Career Guidance

Rockets34Life

Currently, I'm a Sr. IT Administrator at a large corporation. In other words, senior level desktop support with handling telecom issues, projects, and other b.s.

I mean, I love this job.....

- $ is pretty good along with yearly bonuses
- health/dental/vision along with some other perks are nice
- 401K match is ok (1st 3% 100% match, next 2% 50% match)
- live only 10 min away from work (can go home for lunch)
- manager is pretty laid back (schedule is 8-5, no on-call, pretty much gives us the reins to the dept)
- manager has given green light for OT, so I've been eating that up when I get a chance. I jot down every minute for every cent I'm owed.
- office loves me, very dependent on me being here since I'm a familiar face and know the infrastructure very well

I've been at this job for 2 years and don't see an end in sight. My 1st year was a little tough because I started off as a contractor. But I stuck on through and now I'm working full-time with the company. I'm very fortunate to have this role.

My overall background - 14 years of being in the IT world. 1st 3 years did Help Desk and then it's been desktop support / desktop administration since.

But lately, I've been very bored with my career. After a certain time of being here, the routine stays the same and monotonous. But it's also been the same feeling in the previous jobs also. Once you have a handle of the environment, the work doesn't change.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has felt this way and what have you done to re-energize your career? I want to go after some certifications, but with my background of desktop support, what can I go after to advanced further with desktop support or into something else?

Not job related, but I'm married with 2 kids (both under age 4), so I know that can make you want to jump from a tall bridge.....

Nemowolf

Rockets34Life wrote: »

But lately, I've been very bored with my career. After a certain time of being here, the routine stays the same and monotonous. But it's also been the same feeling in the previous jobs also. Once you have a handle of the environment, the work doesn't change.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has felt this way and what have you done to re-energize your career? I want to go after some certifications, but with my background of desktop support, what can I go after to advanced further with desktop support or into something else?

Going through the motions on a daily basis can be just as bad as the grind of going through the entry level help desk job. This is may be a good time to evaluate what your goals are, for example are you working with the technologies that you want to work with? I find that when I don't have a clear goal about my employment then I forget why i work there and my mind starts to question it.

What I did was decide to go back to school and get my degree. This has kept me ultra busy in my down time and fills in the void of time while at work too. Again, this ties back into your goals though as I wanted my bachelors to move ahead. As your in a Sr role, maybe its time to start pushing technology and see what you can do to make the office/infrastructure more efficient and give yourself more interesting projects to work with?

Rockets34Life

Thanks for the reply, Nemowolf. I'll try my best to evaluate my goals with this position and balance an education with family life, but it will be tough with an already hectic schedule.

Anyone else want to chime in?

iBrokeIT

Sounds like you are very smart and talented individual who has reached the top of their IT specialty.

You aren't being challenged by your environment or your boss to learn new skills or do better. You either need to A) find a new environment to be challenged in or find the self-motivation to drive new projects at your current employer (how can you improve user security?, any desktop virtualization initiatives in your company?, can you take more server centric roles like GPOs, Exchange configuration, ect?)

Also try going to some IT conferences in your area.