Needing a Change
Okay folks this is a big one.
I'm wanting to make a career change and I've been debating for about 2 years now and it's coming to a crux because my job is affecting me mentally and physically and frankly I hate my job. I don't hate my company or my managers or my co-workers...I just hate what I do. I got into IT back in the heyday of fast money and easy job placement. I started off as a design engineer for customer PBX's doing configurations and implementation. Then I decided I wanted to go out into the field and actually work "hands on" which was great. I had a van, a tool kit and I got my hands dirty. Then I got the opportunity to work for the big leagues and began working at AT&T doing system administration on certain applications we used in our network operations center. Then I moved out to the network operations center and began doing troubleshooting and break fix over the phone for our large business customers around the world.
Essentially I sit at a desk 10-12 hours a day in front of a computer fielding or making phones calls. It's the epitome of working a fast food drive thru with the exception of better pay and no food smells. However, the respect is about the same. You get customers calling in cussing you out, your managers are only as supportive as their managers, you find your own project teams cutting you off at the knees and essentially you're forced to fend for yourself, however, due to restrictions you're not exactly autonomous either. It's nuts, it's too much noise and frankly I've decided that they don't pay me enough to hate my job. And folks I REALLY REALLY REALLY hate my job.
So I'm stuck with a problem. I know I hate my job...but I haven't any idea of what I would like to do or what I would be good at. I've picked up a few books that measure your skills by your myers briggs results (ESTJ, INFP, etc) and that seems to help a bit. I'm an ENFP and the description that I found in the book was completely on the ball. I'm great at working with ETSJ's because I'm the creative one and they are the logical ones and thus I'm able to come up with the ideas and they can implement them. I'm on the reverse end of that spectrum now, I'm on the logical end of things vs the creative side. It's funny the list of jobs ranged from customer relations managers and School Guidance Counselors to Character Actors and Radio Personalities (no Jess I'm not after you job...although I would DIE to have your job if only because I think I would have a blast doing something like that) so it's a wide assortment of opportunities to choose from and some sound pretty interesting. But how do I go from my job to those jobs without proper experience or training?
Has anyone with considerable work experience made the leap from one career to another and if so how did you do it? I know I'm asking a pretty general question but honestly this is a pretty big step for me and I need to be happy instead of miserable and don't want to do this half ass or furthermore lose my shirt because I'm out of work doing this the wrong way. I would love to hear any stories or advice any of you have as frankly getting out of this job will help get me back to blogging again ;)
Thanks for reading and yes I'm still in the gym :)
I'm wanting to make a career change and I've been debating for about 2 years now and it's coming to a crux because my job is affecting me mentally and physically and frankly I hate my job. I don't hate my company or my managers or my co-workers...I just hate what I do. I got into IT back in the heyday of fast money and easy job placement. I started off as a design engineer for customer PBX's doing configurations and implementation. Then I decided I wanted to go out into the field and actually work "hands on" which was great. I had a van, a tool kit and I got my hands dirty. Then I got the opportunity to work for the big leagues and began working at AT&T doing system administration on certain applications we used in our network operations center. Then I moved out to the network operations center and began doing troubleshooting and break fix over the phone for our large business customers around the world.
Essentially I sit at a desk 10-12 hours a day in front of a computer fielding or making phones calls. It's the epitome of working a fast food drive thru with the exception of better pay and no food smells. However, the respect is about the same. You get customers calling in cussing you out, your managers are only as supportive as their managers, you find your own project teams cutting you off at the knees and essentially you're forced to fend for yourself, however, due to restrictions you're not exactly autonomous either. It's nuts, it's too much noise and frankly I've decided that they don't pay me enough to hate my job. And folks I REALLY REALLY REALLY hate my job.
So I'm stuck with a problem. I know I hate my job...but I haven't any idea of what I would like to do or what I would be good at. I've picked up a few books that measure your skills by your myers briggs results (ESTJ, INFP, etc) and that seems to help a bit. I'm an ENFP and the description that I found in the book was completely on the ball. I'm great at working with ETSJ's because I'm the creative one and they are the logical ones and thus I'm able to come up with the ideas and they can implement them. I'm on the reverse end of that spectrum now, I'm on the logical end of things vs the creative side. It's funny the list of jobs ranged from customer relations managers and School Guidance Counselors to Character Actors and Radio Personalities (no Jess I'm not after you job...although I would DIE to have your job if only because I think I would have a blast doing something like that) so it's a wide assortment of opportunities to choose from and some sound pretty interesting. But how do I go from my job to those jobs without proper experience or training?
Has anyone with considerable work experience made the leap from one career to another and if so how did you do it? I know I'm asking a pretty general question but honestly this is a pretty big step for me and I need to be happy instead of miserable and don't want to do this half ass or furthermore lose my shirt because I'm out of work doing this the wrong way. I would love to hear any stories or advice any of you have as frankly getting out of this job will help get me back to blogging again ;)
Thanks for reading and yes I'm still in the gym :)
posted by havlow at 8:06 PM
2 Comments:
The Lovely Linda and I just took a modified Myers Briggs test. I'm an ISTJ. "The Inspector." That's me!
I have been doing pretty much the same job since 1979 so I haven't the foggiest clue as to how one would go about a career change. Sounds like Jen has some experience, though. Good luck with the process!
Hope you get some good advice Jeremy..I went into nursing school at 19 & have been doing the same damn thing ever since!! sooooo as to changing career paths ..I'm really no help... ~Lol
I hope you can figure where to go to start this new path...
HUgs Lala*
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