Job Advice - Good work/life balance, mediocre job

markulous

My career trajectory has been pretty straight forward so far.  I started at a help desk, now I'm in infosec making about what I was aiming for.  I don't make a lot of money but I don't feel like I need to chase money.

This job is a bit unique compared to other jobs in the fact that there's a lot of pros and cons both (whereas before it was usually way more cons). I've been here a few years. My work/life balance is awesome: I work four 10s, I work from home, I rarely work more than 15 minutes past my shift, I have unlimited PTO, and I'm not on call.  It's so great for myself and my family.  Unfortunately, there are some cons.

- The communication is terrible.  People don't check/respond to emails, people will see your instant messages and not respond, etc.  Barely anything is communicated unless it's something that is pressing.
- We rely on another team to fulfill security engineering tasks and they have zero accountability.  They refuse to talk to customers, they ignore most of our emails/IMs, they can take weeks/months to fulfill basic requests, etc. When we bring it up to management, they just kind of shrug.  Playing middle man to them and clients sucks to begin with, but when they don't do what they need to, it makes me look bad.
- Very few processes/procedures.  Everyone seems to kind of do their own thing and no one's on the same page.
- We're doing a lot of project manager work (not in our job desc) and most of the data we have to collect isn't automated/formatted. Takes a ton of time and we again have to rely on that engineering team.
- There are no goals/feedback/career trajectories.  Can I move up here? Don't know!
- Nothing is technically challenging. I feel like I'm a use it or lose it type person, and I'm not using a lot of things I've learned.

I've bounced around quite a bit in my career to move up, so I've been trying to stick it out with this one, especially with the positives, but I'm just kind of debating what to do.  My supervisor has said there are changes coming that may fix some of those things, but I feel like I've been waiting a year for a lot of this stuff.  I know it's ultimately up to me on how I feel about the pros outweighing the cons, but would would you guys do?  Search for something else or stick it out?  I'm afraid if I go somewhere else, my work/life balance won't be this good.

MeanDrunkR2D2

Hey Man,

I know we've talked back and forth a bit with careers and such.  I know that you are in a lower cost of living area, so money isn't a big driver in your career goal at this time.  It will as you gain more experience and look for those more challenging roles.   Right now it sounds like you are in a place that I've been many times.   Carrot is dangled in front of you and it will always feel like it is just out of your reach.   I do know that a local company for you (if you are still there) is hiring security people.  I don't think you can get the 4 10's type of schedule but would likely be your normal 8-5 type m-f job with occasional on call work.   Your cons are definite concerns especially if there is no path to advancement and you feel bored most days and communication between the team is horrid.   The company I am talking about though was great for me with family responsibilities when I'd have to leave to take care of one or doctors appointments. 

Anyways, I'd say that your cons really shows a concern about what this will do for your career and it wouldn't be a bad choice to find a new job and look at moving up to that next step.   Not being challenged in work sucks and is something that you should have to keep your sharp and motivated.  I myself recently changed jobs a few months ago and am really working with the stuff that I love and it's way more enjoyable for me to actually be challenged and to learn new technology.   And of course more pay is also a nice bonus too. 

DFTK13

Personally, I’d get out of there for the 2 main reasons, no tangible or foreseeable means of growth and lack of communication. I cannot stand it when coworkers and other entities of the company don’t maintain that line of interaction at least on a basic level. I can’t think of anything more aggravating. I don’t mind working the 5 days a week if it means growth and exposure to new technologies while collaborating with a great team. 

iBrokeIT

It comes down to your values and what your priorities are in life.  Your job isn't perfect, that's very rare it would be, but does it mostly align to your priorities when you look for a job?  If you were to make a list of everything want in a job and then rank them, does this one at least check the top three?  No? Then yes, it is time to move on.

markulous

MeanDrunkR2D2 said:

Hey Man,

I know we've talked back and forth a bit with careers and such.  I know that you are in a lower cost of living area, so money isn't a big driver in your career goal at this time.  It will as you gain more experience and look for those more challenging roles.   Right now it sounds like you are in a place that I've been many times.   Carrot is dangled in front of you and it will always feel like it is just out of your reach.   I do know that a local company for you (if you are still there) is hiring security people.  I don't think you can get the 4 10's type of schedule but would likely be your normal 8-5 type m-f job with occasional on call work.   Your cons are definite concerns especially if there is no path to advancement and you feel bored most days and communication between the team is horrid.   The company I am talking about though was great for me with family responsibilities when I'd have to leave to take care of one or doctors appointments. 

Anyways, I'd say that your cons really shows a concern about what this will do for your career and it wouldn't be a bad choice to find a new job and look at moving up to that next step.   Not being challenged in work sucks and is something that you should have to keep your sharp and motivated.  I myself recently changed jobs a few months ago and am really working with the stuff that I love and it's way more enjoyable for me to actually be challenged and to learn new technology.   And of course more pay is also a nice bonus too. 

Hey dude,

Yeah, I actually moved almost a couple of years ago, but it was in the same state and the cost of living is slightly cheaper here.  I appreciate the heads up about the local company, not sure if they're hiring down here.

Not being challenged does suck.  It's kind of made me question my passion for this field, but I guess part of that is due to having to do project manager work and organize some meetings.

markulous

DFTK13 said:

Personally, I’d get out of there for the 2 main reasons, no tangible or foreseeable means of growth and lack of communication. I cannot stand it when coworkers and other entities of the company don’t maintain that line of interaction at least on a basic level. I can’t think of anything more aggravating. I don’t mind working the 5 days a week if it means growth and exposure to new technologies while collaborating with a great team. 

Yeah, the communication thing is really annoying.  I hate relying on people that can't communicate and aren't accountable. Makes me feel like I'm on an island sometimes and that a lot of people just really don't care. I can see several things improving, but that probably has to come from the top and I don't see that happening.

markulous

iBrokeIT said:

It comes down to your values and what your priorities are in life.  Your job isn't perfect, that's very rare it would be, but does it mostly align to your priorities when you look for a job?  If you were to make a list of everything want in a job and then rank them, does this one at least check the top three?  No? Then yes, it is time to move on.

Those are good points. I think at this point, working from home and having a great work/life balance are my top two priorities right now.  I think if I did go anywhere else, I'd need that.  I could settle on 5 work days, but having 3 days off is really nice too.

TechGromit

markulous said:

I've bounced around quite a bit in my career to move up, so I've been trying to stick it out with this one, especially with the positives, but I'm just kind of debating what to do.  My supervisor has said there are changes coming that may fix some of those things, but I feel like I've been waiting a year for a lot of this stuff.  I know it's ultimately up to me on how I feel about the pros outweighing the cons, but would would you guys do?  Search for something else or stick it out?  I'm afraid if I go somewhere else, my work/life balance won't be this good.

Hmm, if your happy with salary, work hours, location, I would to hesitant in changing jobs, even if the organization is somewhat dysfunctional at times. If you looking to make a move, I would recommend doing it sooner than later, the economy is good now, finding another desirable position is a lot easier now than waiting a few years when the next recession hits.  We are over due for another recession, I'm not an  economist, but history teaches us the economy goes through a ups and downs, always has and always will.   

markulous

I hadn't really considered that with the economy. I'll have to do a bit of research.

I'll have to think about that and look around to see if I can even find something comparable.  Just due to circumstances and family, I need to work from home and have that time off.  Part of me is scared that I could find something that promises that and then has me on call all the time working 50+ hours a week.