Have an IT job interview in the morning.....

[Reerun_KC]

After a 2 1/2 year absence from the dreadful IT industry, I have a job interview in the morning...

I am not really nervous, but more sick to my stomach than anything. I thought once I left that shit, I would never have to look back... Well thanks to the economy the flying industry is basically shit plus I cant get even get a sniff with my flight hours for a flying job. Just about everyone is laying off pilots right and left.


So instead of starving my family to death I have sucked up my pride and sent out some resumes. How can someone get excited about something the despise so badly?

Any thoughts? I know I need to keep things rolling and help relieve some of the stress from the wife and family. That what is important.

[Big Dog]

Sorry, the old man in me forced me to post...probably a mistake.

Good luck on the interview.

It seems you are destined to fail though. If you are truly trying to re-enter the industry as you have depicted, you'll hate it, yourself, and everyone else within a couple of months. Have you ever heard of self fulfilling prophecies? I have been out of 'normal' work environment for about a year now, and I was glad to be away from some things. I too am considering a re-entry into IT...but I can tell you...not with such an attitude. There were annoying people, micro managers, silly executive decisions, etc. BUT these exist in ANY office environment. The key for me will be to focus on the positives...and if you really can't find any...

I understand that 'putting food on the table' is a requirement, but if you truly despise the work, your attitude, opinions, communication and general demeanor will do you and your family no good.

Instead of going back into IT, maybe you should look at another career...I mean that's what you did in aviation right? And apparently you enjoyed it? In the meantime find some company that needs a contractor for a short term project...recruiters have tons of these(well, at least they do in programming)...the job will be a lot easier when you know it simply is a stop-gap while you are searching for something more fulfilling...and the stress will be greatly reduced.

[Skip Towne]

Originally Posted by scorpio

It would be a great job if it wasn't for all of the other people.

I hear that. I hate people.

[ArrowheadHawk]

Wow. I love the IT field and feel blessed to get paid for what I love to do. I believe you need to like what you do for a living. It will make yor whole life better. If you don't like IT then don't do it and leave it for the people who like to do it.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by scorpio

It would be a great job if it wasn't for all of the other people.

Originally Posted by Fritz88

The problem with IT is that your superiors sometimes may not understand how hard it is to get some stuff done. They ask for unrealistic deadlines and unrealistic goals and expect you to get it done.

Yeah... when I was in tech support, I didn't even mind the customers nearly as much as the quality dept. They just didn't understand that computer software and hardware doesn't often go by the book, and they actually scored down for thinking outside of the box.

As far as my current job, it's the status meeting overload that gets to me the most. I usually have a project manager from both my company and the customer's company, plus my own department's meetings.... what's my status? I'm in a f***ing meeting. When I get out of the meeting, I'll be 30 minutes behind, plus the amount of time it takes me to remember what the hell I was doing before I had to go. Oh, but I have another meeting after this, to tell another group that my status is that I just got out of a f***ing meeting and now I'm in another f***ing meeting. I'll be sure to get some work done when I get home.

Originally Posted by Fritz88

The people I work with,none and I mean none whatsoever has any interest in Football or Basketball. I can live with that because some like to talk about other issues that I have some interest in (history, politics, etc) or else I would shoot myself.

Heh... I lived in Omaha a year, and hardly anyone I dealt with at work cared about football. It was all about soccer. Even now, there are only a few people I talk to about college football, and a couple aren't even Husker fans.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by ArrowheadHawk

Wow. I love the IT field and feel blessed to get paid for what I love to do. I believe you need to like what you do for a living. It will make yor whole life better. If you don't like IT then don't do it and leave it for the people who like to do it.
Posted via Mobile Device

Yep, all that said, I still love working in IT... I've thought about moving closer to the business side, whether it's project management or whatever, but I just can't do it. I'd much rather be on the technical side of it.... and I couldn't imagine doing it if I didn't really enjoy it, because it's a ton of work at times and can get pretty stressful.

[Otter]

Hitting my 11th year in IT and burnout is chasing me around like a psycho ex-girlfriend. The fact I was laid off from a job that had me traveling around the country and moving and shaking all day to a desk jockey just kicked my ass over the last year.

I scaled back my lifestyle and have some decent bank roll. I'm going to be looking down a different path come spring 2010 if I can't make some things happen. Hopefully something where I can still apply wireless networking knowledge but not spending all day staring at a computer screen.

Couldn't agree with you more on the collective IT crowd. I can count the number of friends (outside of work friends) I made in the last 11 years on one hand. Lots of large, fragile egos who couldn't make it in a competitive environment if they didn't have a superior to run to accompanied by personalities of dull wood.

Good luck on both sides of the spectrum.

[Buehler445]

Tear it up this morning, Chief.
Posted via Mobile Device

[kepp]

Originally Posted by Chiefs09

Is working in IT really that bad. I hope not cause i'm going to school for computer networking, also other IT based education

It's pretty much like any other occupation. Some days suck while other days are fine. I assume you're going into more of the sys/ops side of things? They probably get shat on more than developers (what I do), but as long as you grow some think skin, you'll be alright.

[Skip Towne]

I know I won't ever have to work in IT. I can barely spell it.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Big Dog

Sorry, the old man in me forced me to post...probably a mistake.

Good luck on the interview.

It seems you are destined to fail though. If you are truly trying to re-enter the industry as you have depicted, you'll hate it, yourself, and everyone else within a couple of months. Have you ever heard of self fulfilling prophecies? I have been out of 'normal' work environment for about a year now, and I was glad to be away from some things. I too am considering a re-entry into IT...but I can tell you...not with such an attitude. There were annoying people, micro managers, silly executive decisions, etc. BUT these exist in ANY office environment. The key for me will be to focus on the positives...and if you really can't find any...

I understand that 'putting food on the table' is a requirement, but if you truly despise the work, your attitude, opinions, communication and general demeanor will do you and your family no good.

Instead of going back into IT, maybe you should look at another career...I mean that's what you did in aviation right? And apparently you enjoyed it? In the meantime find some company that needs a contractor for a short term project...recruiters have tons of these(well, at least they do in programming)...the job will be a lot easier when you know it simply is a stop-gap while you are searching for something more fulfilling...and the stress will be greatly reduced.

Good thoughts here, but they are a little overly-utopian, IMO.

It is possible for Reerun to go into this job in the event that he gets it and still perform well. Very few people are in a dream job that they are TRUELY happy with. So on some level or another almost everyone is dealing with some sort of negativity coming from their job at some point. Most don't let it affect them (on the outside) or their families. Sometimes you have to compartmentalize your life, which Reerun will have to do. As long as he's been in the industry, I think he has a good understanding of what it will take to make it work.

Your thoughts are good ones, but very rarely does one achieve true job satisfaction.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Otter]

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

This is where I fail... I 99% of the time have nothing in common with the people I work with...

after work I want to go to a bar and grab a beer, wings and catch some football, basketball etc... They would rather stay late, masturbate each others hard drives and go home to surf kiddie porn....

After awhile it grates on you...

Yep. Not only that but the 'what did you do on the weekend?' talk is brutal. I'm looking for someone to occasionally talk about fly fishing, biking, kayaking, getting drunk and having a blast, hunting at the cabin stories...anything remotely interesting.

Instead you hear about picking out curtains at linens and things and how their WOW character reached level 80 and finished the big raid on Saturday Night.

You spend so much time with these people and it's brutal after awhile.

[ArrowheadHawk]

Originally Posted by Skip Towne

I know I won't ever have to work in IT. I can barely spell it.

Nice.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Mile High Mania]

Originally Posted by Chiefs09

Is working in IT really that bad. I hope not cause i'm going to school for computer networking, also other IT based education

Originally Posted by Chiefs09

I'm not really persuing passion, but i would like to enjoy somewhat and not hate my job like I do now

Originally Posted by Chiefs09

I do find alot of what i'm learning interesting, but don't really like going to school with a bunch of computer geeks and i know i'll be working with a bunch when i graduate, but hey if the money's good i guess i can deal with it

Originally Posted by Chiefs09

Thats another thing, I have absolutely no experience doing anything IT related. I'm only 22 and have been a machinist ever since i joined the work force when I turned 18

Lots of interesting things in your comments...

No experience is going to mean you will "take what you can get and be a grunt willing to do anything to advance", which is how many start out.

I work with a lot of IT organizations and there's a solid mix of geeks and normal people... much like everything else in life. If IT is not your passion and you're just doing it for potentially a nice check... then it could be draining on you, especially if the geek factor will annoy you.

It also depends on where you live and the types of companies you have to choose from... if you're able to find a great company that has lots of upward opportunity, you could really be able to get into a number of fields within IT once you have a few years of experience.

You should attend IT networking types of events - get your name out there and know people. If you don't have connections, you'll be at a disadvantage.

The last 18 months has been very hard on companies and IT specifically... I know the hours over incredibly demanding, no matter where you are in the food chain. I know many VPs and SVPs that are at their office from 7am to 7pm... just like the rest of the people that report to them in IT. It's been hard, but signs of good things are on the horizon... companies are starting to spend again and re-invest in IT.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by kepp

It's pretty much like any other occupation. Some days suck while other days are fine. I assume you're going into more of the sys/ops side of things? They probably get shat on more than developers (what I do), but as long as you grow some think skin, you'll be alright.

Pretty much, from what I understand, this is right. There are a few aspects of IT that are different, generally speaking, that affect the environment. Probably the biggest thing is that in most cases IT is a support unit and not a core business function. And that can create some tension.

The part about them all being nerds happens in any environment. I do Internal Audit, so I have to deal with almost every department and they're all ****ing different. Every one of them. And they all speak different ****ing languages. The hardest thing to do is have them explain what they do in a financial sense. It is mind boggling how different the people are in various aspects of an organization.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Otter

Yep. Not only that but the 'what did you do on the weekend?' talk is brutal. I'm looking for someone to occasionally talk about fly fishing, biking, kayaking, getting drunk and having a blast, hunting at the cabin stories...anything remotely interesting.

Instead you hear about picking out curtains at linens and things and how their WOW character reached level 80 and finished the big raid on Saturday Night.

You spend so much time with these people and it's brutal after awhile.

I feel you dude. I feel you. When I was in college most people were around my age. But now I'm the only idiot without kids and trying to do fun stuff and enjoy my youth. So I get things like, "well, I took my car to the shop this morning," and "on the way to school this morning my husband calls and...".
Posted via Mobile Device