Do you ever feel isolated in your IT job?

Happy Monday! I found this thread on Spiceworks this morning that I thought might be interesting to talk about. Almost 40% of respondents claimed to often feel isolated in their job! Do you think this is a legitimate problem, or just "the way it is?" Have you found a way to minimize that feeling?

I know that I used to feel that way occasionally at my old job. I think it was primarily due to the fact that IT was physically walled off from the rest of the organization, but there was also the stigma that IT worked "for" the rest of the organization instead of working "with" the org. I'd be curious to hear any of your stories about this!

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paul78

Interesting discussion. I personally don't seek personal fulfillment or social interaction from my job although I am fortunate that I enjoy the work that I do.

I guess that I don't really understand the notion of being isolated at a job. I work from a home office and I don't particularly feel isolated. Most days, I wish people would just leave me alone.

EANx

At the beginning of my career, I felt logically walled off from the organization, if not physically. At every position I've had since then, I worked to get to know the other sections that made up whatever organization I was with. I would never do it without the permission of a manager in that section but as work allowed, I popped into engineering design meeting, sales calls and morning motivation speeches and marketing strategy sessions and I encourage my reports to do the same today when they can. I really don't know what I would do with a 100% remote position, so much of my professional success has been built as an engineer who learned how to conduct business in the hallway.

Johnhe0414

I can't say that I have ever felt isolated, I do my best to work with resources I have and try to find the best solutions I can. I wonder if being "physically walled off from the rest of the organization" is due to lack of good leadership? I have talked with other admins that support two IT departments (one for municipal staff the other for police staff) with staff having the mindset that one is better than the other.

MitM

paul78 said:

I work from a home office and I don't particularly feel isolated. Most days, I wish people would just leave me alone.

I don't work from a home office but me too

Spiegel

Infosec_Sam said:

Happy Monday! I found this thread on Spiceworks this morning that I thought might be interesting to talk about. Almost 40% of respondents claimed to often feel isolated in their job! Do you think this is a legitimate problem, or just "the way it is?" Have you found a way to minimize that feeling?

I know that I used to feel that way occasionally at my old job. I think it was primarily due to the fact that IT was physically walled off from the rest of the organization, but there was also the stigma that IT worked "for" the rest of the organization instead of working "with" the org. I'd be curious to hear any of your stories about this!

When I started my help desk role I definitely felt detached from the organization. So much so that I was barely able to partake in a lot of the activities that the rest of the company attended. Examples being town halls, company picnics, volunteer events, etc... Given that the department was a 24/7 operation providing IT support for hospital users, it was difficult to get most of us to attend as most of those things happened in the middle of the day.

As I transitioned to a field support role my time became much more flexible and found it easier to attend these events. Most of the times it is almost mandatory. But now I face a the "working for" the company aspect as a lot of the users that I support (technically my co-workers) see me as some kind of person whose sole purpose is to bend to their whims, otherwise, they'll get quickly escalate the issue to my manager and even director if needed.

I still love doing the job that I do and those escalations don't happen nearly as often as it sounds but there is still sense of detachment present from time to time.

jcundiff

paul78 said:

Interesting discussion. I personally don't seek personal fulfillment or social interaction from my job although I am fortunate that I enjoy the work that I do.

I guess that I don't really understand the notion of being isolated at a job. I work from a home office and I don't particularly feel isolated. Most days, I wish people would just leave me alone.

Same here as well Paul... been 100% remote since 12/2016, love it, (was driving 2.5-3+ [ depending on traffic] and staying away from home for 6 years prior (same company). Through other roles with the company, I know most of the leaders/teams across all the verticals in the firm... Love being remote not just from a work/life balance but also from the perspective that there are no drive-bys if someone is calling/emailing/messaging they need something ( other than my team mates, we talk back and forth all day )

Between voice calls (daily team meetings), email and instant messaging, if you feel isolated, it's most likely you. Of course, our team is mature (read old :P) even the one of us who isn't 30 has been in multiple roles with the company for almost 10 years ( a couple months less tenured than me). I get enough social interaction at work, but I also have a hobby (slightly revenue generating, not profit generating, but at least revenue) that allows me plenty of interaction with coaches, athletes, parents, and (even) referees on a regular basis... I'm a photographer as well as an InfoSec (yeah, I'm old, prefer this term to Cyber everything :P ) and shoot a LOT of different high school and college sports.

JDMurray

Although I do work from home a lot, I receive too much work-related email to feel isolated.