Not Knowing Where Your Path Will Lead

the_Grinch

"Sooner or later, I’ll do something with myself and make my mark, but until then whatever I do is not a waste of time, it’s all building towards something." - Randall Graves, Clerks II

I think everyone gets into IT with some sort of path in mind. In theory it all seems to make perfect sense, but in practice I'm finding I don't know where I will end up. Overall I'm not disappointed with my path I ended up somewhere pretty good and am doing interesting work, but it isn't what I thought I would be doing. I left a jack of all trades position for a job that was seemingly going to be all policy related. Now it seems to be about 25% policy and 75% jack of all trades. This June was my fifth year of full time work in IT and part of me is thinking what have I amounted too? I guess I was under the impression that I would be an expert in some form of technology at this point where as it seems that perhaps I am very good at troubleshooting and that's about it. Being I do some many different things on a daily basis I can't seem to lock down one area to call the most important and focus on it.

Any words of wisdom?

10Linefigure

Just keep going and shoot for positions or things that interest you. I have been in the same spot for 3.5 years and know how you feel. Maby look around and feel out your current company or perhaps a new one. Is there any certs you can do that directly relate to what you would rather do, making you more marketable to those positions?

Dont let em grind you down man.

UnixGuy

Same here, my initial "vision" was that I want to be an "expert" in some sort of technology (or more), but after few years I'm thinking what's next!

ande0255

I'm just really getting good at the jack of all trades thing, and I think getting to an expert level at that is really one hell of a feat. There is a few people in my office that you can ask just about anything IT related of any complexity, and it amazes me how they can break down and resolve an issue in minutes when it would take me hours.

I am starting to feel though that there is no "glorious" position in IT where you walk on air. The higher the skillset the more your expertise is called upon and leaned on by the company, long hours / little sleep / no life seems to be a norm getting to the top, I'm not sure how some of the field engineers above me work like machines 6 1/2 days a week.

I think it's all about achieving a goal though, and finding work that helps you get to that goal. Mine is the CCIE, some day I will achieve it, and I do want it in Route and Switch. Right now I work with a little bit of everything, but every day I spend 9 solid hours troubleshooting firewalls / routers / switches / servers, gets me 9 hours closer to being ready to sit that exam.

If you ever start a world tour headlining type rocking ass band let me know, cause doing that is also a much less realistic goal of mine, but still a goal

Deathmage

I completely understand man. I myself am in a JOAT position. I had ambitions to be a Network Administrator and while I hope someday to be one. I keep telling myself my JOAT's knowledge I'm gaining now will pay off for me at a later point once I do become focused.

I think when IT people get pushed into a JOAT's role your professional identity starts to becomes smudged a bit. I know how this is completely, my role when I was hired 3 years ago was a Network Administrator then my colleague left the company and I was thrown into Network and System Administration and it has never changed since...

All I can say is keep getting certified, me I'm basically now just calling in sick for my exams...