1

Hello all,

Looking for some advice. I don’t actually get a lot of free time to create an in depth post on forums, with work and family duties.

So, finally finished for Xmas no more office days this year. Sure I will be pinned to the laptop, monitoring backup email, responding to those who don’t shut off for Xmas etc.

But right now, I’m totally in a bad place right now and worrying about the year ahead.

So, I’ve been in IT 20 years this coming year. Education is a total of. BTEC in Programming, COBOL! And a couple of decades old XP exams.

The entire 15 years was in Support and that seemed to fly by, I earned money, most of it went but managed it enough to have a car, place a 10% house deposit and but they time I had left I had a 3 year old daughter. Penny dropped that I wasn’t really going anywhere and wanted a change, and was by then fairly enthusiastic and found another support job nearby paying a couple of £k more - fresh start at this point.

Roll on to the next job.

I came in as support ready to go, picked everything up quickly and in a couple of months the current IT manager left and they offered me the job. I had hoped they would as it came with a 25% payrise but would rise further after 6 months which it did.

Too much to mention but I’m still here same role, pay now much more but it’s been a struggle. From getting cover for the other site we have, managing hopeless users, silly goddamn questions, system issues and and putting a lot of time and effort in to keeping IT running.

Next year going to be so much harder. I know we are due masses of system upgrades. The hardware is 5-6 years old and the OS ends with an 08. I’m at the limit of my ability (think experieced helpdesk support dressed up as IT Manager) and rely on external paid support and havent a clue how to suggest or even implement these upgrades, we are talking £100k of investment judging on the quotes i’m getting back.

I’m saving masses of money personally luckily (partly with not going out, frugality and not having an interest in anything after work, the job has done that), 45% of net income and in 12 months will have technically paid off my mortgage - this is the only thing that is driving me at the moment.

I dream of the day I can work in a supermarket, clock out go home and have done. I really envy people on lower wage jobs currently and wonder how they manage. I’m 40 soon and really can’t see me having any sort of personal future if I remain in IT. Sad I know.

Sorry just getting a load off and looking how you guys manage. I need to find some courage and ideas to head in to the new year.

I’ve probably missed loads out but there we go!

Thank you for reading. Please move to the relevant topic area as I couldnt find an appropriate one.

16 Spice ups
2

The grind gets us all. The way you combat it is to find a healthy mix between enjoyment and work when identifying a workplace. I love technology but I’ve worked IT jobs that have made me want to Alt+F4 myself. The environment, the people, even the network are factors when deeming a place enjoyable or not.

I’m lucky to be in a great spot now. They’re flexible, the network is sexy because I manage it, the people are great, etc… it doesn’t feel like work.

My advice to you - keep doing what you’re doing but start looking elsewhere. No matter what you think - there are TONS of opportunities out there for you and your skillset and while you may not find the perfect gig right away, you will always hate yourself for not trying later on in life.

3 Spice ups
3

I’d put in the 12 months to meet my financial goals, and in that time treat the system upgrades as a learning experience. Work with the consultants so you can gain some knowledge during the process and better understand how the systems work. You might find your outlook changes once you have a better grasp of what you’re dealing with.

I inherited supporting 4 organizations with no documentation, so I know how it can feel overwhelming at times. Just bite off one piece at a time and it will come together. Chin up!

1 Spice up
4

Are you solo or do you have (or can you hire) junior techs to handle day-to-day tasks? Do you have any business background or experience? My guess is “no,” because that sounds like a significant component of your struggle.

So to answer your last question, assuming it wasn’t rhetorical, is to first ask you this instead: do you want to stay in this job and get better at it?

The most difficult step for me when I took on a more senior position in what I did was to let go of my responsibilities and hand them over to the kids who came in after me who I mentored. I had to resist the urge to step in and do it for them, despite knowing that I could do it faster and more accurately. They had to learn, and our users also had to learn to go to them instead of to me directly. I had to learn to redirect their requests to my techs; otherwise, I’m just cutting my techs’ legs out from under them by continuing to do things myself.

And while I was doing that, I wasn’t doing the jobs only I could do. I had to focus on org-wide system deployment and asset management, not troubleshooting printers.

So, if you have or are able to have junior-level technicians to tackle the daily grind, that frees you up to focus on more strategic, org-wide projects and initiatives. If you’re struggling to figure out how to configure Server 2016, hire a network tech or sysadmin who already has that experience. A person with that background will have the expertise to do it better than you, more accurately, and probably faster.

You don’t save money for the company by bumbling around with your inexperience, because that’s inefficient. Plus, there’s lost opportunity if you’re trying to get up to speed on a newer server OS while leaving other duties unaddressed.

If you want to stay in this job, it may require a shift in perspective on what you think you should be doing versus what you should actually be doing (again, assuming that you’re able to expand staff).

5

I get where you are coming from, Senior IT roles can become a money trap, hard to downgrade to a more flexible job due to the salary scale.

I was kinda lucky, I went from a 100% on call job as EMEA Lead Systems Analyst at an Oil Company to part of a 2-man team in a Company whose Offices shut in the evening and no requirement for on-call or weekend work, and although I started out on a lower salary to the old job, I more or less reached it within a few years anyway.

I don’t have a ready solution but work/life balance is very important, we all need it so if you are not managing to square that circle I would look for change.

Speak to your bosses about getting something more regular as assistant, someone you can offload to.

Secondly, I wouldn’t save all your cash and miss out on being happy, I earn it and I spend it, no-one knows how long we have got. Swing that balance a little.

BTW, cool Profile name, one of my favourite 4-man era Genesis songs. :+1:

6

Why? will the sales team be doing this? Will the accountants be doing this? TAKE A BREAK.

What’s the struggle? The users? The management? something else? If you were to take a step back and write down your top three frustrations, what would they be?

Do you have staff or do you just refer the work to the outsourced company? What do YOU want to do with your career? Do you want to know about the upgrades? Do you want to be involved or do you want to leave it to the outsourced company?

And then what? Paying off a mortgage is a fantastic achievement but you need to set other goals and challenges otherwise it will be “paid off mortgage, bored now”.

Why can’t you take a break? What is compelling/forcing you to be available 24/7? Clearly some functions are outsourced so why can’t they take some of this load?

At the end of the day, you need to decide what is best for you. If you want to work in a supermarket, why not go work in a supermarket? The problem here is that you could go do this but then find that actually you still have the same problems you had when you worked in IT because it wasn’t the career that was the problem but maybe that one job?

2 Spice ups
7

IT is ever evolving, and more and more IT is about, even those supermarket self-serve checkouts are run by IT.

This sounds more like a training issue, you’ve taken exams in the past and I presume passed them, so what stops you now?

You are also not the only one in this position, we have likely 100 or so 08 systems, there is somewhere near 5000 staff, 500 overall servers and 2 of us who do this work, me being 1. Amongst this I also have 2 staff who are new who I have to show the ropes, dont consider it defeat, consider it a new challenge. Fight for it and push yourself (if you want this)

Only you control your fate and learning abilities - you may feel like you are and the end, and are heading towards 40, but that’s not the end, having recently turned 40 myself, you have to keep going, if IT is what you like, find alternative things to do if you feel stuck, instead of system admin or tech, be a system designer, design the networks and infrastructure, learn a new OS, maybe even Linux, do some networking… whatever floats your boat.

If you have no desire in this any longer, then maybe you are keen to move to a less stressful, slightly lower paid, but what you now consider, respectable job - stacking shelves, on the tills, or even a delivery driver, again, personal choice.

Whatever the outcome, don’t give up. This is important, take a break and get back on the horse.

8

The question that needs to be addressed is
have you reached the limit of your abilties or is it a lack of expseriance (and confidence) that is holding you back ?

putting work to external MSP’s is all well and good but it dosnt progress you.
its really not uncommon to come across “IT managers” who seemed to know little about thier enviroments and only defer to external MSP’s

Maybe a different approch would be of benifit.

9

I’m 60 and facing similar challenges. The difference is I don’t let it get to me.

I take my time off whenever I can. I’ve been on-call almost continuously since 1993, but I always make it clear that unless you’re on fire, I’m going to land on you like a ton of bricks for anything that can wait. This has worked well for me. I only get called when an actual emergency arises.

When I leave work, I shut-off work issues. Having this attitude has made life quite enjoyable. You’re wound too tight - Let it go.

I’ve been working for 48 years, and it took about 15 to understand the balance. I enjoy work and don’t let it rule my life. My family and friends come before the job. I get it all done, and do it well, but if someone I care about has an emergency then I’m there in a heartbeat. I’ve never met a boss, even my current one, who objects to that.

I hope you can get your head right. No matter what job you have, keep it in perspective and be happy.

3 Spice ups
10

Absolutely. The way I look at it is that any company will consider the company first (as they should) and they will drop you in a heartbeat if they felt a need to. Companies don’t have loyalty no matter what they say.

I think it was my second redundancy that woke me up to that fact. When I’m at work, I will do the best I possibly can. I spend personal time on the home lab, writing content such as blogs and so on but when I need downtime I take it. A break is so important to avoid burn out.

2 Spice ups
11

I was in your position for a while, and now run a consultancy which helps people in your position. It’s hard, no doubt. But do consider - what would happen to the company if you left ? They would get another IT Manager & things would continue. Companies have very little real loyalty to their staff. They can’t, they have to make a profit.
So you have to look after yourself.
Get some help to create a plan for the future. Get the plan approved by the senior management team. Make sure that there is budget in there to bring in help. Make sure that you document the benefit of doing something, an alternative, and the risk of doing nothing.
Then implement the plan when it’s approved.

Easy to say, more difficult to do. That’s the basic idea though, and don’t let it get to you.

12

Everyone has low moments, think that they are not good enough for the job and also think they should leave since “the grass always looks greener the other side of the fence”.

You need to find time to rest and recharge your batteries so that you are not stressed by your situation (easier said than done). And also learn how not to take all your work home with you in your head. Before leaving work for home list all the actions you need to take in the future so that they do not go around in your head at home. Refuse to respond to stupid request for help when you are at home. Etc.

Whilst it is useful to fully understand all the detail of the equipment that you control and how you will upgrade it, it is not a strict requirement since you are a manager and part of managing is to gather around you people you can trust (could be consultant, etc). Have a plan of what needs doing and who is responsible for the work packages. Pass the responsibility to them and monitor progress. Let go of the mundane support jobs and give to others. Step back and get an overview of the situation. Do not get bogged down.

Do not take any fast action on your situation. Try to make your work scenario better.

Best of luck

13

What do you want to hear? As far as I can see, you’ve got two choices.

  1. Keep doing what you’re doing and get exactly the same result you’re getting now.

  2. Change.

What should you change? Doesn’t matter. The one thing you know for certain is that what you’re doing now isn’t working. So change something - anything.

What’s in your control to change? You could start with your attitude. Phrases like “managing hopeless users, silly goddamn questions” telegraph pretty clearly that you don’t respect other people. Why not change that?

It doesn’t appear that you like yourself much, either. You disparage the work you do and your education. I struggled to find one positive thing you said about yourself in your original post. What could you change about that?

You post here looking for…what? Us to say nice things about you? Us to give you hope? We can’t do that. Those things need to start with you.

So, tell me your ideas for how you’re going to make next year better.

1 Spice up
14

Trips to Mexico, alcohol, and strippers; in that order. Girlfriend loves getting away from her stresses with same triple threat.

If I didn’t have some kind of mental release, I would have either quit IT or blew my brains out long ago; hard to say which would have come first.

15

Hi all, thank you for your replies. I have been avoiding all forms of IT over the Xmas break which as been nice, fairly relaxing and nothing fell over (in an IT sense). I have been doing a lot of think of what this year lies ahead, sadly I struggle to think more than a few days ahead but I’m here right now, I need to give this job (and current career) one last go.

I managed to clear a back log of work on the week up to Xmas so at least I can concentrate on new items needing my attention.

Although I’m not particulary enthusiastic about bringing another bod on board, we do need one so I can at least task them with inital user conact and 1st/2nd line support leaving me to look at the bigger picture moving the dept and systems forward. That will be brought up as a priority on my return.

I do have a current issue (yet acted up on) with my other tech. While the job gets done, some of the work isnt as polished as I would like (documentation, tickets, feed back to me). All dept heads have been given 3 month extension on appriasals so I’m going to work through this with the individual prior to this date.

I will add comments to each poster that replied.

I need some where to offload so will keep this updated as I can.

16

Ive been thinking this too, but dont want to drag my current mindset to another IT job. If I do decide to move on to another IT job, that will because I want to stay in that career. I’m hapy to start from support upwards again but have to make sure that the current finanical backup is there, this current job does provide excess funds for savings should that day come.

17

Dont get me wrong, I have supported this IT system to date very well. Minimal downtime, no major threats from malware/ransomware that I know of. Everything I have learnt about the current setup has borne out of an technical issue of some sort and hatd off to management they sign off support contracts with out fuss or got the necessary resources in hat I have asked for. The idea of suggessing the new upgrades is that I do want plan ahead and start afresh with someting I have dealt with the planning and install.

18

Its a bit of both.

I always enlist external assistance when making changes I havent done before. or if I cant work my way out of a borked system. My fear of a downed system and no one to turn to is the worst nigthmare. I know I’m not learning much from that (I have lernt some from this however) but it allows me to get on with other tasks. End result to date is that the work got done.

I do feel I have reached the limit of my current ability.