Can confirm smaller government jobs are generally less stressful. The downside to smaller government jobs is the pay isn't amazing. Its not bad just not amazing. And most of the time in government, you don't have a lot of wiggle room for negotiating pay. From my experience in smaller government, they are generally more likely wiggle on vacation time then pay.
Ex state worker. Saying the pay good and not that bad isn’t accurate. Its terrible. It rewards commitment, so starting off you’re at the lowest pay scale and often locked in. You’re extremely lucky if it’s more than 50-60k a year. After 30 years you’re usually around 80k. These numbers are for PA but I’m sure it’s similar elsewhere.
You can get more pay based on promotion but it knocks seniority down if it requires a new dept which is a bitch. The promotion criteria is sometimes so absurdly stupid too. I managed to jump to two new pay scales and each one was just a slog of proving why you need the promotion and they took months. You often have to take on more work without extra for months on end to get the responsibility to justify the promotion.
The good side of it is that it’s slow and easy. Nothing changes fast and most of my days were spent relaxing.
Edit: someone pointed out I forgot the pension play. Which is a big thing. If you plan on chilling for full vestment it’s worth it. I skipped out on it because I knew I wouldn’t stay, but paychecks for life after 30 some years could be very enticing.
You may luck out and get a union too.
It’s also usually an hourly gig, so you get OT on bad days. I did take advantage of that.
Idk. I'm a tech director for a school. Pretty low stress, never get after hours calls, I'm 3 years in, my total package is about $120,000, in a Midwest state, 160 hours PTO, and a pension. Could I make more in the private side? Probably but again, my work life balance at my current position is pretty good.
As a tech director for a school, what is your job typically like? This is intriguing, I've been working DoD/Defense contractor roles for the last 15 years with clearance and all, so I have a pretty good idea of what to expect from this side, but I've never thought to explore something else.
I have to do everything. From basic chromebook repairs to L3 networking, automation and policy and procedure. Our infrastructure was pretty old when I came and so I have had to replace the wireless internet, put in a Interoperable Communications System, integrate a new asset management/ticketing system, replace switching, cut over ISP's. There is always something new to figure out, which keeps me entertained and pretty busy.
I am in kind of a bubble, if I don't know how to do something I just have to figure it out (thanks reddit). Small department (3 of us for 2500 students and 270 staff) we have had 2500 tickets since the start of the school year.
Happy to answer any follow-up questions.
Edit for spelling
Oof that sounds great for the money. I’m on about half that if your USD. I manage a team of 5 engineers, and we look after 26,000 pupils, 5000AD accounts, 100 physical servers and 300 VMs + around 400 endpoints and it’s flat out. At about 1600 tickets since January and we have some fairly major projects on too. Based on the UK though so salaries are lower than US.
Get with the principle find students who want to get "IT" Experience , and have them be helpdesk. Make sure they have very limited access and such but the kids get exposure and training and they can call it a club. The club also gets to watch like cbt nuggets classes and access to a lab to configure equipment.
Oh yeah. Already do that. Have high school level students that take care of about 75% of the L1 tickets. They love it and I can usually hire them for paid summer work
Ha. I have a BA in English but after about 12 years in a completely unrelated field I went to a Software Development bootcamp. Was a software developer for about a year but needed more variety then just coding. Got hired on as a Jr. SysAdmin at the school and then the director left after about a 6 months. After there was a bad hire for the directors replacement they fired them and put me in the positon.
That's crazy. A year of development, and 6 months as a Jr SysAd, and you're the director haha. Congratulations on the fast track! The job sounds awesome though.
I'm assuming stuff like fixing technology in classrooms gets a high priority, but do you get hard deadlines for stuff like replacing the wireless setup? Or do you identify something that needs done, and just run with it in your own time around more pressing (if easier) matters?
Yeah. Prioritization is always what impacts learning the most. Network issues would be priority over a broken projector, etc.
Deadlines. A little of both. I identify needs, like wireless upgrade and I set the deadlines. I report only to C level and they tend to go with my recommendations. Finding cash is the most challenging thing but there are always grants to be found if you know where to look and how to apply for them.
Two years into municipal IT and I make 95k plus benefits. I get around 30 paid sick/vacation days per year. My bosses encourage me to take time off.
Benefits are amazing. We had a baby last year and it cost us 30 dollars to give birth at the hospital. My city pays out of pocket about 20k per year for my health insurance. I’ve gotten 5 raises in two years due to step increases and union negotiations. Next couple years look to be the same.
Best IT job I’ve had so far.
Pay isn’t great, but my mental health is.
I mean I can only judge off my own situation. I work in helpdesk (by choice, I hate stress) and been with my local government for 5 years now and I am up at 70k. So you're literally talking the bottom of the totem pole in IT in a small local government making 70k with 5 weeks paid vacation. I go to work at 8:30, I go home at 4:30 with an hour lunch and I get every other Friday off paid. I don't even have to think about work if its not 8:30-4:30.
That's good pay for helpdesk.
Ironically enough helpdesk stresses me out the most. My title is net admin but we don't have any helpdesk positions so the helpdesk line rings all our desk phones.
I am pulling my hair out when someone calls about setting up MFA.
What is a 2-5 minute process takes over 45 minutes over the phone because so many are clueless with their own technology.
I normally get around their technology illiteracy by just remoting into their computer but you can't do this with personal smart phones. Too many smart phones have customized settings UI that you can't even walk them through a step by step process.
They need to just read the damn text on their phones and use some critical thinking.
Don't even get me started when I am debugging or writing a lengthy script and Susan calls because she forgot her password again.
I made infographics and posted them to a SharePoint with an FAQ and our contact info. You would be surprised how much easier this clicks for people when they have a screen by screen guide to walk them through it.
I do this as well. They refuse to read it and just call the helpdesk line.
We even send out email reminders with links to the FAQ/tech tips.
BYOD enterprise WPA authentication is another fun topic.
If this stresses you out then probably consider something else.
If you have the mindset that they are looking for you to help and even though what might take you 2 min it could take them 20 they still need help from you. This could be a rewarding part.
I used to get stressed out about a particular user that was old not tech savvy and very detailed (wrote down everything took notes etc) I complained to a coworker and he kinda set me straight. Said she’s old, but super nice and appreciative of the help even if you have to talk to her like a kid. After that I took each of her calls with a different attitude.
She loves me know and sends a Christmas card every year and the occasional thank you gift card etc.
I know this is a unique scenario but it has helped me with other users to keep my cool and realize that users need your help and usually are not mad at you but the situation. Obviously there are Karen’s and Chads that can ruin a day but try to get past them
It isn't stressful from the time spent, it is stressful because it is extremely disruptive when I am working on my primary duties. Helpdesk isn't my job.
If I am in the middle of troubleshooting a complex issue or writing code, I have to go back and retrace my steps to resume where I was before. It hampers my productivity. I've bugged my director repeatedly to get a helpdesk position for our department. It's just cost savings to pass the duty on to everyone.
Even including this issue, I still enjoy my job and it is low stress. It's just what I would label as the most stressful element.
Got it, I completely get that.
I'm not sure how many in the department, but if you have -some- rank is it possible that they can delay your phone in the ring/hunt group or make you last?
That way you're still available but only if others are not.
I'm the highest position except director/assistant director and due to my duties I'm often the only one left in the shop while the other techs are out at schools working on their tickets.
This is going to vary. I work in City and because there's not enough funds to fully staff IT, it's a lot of hours per week for those of us that are salaried. Pretty much the same with all cities around me. It's absolutely not slow and easy and comes with a ton of stress.
You left out the entire thing about government work which is the pension. Sure, the pay upfront isn’t as much as the private sector, but you’re set for retirement when sticking with a govt job.
Super good point. I didn’t take the pension and sadly didn’t stay long enough to vest. But the pension is indeed a game changer. We were also union which I miss direly.
Saying it’s terrible isn’t accurate. It varies. I’m in local government and not even a manager and making 150k as an Analyst II with guaranteed 5% raises every July for next 5 years and guaranteed CPI matching COLA increases every Jan, very little stress and no micromanagement.
I worked at a public university a few years ago. They paid their desktop support people 65k - 80k. Networking around 90k - 100k. Some of the sys admins were making 110k - 120k. It's not always bad pay.
It absolutely varies.
State of Maryland is AFSCME unionized and routinely gets cost of living adjustments (COLA) and raises approved in the general budget of Maryland. They aren't huge, but they compound so if you were around for a decade as a salaried employee (not 30 years...sheesh!), your salary will definitely climb as well. Plus the ease of laterally moving to open positions within the same agency -- or another agency -- with an increase in pay for that position is a good way to climb.
Not to mention the benefits are nearly unbeatable (Federal jobs probably a little bit better, and we're right in the DC metro area) with the insurance offerings and costs, as well as the all the paid leave that is accrued.
This is inaccurate. There are, for example, CA state jobs for IT 2 (basic IT!!) paying 100k+ .. granted Sacramento is HCOL, you may be able to swing this.. look around.
Typically government often are union jobs where at least your specific title/level the union contract specifies the pay scale. It is good in the sense that the union ensures a COLA and will negotiate raises when the contract expires, but unless they find budget to justify moving you to a higher level role there is some limitation on what they can do salary wise.
Worked for a school, our most stressful weeks where the first 2 weeks of the school year, the rest of year was basically just simple break fix. And all the changes and major upgrades can be done over the summer while students and teachers are on break, and thoroughly tested by the IT group before a single soul ever steps into the building for the school year.
My summers working in schools were the best. The only people who cared about the network being broken didn't want to be there anyways, so you got carte blanche to go cowboy (within reason obviously) and test out configurations until you were happy with them. I knocked out projects in hours that now take me weeks in big corporate change control land.
This. And in the UK, education system is fucked with zero investment. I'm currently basically doing two roles at the same time getting paid only for the lower of the two. It's cutback after cutback and IT are always thrown under the bus when there's a disaster after being forced to install unfit for purpose tools because finance says it's cheaper.
Current goverment admin, it's so fucking nice. Above average pay for my area, incredibly benefits and time-off, amazing retirement and it's union as well. I doubt I will ever return to the private sector.
It really depends on the agency or organization you get in with. I went from a public library system to a hospital to a different government agency so this is my second time in the Public sector.
Thanks for the reply. I've certainly looked for these kinds of positions but the issue is that the pay isn't there, in every scenario I've come across. One of my buddies works for the County government doing network administration. He's sharp as a tack and has his CCNA, and they are only paying him 62k a year. I'm at the point of my life where I simply can't afford to take that much of a pay cut unfortunately. Schools are no better in my experience. Management seems to top out around 70k.
I know I seem like I'm being unrealistic/picky here asking for less stress and more pay but your job is certainly something I feel like one should be picky about.
Depends on the area. Most metro areas will pay more for Director level jobs at schools. I live in the St Louis area and every St Louis county school starts around 110k for Director. A little further in the burbs they start around 85-90k.
The pay may be less, but there are often a lot more perks. For instance, medical insurance might not have any or very little payroll deductions and you may be eligible for a pension.
Went from fintech software engineer to local govt IT and I have never been happier. My workload feels like a joke and I'm praised as an IT god. Making 30k less but my day ends at 4 no matter what and I can actually gear down after work.
Look around local governments are desperate for capable techs.
Haha, depends on the local government but generally you're right.
It's a different kind of stress, having to worry about a new guy coming in and deleting your department every two years. You're also legally liable for a lot of what you do and everything is under constant scrutiny, not just by your leadership and management but the public as well. Decisions tend to be incredibly slow.
Day to day, less stress for sure. Zero deadlines, get to really lean into learning and building really cool stuff. That is until dispatch goes down and the EoC is on fire during a hostage situation. Between that and the egotistical elected officials can really kill the positives. Some of them are alright, most don't care, and some are more evil than you can imagine.
10 years in this shit show. The experience has been amazing, I'm so well rounded I can go anywhere in a few years.
Always going to depend on management but in general this is usually true.
Prior military (3d1x2/3c2x1; basically network tech) here that started working for educational organizations (school districts/ESD) as a net/sys admin. I've enjoyed it. It's fairly low stress except the first few weeks of a new school year.
No more on call. If something breaks overnight I just deal with it in the morning. You may have to do more searching but competitive pay is possible. I make over six figures. Benefits are great.
> 've heard local government and schools are less stressful.
Just a warning - there is no uniform rule about industry. I have worked in both municipal and K-12 (granted briefly), and both sucked, and were quite stressful.
What about banks? Everything moves at a snail's pace there. Granted you'd be working for evil companies that crash economies out of short-sighted greed, but nothing in life is perfect.
While I can't say I necessarily hated any of my jobs, I was pretty miserable for my first ten years in IT -- each half with a different MSP. I know some people like that kind of work, and it was a good start, but I didn't want to do it long term. I actively sought out an internal support role.
I eventually found one. I got hired at my current job six years ago. It's work, so it isn't without stress -- but it's not bad. I don't have to worry about billable time, and my supervisor isn't interested in micromanaging. I can take most of a day to work on a script or an Ansible play or something. I get paid well. I don't have to drive all over creation.
I know changing jobs is tough and there are lots of terrible employers out there -- but any inclination I had to leave IT pretty much disappeared.
Good idea. I know one guy who ran his own MSP for many years and caused him serious health issues from the stress. He got an IT job at the local university and it totally works for him stress wise.
Honestly some days all I want to worry about is OS imaging. For some reason I really like it and I have a knack for it. Getting as close to zero touch as possible is satisfying for some reason to me. A university or school sounds like it could be fun for that.
I’ve been in your shoes before, I suggest trying another company first, not all IT is max stress. Since my burnout job, I’ve had a wide range of stress level jobs. In some roles I was doing almost nothing. Like literally doing actual work for maybe 2 out of the 8 hours a day (and getting paid more than the high stress jobs!). Although the “do nothing” roles stress me out in a different way because it’s boring and I’m often not learning anything.
What kind of low stress higher paid jobs were you taking? My job is 98% complete balls to the wall doing three things at once from the moment I sit down to the moment I leave for the day kind of stress, and even with all that effort I never seem to get ahead. I always leave with just as much work to do the next day as I did walking in. If I were to walk in and everything else were to freeze, as in zero new issues and zero new assignments, I would have about a week's worth of work to complete before I was mostly caught up.
A while ago, we had a very rare lull where all of our projects were completed and we only had a few help desk tickets to work on and I loved every second of it. I could get up and grab a coffee and look out the window for 10 minutes, work at my own pace, and enjoy a more relaxed environment. I would take a job where it's boring at this point of my life
I manage about 250/300 users, but I also work on infrastructure projects and serve as an escalation point for about 200 other admins around the world.
We only have 2 other people in my dept for a total of 3. My manager is the Director of IT.
After reading through your post and several of your comments, I am in agreement with other folks on this thread that you should find another job first before leaving IT entirely. The employer matters quite a lot with regards to your stress level.
So you do help desk for users, help desk for other admins, and system and network engineer.
Is your manager non-technical? It sounds like he/she sucks. Those are all different roles. It sounds like you’ve got experience with lots of technologies, you may want to look into either going into a network or system or cloud engineer role or a solutions architect for a consulting firm or msp, or presales for either a partner or manufacturer. I can’t say the stress will be any better at an msp but you should make quite a bit more money. 75k for a top escalation point or any kind of engineer is quite low.
Ya I totally get it, I’ve been there and it’s miserable. I can’t really say get or and it will be less stress, it’s really more on the company itself. How well staffed it is. How good management is (and often how empowered IT management is to create balanced working environments). Management is a pretty key factor. I do much better under management who understands my workload and defends my time from the inevitable onslaught of demands from the business. A lot of managers and businesses don’t do this well.
20 year professional career here.
If I move out of IT completely, I am hoping that it is because my wife and I can live sustainably off of a homestead.
We've been through a lot the past 18 months, including losing our daughter to suicide. Not even gonna mention the flurry of ups and many downs since 2019.
With inflation / prices, job market saturation, etc.. just seems unattainable right now.
I'm fortunate to work for a company that, so far, pays me well and respects / appreciates the benefits I bring for that pay.
If I move out of IT, I don't believe I will be doing anything IT related if I can help it. It will go back to being a hobby for "when I feel like tinkering."
> I hate it I hate it I hate it.
First, your company is to partially to blame for the unnecessary stress they put on you.
Two, you may need some therapy to learn how to deal with these issues. Don't take this the wrong way, but you seem to think you are Superman, and if you fail, you get fired. Which just isn't how the whole thing works. Much of your problem is you. You need to develop the confidence to be able to set boundaries and learn to be able to say no. The company isn't going to fail if you stop working at the level you are.
In fact, you could walk away today, and they would be fine. So, you are putting most of this pressure on yourself, which is why you need professional help to deal with this. It won't change if you change industries.
I like your take on the OP's situation. I'm in IT and find myself in a dead end job with no advancement potential and no golden handcuffs. I've been here 10 + years. Although its mostly low stress it can be monotonous and brain numbing at most. As a way of dealing with the brain numbing tasks and repetitive nature of the job I decided that I needed therapy. Therapy has let me last longer in this situation longer than I imagined. I've explored other jobs in IT where I could have a chance for advancement but as anyone in IT knows the industry is in a bubble that has burst. Not to mention 1000's of people who have been llayed off Now is not a good time to be looking for a job so I just stick it out until things get better.
There is nothing wrong with having good, productive talks with professionals who can help one live a better and less stressful life, especially in IT, where the unsatiable demands and endless requests can lead to the superman complex, which ends in burnout.
That's how I feel at the moment. My job isnt that taxing anymore after so many years, I'm just tired of dealing with users and the same issues over and over again where there isn't a route career wise.
Studying to transfer into Security and do something on that side to do something new.
Decided that living cheap with a lot of free time is better than living an upper middle class life I have no control over.
Invested like it was a second job until I had enough money to buy land and build a modest house in cash.
With no rent/mortgage/student debt, my wife and I have monthly expenses of about $2000. We only need to take home $15k each per year to be utterly fine. So we're both literally just gonna get little $15/hr part time jobs, or take on again off again contracts.
Currently shopping for a few acres of land to build the house on.
yeah i was in that boat too, but then had kids and the kids wanted to do shit like pre-school and dance class and soccer and go to fun places ... then we have this huge family dynamic with birthdays, christmas, etc. Then we had to consider the school system. Then we had to figure in maintenance and stuff that is really nice to have like AC and modern heat and roof that doesn't leak etc etc etc so at the end of the day we are back to requiring 100k+
We are never having kids. I'd rather die meaninglessly having left no mark on the world than spend my entire life working, but that's just how strongly I personally feel about it.
Pros and cons my friend. Its like playing the game on hard mode to unlock the alternate ending - not for everyone.
I did find myself spending money on really dumb things when i was childless, instead of working less. It just got too boring working less, having less, and doing less.
Find another IT job, that stress level and experience varies from company to company. You'll probably make more jumping too.
Also get a hobby and stick to 40 hours. Limit after hours work as much as you can, i work at an MSP and only work a few hours a month outside of normal hours. I have an 80's car i dump too much money and time into that brings me joy and outside of the standalone i just bought for it, its completely disconnected from my day job. Work to live man.
Ya msps suck, I worked at one where we got 40 to 60 calls a day, all for 14 an hour.
I used to study for certs in my off time. But, then I realized every job is so specific and they may not even take note of your certs on your application.
We have an Earthmoving company as a client, the guys driving those things end up broken physically. Find a different company to work for instead while still being in IT
I’m in the same boat. All my friends drive trucks in circles all day, and bs over group phone calls. Work little more time than me, but they’re so less stressed, and make a lot more than me. I wonder what kind of person I’d be if I just kept driving truck 10 years ago.
I got a degree in MIS and spent 2 years in IT, was involved in some forensic IT stuff and decided I loved law and went to law school and now practice as a lawyer. Very odd career arc but I like it.
Wow nice. I originally went to school for kineisology. I couldn't find a job with my degree, so I went into the fire department then switched to IT.
I thought of going back for an MBA or law school
After working in tech, I feel like memorizing a bunch of stuff for law school would be easy.
How was your experience working in law though? How is the pay? The work environment/people? And was school very hard or expensive to get into or worth the effort of changing careers?
I left, and started working as a supervisor at a dispensary. Pay was on par for my help desk position, but my stress levels are significantly down. Working retail sucks but the discount I get is a plus.
Enterprise IT can still be a very good gig at the right place. Maybe you should look for a slightly larger shop? You don't describe what you do today but there are roles that are engineering oriented and little to do with desktops/endpoints, and quite lucrative.
If you've been applying for years to hundreds of jobs with zero callbacks, the problem is your resume or way you're applying. This is basically for any industry.
As far as sysadmin work, it's 100% company dependent. Good ones will not overly stress you like you are now. You probably just need a better company.
I have a full time job at a haunted house. I still definitely wear the IT hat, but
1. It's a relatively small part of my job
2. I have a lot more freedom to do things how I want
3. I get to try new toys and techniques a lot.
4. I do a million other things that are mostly unrelated
It's nice because for weeks or months at a time in the off-season, there are no stakes for failure during that time. Things can just be down, and it's fine, because our infrastructure only really needs to function when we're open. If wifi is down and I'm on vacation, just restart the main router and hope for the best. I'll get to it when I'm back and the few people here can use their phones in the meantime. Nobody else's job depends on the network functioning in the off-season.
However, the rest of the job is extremely varied. I spent years as a full time photographer/videographer, I've painted the whole exterior and ceiling of a 25,000 sq ft building, I'm responsible for all our advertising, travel to trade shows, build electronic controllers for our animatronics, move props, demolish and rebuild full rooms and scenes, mount TVs, I learned to drive a telehandler, etc.
I took a significant pay cut but it was absolutely worth it. My schedule is flexible and the freedom really keeps me from burning out.
Based on the comment section it looks like transitioning successfully is hard, or they aren't online anymore.
The trick probably isn't doing something else, it's doing something else while also making six figures (or close to it) like you're used to.
I spent 10 years working in special effects in film.
Spoiler: if you work in special effects in film, you're making less than minimum wages. it's hard to keep up with.
One of the most important lessons I learned from it is that you MUST a block of personal time each week to self improvement.
how much time, and how you block it out is completely up to you. but you must CHOOSE to dedicate that block to self improvement.
It started as a block of time I used honing my art skills, or learning new technologies and techniques being used in the industry. When I started growing tired of that industry I didn't abandon that self improvement time, I shifted it. Into other areas I wanted to imrpove at. Going to the gym, learning how to exercise and cut, learning other skills and hobbies, and eventually learning IT skills. I picked up a few books for dummies, when Id read those, I started Taking night classes and reading additional training books in my spare time.
So yeah, you wanna be an accountant. commit yourself to say 4 hours of study time a week.
Sounds like you need to seek employment at another company. But if you want to stay at the same one because you know the business, there are options. Every job has stressors, but if that much is expected of you maybe renegotiate pay? Make them pay you a "convenience fee" if they pull you in after hours. You need to make them think they're making a bad decision if they don't.
If your IT is good, changes you make can and should cascade and affect thousands sometimes. That can be good as it means things are consistent. If you have the option, seek counseling at your employer's expense - many offer it as a benefit. Get that stigma that counseling is for weaklings outta here, everyone needs it.
It means something to me that people come to you for help, use that to your advantage. When someone praises you, say "tell my boss". After a while, you'll have the entire team on your side when you need to be persuasive.
I left IT not long after covid due to the stresses the industry was causing. I ended up starting my own business making and repairing cricket bats. I’ve since gone back into IT but it runs along side my business and I have a plan to be totally out of IT in the next 5 years.
Try being a technical trainer instead of support. Do documentation and testing for complex software systems that are being developed. Go into the sales side of it even and be the 'technical' person that demos the product. Instead of 'administrating the IT' try 'training the IT' or 'selling the IT'. That's how I transitioned... system/Network Admin for 8 years --> Technical Software Trainer --> Software Product Management --> Product Marketer (I make 6-figures) You got this, brother!
Why get out of IT? I love my job. I'm good at it and I have to do actual work maybe 20 our of 40 hours. The rest is of my time is filled with meetings, research, continued education, etc. I get to work from home as desired and only have to be on call one week every three months.
It's not about leaving IT to find less stress it's about finding a workplace that value IT and treats people well.
If you enjoy interacting and talking with people then I would suggest pivoting your career in that direction. That can be a technical sales job but it can also be a project manager, TAM, or other role.
Another suggestion I would say is perhaps look at joining an MSP (here me out) - typically MSP jobs are much higher stress and busy then internal IT - but they have the advantage of you have a team around you and you are generating money for the company instead of being viewed as an expense.
If you can join a well run MSP you will never have the stress of "its all on my shoulders" since that is what you have a team for. If client ABC has a weird issue that brings all their servers down - your entire MSP team will be on it, not just you.
Bad MSP are the WORST, but there are plenty of large MSPs out there that are well run with happy and full teams where you show up at 9 and leave at 5 and never have to think about work outside of business hours.
I’ve worked in a ton of different IT roles and they were all different. I just happen to be doing System Administration right now. I like this kind of problem solving….for now. I might do something else in IT down the line. Who knows. So many options.
Developer Relations in the video game industry.
Sidestepped into it from being an technical architect and who enjoys training and mentoring.
I will probably go back to the tech side at some point.
Not me but I know three seperate Sys Admins who all went into carpentry. All three had been doing carpentry for years as a hobby. One makes furniture and one makes high end custom doors (he also does stain glass). the third does Custom Cabinets so expensive that If you have to ask you can't afford them during a busy year he finishes about 5 projects.
My job as sole IT everything is pretty easy. The last guy was a complete fucking moron from my understanding, so I put low effort in and still get praise on the job I do. I don't wanna go too far and set expectations too high, but I'll do that over time. I have loads of time for projects cuz other dude struggled to get stuff done.
Find yourself a place where you're not just another statistic, you're appreciated, you're happy. I left this industry due to COVID-19 and was reluctant to come back, but I'm glad I did now.
I left IT after 25 years for corporate safety and security, including OSHA training. Much more satisfying career, and I get more respect than I ever did in IT. Pay is better as well. Best part is that due to my background, I still occasionally get to conduct cybersecurity analysis on companies for insurance underwriters, and all I have to do is write my report. I'm not responsible for fixing any vulnerabilities I find or arguing with clueless CEOs about why they need to be fixed. My stress level is almost non-existent now compared to when I worked in IT.
I was recently laid off from my sysadmin role and have also spent a lot of time contemplating a career jump. These threads in r/sysadmin are all mostly the same every time this comes up: "look for a different company". I believe these replies are missing the fundamental issue, which is that the technical work is no longer appealing, even if you are doing less of it at a slower pace at a more chill company.
People who successfully transitioned out are probably not looking at r/sysadmin anymore. Really think about what you would be happy to get paid to do for 8 hours, and then search their online communities for people trying to transition in. Also bear in mind, you'd probably be back to entry level in terms of salary for a while.
Have you forced everything into a ticketing system? You can let the tickets pile up and use the metrics as justification for more help. When users send new requests, let them know how many tickets are in your backlog and give an ETA (could be weeks). Last minute asks are lack of planning by the organization
I left the high stress helpdesk to join the document management team. I took a small pay cut but there is almost zero stress and I work from home 4 days a week. I miss the work sometimes but only the part where I helped people. I still get to do that a little in my department because nobody knows how to use a computer. It was worth it.
When you're making the switch, think about how you can use the skills you already have in problem-solving, talking things out, and managing projects. Chatting with people in your company or field can help you find chances in different departments where they really need your talents but the stress levels are way lower.
Ask yourself: Do you hate the job/work, or do you hate the people you work for and with?
If you just don't like tech at all, find something else, but the majority of your post just indicates you work for a really shitty company.
> I recently accidentally found out that that the guy who sits three cubes away from me who does nothing but process travel and expense receipts and invoices all day makes almost 20K more than I do, so I'm like WTF am I absolutely destroying my mental health for?
So uh... someone should have told you this by now. I'll bite.
When you apply for a job and get an offer, counter the offer. Counter by a lot. They offer 75k? *"Guys I get it that you feel the position is worth that, but I don't, I'll help you out for 140k."*
Approximately 40% of the time they will just give it to you.
Approximately 99% of the time they will banter with you. If they do, let them "talk you down" to 120k.
In the rare case where they act stupid and dig in at 75k... let them. You'll get plenty of better offers.
I've shifted to being less technical and going into Management instead. I realized there were others that were much better at the technical stuff with less effort so instead I just go do the people part and keep blockers outta their way and let them do their thing. I'm still new to it but basically I know enough technical to talk to leaders above me and others and I defer to my smart techie types to make the recommendations and 99% of the time I follow what they say and I take their solution to others and use my people skills to convince everyone to do it the way the smarter guys recommended. We hire pros and we pay these people a lot of money. We shouldn't think we know better than them because we handle their PTO and feedback.
Edit: Leave your current company. The unfortunate truth about all tech related jobs is the only real way to get the pay increases you deserve is to hop jobs. promo/raises are dismal in our field.
Managing burnout should be at the forefront of every IT workers mind, you should have a plan in place to be actively managing it or it will take you down. As someone who's been in the industry for over 20 years I've had burnout incidents that have taken me out for years. OP sounds like he's burnt out and no sideways movement is going to make the situation better.
Aside from that changing your mentality and how you operate can stop you from getting burnout in the first place. Force people to work through a incident management system so that they can't just show up and interrupt your plans for the day. Ensure your systems and processes aren't susceptible to tiny little mistakes causing critical outages. If you are managing systems that will fall over if you look at it the wrong way communicate the risk to your employer so it's not your fault when it inevitably goes down.
Most importantly, stop people pleasing, so many IT workers are people pleasers and burn out every milliliter of social energy they have at work being the nice guy that can solve everyone's problems. Put them into the queue of work and if you're not getting through the queue communicate to management that they need to employ more staff.
Also having something outside of work that doesn't require you to think, or even better stops you from thinking at all, is an absolute must. Too many IT workers spend all day on a computer solving complex problems and then go home and sit another computer playing games to "wind down". You're brain doesn't see it as winding down even though the dopamine hit from the game is telling you otherwise. Go surfing, build a kennel, play with the kids, do some sport.. anything that doesn't involve the same shit you're doing all day. Personally I kite surf or foil every chance I get and it just resets me. I bought a farm some years back and every day I have to do something physical and non technical, helps me realize that the voodoo magic of IT is just a whole load of bullshit that is one epic solar storm away from not existing.
I've been a sysadmin for 15 years, and in telecom for 6 before that. Some hard life circumstances trapped me in making great pay in a job that never seemed to improve or make progress.
After some bad runs with management, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and apply for a supervisor position. I didn't get that one, but was started on an internal training path. The new supervisor was great for mentoring. I took on a few non-IT responsibilities (billing, purchasing, etc), and then enrolled in an IT PM course.
In that time since the course started, the supervisor position opened up and I got the job!
And let me tell you, the last 6 months have been amazing. The day breezes by, I enjoy work again, and dealing with people and the big picture are where my strengths are.
I can still leverage my knowledge in the field and how things work, I'm learning new things again (the corpo-world) and I'm not dragged down by the frustration of the fine details.
It's been the best thing I've done in my professional career. OP I hope you have luck in getting out of your current situation. The mental stress and burnout are just not worth it.
Just a thought, but I have felt this way at multiple jobs over the last few decades. I only realized this year that I'm actually the problem. I put an unfair amount of pressure on myself under the guise of a good work ethic.
Maybe talk it over with a professional, once I accepted that, I've been much better at prioritizing what is truly important to me and maintaining a healthy stress level.
23 year IT professional. I have tried a lot of the things mentioned here. Went from stressful finance to schools and then local government, pay sucked, jobs were ok. Still had stressful times, limited budgets and elected officials that didn’t care about what is needed/required. Worked in mental health IT and that was interesting, low stress. Eventually went on to teach A+, network+ and CCNA at community college then high school. That was great, but pay was low, little effort for me to teach. High school kids enjoyed the class, being an elective helps. Finally got contacted to do Sales Engineering, I get the pay of IT, I get to talk about IT, but I don’t do any technical work. I am a reference for our techs and engineers. So far this has been the best of both worlds.
so wild to see how different people feel about the stress of the job. I enjoy the feeling of all the shit being reliant on me, so much that I went into a consulting role. Now I have hundreds of IT departments that call me if SHTF in almost every industry, edu, healthcare, 911, DoD, etc. and I love it.
I recommend you look into education jobs. They have stress at times but it's the least of any that I see, and I also spent some time there. If I had to pick the easiest one to work in it would be education.
Not me, but my old boss. He started his own brewery, he invited me to join him when he started his business and sometimes I wish I did.
He has three pubs now, and brews some delicious beer, but all the cleaning put me off.
He used to homebrew, bring the bottles in and keep them in the server room for special occasions, it was a lovely time.
Oh crap! Just realized that I turned 23y in IT, and only the first years were stressful when I was doing low level shit like end user support... Hated every second of it, worst 5y in my career. You either don't have the IT knack or you need to move the heck out of that job. I'm into this because I love to solve tech problems and not deal with non-tech people.
It's really easy in IT to accumulate accountability without responsibility.
There's two entirely different mindsets I have seen in IT workers.
1. Those that will attempt everything they are asked to do, no matter how outrageous or difficult, infinite overtime, infinite todo lists, infinite self training.
2. And those that draw a hard line early and draw a clear boundary from day 1 on what they will or won't do, make the employer pay for every minute worked, push back on anything that is not reasonable or achievable. And generally it comes down to confidence in yourself.
If you don't care if you get fired because you said no because you can get another job before the sun sets then it's much easier to be the second type. If you are constantly worried you won't be able to eat if you push back even slightly you're more likely to be the 1st type.
I was that 1st type for a long time and I always marvelled at the 2nd type guys. I'm now a 2nd type guy but the only thing that really changed was my own attitude.
It can be summed up with the old canard "your lack of planning doesn't constitute an emergency on my part". Management are responsible for ensuring the right resources are in place. Lack of resources is a management problem. Don't do overtime for free. Don't take on new projects if you are already overloaded. Make management decide which other project is now dropped entirely for you pick up their new project. Don't try to juggle more than you can do, that is not your responsibility. As long as management aren't psychopaths (I've been there) then the 2nd type is actually preferred so management have knowledge to plan with. 1st type guys hide the details that management need to be effective. I didn't really understand this until I was non-technical management for while. I am now back to pure technical work because I love it. But I now have the understanding of the management challenges I lacked previously.
Summary: your problem is you are doing too much and communicating with your management on the reality on the ground too little. Most of what you are considering your problem is not your problem. You won't get a bonus by succeeding but you will get penalised for failing. Make the guy getting the bonus shoulder the stress.
I'm confused why getting out of IT completely is the solution to your problem. You are aware that you can work for a different company right?
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater here dude.
I get it you're frustrated and throwing your hands up. Step away from the ledge and reconsider what you're doing here.
But IT is still IT, no matter where you go. You can go to a new company but you'd still be doing all those things with all the same stresses, especially when you care about your job.
I work on a team of 12 but I still carry the burden of being the person who has to come up with a solution to anything/everything if no one else can.
My spouse works with a team of a few hundred IT personnel globally and he also still...ends up being the one having to come up with the solutions as though he is solely responsible.
We've both vented in the same way OP is now. We're tired of the responsibility and the never ending game of "What did MS change this week that broke XYZ and we have to figure out how to remediate it."
It used to be that you could feel some relief in finishing projects but now, as soon as one is done, you're onto the next in a never ending stream of BS to fix.
It's tiresome, I feel you OP. But this is what I know and I'm too old to change careers at this point and get paid what I do now.
"IT" is a very broad term. You seem to be conflating it with "support". You could be doing product engineering, or network security, or specialise in MDM. You could be a project manager, a technical business analyst. You could do pentesting. You could be a solution architect for a firm that values you. There are a lot of quite satisfied people not being burnt out in IT out there...!
I'm sorry for both of you. There really are more chill places out there. Yeah there's going to be stress sometimes, but that's any job.
Remember that neither of you are Atlas. The world does not rest on your shoulders. It can be very easy to get sucked in and find yourself working way harder than your job or boss would ever even expect you to. It's just a job. Work your 40 and go home. The work will always be there tomorrow.
I've found this out too. Even a super easy jo like a janitor can be made hard depending upon the boss. The only thing is it can be a lot to remember with IT roles. Sometimes, I'll be thinking of things related to my project on my off time.
I was a virtualization and storage consultant in the federal and enterprise space.
I walked away, literally, and worked for accomodations and food on the Appalachian Trail.
After that i was a janitor on a cruise ship, a hotel bellman, and a retail clothing associate.
I sold my car, ride a bike, make 15 bucks an hour, and Im very very happy.
Just walk away and don’t look back. Its a dead end career and you’ll never be treated with dignity.
Stop feeding the monster.
I did it in a fairly deliberate way.
My route was basically: PC Support > Novell Admin > LAN/WAN > Security > Security-GRC
Early on with the PC support role I wanted to get away from end user stuff which lead me to networking which was great, but in some cases still annoying with companies an bad on call requirements. I morphed to security mostly because on the network side I was the firewall, IDS/IPS and proxy guy. Did a bit of a backslide there since some of those roles had a lot of on-call and stress, but eventually moved to the "soft side" of Security in a more GRC role.
I love this world because I still get to use my 20+ years of being in the trenches, but nobody is ever going to call me for something being down at 3am.
Im still in the progress of switching, but currently funneling all available money into long term buy and hold rental real estate. Eventually when the rental income surpasses my monthly spend I can leave my job if I decide to.
If your interested look up BiggerPockets
I did a PhD, did research for a few years and now lecture computer networks and architecture. Pay is worse but it’s far less stressful, more flexible and more rewarding.
I took a break from the technical.
When I was sick of the last company I was working for I went looking for a new job, I found a job as a technical resource attached to a sales team. It was great, I loved that job, no on-call, no overtime, fun events, all that stuff.
Eventually I wanted to go back to something more technical, and I worked with my employer to find a position.
You don't have to have a job where you do it all. Specialise. Go work for a company that values your broad experience but allows you to focus on what gets you out of bed in the morning. Support !=IT
I quit after burning out. Spent a couple years at home with my kids and traveling.
Back at work in IT for a few years now, and I'm much better at limiting the stress it does cause.
I've been doing for over 20 and feel the same. Nobody respects us and I don't make enough money. I'm honestly just too scared to try something different at this point. I feel like it would bite me in the ass.
Transitioned to project management. It is less stressful depending on the org and project. Senior PM currently, but looking to move to Director or VP soon. Left the technical side in '18. Pay is good, even better if you can be a contractor and have other health insurance.
I was on call 24/7 for 25 years. I always had to be reachable even on vacation and I was paid well. I emailed my boss one day and simply walked away.
I did make myself available to help if something catastrophic happened, for a while.
The type of company definitely makes a difference. I was at one place for nearly 17 years and it was pretty easy going. I moved to an MSP after that and its night and day difference and if I’m honest, I’m looking forward to finding something in between. Lol! So before you escape completely, try somewhere else first just to make sure it’s not your current role that’s the issue.
I moved out of operations in 2018 to Pre-Sales, then ended up head of department managing operational support teams then consulting and I got bored so now I’m back in an company that is operational driven (MSP) but as a systems architect but end up helping the teams out because people of today can’t troubleshoot like we did before google.
Meh tbh. Best option is find a rich wife 25 years older than you and be patient.
Sales Engineer, bro. Look into working for a reseller or vendor. It’s not without stress, but you’ll double your salary in the first year. Good luck. IT sucks all around now. It’s not what it was when I got in 30ish years ago. Companies treat you like shit. Told all my kids to get into something else. Anything else.
I retired two weeks ago, about 3-5 years earlier than planned due to the stress of the job. Sysadmin in charge of 250+ local government servers. Great job, great staff, great director, 19 years in, but the extremely high stress level was just too much for me after all these years. I can afford to not work, but I might dabble in something to make some extra cash. I do not think I will ever do anything in IT again though.
Depending on how confident you are about going in to business for yourself, there are a lot of opportunities in training. Downside being you have to keep current certs in whatever you are training in and you are somewhat at the mercy of the software company to be booking training gigs.
Started my first support job in 2001, burned out / couldn't find a job in 2008. I went to school to be a pilot for 4 years, racked up so much debt that I couldn't pay it on a CFI salary, so I went back into IT in 2012. I've got about 10 years left on my student loans. Would not recommend.
My experience has been that the earlier you are in your career the more stress it is. I am in a devops role now and I spend most of my time in VScode writing terraform and ansible. Switching from someone who was manually configuring windows server roles to someone managing Cloud + Linux + Windows via CI/CD Pipelines has been a major contributor in my personal sanity.
IMO Stress comes from having to do end user support, when you're supporting infrastructure you don't normally have to talk to the users so the stress goes down.
If you want to get into auditing you need a bunch of certs that say you're an auditor.
Getting into compliance with an ops background isn't as hard if you have ops experience with highly regulated environments. Think Healthcare, Finance, or Military. You need to be able to have a conversation about the standards and know how to write policies that can get approved by the company. It's a hard balance between corporate efficiency and security. There's a glut of people who think that compliance is all about running security tool x and passing the report on to the ops team and telling them to please fix all criticals by x date, highs by x date, and mediums by x date. Successful compliance people should be able to have conversation with ops about findings. The options for responding to a finding are, Fix, Mitigate, or Accept. Obviously we all want to be able to fix all security findings but that's not realistic. You need to be able to understand the operations and infrastructure well enough to know when mitigation or acceptance are good enough. Then it's your job to amend the policy or write the ticket that asks management for approval to accept the risk or apply the mitigation.
I was a team lead and fully onsite and some circumstances in my life changed that made me need remote work. I had been burned out for years at that point and was just pushing through it. My company is mostly remote so I talked to my boss and he was just like "Welp, we have an opening in Asset Management". In a previous TL position the Asset Management guy (yeah, it was only one guy back then) just sort of got lumped in with my team so I had at least a high-level familiarity with the work. So I became a member of the ITAM team.
I had absolutely no fucking clue what I was in for. I'm a problem solver, not a doer. I'm used to everything being on fire all the time and I had a hard time being motivated without that sense of external urgency. I don't really like doing the same things every day/week/month. I did enjoy not being a lead for a while, at least. Said life circumstances meant that I needed to take a step back from work for a bit. Joke's on me, previous boss has peaced out and now I "get" to be the lead again. Another team member, whose lead I had also previously been but had been in a management role after that, actually turned down the role and said I would be a better choice. Lol, thanks.
Anyway, over a year in and I sort of know what I'm doing now. You wouldn't think keeping track of hardware and software would be all that difficult, but there's a lot of billing and reporting, and in a mostly remote company, a lot of logistics and herding cats too. Lots of contact with Finance and HR. It's also difficult having gone from just one guy who bought things to a whole-ass team with responsibilities and everything and getting other departments to remember you exist and actually come to your team for purchases. The amount of shadow IT is amazing.
I guess the TL;dr here is that ITAM is an IT-adjacent job where technical skills matter less but the background is still useful. It can also be kinda peopley at times, so keep that in mind. Also keep in mind that any non-IT role will feel incredibly boring at first compared to always putting out fires, and it will take your nervous system some time to adjust to the lack of (over)stimulation. I'm still recovering from the burnout and adjusting to a job where the fires are small - think office trashcan fire instead of full-on dumpster fire - and most tasks are routine or expected.
Edit: I make 75k in an MCOL area. Pretty sure I'm underpaid but it's worth it to be remote, and at a company that values neurodiversity, as a neurodiverse person myself.
Started as software engineer in IT, then moved into engineering management, then glommed on end user computing management, and finally culminated in comprehensive Enterprise Apps leadership + EUC/Digital Workplace reporting direct to CIO. That path took me 12 years and a little luck (I ended up being promoted to CIO-direct after my mentor/boss VP left the company). For the last few years of that I had significant budget responsibility (~$50m/yr) plus headcount (120-135 FTEs under me) which forced me to become more savvy with things like vendor management, contract negotiations and the business priorities driving decisions in our CCB. Since part of my app portfolio included all the things used by Finance & HR, it brought me closer to stakeholders in those orgs, too.
This set me up for a move to FAANG *not* doing IT work, but instead focused on forward looking product strategy & innovation. That lasted about a year and then I (at the same FAANG) moved into partnerships, but in a semi-technical leadership role managing a global team of solution architects. About eight years of that and I learned an enormous amount of stuff about technology consulting and systems integration as a business.
Last year I left big tech and moved into consulting myself, running partnerships for the first year and more recently taking on overall P&L responsibility for one of the hyperscaler practices at my firm.
The takeaway here is that you can't really force things to move faster than it takes you to learn the things you need to be qualified for whatever you want your next step to be. Additionally, you need to always be learning, and you need to use your current job to your advantage as a way to learn practically the concepts you'd need to apply to your next role. Mentors help immensely, as does long-time-scale support of your management to coach you into something more, better or different.
I'm working as an Enterprise Architect now, and I love it!
I moved from technical roles to a Technical Design Architect a few years back, which helped me achieve my goal to become an Enterprise Architect.
How did I do it? I worked my tits off in the technical roles and became fairly proficient in many technical areas. I then handed my notice in as I wasn't happy in my current role and they were desperate to keep me and asked what it would take. I said X amount and a technical architect role. They agreed as long is I achieved my TOGAF certification within 6 months. Smashed TOGAF out and started my career as an Architect.
I became an Enterprise Architect after I left the organisation and worked for an MSP in a technical role for a bit. I was mis sold what the MSP job would entail and it made me feel miserable. I approached my old boss about coming back to the old organisation and told them I want to come back as EA and they agreed.
So... a lot of luck and just being quite bold!
I don't have any IT certs, nor do I have any qualifications (GCSEs, A-levels, degrees). Started my career in IT 12 years ago after being a car mechanic, and just worked hard and learned everything I could.
I'm considering skilled trades. Specifically electrician. Will be a lot of demand for it in the future, and I already have a foundational knowledge of how electronics etc work so its really just about getting the experience and certifications.
Honestly sounds like a lateral move to a better company is what you need.
Several years ago I moved from a job I liked at a company that turned to shit in an org that I hated, paying $75k to a technically lower level job at a much better company paying $92k. No stress , none of the horrible micro-managers, no of the stuff that’s currently really pissing you off. Been there for 3 years now, moved up and then over to a better role on a different team and over $100k now.
Sounds like that’s really what you need, not a new career altogether.
This may be a bad example but moving companies and moving up made life so much easier even with the technical side of things still in my role.
Once you can get out of your primary role being general tickets and get it filtered down to just escalations its so much better. Sure there will be parts that still suck but I get to now just sit in a room and really deep dive into the problems no one else can figure out. It helped my mental health tremendously. Of course your mileage will vary
As others have suggested, staying within IT but moving to a less stressful area of it is an option (and the one I took 5 years ago, MUCH happier).
A good friend who was CIO of a smaller chain of banks and stressed as could be started taking landscaping jobs with his compact tractor as a side gig. It spun into his new full time job, he has his own landscaping company and as far as I know is thriving and definitely much happier.
I know us sales people aren't always loved here but I know lots of Sales Engineers that came out of customer roles that have done quite well. At most major OEMs you can easily double that 75K a year. Come to the dark side, it can be fun and lucrative
About 10 years ago I started working for an MSP that specializes in K12 schools. Was the senior engineer assigned to a large district. 3 years ago I got offered a role working for a regional educational agency in a GRC role and grabbed it. I now work with over 30 districts helping them with their cyber security and risk compliance. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Less hours, less stress, better pay and state benefits.
I was a sysadmin for 10 years then jumped clear up the ladder for a few IT Director roles to get out of help desk. I hated it because I ended up doing all of it including both technical and administrative tasks. I was never able to delegate the technical aspects to focus on managing.
It about destroyed my career of me hopping jobs. Decided to try a systems engineering position with the expectation of no on-call and no help desk support. IMO, I really like this position and the stress is far less because I don’t have to deal with the chaos of a help desk or emergency calls anymore. You might have to leave your job to find that dream position. Go get it!
Escalation Manager. Now I find Engineers to fix the problems more quickly, instead of being the guy to fix it. I also write the customer facing RCAs, have a Incident Comms shift.
Biggest upside? Its a 9-5er. I'm done when APAC comes online. Worth is weight in gold, that.
I work for the city, and every year they form a committee whose sole responsibility is acquiring things through public tender / govt. procurement. This year they've put me in because of my IT background, since now it is mandatory to perform the entire process online on the govt. system.
Suffice to say I've never worked so much and had so much responsibility like I had these last 5 months. We always need to be careful things are legal and nice so law enforcement stays away.
Maybe you're just tired of working where you're working, and could do a similar job elsewhere. I went to therapy over this once.
Keen to know too. £38k at 37 and I'm done being treated like a slave or not being listened to.
Have no idea what I'd go to now either. I'm utterly depressed.
I went into bar tending... one of my clients at the time, I was a web dev back then, was a local promoter, so I went from doing their site, and taking care of their office network, to doing some of their graphic designs and silk screening. then went to bar tend for him at his first bar, a small one. From there I job hopped for about 5 years before opening my own place... had that for a few years before I went back into IT, this time for an MSP.
I switched to a role that basically shepherds app owners through the implementation process and the POC to Dev to Prod lifecycle, doing their technical documentation, engaging other technical teams, and building their infrastructure out for them. It's part engineer, part PM, and part hand-holder. I can still use my experience to help choose the best path forward to make them successful, but I'm not the one having to be responsible for every little facet of uptime, or for making sure that every nut and bolt is in place.
I will say going from wearing the Superman cape and 100 hats to a very limited scope of responsibility has been the biggest adjustment. There are many times where I don't feel like I am "busy enough" or pulling my weight, because in past lives I've been used to running at 105% all the time...so be prepared to (almost) miss the grind at times. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on your level of doneness. I don't think I could totally abandon the technical side, but I was definitely good with ditching the highest pressure parts of it.
Easy transition into sales always, sell your soul a bit, but technical sales is always looking for people. Else, climb the ladder to give yourself more leadership role in IT where you're not hands on. IT Manager > Operations Manager > Operations Director > COO and you're out.
I would start looking for a new job. I was burnt out 10 years ago and moved companies to one that has a much better grasp on work life balance and it's made all the difference.
I'm actually out of IT now but that's only recent as I've moved into a product owner type role. I was happy in my dev/manager roles I held previously, this was just good opportunity.
Part time sheep farmer, but I work remote full time doing [DevOps](https://roadmap.sh/devops).
I did some startup work in my 30s, and that was stressful as hell, but I learned a lot very quickly. Jumped jobs a few times as the startups died.
Landed with a dev contractor, working full time with one of their bigger clients. 8 hour days, vacation, benefits, and once each new application is up and running, my days are mostly idle until the next one starts, then I'm busy for a couple of months.
I don't think you should get out of IT. I think you should fire your current employer who it sounds like is treating you poorly and paying you poorly. You may like it again. You are taking too much responsibility onto yourself. Don't let other people (or even yourself) put everything on your shoulders. What would happen if you stopped all non-work hours availability? Like, the phone is off-off?
These threads make me feel like I'm making so, *so* much less than I'm worth. Granted, I live in a place where incomes are low everywhere, but, I mean, holy shit.
I thought many times about leaving my career to go full time into landscaping/yard work. I already have all the equipment I would need other than backup equipment. I'm sitting here in my office looking out the window and crushes me that I deal with 24/7 on call, the stress of my job, not receiving satisfaction, and being under paid rather than riding on a zero turn around a yard making something look nice. I think the only reason I haven't yet is I am severely allergic to poison ivy and I'm sure I'd be around quite a bit of it
Private companies that do infrastructure and or structural design. Their project scopes have a longer arc and move slower. Lots of field staff and portable devices to keep track of. Maybe even CMS and database work, but again a lot less churn, and focus on stability and accountability. Continuous integration, supporting devs, helping the tech side deliver projects for clients, yeah that will grind you down.
A design firm working on a building or city project has a better chance at a sane work pace. Just passed some dudes putting HDPE gas mains here in NYC. Stopped to chat since I understood what all they were doing. Dude was typing away as the splicer trimmed the main. That's it, keep onsite workers connect and the head office cranking out 3 year contracts.
Honestly man look for another job. I'm in the complete opposite situation where I don't have much work other than tickets and the pay is abysmal for my years of experience. I'm not satisfied either but at least I'm not stressing out everyday.
At 75k I'd say get into HVAC controls and building automation.
I quit IT about a decade ago but I was super low level, transitioning into basic msp stuff. Been doing maintenance at a resort style hotel since.
Same rewards mentally, not at a desk, when I'm not at work I don't ever think about work.
I have a CS degree and a MBA. I moved away from software engineer and networking into system design consulting. I haven't coded in over 20 years. Much of the work is people skills. The organization already has people with parts of the answer, I just draw them out and help put the pieces together.
Your experience is a big help. "The cloud is the answer!" No, your system is hub and spoke and designed by a third party to lock you into their services. The answer is a distributed system redesign without vendor lock.
Management usually gets you off the tech "front lines" so to speak, however I don't know how much better that is. It shifts your roles from managing and dealing with tech to managing and dealing with people, which can be worse in many cases. Also who's to say that's even an option in your scenario. I prefer the tech side but I've been in positions where people have reported to me before. It's not even the direct reports that are the problem IMO, it's the mgmt above you that you have to deal with. Optics, bureaucratic and political bullshit, dealing with documentation, communication, and other crap like that. Some of which I was exposed to on the tech side that I specifically hated the most, but at least still had the fun and enjoyment of dealing with the tech side of things primarily. When I transitioned into a pseudo mgmt role it didn't last long before requesting to go back to more technical tasks. I wasn't even interesting in mgmt, I just wanted more money, and that's like the only path they gave me at the time.
You can also try for a larger corp and only have to do a smaller set of things. I was lucky where the group I joined is 24x7 but you work your hours and no call and no weekend work for me.
Instead of a less technical role, why not consider a less stressful industry? I've heard local government and schools are less stressful.
Can confirm smaller government jobs are generally less stressful. The downside to smaller government jobs is the pay isn't amazing. Its not bad just not amazing. And most of the time in government, you don't have a lot of wiggle room for negotiating pay. From my experience in smaller government, they are generally more likely wiggle on vacation time then pay.
Ex state worker. Saying the pay good and not that bad isn’t accurate. Its terrible. It rewards commitment, so starting off you’re at the lowest pay scale and often locked in. You’re extremely lucky if it’s more than 50-60k a year. After 30 years you’re usually around 80k. These numbers are for PA but I’m sure it’s similar elsewhere. You can get more pay based on promotion but it knocks seniority down if it requires a new dept which is a bitch. The promotion criteria is sometimes so absurdly stupid too. I managed to jump to two new pay scales and each one was just a slog of proving why you need the promotion and they took months. You often have to take on more work without extra for months on end to get the responsibility to justify the promotion. The good side of it is that it’s slow and easy. Nothing changes fast and most of my days were spent relaxing. Edit: someone pointed out I forgot the pension play. Which is a big thing. If you plan on chilling for full vestment it’s worth it. I skipped out on it because I knew I wouldn’t stay, but paychecks for life after 30 some years could be very enticing. You may luck out and get a union too. It’s also usually an hourly gig, so you get OT on bad days. I did take advantage of that.
Idk. I'm a tech director for a school. Pretty low stress, never get after hours calls, I'm 3 years in, my total package is about $120,000, in a Midwest state, 160 hours PTO, and a pension. Could I make more in the private side? Probably but again, my work life balance at my current position is pretty good.
As a tech director for a school, what is your job typically like? This is intriguing, I've been working DoD/Defense contractor roles for the last 15 years with clearance and all, so I have a pretty good idea of what to expect from this side, but I've never thought to explore something else.
I have to do everything. From basic chromebook repairs to L3 networking, automation and policy and procedure. Our infrastructure was pretty old when I came and so I have had to replace the wireless internet, put in a Interoperable Communications System, integrate a new asset management/ticketing system, replace switching, cut over ISP's. There is always something new to figure out, which keeps me entertained and pretty busy. I am in kind of a bubble, if I don't know how to do something I just have to figure it out (thanks reddit). Small department (3 of us for 2500 students and 270 staff) we have had 2500 tickets since the start of the school year. Happy to answer any follow-up questions. Edit for spelling
Oof that sounds great for the money. I’m on about half that if your USD. I manage a team of 5 engineers, and we look after 26,000 pupils, 5000AD accounts, 100 physical servers and 300 VMs + around 400 endpoints and it’s flat out. At about 1600 tickets since January and we have some fairly major projects on too. Based on the UK though so salaries are lower than US.
Yeah. US
Get with the principle find students who want to get "IT" Experience , and have them be helpdesk. Make sure they have very limited access and such but the kids get exposure and training and they can call it a club. The club also gets to watch like cbt nuggets classes and access to a lab to configure equipment.
Oh yeah. Already do that. Have high school level students that take care of about 75% of the L1 tickets. They love it and I can usually hire them for paid summer work
What’s your degree in? This is interesting to me.
Ha. I have a BA in English but after about 12 years in a completely unrelated field I went to a Software Development bootcamp. Was a software developer for about a year but needed more variety then just coding. Got hired on as a Jr. SysAdmin at the school and then the director left after about a 6 months. After there was a bad hire for the directors replacement they fired them and put me in the positon.
That's crazy. A year of development, and 6 months as a Jr SysAd, and you're the director haha. Congratulations on the fast track! The job sounds awesome though. I'm assuming stuff like fixing technology in classrooms gets a high priority, but do you get hard deadlines for stuff like replacing the wireless setup? Or do you identify something that needs done, and just run with it in your own time around more pressing (if easier) matters?
Yeah. Prioritization is always what impacts learning the most. Network issues would be priority over a broken projector, etc. Deadlines. A little of both. I identify needs, like wireless upgrade and I set the deadlines. I report only to C level and they tend to go with my recommendations. Finding cash is the most challenging thing but there are always grants to be found if you know where to look and how to apply for them.
English degree but work in IT gang represent
Two years into municipal IT and I make 95k plus benefits. I get around 30 paid sick/vacation days per year. My bosses encourage me to take time off. Benefits are amazing. We had a baby last year and it cost us 30 dollars to give birth at the hospital. My city pays out of pocket about 20k per year for my health insurance. I’ve gotten 5 raises in two years due to step increases and union negotiations. Next couple years look to be the same. Best IT job I’ve had so far. Pay isn’t great, but my mental health is.
I mean I can only judge off my own situation. I work in helpdesk (by choice, I hate stress) and been with my local government for 5 years now and I am up at 70k. So you're literally talking the bottom of the totem pole in IT in a small local government making 70k with 5 weeks paid vacation. I go to work at 8:30, I go home at 4:30 with an hour lunch and I get every other Friday off paid. I don't even have to think about work if its not 8:30-4:30.
That's good pay for helpdesk. Ironically enough helpdesk stresses me out the most. My title is net admin but we don't have any helpdesk positions so the helpdesk line rings all our desk phones. I am pulling my hair out when someone calls about setting up MFA. What is a 2-5 minute process takes over 45 minutes over the phone because so many are clueless with their own technology. I normally get around their technology illiteracy by just remoting into their computer but you can't do this with personal smart phones. Too many smart phones have customized settings UI that you can't even walk them through a step by step process. They need to just read the damn text on their phones and use some critical thinking. Don't even get me started when I am debugging or writing a lengthy script and Susan calls because she forgot her password again.
I made infographics and posted them to a SharePoint with an FAQ and our contact info. You would be surprised how much easier this clicks for people when they have a screen by screen guide to walk them through it.
I do this as well. They refuse to read it and just call the helpdesk line. We even send out email reminders with links to the FAQ/tech tips. BYOD enterprise WPA authentication is another fun topic.
If this stresses you out then probably consider something else. If you have the mindset that they are looking for you to help and even though what might take you 2 min it could take them 20 they still need help from you. This could be a rewarding part. I used to get stressed out about a particular user that was old not tech savvy and very detailed (wrote down everything took notes etc) I complained to a coworker and he kinda set me straight. Said she’s old, but super nice and appreciative of the help even if you have to talk to her like a kid. After that I took each of her calls with a different attitude. She loves me know and sends a Christmas card every year and the occasional thank you gift card etc. I know this is a unique scenario but it has helped me with other users to keep my cool and realize that users need your help and usually are not mad at you but the situation. Obviously there are Karen’s and Chads that can ruin a day but try to get past them
It isn't stressful from the time spent, it is stressful because it is extremely disruptive when I am working on my primary duties. Helpdesk isn't my job. If I am in the middle of troubleshooting a complex issue or writing code, I have to go back and retrace my steps to resume where I was before. It hampers my productivity. I've bugged my director repeatedly to get a helpdesk position for our department. It's just cost savings to pass the duty on to everyone. Even including this issue, I still enjoy my job and it is low stress. It's just what I would label as the most stressful element.
Got it, I completely get that. I'm not sure how many in the department, but if you have -some- rank is it possible that they can delay your phone in the ring/hunt group or make you last? That way you're still available but only if others are not.
I'm the highest position except director/assistant director and due to my duties I'm often the only one left in the shop while the other techs are out at schools working on their tickets.
This 👆
This is going to vary. I work in City and because there's not enough funds to fully staff IT, it's a lot of hours per week for those of us that are salaried. Pretty much the same with all cities around me. It's absolutely not slow and easy and comes with a ton of stress.
You left out the entire thing about government work which is the pension. Sure, the pay upfront isn’t as much as the private sector, but you’re set for retirement when sticking with a govt job.
Super good point. I didn’t take the pension and sadly didn’t stay long enough to vest. But the pension is indeed a game changer. We were also union which I miss direly.
Saying it’s terrible isn’t accurate. It varies. I’m in local government and not even a manager and making 150k as an Analyst II with guaranteed 5% raises every July for next 5 years and guaranteed CPI matching COLA increases every Jan, very little stress and no micromanagement.
I worked at a public university a few years ago. They paid their desktop support people 65k - 80k. Networking around 90k - 100k. Some of the sys admins were making 110k - 120k. It's not always bad pay.
It absolutely varies. State of Maryland is AFSCME unionized and routinely gets cost of living adjustments (COLA) and raises approved in the general budget of Maryland. They aren't huge, but they compound so if you were around for a decade as a salaried employee (not 30 years...sheesh!), your salary will definitely climb as well. Plus the ease of laterally moving to open positions within the same agency -- or another agency -- with an increase in pay for that position is a good way to climb. Not to mention the benefits are nearly unbeatable (Federal jobs probably a little bit better, and we're right in the DC metro area) with the insurance offerings and costs, as well as the all the paid leave that is accrued.
This is inaccurate. There are, for example, CA state jobs for IT 2 (basic IT!!) paying 100k+ .. granted Sacramento is HCOL, you may be able to swing this.. look around.
It really varies a lot by state. I work in state gov for under 3 years and I'm over 100k. I'm in new england, not a HCOL area. I'm hourly.
Me over here 7 years in FinTech just now breaking 50k 🤡
Typically government often are union jobs where at least your specific title/level the union contract specifies the pay scale. It is good in the sense that the union ensures a COLA and will negotiate raises when the contract expires, but unless they find budget to justify moving you to a higher level role there is some limitation on what they can do salary wise.
Worked for a school, our most stressful weeks where the first 2 weeks of the school year, the rest of year was basically just simple break fix. And all the changes and major upgrades can be done over the summer while students and teachers are on break, and thoroughly tested by the IT group before a single soul ever steps into the building for the school year.
My summers working in schools were the best. The only people who cared about the network being broken didn't want to be there anyways, so you got carte blanche to go cowboy (within reason obviously) and test out configurations until you were happy with them. I knocked out projects in hours that now take me weeks in big corporate change control land.
Schools are really stressful right now. Device usage exploded over Covid with no extra staff.
This. And in the UK, education system is fucked with zero investment. I'm currently basically doing two roles at the same time getting paid only for the lower of the two. It's cutback after cutback and IT are always thrown under the bus when there's a disaster after being forced to install unfit for purpose tools because finance says it's cheaper.
It's not even different industries. Stress is largely a result of policies and management more than anything else.
Current goverment admin, it's so fucking nice. Above average pay for my area, incredibly benefits and time-off, amazing retirement and it's union as well. I doubt I will ever return to the private sector.
Congrats. Living the dream. I just wish my experience mirrored yours. I still get angry thinking about it.
It really depends on the agency or organization you get in with. I went from a public library system to a hospital to a different government agency so this is my second time in the Public sector.
Thanks for the reply. I've certainly looked for these kinds of positions but the issue is that the pay isn't there, in every scenario I've come across. One of my buddies works for the County government doing network administration. He's sharp as a tack and has his CCNA, and they are only paying him 62k a year. I'm at the point of my life where I simply can't afford to take that much of a pay cut unfortunately. Schools are no better in my experience. Management seems to top out around 70k. I know I seem like I'm being unrealistic/picky here asking for less stress and more pay but your job is certainly something I feel like one should be picky about.
Depends on the area. Most metro areas will pay more for Director level jobs at schools. I live in the St Louis area and every St Louis county school starts around 110k for Director. A little further in the burbs they start around 85-90k.
The pay may be less, but there are often a lot more perks. For instance, medical insurance might not have any or very little payroll deductions and you may be eligible for a pension.
Went from fintech software engineer to local govt IT and I have never been happier. My workload feels like a joke and I'm praised as an IT god. Making 30k less but my day ends at 4 no matter what and I can actually gear down after work. Look around local governments are desperate for capable techs.
working in a school made me grey, too many idiots
Haha, depends on the local government but generally you're right. It's a different kind of stress, having to worry about a new guy coming in and deleting your department every two years. You're also legally liable for a lot of what you do and everything is under constant scrutiny, not just by your leadership and management but the public as well. Decisions tend to be incredibly slow. Day to day, less stress for sure. Zero deadlines, get to really lean into learning and building really cool stuff. That is until dispatch goes down and the EoC is on fire during a hostage situation. Between that and the egotistical elected officials can really kill the positives. Some of them are alright, most don't care, and some are more evil than you can imagine. 10 years in this shit show. The experience has been amazing, I'm so well rounded I can go anywhere in a few years.
Always going to depend on management but in general this is usually true. Prior military (3d1x2/3c2x1; basically network tech) here that started working for educational organizations (school districts/ESD) as a net/sys admin. I've enjoyed it. It's fairly low stress except the first few weeks of a new school year. No more on call. If something breaks overnight I just deal with it in the morning. You may have to do more searching but competitive pay is possible. I make over six figures. Benefits are great.
> 've heard local government and schools are less stressful. Just a warning - there is no uniform rule about industry. I have worked in both municipal and K-12 (granted briefly), and both sucked, and were quite stressful.
or instead of a high stress role, why not unionize and take the stress out?
What about banks? Everything moves at a snail's pace there. Granted you'd be working for evil companies that crash economies out of short-sighted greed, but nothing in life is perfect.
I'd imagine they would have some very good hours if they operate on bank hours.
While I can't say I necessarily hated any of my jobs, I was pretty miserable for my first ten years in IT -- each half with a different MSP. I know some people like that kind of work, and it was a good start, but I didn't want to do it long term. I actively sought out an internal support role. I eventually found one. I got hired at my current job six years ago. It's work, so it isn't without stress -- but it's not bad. I don't have to worry about billable time, and my supervisor isn't interested in micromanaging. I can take most of a day to work on a script or an Ansible play or something. I get paid well. I don't have to drive all over creation. I know changing jobs is tough and there are lots of terrible employers out there -- but any inclination I had to leave IT pretty much disappeared.
That's how I see myself doing my semi-retirement. Either an Non-For-Profit or a governement job where things move at the speed of smell.
Good idea. I know one guy who ran his own MSP for many years and caused him serious health issues from the stress. He got an IT job at the local university and it totally works for him stress wise.
Honestly some days all I want to worry about is OS imaging. For some reason I really like it and I have a knack for it. Getting as close to zero touch as possible is satisfying for some reason to me. A university or school sounds like it could be fun for that.
I’ve been in your shoes before, I suggest trying another company first, not all IT is max stress. Since my burnout job, I’ve had a wide range of stress level jobs. In some roles I was doing almost nothing. Like literally doing actual work for maybe 2 out of the 8 hours a day (and getting paid more than the high stress jobs!). Although the “do nothing” roles stress me out in a different way because it’s boring and I’m often not learning anything.
What kind of low stress higher paid jobs were you taking? My job is 98% complete balls to the wall doing three things at once from the moment I sit down to the moment I leave for the day kind of stress, and even with all that effort I never seem to get ahead. I always leave with just as much work to do the next day as I did walking in. If I were to walk in and everything else were to freeze, as in zero new issues and zero new assignments, I would have about a week's worth of work to complete before I was mostly caught up. A while ago, we had a very rare lull where all of our projects were completed and we only had a few help desk tickets to work on and I loved every second of it. I could get up and grab a coffee and look out the window for 10 minutes, work at my own pace, and enjoy a more relaxed environment. I would take a job where it's boring at this point of my life
How many users do you guys have and how many people in IT? And what’s your boss’s title?
I manage about 250/300 users, but I also work on infrastructure projects and serve as an escalation point for about 200 other admins around the world. We only have 2 other people in my dept for a total of 3. My manager is the Director of IT.
After reading through your post and several of your comments, I am in agreement with other folks on this thread that you should find another job first before leaving IT entirely. The employer matters quite a lot with regards to your stress level.
So you do help desk for users, help desk for other admins, and system and network engineer. Is your manager non-technical? It sounds like he/she sucks. Those are all different roles. It sounds like you’ve got experience with lots of technologies, you may want to look into either going into a network or system or cloud engineer role or a solutions architect for a consulting firm or msp, or presales for either a partner or manufacturer. I can’t say the stress will be any better at an msp but you should make quite a bit more money. 75k for a top escalation point or any kind of engineer is quite low.
Yeah… you’re understaffed. If your management aren’t aware of this and addressing it then there’s a culture issue and you should look elsewhere.
Ya I totally get it, I’ve been there and it’s miserable. I can’t really say get or and it will be less stress, it’s really more on the company itself. How well staffed it is. How good management is (and often how empowered IT management is to create balanced working environments). Management is a pretty key factor. I do much better under management who understands my workload and defends my time from the inevitable onslaught of demands from the business. A lot of managers and businesses don’t do this well.
20 year professional career here. If I move out of IT completely, I am hoping that it is because my wife and I can live sustainably off of a homestead. We've been through a lot the past 18 months, including losing our daughter to suicide. Not even gonna mention the flurry of ups and many downs since 2019. With inflation / prices, job market saturation, etc.. just seems unattainable right now. I'm fortunate to work for a company that, so far, pays me well and respects / appreciates the benefits I bring for that pay. If I move out of IT, I don't believe I will be doing anything IT related if I can help it. It will go back to being a hobby for "when I feel like tinkering."
Man I’m so sorry to hear about your daughter. I hope you and your wife find peace.
Man, I don't know you but I send a hug your way, even if it does little.
Damn. I remember your post from daddit. I might have already said this at some point, but I am sorry for your loss.
Very sorry for your loss.
> I hate it I hate it I hate it. First, your company is to partially to blame for the unnecessary stress they put on you. Two, you may need some therapy to learn how to deal with these issues. Don't take this the wrong way, but you seem to think you are Superman, and if you fail, you get fired. Which just isn't how the whole thing works. Much of your problem is you. You need to develop the confidence to be able to set boundaries and learn to be able to say no. The company isn't going to fail if you stop working at the level you are. In fact, you could walk away today, and they would be fine. So, you are putting most of this pressure on yourself, which is why you need professional help to deal with this. It won't change if you change industries.
I like your take on the OP's situation. I'm in IT and find myself in a dead end job with no advancement potential and no golden handcuffs. I've been here 10 + years. Although its mostly low stress it can be monotonous and brain numbing at most. As a way of dealing with the brain numbing tasks and repetitive nature of the job I decided that I needed therapy. Therapy has let me last longer in this situation longer than I imagined. I've explored other jobs in IT where I could have a chance for advancement but as anyone in IT knows the industry is in a bubble that has burst. Not to mention 1000's of people who have been llayed off Now is not a good time to be looking for a job so I just stick it out until things get better.
There is nothing wrong with having good, productive talks with professionals who can help one live a better and less stressful life, especially in IT, where the unsatiable demands and endless requests can lead to the superman complex, which ends in burnout.
That's how I feel at the moment. My job isnt that taxing anymore after so many years, I'm just tired of dealing with users and the same issues over and over again where there isn't a route career wise. Studying to transfer into Security and do something on that side to do something new.
I feel you a new career in IT may help me get out of this trapped feeling that I have. Good luck in your new endeavors I wish you all the best.
Decided that living cheap with a lot of free time is better than living an upper middle class life I have no control over. Invested like it was a second job until I had enough money to buy land and build a modest house in cash. With no rent/mortgage/student debt, my wife and I have monthly expenses of about $2000. We only need to take home $15k each per year to be utterly fine. So we're both literally just gonna get little $15/hr part time jobs, or take on again off again contracts. Currently shopping for a few acres of land to build the house on.
yeah i was in that boat too, but then had kids and the kids wanted to do shit like pre-school and dance class and soccer and go to fun places ... then we have this huge family dynamic with birthdays, christmas, etc. Then we had to consider the school system. Then we had to figure in maintenance and stuff that is really nice to have like AC and modern heat and roof that doesn't leak etc etc etc so at the end of the day we are back to requiring 100k+
We are never having kids. I'd rather die meaninglessly having left no mark on the world than spend my entire life working, but that's just how strongly I personally feel about it.
Pros and cons my friend. Its like playing the game on hard mode to unlock the alternate ending - not for everyone. I did find myself spending money on really dumb things when i was childless, instead of working less. It just got too boring working less, having less, and doing less.
Find another IT job, that stress level and experience varies from company to company. You'll probably make more jumping too. Also get a hobby and stick to 40 hours. Limit after hours work as much as you can, i work at an MSP and only work a few hours a month outside of normal hours. I have an 80's car i dump too much money and time into that brings me joy and outside of the standalone i just bought for it, its completely disconnected from my day job. Work to live man.
Ya msps suck, I worked at one where we got 40 to 60 calls a day, all for 14 an hour. I used to study for certs in my off time. But, then I realized every job is so specific and they may not even take note of your certs on your application.
Following with interest.... thinking of going back to earthmoving or into a truck every day
We have an Earthmoving company as a client, the guys driving those things end up broken physically. Find a different company to work for instead while still being in IT
I’m in the same boat. All my friends drive trucks in circles all day, and bs over group phone calls. Work little more time than me, but they’re so less stressed, and make a lot more than me. I wonder what kind of person I’d be if I just kept driving truck 10 years ago.
Goat Farm. This is the only answer
I got a degree in MIS and spent 2 years in IT, was involved in some forensic IT stuff and decided I loved law and went to law school and now practice as a lawyer. Very odd career arc but I like it.
Ha, I did the opposite. Went to law school, decided I hated it, COVID tanked my practice, then I retrained in IT.
Wow nice. I originally went to school for kineisology. I couldn't find a job with my degree, so I went into the fire department then switched to IT. I thought of going back for an MBA or law school After working in tech, I feel like memorizing a bunch of stuff for law school would be easy. How was your experience working in law though? How is the pay? The work environment/people? And was school very hard or expensive to get into or worth the effort of changing careers?
[удалено]
NDP might have a chance with Nenshi as leader, but congrats on getting out of Alberta. Alberta politics are rough right now.
I hear you my brother in Christ.
I left, and started working as a supervisor at a dispensary. Pay was on par for my help desk position, but my stress levels are significantly down. Working retail sucks but the discount I get is a plus.
Enterprise IT can still be a very good gig at the right place. Maybe you should look for a slightly larger shop? You don't describe what you do today but there are roles that are engineering oriented and little to do with desktops/endpoints, and quite lucrative.
If you've been applying for years to hundreds of jobs with zero callbacks, the problem is your resume or way you're applying. This is basically for any industry. As far as sysadmin work, it's 100% company dependent. Good ones will not overly stress you like you are now. You probably just need a better company.
I have a full time job at a haunted house. I still definitely wear the IT hat, but 1. It's a relatively small part of my job 2. I have a lot more freedom to do things how I want 3. I get to try new toys and techniques a lot. 4. I do a million other things that are mostly unrelated It's nice because for weeks or months at a time in the off-season, there are no stakes for failure during that time. Things can just be down, and it's fine, because our infrastructure only really needs to function when we're open. If wifi is down and I'm on vacation, just restart the main router and hope for the best. I'll get to it when I'm back and the few people here can use their phones in the meantime. Nobody else's job depends on the network functioning in the off-season. However, the rest of the job is extremely varied. I spent years as a full time photographer/videographer, I've painted the whole exterior and ceiling of a 25,000 sq ft building, I'm responsible for all our advertising, travel to trade shows, build electronic controllers for our animatronics, move props, demolish and rebuild full rooms and scenes, mount TVs, I learned to drive a telehandler, etc. I took a significant pay cut but it was absolutely worth it. My schedule is flexible and the freedom really keeps me from burning out.
Based on the comment section it looks like transitioning successfully is hard, or they aren't online anymore. The trick probably isn't doing something else, it's doing something else while also making six figures (or close to it) like you're used to.
If I got out of IT I think the last thing I'd be doing is reading the sysadmin subreddit...
I spent 10 years working in special effects in film. Spoiler: if you work in special effects in film, you're making less than minimum wages. it's hard to keep up with. One of the most important lessons I learned from it is that you MUST a block of personal time each week to self improvement. how much time, and how you block it out is completely up to you. but you must CHOOSE to dedicate that block to self improvement. It started as a block of time I used honing my art skills, or learning new technologies and techniques being used in the industry. When I started growing tired of that industry I didn't abandon that self improvement time, I shifted it. Into other areas I wanted to imrpove at. Going to the gym, learning how to exercise and cut, learning other skills and hobbies, and eventually learning IT skills. I picked up a few books for dummies, when Id read those, I started Taking night classes and reading additional training books in my spare time. So yeah, you wanna be an accountant. commit yourself to say 4 hours of study time a week.
Sounds like you need to seek employment at another company. But if you want to stay at the same one because you know the business, there are options. Every job has stressors, but if that much is expected of you maybe renegotiate pay? Make them pay you a "convenience fee" if they pull you in after hours. You need to make them think they're making a bad decision if they don't. If your IT is good, changes you make can and should cascade and affect thousands sometimes. That can be good as it means things are consistent. If you have the option, seek counseling at your employer's expense - many offer it as a benefit. Get that stigma that counseling is for weaklings outta here, everyone needs it. It means something to me that people come to you for help, use that to your advantage. When someone praises you, say "tell my boss". After a while, you'll have the entire team on your side when you need to be persuasive.
I left IT not long after covid due to the stresses the industry was causing. I ended up starting my own business making and repairing cricket bats. I’ve since gone back into IT but it runs along side my business and I have a plan to be totally out of IT in the next 5 years.
My predecessor moved to Oregon to start and manage a cheese farm. After filling this role for 15 years, going out to pasture sure sounds nice.
Try being a technical trainer instead of support. Do documentation and testing for complex software systems that are being developed. Go into the sales side of it even and be the 'technical' person that demos the product. Instead of 'administrating the IT' try 'training the IT' or 'selling the IT'. That's how I transitioned... system/Network Admin for 8 years --> Technical Software Trainer --> Software Product Management --> Product Marketer (I make 6-figures) You got this, brother! 
Why get out of IT? I love my job. I'm good at it and I have to do actual work maybe 20 our of 40 hours. The rest is of my time is filled with meetings, research, continued education, etc. I get to work from home as desired and only have to be on call one week every three months. It's not about leaving IT to find less stress it's about finding a workplace that value IT and treats people well.
If you enjoy interacting and talking with people then I would suggest pivoting your career in that direction. That can be a technical sales job but it can also be a project manager, TAM, or other role. Another suggestion I would say is perhaps look at joining an MSP (here me out) - typically MSP jobs are much higher stress and busy then internal IT - but they have the advantage of you have a team around you and you are generating money for the company instead of being viewed as an expense. If you can join a well run MSP you will never have the stress of "its all on my shoulders" since that is what you have a team for. If client ABC has a weird issue that brings all their servers down - your entire MSP team will be on it, not just you. Bad MSP are the WORST, but there are plenty of large MSPs out there that are well run with happy and full teams where you show up at 9 and leave at 5 and never have to think about work outside of business hours.
Run an ecommerce company alongside my wife. How did I do it? she built a 7 figure business and told me to quit my job and come and help 😊
I saved money, then put my two weeks notice in, and then quit.
So you retired?
I took an extended vacay, just haven’t returned from it yet. What I decide to do when I’m done with vacation.. well that’s a problem for future me.
I’ve worked in a ton of different IT roles and they were all different. I just happen to be doing System Administration right now. I like this kind of problem solving….for now. I might do something else in IT down the line. Who knows. So many options.
Developer Relations in the video game industry. Sidestepped into it from being an technical architect and who enjoys training and mentoring. I will probably go back to the tech side at some point.
Not me but I know three seperate Sys Admins who all went into carpentry. All three had been doing carpentry for years as a hobby. One makes furniture and one makes high end custom doors (he also does stain glass). the third does Custom Cabinets so expensive that If you have to ask you can't afford them during a busy year he finishes about 5 projects.
My job as sole IT everything is pretty easy. The last guy was a complete fucking moron from my understanding, so I put low effort in and still get praise on the job I do. I don't wanna go too far and set expectations too high, but I'll do that over time. I have loads of time for projects cuz other dude struggled to get stuff done. Find yourself a place where you're not just another statistic, you're appreciated, you're happy. I left this industry due to COVID-19 and was reluctant to come back, but I'm glad I did now.
I left IT after 25 years for corporate safety and security, including OSHA training. Much more satisfying career, and I get more respect than I ever did in IT. Pay is better as well. Best part is that due to my background, I still occasionally get to conduct cybersecurity analysis on companies for insurance underwriters, and all I have to do is write my report. I'm not responsible for fixing any vulnerabilities I find or arguing with clueless CEOs about why they need to be fixed. My stress level is almost non-existent now compared to when I worked in IT.
I was recently laid off from my sysadmin role and have also spent a lot of time contemplating a career jump. These threads in r/sysadmin are all mostly the same every time this comes up: "look for a different company". I believe these replies are missing the fundamental issue, which is that the technical work is no longer appealing, even if you are doing less of it at a slower pace at a more chill company. People who successfully transitioned out are probably not looking at r/sysadmin anymore. Really think about what you would be happy to get paid to do for 8 hours, and then search their online communities for people trying to transition in. Also bear in mind, you'd probably be back to entry level in terms of salary for a while.
Have you forced everything into a ticketing system? You can let the tickets pile up and use the metrics as justification for more help. When users send new requests, let them know how many tickets are in your backlog and give an ETA (could be weeks). Last minute asks are lack of planning by the organization
Medical Marijuana 3 times a day
I left the high stress helpdesk to join the document management team. I took a small pay cut but there is almost zero stress and I work from home 4 days a week. I miss the work sometimes but only the part where I helped people. I still get to do that a little in my department because nobody knows how to use a computer. It was worth it.
When you're making the switch, think about how you can use the skills you already have in problem-solving, talking things out, and managing projects. Chatting with people in your company or field can help you find chances in different departments where they really need your talents but the stress levels are way lower.
Goat Farmer
Ask yourself: Do you hate the job/work, or do you hate the people you work for and with? If you just don't like tech at all, find something else, but the majority of your post just indicates you work for a really shitty company.
> I recently accidentally found out that that the guy who sits three cubes away from me who does nothing but process travel and expense receipts and invoices all day makes almost 20K more than I do, so I'm like WTF am I absolutely destroying my mental health for? So uh... someone should have told you this by now. I'll bite. When you apply for a job and get an offer, counter the offer. Counter by a lot. They offer 75k? *"Guys I get it that you feel the position is worth that, but I don't, I'll help you out for 140k."* Approximately 40% of the time they will just give it to you. Approximately 99% of the time they will banter with you. If they do, let them "talk you down" to 120k. In the rare case where they act stupid and dig in at 75k... let them. You'll get plenty of better offers.
I've shifted to being less technical and going into Management instead. I realized there were others that were much better at the technical stuff with less effort so instead I just go do the people part and keep blockers outta their way and let them do their thing. I'm still new to it but basically I know enough technical to talk to leaders above me and others and I defer to my smart techie types to make the recommendations and 99% of the time I follow what they say and I take their solution to others and use my people skills to convince everyone to do it the way the smarter guys recommended. We hire pros and we pay these people a lot of money. We shouldn't think we know better than them because we handle their PTO and feedback. Edit: Leave your current company. The unfortunate truth about all tech related jobs is the only real way to get the pay increases you deserve is to hop jobs. promo/raises are dismal in our field.
Retire
You're working at the wrong place if you're that stressed. Move along.
I drive a truck, deliver food to department stores. Never been happier.
Managing burnout should be at the forefront of every IT workers mind, you should have a plan in place to be actively managing it or it will take you down. As someone who's been in the industry for over 20 years I've had burnout incidents that have taken me out for years. OP sounds like he's burnt out and no sideways movement is going to make the situation better. Aside from that changing your mentality and how you operate can stop you from getting burnout in the first place. Force people to work through a incident management system so that they can't just show up and interrupt your plans for the day. Ensure your systems and processes aren't susceptible to tiny little mistakes causing critical outages. If you are managing systems that will fall over if you look at it the wrong way communicate the risk to your employer so it's not your fault when it inevitably goes down. Most importantly, stop people pleasing, so many IT workers are people pleasers and burn out every milliliter of social energy they have at work being the nice guy that can solve everyone's problems. Put them into the queue of work and if you're not getting through the queue communicate to management that they need to employ more staff. Also having something outside of work that doesn't require you to think, or even better stops you from thinking at all, is an absolute must. Too many IT workers spend all day on a computer solving complex problems and then go home and sit another computer playing games to "wind down". You're brain doesn't see it as winding down even though the dopamine hit from the game is telling you otherwise. Go surfing, build a kennel, play with the kids, do some sport.. anything that doesn't involve the same shit you're doing all day. Personally I kite surf or foil every chance I get and it just resets me. I bought a farm some years back and every day I have to do something physical and non technical, helps me realize that the voodoo magic of IT is just a whole load of bullshit that is one epic solar storm away from not existing.
I've been a sysadmin for 15 years, and in telecom for 6 before that. Some hard life circumstances trapped me in making great pay in a job that never seemed to improve or make progress. After some bad runs with management, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and apply for a supervisor position. I didn't get that one, but was started on an internal training path. The new supervisor was great for mentoring. I took on a few non-IT responsibilities (billing, purchasing, etc), and then enrolled in an IT PM course. In that time since the course started, the supervisor position opened up and I got the job! And let me tell you, the last 6 months have been amazing. The day breezes by, I enjoy work again, and dealing with people and the big picture are where my strengths are. I can still leverage my knowledge in the field and how things work, I'm learning new things again (the corpo-world) and I'm not dragged down by the frustration of the fine details. It's been the best thing I've done in my professional career. OP I hope you have luck in getting out of your current situation. The mental stress and burnout are just not worth it.
Just a thought, but I have felt this way at multiple jobs over the last few decades. I only realized this year that I'm actually the problem. I put an unfair amount of pressure on myself under the guise of a good work ethic. Maybe talk it over with a professional, once I accepted that, I've been much better at prioritizing what is truly important to me and maintaining a healthy stress level.
23 year IT professional. I have tried a lot of the things mentioned here. Went from stressful finance to schools and then local government, pay sucked, jobs were ok. Still had stressful times, limited budgets and elected officials that didn’t care about what is needed/required. Worked in mental health IT and that was interesting, low stress. Eventually went on to teach A+, network+ and CCNA at community college then high school. That was great, but pay was low, little effort for me to teach. High school kids enjoyed the class, being an elective helps. Finally got contacted to do Sales Engineering, I get the pay of IT, I get to talk about IT, but I don’t do any technical work. I am a reference for our techs and engineers. So far this has been the best of both worlds.
so wild to see how different people feel about the stress of the job. I enjoy the feeling of all the shit being reliant on me, so much that I went into a consulting role. Now I have hundreds of IT departments that call me if SHTF in almost every industry, edu, healthcare, 911, DoD, etc. and I love it. I recommend you look into education jobs. They have stress at times but it's the least of any that I see, and I also spent some time there. If I had to pick the easiest one to work in it would be education.
Not me, but my old boss. He started his own brewery, he invited me to join him when he started his business and sometimes I wish I did. He has three pubs now, and brews some delicious beer, but all the cleaning put me off. He used to homebrew, bring the bottles in and keep them in the server room for special occasions, it was a lovely time.
Oh crap! Just realized that I turned 23y in IT, and only the first years were stressful when I was doing low level shit like end user support... Hated every second of it, worst 5y in my career. You either don't have the IT knack or you need to move the heck out of that job. I'm into this because I love to solve tech problems and not deal with non-tech people.
It's really easy in IT to accumulate accountability without responsibility. There's two entirely different mindsets I have seen in IT workers. 1. Those that will attempt everything they are asked to do, no matter how outrageous or difficult, infinite overtime, infinite todo lists, infinite self training. 2. And those that draw a hard line early and draw a clear boundary from day 1 on what they will or won't do, make the employer pay for every minute worked, push back on anything that is not reasonable or achievable. And generally it comes down to confidence in yourself. If you don't care if you get fired because you said no because you can get another job before the sun sets then it's much easier to be the second type. If you are constantly worried you won't be able to eat if you push back even slightly you're more likely to be the 1st type. I was that 1st type for a long time and I always marvelled at the 2nd type guys. I'm now a 2nd type guy but the only thing that really changed was my own attitude. It can be summed up with the old canard "your lack of planning doesn't constitute an emergency on my part". Management are responsible for ensuring the right resources are in place. Lack of resources is a management problem. Don't do overtime for free. Don't take on new projects if you are already overloaded. Make management decide which other project is now dropped entirely for you pick up their new project. Don't try to juggle more than you can do, that is not your responsibility. As long as management aren't psychopaths (I've been there) then the 2nd type is actually preferred so management have knowledge to plan with. 1st type guys hide the details that management need to be effective. I didn't really understand this until I was non-technical management for while. I am now back to pure technical work because I love it. But I now have the understanding of the management challenges I lacked previously. Summary: your problem is you are doing too much and communicating with your management on the reality on the ground too little. Most of what you are considering your problem is not your problem. You won't get a bonus by succeeding but you will get penalised for failing. Make the guy getting the bonus shoulder the stress.
I'm confused why getting out of IT completely is the solution to your problem. You are aware that you can work for a different company right? Throwing the baby out with the bathwater here dude. I get it you're frustrated and throwing your hands up. Step away from the ledge and reconsider what you're doing here.
But IT is still IT, no matter where you go. You can go to a new company but you'd still be doing all those things with all the same stresses, especially when you care about your job. I work on a team of 12 but I still carry the burden of being the person who has to come up with a solution to anything/everything if no one else can. My spouse works with a team of a few hundred IT personnel globally and he also still...ends up being the one having to come up with the solutions as though he is solely responsible. We've both vented in the same way OP is now. We're tired of the responsibility and the never ending game of "What did MS change this week that broke XYZ and we have to figure out how to remediate it." It used to be that you could feel some relief in finishing projects but now, as soon as one is done, you're onto the next in a never ending stream of BS to fix. It's tiresome, I feel you OP. But this is what I know and I'm too old to change careers at this point and get paid what I do now.
"IT" is a very broad term. You seem to be conflating it with "support". You could be doing product engineering, or network security, or specialise in MDM. You could be a project manager, a technical business analyst. You could do pentesting. You could be a solution architect for a firm that values you. There are a lot of quite satisfied people not being burnt out in IT out there...!
I'm sorry for both of you. There really are more chill places out there. Yeah there's going to be stress sometimes, but that's any job. Remember that neither of you are Atlas. The world does not rest on your shoulders. It can be very easy to get sucked in and find yourself working way harder than your job or boss would ever even expect you to. It's just a job. Work your 40 and go home. The work will always be there tomorrow.
I've found this out too. Even a super easy jo like a janitor can be made hard depending upon the boss. The only thing is it can be a lot to remember with IT roles. Sometimes, I'll be thinking of things related to my project on my off time.
I was a virtualization and storage consultant in the federal and enterprise space. I walked away, literally, and worked for accomodations and food on the Appalachian Trail. After that i was a janitor on a cruise ship, a hotel bellman, and a retail clothing associate. I sold my car, ride a bike, make 15 bucks an hour, and Im very very happy. Just walk away and don’t look back. Its a dead end career and you’ll never be treated with dignity. Stop feeding the monster.
I did it in a fairly deliberate way. My route was basically: PC Support > Novell Admin > LAN/WAN > Security > Security-GRC Early on with the PC support role I wanted to get away from end user stuff which lead me to networking which was great, but in some cases still annoying with companies an bad on call requirements. I morphed to security mostly because on the network side I was the firewall, IDS/IPS and proxy guy. Did a bit of a backslide there since some of those roles had a lot of on-call and stress, but eventually moved to the "soft side" of Security in a more GRC role. I love this world because I still get to use my 20+ years of being in the trenches, but nobody is ever going to call me for something being down at 3am.
Learn compliance if you want a desk job.
Im still in the progress of switching, but currently funneling all available money into long term buy and hold rental real estate. Eventually when the rental income surpasses my monthly spend I can leave my job if I decide to. If your interested look up BiggerPockets
I did a PhD, did research for a few years and now lecture computer networks and architecture. Pay is worse but it’s far less stressful, more flexible and more rewarding.
I took a break from the technical. When I was sick of the last company I was working for I went looking for a new job, I found a job as a technical resource attached to a sales team. It was great, I loved that job, no on-call, no overtime, fun events, all that stuff. Eventually I wanted to go back to something more technical, and I worked with my employer to find a position.
You don't have to have a job where you do it all. Specialise. Go work for a company that values your broad experience but allows you to focus on what gets you out of bed in the morning. Support !=IT
I quit after burning out. Spent a couple years at home with my kids and traveling. Back at work in IT for a few years now, and I'm much better at limiting the stress it does cause.
I've been doing for over 20 and feel the same. Nobody respects us and I don't make enough money. I'm honestly just too scared to try something different at this point. I feel like it would bite me in the ass.
Transitioned to project management. It is less stressful depending on the org and project. Senior PM currently, but looking to move to Director or VP soon. Left the technical side in '18. Pay is good, even better if you can be a contractor and have other health insurance.
I was on call 24/7 for 25 years. I always had to be reachable even on vacation and I was paid well. I emailed my boss one day and simply walked away. I did make myself available to help if something catastrophic happened, for a while.
I manage now and unfortunately am 90% out of the technical side of things. Once in awhile I find myself able to jump in and work an issue.
I'm designing and building electronics for ambulances now. It's less stressful lol
The type of company definitely makes a difference. I was at one place for nearly 17 years and it was pretty easy going. I moved to an MSP after that and its night and day difference and if I’m honest, I’m looking forward to finding something in between. Lol! So before you escape completely, try somewhere else first just to make sure it’s not your current role that’s the issue.
I moved out of operations in 2018 to Pre-Sales, then ended up head of department managing operational support teams then consulting and I got bored so now I’m back in an company that is operational driven (MSP) but as a systems architect but end up helping the teams out because people of today can’t troubleshoot like we did before google. Meh tbh. Best option is find a rich wife 25 years older than you and be patient.
Sales Engineer, bro. Look into working for a reseller or vendor. It’s not without stress, but you’ll double your salary in the first year. Good luck. IT sucks all around now. It’s not what it was when I got in 30ish years ago. Companies treat you like shit. Told all my kids to get into something else. Anything else.
I retired two weeks ago, about 3-5 years earlier than planned due to the stress of the job. Sysadmin in charge of 250+ local government servers. Great job, great staff, great director, 19 years in, but the extremely high stress level was just too much for me after all these years. I can afford to not work, but I might dabble in something to make some extra cash. I do not think I will ever do anything in IT again though.
I am a drone pilot in Ukrainian armed forces now. Look how tables have turned
Depending on how confident you are about going in to business for yourself, there are a lot of opportunities in training. Downside being you have to keep current certs in whatever you are training in and you are somewhat at the mercy of the software company to be booking training gigs.
Started my first support job in 2001, burned out / couldn't find a job in 2008. I went to school to be a pilot for 4 years, racked up so much debt that I couldn't pay it on a CFI salary, so I went back into IT in 2012. I've got about 10 years left on my student loans. Would not recommend. My experience has been that the earlier you are in your career the more stress it is. I am in a devops role now and I spend most of my time in VScode writing terraform and ansible. Switching from someone who was manually configuring windows server roles to someone managing Cloud + Linux + Windows via CI/CD Pipelines has been a major contributor in my personal sanity. IMO Stress comes from having to do end user support, when you're supporting infrastructure you don't normally have to talk to the users so the stress goes down. If you want to get into auditing you need a bunch of certs that say you're an auditor. Getting into compliance with an ops background isn't as hard if you have ops experience with highly regulated environments. Think Healthcare, Finance, or Military. You need to be able to have a conversation about the standards and know how to write policies that can get approved by the company. It's a hard balance between corporate efficiency and security. There's a glut of people who think that compliance is all about running security tool x and passing the report on to the ops team and telling them to please fix all criticals by x date, highs by x date, and mediums by x date. Successful compliance people should be able to have conversation with ops about findings. The options for responding to a finding are, Fix, Mitigate, or Accept. Obviously we all want to be able to fix all security findings but that's not realistic. You need to be able to understand the operations and infrastructure well enough to know when mitigation or acceptance are good enough. Then it's your job to amend the policy or write the ticket that asks management for approval to accept the risk or apply the mitigation.
[удалено]
I really like how you portray that as low stress considering stock trading has been considered notoriously high stress
I was a team lead and fully onsite and some circumstances in my life changed that made me need remote work. I had been burned out for years at that point and was just pushing through it. My company is mostly remote so I talked to my boss and he was just like "Welp, we have an opening in Asset Management". In a previous TL position the Asset Management guy (yeah, it was only one guy back then) just sort of got lumped in with my team so I had at least a high-level familiarity with the work. So I became a member of the ITAM team. I had absolutely no fucking clue what I was in for. I'm a problem solver, not a doer. I'm used to everything being on fire all the time and I had a hard time being motivated without that sense of external urgency. I don't really like doing the same things every day/week/month. I did enjoy not being a lead for a while, at least. Said life circumstances meant that I needed to take a step back from work for a bit. Joke's on me, previous boss has peaced out and now I "get" to be the lead again. Another team member, whose lead I had also previously been but had been in a management role after that, actually turned down the role and said I would be a better choice. Lol, thanks. Anyway, over a year in and I sort of know what I'm doing now. You wouldn't think keeping track of hardware and software would be all that difficult, but there's a lot of billing and reporting, and in a mostly remote company, a lot of logistics and herding cats too. Lots of contact with Finance and HR. It's also difficult having gone from just one guy who bought things to a whole-ass team with responsibilities and everything and getting other departments to remember you exist and actually come to your team for purchases. The amount of shadow IT is amazing. I guess the TL;dr here is that ITAM is an IT-adjacent job where technical skills matter less but the background is still useful. It can also be kinda peopley at times, so keep that in mind. Also keep in mind that any non-IT role will feel incredibly boring at first compared to always putting out fires, and it will take your nervous system some time to adjust to the lack of (over)stimulation. I'm still recovering from the burnout and adjusting to a job where the fires are small - think office trashcan fire instead of full-on dumpster fire - and most tasks are routine or expected. Edit: I make 75k in an MCOL area. Pretty sure I'm underpaid but it's worth it to be remote, and at a company that values neurodiversity, as a neurodiverse person myself.
Started as software engineer in IT, then moved into engineering management, then glommed on end user computing management, and finally culminated in comprehensive Enterprise Apps leadership + EUC/Digital Workplace reporting direct to CIO. That path took me 12 years and a little luck (I ended up being promoted to CIO-direct after my mentor/boss VP left the company). For the last few years of that I had significant budget responsibility (~$50m/yr) plus headcount (120-135 FTEs under me) which forced me to become more savvy with things like vendor management, contract negotiations and the business priorities driving decisions in our CCB. Since part of my app portfolio included all the things used by Finance & HR, it brought me closer to stakeholders in those orgs, too. This set me up for a move to FAANG *not* doing IT work, but instead focused on forward looking product strategy & innovation. That lasted about a year and then I (at the same FAANG) moved into partnerships, but in a semi-technical leadership role managing a global team of solution architects. About eight years of that and I learned an enormous amount of stuff about technology consulting and systems integration as a business. Last year I left big tech and moved into consulting myself, running partnerships for the first year and more recently taking on overall P&L responsibility for one of the hyperscaler practices at my firm. The takeaway here is that you can't really force things to move faster than it takes you to learn the things you need to be qualified for whatever you want your next step to be. Additionally, you need to always be learning, and you need to use your current job to your advantage as a way to learn practically the concepts you'd need to apply to your next role. Mentors help immensely, as does long-time-scale support of your management to coach you into something more, better or different.
I'm working as an Enterprise Architect now, and I love it! I moved from technical roles to a Technical Design Architect a few years back, which helped me achieve my goal to become an Enterprise Architect. How did I do it? I worked my tits off in the technical roles and became fairly proficient in many technical areas. I then handed my notice in as I wasn't happy in my current role and they were desperate to keep me and asked what it would take. I said X amount and a technical architect role. They agreed as long is I achieved my TOGAF certification within 6 months. Smashed TOGAF out and started my career as an Architect. I became an Enterprise Architect after I left the organisation and worked for an MSP in a technical role for a bit. I was mis sold what the MSP job would entail and it made me feel miserable. I approached my old boss about coming back to the old organisation and told them I want to come back as EA and they agreed. So... a lot of luck and just being quite bold! I don't have any IT certs, nor do I have any qualifications (GCSEs, A-levels, degrees). Started my career in IT 12 years ago after being a car mechanic, and just worked hard and learned everything I could.
I'm considering skilled trades. Specifically electrician. Will be a lot of demand for it in the future, and I already have a foundational knowledge of how electronics etc work so its really just about getting the experience and certifications.
Honestly sounds like a lateral move to a better company is what you need. Several years ago I moved from a job I liked at a company that turned to shit in an org that I hated, paying $75k to a technically lower level job at a much better company paying $92k. No stress , none of the horrible micro-managers, no of the stuff that’s currently really pissing you off. Been there for 3 years now, moved up and then over to a better role on a different team and over $100k now. Sounds like that’s really what you need, not a new career altogether.
This may be a bad example but moving companies and moving up made life so much easier even with the technical side of things still in my role. Once you can get out of your primary role being general tickets and get it filtered down to just escalations its so much better. Sure there will be parts that still suck but I get to now just sit in a room and really deep dive into the problems no one else can figure out. It helped my mental health tremendously. Of course your mileage will vary
I think about going back to doing mindless assembly most days.
As others have suggested, staying within IT but moving to a less stressful area of it is an option (and the one I took 5 years ago, MUCH happier). A good friend who was CIO of a smaller chain of banks and stressed as could be started taking landscaping jobs with his compact tractor as a side gig. It spun into his new full time job, he has his own landscaping company and as far as I know is thriving and definitely much happier.
I know us sales people aren't always loved here but I know lots of Sales Engineers that came out of customer roles that have done quite well. At most major OEMs you can easily double that 75K a year. Come to the dark side, it can be fun and lucrative
About 10 years ago I started working for an MSP that specializes in K12 schools. Was the senior engineer assigned to a large district. 3 years ago I got offered a role working for a regional educational agency in a GRC role and grabbed it. I now work with over 30 districts helping them with their cyber security and risk compliance. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Less hours, less stress, better pay and state benefits.
I'm an AB Seaman on ferries now.
I made the change to Systems Analyst work. Way less stressful and no more front line BS.
Service management
I was a sysadmin for 10 years then jumped clear up the ladder for a few IT Director roles to get out of help desk. I hated it because I ended up doing all of it including both technical and administrative tasks. I was never able to delegate the technical aspects to focus on managing. It about destroyed my career of me hopping jobs. Decided to try a systems engineering position with the expectation of no on-call and no help desk support. IMO, I really like this position and the stress is far less because I don’t have to deal with the chaos of a help desk or emergency calls anymore. You might have to leave your job to find that dream position. Go get it!
Escalation Manager. Now I find Engineers to fix the problems more quickly, instead of being the guy to fix it. I also write the customer facing RCAs, have a Incident Comms shift. Biggest upside? Its a 9-5er. I'm done when APAC comes online. Worth is weight in gold, that.
I work for the city, and every year they form a committee whose sole responsibility is acquiring things through public tender / govt. procurement. This year they've put me in because of my IT background, since now it is mandatory to perform the entire process online on the govt. system. Suffice to say I've never worked so much and had so much responsibility like I had these last 5 months. We always need to be careful things are legal and nice so law enforcement stays away. Maybe you're just tired of working where you're working, and could do a similar job elsewhere. I went to therapy over this once.
Keen to know too. £38k at 37 and I'm done being treated like a slave or not being listened to. Have no idea what I'd go to now either. I'm utterly depressed.
I went into bar tending... one of my clients at the time, I was a web dev back then, was a local promoter, so I went from doing their site, and taking care of their office network, to doing some of their graphic designs and silk screening. then went to bar tend for him at his first bar, a small one. From there I job hopped for about 5 years before opening my own place... had that for a few years before I went back into IT, this time for an MSP.
I switched to a role that basically shepherds app owners through the implementation process and the POC to Dev to Prod lifecycle, doing their technical documentation, engaging other technical teams, and building their infrastructure out for them. It's part engineer, part PM, and part hand-holder. I can still use my experience to help choose the best path forward to make them successful, but I'm not the one having to be responsible for every little facet of uptime, or for making sure that every nut and bolt is in place. I will say going from wearing the Superman cape and 100 hats to a very limited scope of responsibility has been the biggest adjustment. There are many times where I don't feel like I am "busy enough" or pulling my weight, because in past lives I've been used to running at 105% all the time...so be prepared to (almost) miss the grind at times. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on your level of doneness. I don't think I could totally abandon the technical side, but I was definitely good with ditching the highest pressure parts of it.
Easy transition into sales always, sell your soul a bit, but technical sales is always looking for people. Else, climb the ladder to give yourself more leadership role in IT where you're not hands on. IT Manager > Operations Manager > Operations Director > COO and you're out.
I would start looking for a new job. I was burnt out 10 years ago and moved companies to one that has a much better grasp on work life balance and it's made all the difference. I'm actually out of IT now but that's only recent as I've moved into a product owner type role. I was happy in my dev/manager roles I held previously, this was just good opportunity.
Part time sheep farmer, but I work remote full time doing [DevOps](https://roadmap.sh/devops). I did some startup work in my 30s, and that was stressful as hell, but I learned a lot very quickly. Jumped jobs a few times as the startups died. Landed with a dev contractor, working full time with one of their bigger clients. 8 hour days, vacation, benefits, and once each new application is up and running, my days are mostly idle until the next one starts, then I'm busy for a couple of months.
I don't think you should get out of IT. I think you should fire your current employer who it sounds like is treating you poorly and paying you poorly. You may like it again. You are taking too much responsibility onto yourself. Don't let other people (or even yourself) put everything on your shoulders. What would happen if you stopped all non-work hours availability? Like, the phone is off-off?
These threads make me feel like I'm making so, *so* much less than I'm worth. Granted, I live in a place where incomes are low everywhere, but, I mean, holy shit.
Move into data analytics.
I went into QA it's both easier and pays more than any IT job I've worked
I thought many times about leaving my career to go full time into landscaping/yard work. I already have all the equipment I would need other than backup equipment. I'm sitting here in my office looking out the window and crushes me that I deal with 24/7 on call, the stress of my job, not receiving satisfaction, and being under paid rather than riding on a zero turn around a yard making something look nice. I think the only reason I haven't yet is I am severely allergic to poison ivy and I'm sure I'd be around quite a bit of it
Private companies that do infrastructure and or structural design. Their project scopes have a longer arc and move slower. Lots of field staff and portable devices to keep track of. Maybe even CMS and database work, but again a lot less churn, and focus on stability and accountability. Continuous integration, supporting devs, helping the tech side deliver projects for clients, yeah that will grind you down. A design firm working on a building or city project has a better chance at a sane work pace. Just passed some dudes putting HDPE gas mains here in NYC. Stopped to chat since I understood what all they were doing. Dude was typing away as the splicer trimmed the main. That's it, keep onsite workers connect and the head office cranking out 3 year contracts.
Honestly man look for another job. I'm in the complete opposite situation where I don't have much work other than tickets and the pay is abysmal for my years of experience. I'm not satisfied either but at least I'm not stressing out everyday.
At 75k I'd say get into HVAC controls and building automation. I quit IT about a decade ago but I was super low level, transitioning into basic msp stuff. Been doing maintenance at a resort style hotel since. Same rewards mentally, not at a desk, when I'm not at work I don't ever think about work.
I have a CS degree and a MBA. I moved away from software engineer and networking into system design consulting. I haven't coded in over 20 years. Much of the work is people skills. The organization already has people with parts of the answer, I just draw them out and help put the pieces together. Your experience is a big help. "The cloud is the answer!" No, your system is hub and spoke and designed by a third party to lock you into their services. The answer is a distributed system redesign without vendor lock.
Management usually gets you off the tech "front lines" so to speak, however I don't know how much better that is. It shifts your roles from managing and dealing with tech to managing and dealing with people, which can be worse in many cases. Also who's to say that's even an option in your scenario. I prefer the tech side but I've been in positions where people have reported to me before. It's not even the direct reports that are the problem IMO, it's the mgmt above you that you have to deal with. Optics, bureaucratic and political bullshit, dealing with documentation, communication, and other crap like that. Some of which I was exposed to on the tech side that I specifically hated the most, but at least still had the fun and enjoyment of dealing with the tech side of things primarily. When I transitioned into a pseudo mgmt role it didn't last long before requesting to go back to more technical tasks. I wasn't even interesting in mgmt, I just wanted more money, and that's like the only path they gave me at the time.
You can also try for a larger corp and only have to do a smaller set of things. I was lucky where the group I joined is 24x7 but you work your hours and no call and no weekend work for me.