, and with a few months learning / training I could no doubt pick it all up again and get better at that...Point is how do I go about doing this? And would there be anywhere I could go to learn and earn somewhere or anything?
Click to expand...

You could check your local colleges and see if they do evening classes on drawing/graphic design and have a bash at it and see how you like it.
 
Heofz said:
I know how you feel OP.

My first proper corporate job was with Atkins, I was one of the IT support analysts who'd be on the other end of the phone to any one of the 15000 employees who could call us up at any time. It was an easy job if you knew computers (some of my colleagues didn't, lol). This was on a gap year just before I went to do computer science at uni. I worked there for pretty much a whole year and eventually got sick of it. The same crap day in day out.

It wasn't so much talking to the callers, that part was fun, it was more the fact that we were pressured to focus more on keeping call duration down rather than fixing the actual problems, and management could never seem to grasp the idea that the two were related. Some 15 minute calls simply couldnt be solved in under 5 minutes, and if it was a busy day, the person calling might not be able to get back to us until the following day, meanwhile they're sitting with a machine that can't do anything. Anyways I digress. It was a type of job I promised myself never to do again. I would never ever do a job where I'd have to wear a headset for as long as I live. It was like I was physically chained to my desk via my ear. After that I knew I wanted to avoid IT support.

Since graduating last year, I decided to try out working in the banking industry, and did 6 months as a Marketing Analyst at Barclays head office. It was interesting, and was a nice change of scenery. Much more relaxed atmosphere, no running around solving people's endless problems, just a few assignments to do in my own time and having lots of laughs with my workmates while I'm at it.

Now I've decided that I want to try out this banking thing and am just finalising my permanent contract with RBS, doing more or less the same thing.

I love building machines too and looking up the latest hardware/benchmarking etc, but I realised that it should stay as a hobby. It is unlikely you'll ever get to do *just* the things you like, regardless of your favourite kind of activity. E.g. if you like building PCs and get a job at a computer modding/building shop, you'd likely have to deal with customers and probably end up having to remove spyware and crap all day long. IMO, keep your career and hobbies separate, otherwise one side may put you off the other, and you may end up not knowing what you like doing anymore.

My advice is just take a wild stab at anything (I chose banking, but what you choose doesn't matter), chances are you'll like the change. But don't worry too much about the direction. Nothing's permanent if you don't want it to be :)
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Thanks dude

nice little story there, looks like its working out!

I'll have to have a think...in the mean time I don't know how long I can put off certain things at work...I need to tell them how I feel in the next couple of days, as i'm having a new boss soon too :(

Chaos said:
You could check your local colleges and see if they do evening classes on drawing/graphic design and have a bash at it and see how you like it.
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Yeah, there are a few around...friend has just suggested the same thing
 
Delvis said:
Thanks dude

nice little story there, looks like its working out!

I'll have to have a think...in the mean time I don't know how long I can put off certain things at work...I need to tell them how I feel in the next couple of days, as i'm having a new boss soon too :(
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Don't flunk things, and don't just walk out, you need to have something lined up. Even if your survival doesn't depend on it, you wouldn't want to burn bridges or lack a reference.
 
Bit of a thread hijack but does anyone have any advice (any at all) for someone who literally has no idea what they would like to do for a career? I've just graduated from Uni with a music degree, music has been my only interest through High School/College/Uni, I've literally never thought about anything else, now I'm in the 'real world' it's difficult to imagine having a successful career related to my Degree.. I'm earning a little bit of money at the moment but I'm trying to keep my options open.

Your suggestions may help the OP too :) (So I don't feel guilty about this post...)
 
remember there millions of people that work in employment they dont like or even hate.. if you can find something you enjoy and can work in that field, thats a bonus!

if it isnt your perfect job just get the one that pays the most.
 
sr4470 said:
Don't flunk things, and don't just walk out, you need to have something lined up. Even if your survival doesn't depend on it, you wouldn't want to burn bridges or lack a reference.
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it's not a case of just walking out...i'd be having words with my boss if I could...but he's away for two weeks...and we're part of the way through merging.

I feel like my head can't cope anymore
 
Delvis said:
it's not a case of just walking out...i'd be having words with my boss if I could...but he's away for two weeks...and we're part of the way through merging.

I feel like my head can't cope anymore
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I apologise if this sounds harsh, please don't take it the wrong way.

You're in a job. In corporate IT support. Stop focusing on the negatives. You're gaining more experience, working as opposed to being on the dole, in a frontline customer service role. You're not worried about how you'll pay the next rent instalment, or whether you can afford to heat your freezing room. You presumably have a phone that still works.

I'm not saying this to have a go at you, but try to understand that millions of people in a rough spot would love to have your job right now (however much people whine about IT support on here, it's far better than no job).

C'mon, man up :) You've had what two jobs, in the space of time I've had none. You're not doing that badly :p
 
sr4470 said:
I apologise if this sounds harsh, please don't take it the wrong way.

You're in a job. In corporate IT support. Stop focusing on the negatives. You're gaining more experience, working as opposed to being on the dole, in a frontline customer service role. You're not worried about how you'll pay the next rent instalment, or whether you can afford to heat your freezing room. You presumably have a phone that still works.

I'm not saying this to have a go at you, but try to understand that millions of people in a rough spot would love to have your job right now (however much people whine about IT support on here, it's far better than no job).

C'mon, man up :) You've had what two jobs, in the space of time I've had none. You're not doing that badly :p
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I know dude...I know it's 'selfish' and everything, I know what its like to be unemployed, and i know how soul destroying it is.
 
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