The Unhappy World of IT Professionals 981
npistentis writes "According to an article on ZDNet.com, only 1 in 7 IT professionals rate themselves as "very happy" with their chosen profession- which stands in stark contrast to one in three hairdressers, plumbers and chefs, and one in four florists. But then again, very few plumbers have to deal with users who consistently download BonziBuddy, blindly click on suspicious email attachments and use their cd trays as cupholders." Of course, it should be noted that by and large IT professionals earn more money then most other jobs - which I suppose is once again a warning of money != happiness.
1 in 7 :) (Score:4, Insightful)
Fortunately I'm part of that "1 in 7" and I think this comment has a lot to do with it: A "pure IT job" of sitting in front of a screen all day would drive me bonkers. I like having to physically get into our big SGI machines, re-routing fiber & Cat-5, mounting new things in racks, etc. If I had a "screwdriver boy" to do all that while I sat at a console and worked on the equipment through the network my job satisfaction would go down 50% at least.
That all said, I'll wager that when the "DotCom Boom" was happening, many of the "other 6 of the 7" got into IT for the money. If you don't love what you do then get out of it.
Re:1 in 7 :) (Score:5, Interesting)
I got into college for programming at the very beginning of the boom. I did it because I liked programming, not because it was going to pay me lots of money. Of course I was looking forward to the money, but I still liked the programming.
Now, I've found that the programming is becoming stale and boring. It very well could be just this job causing those feelings, because I hardly do any real programming anymore, but until I get another programming job I won't know for sure. And I managed to graduate a year before the bust, so I couldn't build up those wages like some. I'm only making $6000 more then my starting wage 3.5 years ago. So the money definately isn't worth it. Currently, I'm considering looking for a new IT job, or going back to school for welding or something more hands-on. So at least for me, it's not so much that it's boring work, or that I'm only interested in the money. It's more that I think I need more variety and action in my job. Because god knows insurance is NOT a fun and exciting job...
Re:1 in 7 :) (Score:3, Interesting)
Also keep in mind that at some point in life pretty much anything can get boring. At some point, you'll probably need to find other ways to
the joke explains it all... (Score:5, Funny)
"Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"
The man below says, "Yes, you're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field."
"You must work in information technology" says the balloonist.
"I do," replies the man. "How did you know?"
"Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but it's no use to anyone."
The man below says, "You must be a corporate manager."
"I am," replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?"
"Well", says the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you're going, but you expect me to be able to help. You're in the same position you were before we met, but now it's my fault."
Re:1 in 7 :) (Score:5, Interesting)
For the last 4 years, my job title has been 'programmer'.
During this time, if you lump it all together, I have probably spent about 1 of those years programming.
The rest is:
I generally enjoy all of this. If all I did was write code all day- I think I would be bored out of my mind. Occasionally sitting in a meeting mindlessly staring out the window while they talk about our 'under-served clientele' (I work for the government, and EVERYONE is underserved...except for me) can be relaxing. If nothing else I get to learn a lot of new politically correct buzzwords.
Like a lot of people, I don't see myself writing code for the next 20 years. I would like to be in a position like my boss has. She was a good techie, who (rightfully) got promoted up. As long as she hires other good techies, she is set. And, when she wants to, she can get her hands dirty in some interesting project.
Re:1 in 7 :) (Score:4, Insightful)
That is why I love all those meetings, and user interviews, and focus groups...our target audience is HERE- not on a different continent.
Having people skills- and using them- is probably a good way to avoid getting outsourced. If I did sit and code all day, my only value would be my ability to take instructions from a supervisor, and churn out the code they requested. Instead, I try to figure out what we want to do, by interviewing the people involved.
I think this makes me far more valuable to the place I work, and less likely to get replaced by someone who is a great coder- but not familiar with what we are really trying to achieve.
I once followed the paper trail on a 7 part form that we were trying to 'computerize'. I followed each of the 7 parts to its final destination. I found they all ended up with the same person, who told me:
"Well, on the invoice form, they'll have the white copy attached- they just use that when the job is started, so now I throw it away.
On the packing slip, they'll attach the green copy, we don't need that anymore, so I throw it away.
On the shipping receipt, are the yellow and pink copies. I just get rid of both of them."
You can see where this is going- a huge mountain of paperwork, that everyone thought that someone else needed. Yet every copy was thrown away. Obviously I didn't spend too much time streamlining that process.
Sometimes the best answer isn't just great code- sometimes you have to figure out they why's and how's of the process before you can deliver a good product. Personally, I really like doing that part...even if it does mean that I sit through some meetings...hell, we usually have bagels and juice or something like that. (Back in the good ole days, we would get lunch...but budget cuts, etc. etc...)
Re:1 in 7 :) (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:1 in 7 :) (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:1 in 7 :) (Score:5, Insightful)
gid-goo
Programmers in IT get treated poorly (Score:5, Interesting)
Software Engineering (Score:5, Interesting)
I somewhat disagree with your analogy. Although I do see some IT shops that view programming talent with the 'factory' mindset, I think a majority of large software products want you to apply what you're studying: Software Engineering.
I know, I know, there are 10k /. readers out there who just rolled their eyes ("Software development is not like bridge design!" "Programmers are not engineers!") but there are engineering practices that are applicable to software development: proper QA/QC, documenting everything, spending 70% of the SDLC in requirements and design, carefully designing dependencies before implementation, etc. These are not by themselves fun or 'crafty' activities, but in the bigger picture of developing a large and mature software project, can be very fulfilling.
That is not to say you can ROM the time for a software project like a bridge; there are things unique to each and every large project that cannot be accounted for. But, if care is given during the software lifecycle, a project team can deliver a mature, maintainable, usable project, still allow the company to make money, and still allow the developers to practice some 'craft'. I do believe that the difference between the best packages and the average ones lie in the company's investment in that last activity.
*BUT*, craft by itself, in anything but small to medium-small IT projects, is asking for disaster in terms of budget and schedule. The SEI level 1 nickname isn't 'folklore' for nothing. In fact, I would postulate that that's why so many jobs are going away from the Western companies: Western developers' insistence that software development is some kind of magic that cannot even be remotely predicted or estimated. Nonsense!
Time prediction on projects. (Score:4, Interesting)
Western developers' insistence that software development is some kind of magic that cannot even be remotely predicted or estimated. Nonsense!
I would be interested in hearing any links to resources that you have found really, honestly valuable when it comes to predicting time of a project, how many lines of code are involved. So far, software engineering books seem to be full of buzzwords and short on actual useful content, and I've seen only very vague rules of thumb from people that predict project time estimates.
I can understand predicting the time to build a building. All the operations that must be performed are known roughly in advance -- laying a brick is a simple, repetitive operation, and determining the time to lay a thousand bricks is hence fairly simple. Determining the time to finish a project just seems...an almost incredible art.
Businessmen have been trained to use specific management techniques and some simple models ("this task depends on that, we expose ourselves to 30% risk by doing this") and have systems that require tasks with bounded time. As far as I can tell, this just results in contractors and other people selling mostly bullshit estimates, and then if time needs to be extended, coming up with some sort of excuse for more time that doesn't put them at fault ("The interface documentation from this other contractor is incorrect, and will cost us a month to make up the time loss.").
It just seems to me that currently, time estimation on a software project is closer than anything else to time estimation on pure research -- you really *don't know* very well when you'll get someone who makes a breakthrough, but it's required to fit in a corporate world that expects time limits. I just don't see this as egotism of software developers so much as the fact that the process really is just about the most complex commissioned task that you can hire someone to do -- you don't know how it will work until you're at *least* through the full design phase. People in most "creative"-class disciplines, like painters, work in a field where their output quality is somewhat analog. If they have to, they can speed up and come up with a lower-quality output, and it's hard to call them on it. A software developer is the only profession I can think of off the cuff where you have almost no idea how the system will work initially *and* it's easy for the client to come up with a boolean "this meets requirements" or "this does not meet requirements".
Re:Time prediction on projects. (Score:4, Insightful)
Simple rules of thumb.
The smallest unit of code that is going to be monitored will always take about two weeks. Ask any contractor.
When you get the final total adding all those two weeks up, double that and present it as your estimate of the development time. Allow an identical amount of time for QA testing and bug fixes.
Then, when the PHBs tell you that you have to cut 60% from the schedule you came up with, you'll still be able to get the job done and have time for proper QA and bug fixing.
Re:Programmers in IT get treated poorly (Score:5, Insightful)
Working with organizations requires the practices you so despise because of the many types of people that you must effectively communicate with. This is one of the reasons there is a certain disdain for programmers--they insist on being somewhat schitzoid, shying away from working with other people. I have heard this at EVERY interview I've had for fifteen years--"we hired you over the other candidates largely because you have social skills and can speak plain_fscking_English, which we hardly ever find in programmers." If you left or died, would someone else be able to continue your work or would it be more efficient to just start over? It's almost impossible to continue the work of an "artist." You can hardly fault anyone for encouraging practices that make continuity possible over mere aesthetic appreciation for the beautiful enigmas left by some mad scientist.
Re:1 in 7 :) (Score:5, Insightful)
And, to generalize in a different direction...
(Was that too dark?)
Re:1 in 7 :) (Score:5, Insightful)
It's generally understood that IT pays "a lot" of money. Whenever there is an opportunity to make a good living at a job that's not back-breaking or dangerous, you are going to attract people who are pretty much only in it for the money.
On the other hand, nobody becomes a florist just for the money. The only people who become flortists are the sort of people who need to be doing a job that brings them contentment and happiness, and really like working with flowers, regardless of the low pay.
So, in my mind, the real shocking story is that 2 out of 3 florists hate their job.
In the interest of full disclosure, I'm one of the 1 in 7. I enjoy IT office work.
Re:1 in 7 :) (Score:5, Funny)
Not me, I got into for the women....er...wait.
Re:1 in 7 :) (Score:5, Insightful)
Ditto. I work in a small shop (300 or so users) and we have four people in our group. In some places you would have your help desk people, your network people, your pc techs, and so forth. Not here though.
We do a little bit of all of it so things stay interesting. I do primarily work in front of a screen all day but I value highly the time I get to go out and do other things. We run our cables, we help the CAD users, it's variety that keeps me in the "satisfied with my job" group.
I once had someone on Slashdot remark that if I was out swapping out a users broken mouse then I wasn't a network administrator which made me laugh. I bet the majority of those happy in their profession work in smaller shops where they get to do more than a single set of tasks.
Variety is the spice of life (Score:5, Insightful)
You, my friend, have hit the nail squarely on the head.
When I started my current position, it was "a little bit of everything." I did scripting, server builds, maintenance, desktop support, planning, EVERYTHING. I was quite happy. Then slowly, we started "corporatizing" our environment to conform to the rest of our company...Our happy little well-run shop didn't match up, so we had to change. Now we've assigned the more interesting things (the server builds, the planning, and whatnot) to engineers at corporate headquarters, and I'm stuck... Pigeon-holed to desktop support (I installed Bonzi Buddy again!) password monkey (I can't remember the 8-character password I made up myself!) and backup tape duties (I erased my presentation from the server again!)
While I grant you, all the things I have to do are neccessary for continued operation of our business, my job was about 100 times more interesting when there was a little variety involved. I used to love my job and wanted to stay and make a career here. Now that we've been merged into a corporate behemoth and I'm prevented by rule from solving 85% of our problems, it just isn't interesting or exciting any more. I'm looking elsewhere, and will go when I find the right position.
Other stories too... (Score:5, Interesting)
There's definitely some of that -- don't even ask me how many art or business majors I knew back in the day who were "retrained" for IT -- but I think a lot of those people have been shaken out of it by now, either by leaving the industry entirely or, more frighteningly, by scurrying up to management.
But there are other stories, too. The simple fact is, most college educations will not in the least prepare you for the realities of working as a programmer. (I'll speak to that specifically, since it's what I know -- other IT jobs may vary.)
Some of this is relatively trivial. I was forced to take a lot of comp sci theory classes that have never and will never be useful on the job. Some of that was interesting, some of it was there simply because the university had professors that knew it and did research on it and they didn't know what else to do with them. Instead of, say, 10% of my course load being required to be physics, they could have had me take even a single class involving databases, something many professional programmers will touch on nearly every day of their working lives. That part of it though, is water under the bridge as far as I'm concerned. People who like the field and want to be in it can learn and adapt to overcome those kinds of gaps.
The more troubling thing is that working as a programmer is a whole lot different than doing programming in college.
I've known people who loved programming and did great with it in school and for their own projects, but who were utterly broken by the realities of dealing with clients. Some couldn't handle the (gasp) social skills tasks of having to deal with clients or non-technical people at their own companies. Others were slowly ground down towards insanity by having to continually retrofit their work to comply with the seemingly insane demands of the clients or end users. When you do programming projects in school or for yourself, the spec rarely changes fifty times partway through for (as far as you can tell) no reason. In the real world, it happens all the time.
To take another example, I work with a guy who will probably be shaken out of the IT industry sooner or later. It's obvious to everyone, including him, that he isn't happy. It's not that he doesn't like programming in general. The problem, in his case, are the realities of enterprise level programming. He can't stand that he can write some code, test it and find it working just fine, and come in to work the next day to discover that someone else on the far side of the office working on a seemingly unrelated one of the few thousand files that make up the project has effectively broken his work. He can't take looking at something that works one day and not the next and not even (without doing a fair amount of investigation) know how or why. That's another reality of working in IT that doesn't really come up in school.
Myself, I'm happy, but sometimes it's true what they say: If you love something, the last thing you want to try to do is do it for a living.
Re:1 in 7 :) (Score:5, Interesting)
Unless you happen to have a natural talent for it, if you go into a field for purely superficial reasons you are going to perpetuate mediocrity and, I believe, contribute to harming that industry. To summarize: Working with people who don't care really sucks for those of us that do.
At my last job, there was a strong get-it-done culture. Most people there did not go home and tinker around on the computer as a personal interest, they did their duty each day and then went on to escape the computer for the rest of the evening. I was miserable. Luckily there were a small number of people there that I could talk shop with, and who actually cared about how things were done.
At my current job, everyone is actually interested in what they are doing, and it is a *much* nicer place to be.
-If
Tell me about it. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Tell me about it. (Score:5, Insightful)
Would florists be happy if people kept coming back and complaining that all their new plants had died (from not watering or feeding them, and keeping them in dark rooms), and that the florist had sold them crappy plants? I doubt it.
If people played with their plumbing without turning off the water, and the plumber had to fix it for free, or if they put tabasco sauce and steak spice and a half shaker of salt on their jello and the chef had to replace it.
The problem is that people do stupid shit with their computers (that they don't know is stupid shit), and then IT professionals have to fix it (for free, every time, because they're on contract). If IT services were contracted out and cost $50/hr, you can bet people would start being more careful about downloading shit onto their computer after a few hundred dollars.
--Dan
Re:Tell me about it. (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't get it; is it done for free or does is the IT person(s) paid a blanket fee to cover all incidents?
In the case of an internal department doing it for 'free' this is bad internal accounting. The IT department should bill its customers for time even if this is all internal paperwork where no real cash changes hands. The IT department's budget becomes paid by other departments who get paid by external customers.
Its not always users (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not the work that makes me dis-satisfied with IT... 90% of the time its caused by my fellow IT colleagues. Am I alone?
Re:Its not always users (Score:5, Interesting)
One of the things that boggled me when I first got into Systems Administration was how a lot of admins were roped into just a couple of different tasks and knew absolutely nothing outside of that realm. Sure, they have college degrees and no doubt are intelligent people, but I couldn't fathom how they didn't have the desire and tenacity to learn it all.
See, I was new and hungry. Everything around me I wanted to learn and did to the best of my ability. I got great enjoyment from my job. I got to travel, I was paid well, and things were good.
As time passed on and the years seemed to blend together, something changed. I started noticing little things about my career... One thing was job growth..career growth.. Where was I going ? Did I want to be a manager? Was there really anything beyond Systems Administration? I looked at some of the veterans in the company, guys that have been here for 20+ years. They are still SA's.. some of them lead projects..some are stuck in their old ways, refusing to learn new technology..refusing to implement anything new. Scared to touch certain things because they are scared it will come crumbling down. Some letting their pride get in the way of good worksmanship. Some of the less technical ones have gone the way of management.
Do I want to be an SA in 20 years from now? I dunno... I used to read man pages for fun..I don't really find that fun anymore. Can't really pinpoint why. RFC's before bed... Tech manuals like novels. Perhaps I'm burned out... but from what? I'm doing what I've always wanted to do.. Perhaps it is my current company. Maybe I'm not suited for stagnant environments. Maybe it's 8 years of sitting in a 8x8 cubicle , which is in fact smaller than a jail cell.. I've even considered a career change, hell, I'm still young enough.
-L
Re:Tell me about it. (Score:5, Insightful)
In related news... (Score:5, Funny)
6/7 IT Indians consider themselves happy (Score:5, Funny)
Re:6/7 IT Indians consider themselves happy (Score:5, Funny)
What?! (Score:5, Insightful)
But then again, no IT guys have to work in feces in a sweaty, humid, tiny room. STFU you little baby.
Re:What?! (Score:5, Interesting)
The key to understanding the comment as given is that it is the exact same people, over and over again, downloading the BonziBuddy this week, spreading MyDoom next week, and installing three other pieces of spy ware the week after.
Then, they yell at you because they somehow, in a manner I don't fully understand, rationalize it to be your fault.
If you're a sociopath, this doesn't bother you. If you're human, the unrelenting pounding of stupid people upset at you, and in general being obstinately stupid, can easily match most plausible physical jobs. Sure, they may not be shoveling shit, but the shit shoveler can go home, take a shower, change clothes, and be more-or-less OK. The IT-frontliner goes home, and is emotionally exhausted. This should not be trivialized just because it's not physical; in many ways its worse. (For one thing, your nose tends to adjust to bad smells, your brain and emotions tend to get sensitized to stupidity.)
If a person makes a mistake and learns from it, it's understandable; we're all newbies. The good people never call because they fix their own problems. But if you think dealing with unrelenting and unapologetic (and sometime downright arrogant) stupidity is so easy, I invite you to spend a year doing front-line tech support. There is a reason the attrition rate of tech support is much higher then shit-shoveling.
Re:What?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes your coworkers (lusers) may reinstall bonzi everyday but as a plumber, people urinate, and shit, and whatever down the toilet everyday, and you have to work in it! Wouldn't you think that gets more annoying?
The shit just keeps on coming, whichever job you may be working.
Us lusers (Score:5, Funny)
Self-importance has gotten you lot into the shit you are in at the moment. You all thought you were far too good to be laid off. The amount of $ you commanded made you even more expendable.
Here's the deal. Don't call me a luser and I'll stop phoning up with phantom problems.
1. Pull network cable out
2. Phone service desk. Tell them my internet is down.
3. Try and sound confused when I'm asked "Intranet or internet?"
4. Tell phone monkey "I have checked the network cable. It is plugged in" until he/she gives up.
5. Book 4 hours to computer problems. Use those 4 hours to drink coffee.
Troll? I resent that too.
Re:What?! (Score:5, Funny)
Not many plumbers have to "support users" who repeatedly try to flush grapefruit down the toilet.
Re:What?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, it's even worse than that. Tech support is in no wise different from working at any job where you're interacting with the Great Mass of Idiots. Motel desk clerk, 7-Eleven counter guy, McDonald's, you name it. They're ALL THE SAME, INCLUDING TECH SUPPORT. Zillions of fucking idiots who think that they've somehow "got you cornered" and vent all over you for shit they caused themselves.
But there's a catch.
In any of the "standard" jobs where you deal with the public, you knew you'd be doing this when you walked in the door looking to fill out an application.
Tech support folks oftentimes have no clue where they're going to wind up, and if that's not bad enough, being technical types in the first place causes them to be less than, ummm...shall we say 'robust,' when it comes to dealing with the slings and arrows of the Great Shoal of Idiots.
Net result: You've got somebody who's poorly adapted to deal with the emotional stresses (vastly worse than mere physical stresses, unless those consist in taking bullets to the chest or some such similar) of working with the public, working with the public. The plumber goes home from work and washes his hands. No more shit. The McDonald's clerk goes home from work secure in the knowledge that all them assholes can no longer get to him. No more shit.
The TECH WORKER goes home from work, and grinds away mentally over all that happened and all that's going to happen again tomorrow and slowly goes down the emotional drain over a period of weeks, months, or perhaps even years, before finally blowing a fuse and bailing out.
People who belittle the effects of this sort of thing are unable to integrate the fact that identical stimuli will have differing effects on different people, and in their ignorance of the actualities of the situation can only make things worse overall.
Yes indeed, tech work is one of the most corrosive environments you could work at, and if you're not adapted to it the way a weight lifter adapts to plucking large masses of iron off the floor, it's going to be the death of you.
Re:What?! (Score:3, Funny)
True. But Plumbers only have to remember the two rules:
1. Shit flows downhill.
2. Don't bite your nails.
Re:What?! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:What?! (Score:4, Funny)
Ok.
Boy, the Internet really is Crap!
You guys have a shitty connection here, ya know?
I feel like I'm wasting my life on this computer.
I think your network is hosed.
You guys took a new swipe at "the porn hose" definition, eh?
This new network protocol stinks!
Dude! Get that Cat-5 out of your mouth! You don't know where it's been!
Hey, honey? Flush again! My download speed triples when you do that!!
My philosophy (Score:3, Insightful)
what makes IT professionals unhappy (Score:5, Interesting)
2. job security
thankfully, I have job security because i work for state government (state government don't lay off employees) but I still have to deal with users that should know the basics of how to use a computer since they probably have a computer at home or use their computer at work enough
Re:what makes IT professionals unhappy (Score:3, Insightful)
I have job security because i work for state government (state government don't lay off employees)
Aaah, that's just simply not right...
This again only underscores that government employees are not motivated to perform, because they can rely on their "job security".
One would hope that the government would strive to become better through becoming more efficient, and more productive.
If you are not dealing with extremely confidential information (such as national secrets), there is no reason to keep a p
Re:what makes IT professionals unhappy (Score:5, Informative)
Heh. That's what all the state employees here in California thought. They're getting laid off left and right.
Re:what makes IT professionals unhappy (Score:5, Funny)
That's terminated
Re:what makes IT professionals unhappy (Score:4, Interesting)
yeah, unless you work in arkansas. and i do. our state government just got bitch slapped by the supreme court (because of a BADLY malformed, outdated, and unconstitutional school system). Suddenly the government had to come up with several hundred million dollars - and guess where they started?
I still remember the day that they sent fully a quarter of the employees at several buildings home with no notice. they just met them at the door and said, "sorry, you don't work here anymore." Security escorted them to their desks, stood there while they cleaned them out, then walked them back out of the building.
doesn't that give you a warm, fuzzy feeling?
Geek Culture (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Geek Culture (Score:5, Interesting)
Personally, I find that sort of 'pleasure' abhorent. Sitting around bitching about things, or criticizing something just for the social effect
re: geek culture (Score:4, Insightful)
ed
Re:Geek Culture (Score:4, Interesting)
Except, herding is not fun. When some idiotic thing breaks that just shouldn't or I'm answering stupid questions or fixing stupid problems caused by stupid people doing stupid things for the millionth time, I'm NOT happy. I HATE doing that.
On the other hand, when I'm writing some tricky new piece of code or working on something that I haven't done before, I AM having fun. I think a lot of IT folks just have a low tolerance for people afflicted by learned helplessness and they spend an inordinate amount of time fixing those morons' problems instead of doing something productive that they can get a feeling of satisfaction from. It only takes one person doing something really, really dumb to screw up a whole day of otherwise productive work. When you support 1500 people, odds are pretty good that one person is out there somewhere.
Ouch (Score:4, Insightful)
Pretty sad that there's a higher percentage of people that are happy fixing toilets clogged with shit then the perecentage of people supporting computer users....
Re:Ouch (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Ouch (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Ouch (Score:5, Funny)
that is because Toilet bowls full of shit usually has a higher IQ than most computer users in the office.
I'll take a Turd over the entier marketing department any day.
The results would have been different... (Score:5, Interesting)
I knew a guy (Score:4, Funny)
He claimed to make a lot of money, and was actually quite happy... I personally think he was running dope on the side, though, so what the hell do I know?
Of course (Score:5, Insightful)
If plumbing, hairdressing or whatever becomes the next *big* thing, I am sure a lot of people would join the bandwagon without having to necessarily like it. And consequently, the percentage of people disliking this job would go up.
The cliche' goes again. Do what you like or you will forced to like what you do.
Re:Of course (Score:3, Insightful)
If plumbing, hairdressing or whatever becomes the next *big* thing, I am sure a lot of people would join the bandwagon without having to necessarily like it. And consequently, the percentage of people disliking this job would go up.
This is
Re:Of course (Score:3, Interesting)
And now, we have to EARN the money we make, and that pisses us off. Especially programmers, who are, by definition, lazy workers (and I say this as a developer).
Totally makes sense! (Score:3, Interesting)
Now, I am happy I have a job, and thats where it ends. I dont enjoy what I'm doing in my current job, but I know the pickings are rather slim if I leave here, my town not being a IT hub does not help either (and I really dont want to move)
If that's not enough, in the back of my mind, I'm always worried about the next down-sizing, and whether I'm on the radar for that or not.
I am sure this profile is fairly typical for most people working in IT.
Odd way to report the results (Score:5, Insightful)
Helping users is no problem (Score:3, Insightful)
yeah, like the sysadmin that worked for me... (Score:5, Insightful)
1 reboot the machine
2 re-image the machine
3 replace the machine
4 blame it on a virus or a microsoft bug
5 ignore it
then the users call me, and I fix it - usually something simple like a checkbox not checked or a DNS entry not typed in...
And this guy was MCSE "certified". Yeah Right.
I rode him so much I am sure he was not happy with his job, but like other posters have said - he got into the field for the money but didn't have a clue about computers.
Lord I am glad he's gone!
Salary (Score:4, Interesting)
Over here in the UK, plumbers make an absolute fortune (well above your average code monkey) because their skills are so in demand.
Not many professionals are happy. (Score:5, Informative)
Position Profession Vocational/Academic % Very Happy
1 Care Assistants Vocational 40%
2 Hairdressers Vocational 32%
3 Plumbers Vocational 32%
4 Chefs Vocational 30%
5 Florists Vocational 20%
6 Chartered
Engineers Professional 18%
7 Lawyers Professional 16%
8 Mechanics Vocational 14%
9 IT Specialists Professional 14%
10 Scientists/R&D Professional 14%
11 Secretaries
receptionists Vocational 13%
12 Butchers Vocational 12%
13 Builders Vocational 10%
14 Teachers Professional 8%
15 Architects Professional 8%
16 Electricians Vocational 6%
17 Accountants Professional 4%
18 Pharmacists Professional 4%
19 Media Professional 4%
20 Estate agents Professional 4%
Re:Not many professionals are happy. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Not many professionals are happy. (Score:4, Insightful)
Job != Life either (Score:5, Insightful)
It should also be noted that not being happy in your job doesn't mean you're not happy with your life, either. For example, last year I left a terrible but very well paid job. Thought the job was appalling, but the money I was making from it allowed me to get on with my life in other areas, so overall I was having a good time.
Be wary of describing people as just "IT Professionals" or "Hairdressers". They're not 2D stereotypes, they're full-blown people with all the complexity that implies.
Cheers,
Ian
Underlying commonalities? (Score:3, Interesting)
After looking through the article (gasp, I read it!) I think the authors may have missed a significant factor. Most of the "happier" professions aren't worried about their jobs getting outsourced, and don't appear to be the type of job that have bosses breathing down your neck, forcing you to work 80 hour weeks for 40 hours of pay, which, by the way, also had your salary cut.
Nurses are an example of a profession even less "happy" than IT. While nurses aren't worried about their jobs being outsourced, interestingly enough they tend to be overworked (usually 10-12 hour rotating shifts throughout the week) and underpaid, especially compared to their colleagues. But, according to the articles, they should be happy, as they are very hands on. Guess that hypothesis just got shot down.
The only useful thing I found out of this study is the actual data, which I don't really know how to treat (with suspicion?). The rest is pretty much opinionated fluff.
Overwork makes people unhappy! (Score:5, Insightful)
New studies have indicated that working people as far as you can stretch them *makes them unhappy*!
I could never figure out why the employment situation in the US is so screwed up.
We have this kind of go-go-GO-OR-YOU-FAIL-DAMMIT-GO! mentality that keeps being pushed. I was talking to some folks about the kind of hours that people starting off in financial services or the legal world can expect to work -- the hours are *stupid*. Sure, the jobs pay well, but what do you do with the money? Buy a bigger TV or a more expensive car, neither of which you get to use because you're at work most of the time?
Furthermore, I claim that you can't be productive at the number of hours that people work. People cannot work 80 productive hours a week. They can push themselves to be *at* work 80 hours a week, but there's no way that they're getting that much done.
France and Germany both seem to have much more liberal hours-of-work and vacation policies. So what if you make a bit less money if you aren't beating yourself to death trying to claw your way ahead?
We currently have unemployment problems in the US. Lots of people out of work. We also have lots of people that are well-paid but overworked. It just seems like there should be, you know, an obvious solution to this. Hire more people and pay a lower pay rate.
Re:Overwork makes people unhappy! (Score:3, Interesting)
You are right. The problem is that it's far cheaper for a company to work a single employee 80 hours, than to have 2 employees work 40 hours. Couple this with the supposed concept that an employee on average only does 3 hours of real work a day (I can't find the link anymore, this study was quite old), maybe companies think well, keep the employee here for 80 hours, we'll get 30 or so real hours of work out of them..
The main problem is that companies are already paying people less, but they're not hiring m
That's not the real conclusion (Score:4, Insightful)
I use to be an IT pro (Score:5, Insightful)
We're not all tech support. (Score:4, Insightful)
I would guess that most IT professionals are not in tech support. I've not seen numbers on it, but if you lump together programmers, DBA's, web developers, analysts, etc, vs. sysads and tech support I bet you get something like an 80/20 ratio. Anyone seen stats on it?
But, for those in tech support, I think there are inherent conflicts. People attracted to tech are often more introverted. You take people like that and force them to deal with users who know nothing, are resentful of their utter dependence on others, want immediate results, and blame tech support for the problem in the first place, and you get BOFH [iinet.net.au].
Re:We're not all tech support. (Score:3, Insightful)
Ya think I would get paid better.
Re:We're not all tech support. (Score:4, Insightful)
The disconnect between value provided to the business (which, despite the stereotypes, is quite high in my experience) and the perception/treatment of the "IT nerds" (what a contemptuous term BTW) is what causes a lot of the unhappiness.
sPh
[1] Yes, I know: you can cite a counterexample. And everyone gets the occational humiliation, particularly in smaller companies. But no - not on the daily basis that the IT people get.
IT is a largely intellectual field (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, we are that shallow. Nothing wrong with having some hot women in the office.
And management doesn't get it.... (Score:3, Interesting)
7-Year Plan (Score:3, Interesting)
I've been in IT for nearly 10 years, and right now, I see my career as almost at a complete stand-still. Yeah, I make a decent living (on the north side of 78k a year) -- but I'm still doing the same thing I was doing in 1997 -- the only difference is, I'm a hell of a lot better at it.
Anyway, i formulated this 7-year plan where I would start to develop some of my side projects and hopefully be at a point within the 7 years that I can leave IT behind and never look back.
I think my biggest problem with IT is the people. I'm a pretty friendly guy who has a very strange sense of humor and like to read, write, watch movies, talk about art and design, music, recording and other creative things -- while everyone I work with all have CS degrees and view things like that as a sickness to be avoided. Its a shame really. Plus, the managers in IT -- I swear they just stamp them out of some machine. Some are better than the others -- and the two guys that own the small consultancy I work for are great guys, very smart and just good people... but here at the client site... these people are robots! I get constantly criticized for not being more "social" here. Well there's a reason! No one gives a damn what I'm into and what I like to talk about. I'm sorry, I just am not going to become something I'm not.
So, instead of trying to shape myself into something I'm not, I figure I need to find a way out of this IT world. I wouldn't call myself "unhappy" in fact I am a happy person -- because of my life *outside* of IT.
Of course -- 7 years is a long time, and things are subject to change... but my current frame of mind dictates that I can't just sit around and do *nothing* -- I'm not the type who just waits for things to happen. I try my hardest to make things happen (realizing of course that control is, after all, an illusion) -- but all the same. Shit aint just gonna happen just because
Evolution of IT workers (Score:4, Interesting)
Now it may take 40 years for this to happen but it happens to all (alright most for those mathematicians) IT workers; People hate change and IT is all about change everyday (every hour?). It is stressful fighting for your job everyday when new college people are released ever year with fresh training and new ideas without any legacy burden. I'm not in anyway bashing College Hires but the younger you are the more resilient you are. The more resilient you are the better you perform. So as you're moving in the IT field you need to look at moving on or up to prevent yourself from being exterminated.
Grab something to move into when you start heading into retirement age. God knows I don't want to be in IT at age 70 fending off those young whipper snappers.
My interest has waned (Score:5, Insightful)
I am a software engineer. My job is boring. I spend 8-10 hours/day staring at a computer screen. A friend asked me to help him buy a computer a while back. He asked me since I was a software guy, and was supposed to know about these things. I couldnt help him. I knew NOTHING about current computers, printers, monitors etc on the market.
So now I sit here coding in C++ and making pretty UML diagrams all day, but have absolutly no interest in it anymore. I do it because it pays well and I am reasonably good at it. I dont do it because I enjoy it. I would love to quit and do something I enjoy, but then I realize that I wouldnt have as much disposable cash for other things. So I am resigning myself to wasting 40+ hours/week of my life so I can enjoy the remaining 80 or so hours (sleep is important).
When I was in school I went to a research oriented university. There was some cutting edge stuff being developed that never ceased to hold my attention. Now I am designing software for systems that are nowhere near the level of sophistication as what I was used to at school. Its just all so bland now.
Re:My interest has waned (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:My interest has waned (Score:4, Interesting)
I used to be a full-time software developer, but now I've moved into the bit generically known as "IT". Some days, I can be writing C, doing low level bit-twiddling for a test suite for a custom printer we're planning on using. Friday, I installed a 48-port switch in the network rack. Today, I wired in two new servers and installed some software. Last week, I set up a system to write hard drive images 30 at a time with the help of a Knoppix CD I customized. Last Thursday, I configured a new OpenBSD firewall for a brand new test network. Today, I helped a user learn how to use WinZip. Last year, with knowledge gained from the software development experiece I had, I selected a new counter system for our franchisees.
My job can't be outsourced - it requires physical presence. I get to do different things every day. I even get to weild a screwdriver and there's even the odd opportunity to inflict injuries on innocent electronics with a solderin iron. Two years ago, I was doing exactly what you were doing (but I had quite a lot of interest in it - creating new software systems is something I find fun). But this is more fun - I still do a little bit of software development, but I get to do an awful lot of other stuff.
money != power (Score:5, Insightful)
Power disparity in the workplace is a big factor. Here we are, we know what is going to work best, what is going to save money, what is going to make people's lives easier, what should be automated and what it a waste of time, and we have PHB's telling us they know best, decisions based on superficials or unneccesary complications, spending based on budget cycles not needs, systems too powerful or too weak. And we shut up and do it, since there are plenty out of work who want your job. Then we have to tiptoe around [L]user egos, baby boomers who fancy themselves technologists but forget how to make a printer the default.
There was a study of "determinants of health" conducted in the early 90's in 5 different industrialized nations, which discovered that power disparity was at least as big a factor on well-being (heart disease, depression etc.) as wealth/poverty or difficulty of job--upper middle managers who felt stifled were worse off than low-income workers with relative independence and greater unfettered responsibilty. Poverty=poor health studies may be weighted wrongly due to these findings: it's not just about money, power on the interpersonal scale counts strongly.
It's simple really (Score:3, Informative)
It appears to me that the level of job satisfaction is almost entirely dependent not on the TYPE of job, but at what company that job is being done at. For anyone in the IT industry that comes as no shock, but it was eye opening to the rest of the company.
What we found in our internal study was that IT workers feel particularly disengaged from the rest of the company. They are forced to be very task oriented ("We've decided to install XXXXX, heres how we want you to do it") which is rather disheartening for most workers in this industry. They are trained to be problem solvers, but are often left out of the decision making process and instead become highly paid installation men.. which runs almost completely counter to their personalities. As a result they feel replacable, underutilized, and bored. That's a recipe for job dissatisfaction if I've ever seen it..
What we've done is go to a more distributed problem solving model. At the highest levels (CTO/management) the problems are defined, and then commitees are formed consisting of the actual IT workers to solve those specific problems. When choosing a new customer support system, for example, we made sure that the end users (CSR's), IT network engineers, system administrators, and the customer support manager where all involved in evaluating and designing the system they wanted to put in place.
After that project was complete we found a remarkable increase in satisfaction. The simple fact of engaging these people made them feel secure in their jobs (they felt valuable), engaged, and stimulated. The project was completed in record time and the rollout was nearly flawless. It was an incredibly interesting excercise for me (a software development lead), and apparently for those involved in the design as well.
All of this is a long winded way of saying that the problem isn't IT, but those that run it. They fail to understand or utilize the value of their staffs. They force assignments on them. They treat them as disposable commidities, rather than the intellectual assets they are. This creates a job situation that is rather unpleasant for everyone involved...and management seems to be blisfully unaware that anything is wrong. Instead they complain about how hard IT workers are to manage and how they refuse to 'fit in' with the corporate culture. After all, a good marketing guy will sit there and do what he's told.. It's a severe clash of personalities, which is why you'll find much higher job satisfaction rates at technology driven companies (generally run by people with technical backgrounds).. which does beg an interesting question: "Are marketing, accounting, and other business related people more unhappy working at technology companies than at business driven companies?"
IT is a step-parent job... (Score:3, Insightful)
8% of teachers are happy??? (Score:5, Insightful)
Different situations (Score:5, Insightful)
How many of us in IT want to do a *good* job? How many of us would like to show what we can do and the quality by which we can do it? Alas, how often is the time there? Instead you do your second best, if you are lucky, to meet insane deadline.
Contrast this with a hairdresser or any of those other positions. Those people are hired to attract customers. Take for example a plumber. When something breaks most people will trade time for a proper fix so this doesn't happen again. Those people can take pride in their jobs and are generally expected to exhibit their creativity.
Very few in IT are in a position to take their time to adhere to best practices when managers are screaming as a group to have *something* now and not later. When their desire to rush doesn't work out, who is to blame? Not them! At the end of the day it is hard to feel good about whatever you've done especially when you know if you had a bit more time you could have done a better job.
I wonder what those stats would be like (Score:4, Insightful)
Unhappynes and reconision. (Score:4, Insightful)
I like IT Programming, Administration, even helping people with all the dumb little problems. But if I dont get any thanks or apreaction at all it feels like I am not doing anything good.
The key to happiness in IT (Score:4, Funny)
Mmmm, serotonin.
My $0.02 (Score:4, Interesting)
I work as an independent consultant. My largest client has about 130 staff. I do database engineering, software design, and Linux system administration for a total customer base of around a dozen clients.
Every day is unique. Yesterday I developed, tested, and began using a new template system for PHP [sourceforge.net] that is much, much faster than the PHPLib template system I've used for the past 4 years.
Today, I'm going to be refining an application framework for a company I'm partner in, writing a backup system based on rsync, and working on transferring Internet services from a couple of servers to a couple of other newer replacements.
I deal with customers directly, and get to hear the shreiks and exclamations when they realize how much easier I've just made their life...
I spend an average about 1-3 hours on the phone every single day, dealing with clients all over North America, and I put in an average of around 4-7 hours of billable time.
My average workday is generally between 8-12 hours a day. Sometimes, I take the day off with no prior planning. Sometimes I work 18 hours straight.
I love my job, and it loves me!
rank them by control over what they do... (Score:4, Insightful)
It isn't until you get down to lawyers that the professions begin to become mired in procedural straightjackets, where what the practitioner does is dictated by a set of obsolete/seemingly unrelated set of process rules or changes in direction while the work is ongoing.
How many plumbers (hairdressers, chefs, florists, care assistants) have the "blissful" experience of having the customer (or worse yet, some third party -- say insurance companies or HMOs in the case of MDs) butt in to change direction or tell them to hurry up or I'm not gonna pay you? Just look at how bureaucratic teaching has become, with the book used, material covered (and in what order according to a fixed timetable), and pretty much every aspect of the job dictated by someone other than the teacher.
This is a function of the direction our society has taken -- away from individual craftsmen/women whose reputation is their bond, and into some Orwellian corporate nightmare where people are turned into interchangeable machines, leaving no room for the exceptional practitioner.
All too sad that this should be the case when we have the perfect media for maintaining public customer satisfaction metrics -- the web.
Identifying your life as your profession (Score:4, Insightful)
IT people often think of themselves as innovators and creators - but unfortunately most business/marketing types see IT people as technicians and implementers. This is especially the case when you want to program, not just dole out the work.
Self-employed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I'm happy with my job (Score:5, Insightful)
I LOVE my CAREER, I HATE my JOB
by that I mean I love doing what I have chosen to do for my life, I just hate working at the current place of employment. That has all changed now that I was laid off, spent 10 months goofing off, traveling, testing the waters elsewhere(photography), and I am now back with a better place and love both my career and my job
Re:Is it just me? (Score:4, Informative)
"which stands in stark contrast to one in three hairdressers, plumbers and chefs, and one in four florists"
Re:Is it just me? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I'm certainly glad I switched (Score:5, Funny)
Sitting here, watching
Uni department go mad
Mangled by the worm
I _have_ Been a Plumber (Score:4, Interesting)
Now, that occupation _is_ much more cyclic than IT has been until the effects of the H-1b/L-1 expansion set in 4 years ago.
Now for non-union guys, rates vary considerably with business skills and technical skills in the occupation. For union guys, what varies isn't just rate, but how much folks get to work when work is scarce(folks with high demand skills work more regularly).