How to tell boss you're bored at work?

Bl8ckr0uter

Have any of you told your boss you were bored at work? How do you tell them this with the smallest amount of risk?

Everyone

No, but a long time ago I was told "If you're that bored, I can find more work for you."

networker050184

I usually just start asking for more/different work to do. That usually gets me enough to not be bored anymore.

cyberguypr

networker050184 wrote: »

I usually just start asking for more/different work to do. That usually gets me enough to not be bored anymore.

+1. Make sure you ask for new/better things to do. If you don't communicate properly you may get stuck with more of the same boring stuff.

Bl8ckr0uter

networker050184 wrote: »

I usually just start asking for more/different work to do. That usually gets me enough to not be bored anymore.

I tried that. I asked my senior and my manager (who told me to ask my senior) but it just seems like things are really slow. I might need to have a sit down with my manager about this as I hate being bored.

I use to work a ticket based job (cisco stuff) and a monitoring as well as proactive stuff. I liked it a lot.

networker050184

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

I tried that. I asked my senior and my manager (who told me to ask my senior) but it just seems like things are really slow. I might need to have a sit down with my manager about this as I hate being bored.

Sounds like it might be a good time to ask for them to send you to some training. No excuse that things are too busy at work!

Trifidw

Find a pet project to do. I did this a couple of months ago, got my managers approval (who thought it was a brilliant idea) and set to work producing a quick proof of concept the same day. Not had a chance to look at it since but am still looking forward to getting it done.

Bl8ckr0uter

networker050184 wrote: »

Sounds like it might be a good time to ask for them to send you to some training. No excuse that things are too busy at work!

I didn't even think about that lol. I guess I could but I've never asked for training before.

Trifidw wrote: »

Find a pet project to do. I did this a couple of months ago, got my managers approval (who thought it was a brilliant idea) and set to work producing a quick proof of concept the same day. Not had a chance to look at it since but am still looking forward to getting it done.

I did build a full ips solution (using my laptop and security onion). They liked the idea but hated the fact that it wasn't windows.

networker050184

Even better reason to ask now. Tell them that you would love to increase your skill set while there is a little down time at work. Line up some dates and prices, go in there professional like and present your case. Hopefully it will work out for you.

bryanthetechie

networker050184 wrote: »

Even better reason to ask now. Tell them that you would love to increase your skill set while there is a little down time at work. Line up some dates and prices, go in there professional like and present your case. Hopefully it will work out for you.

If they don't want to spring for the cost of offsite training, see if they will at least pay for books and exam fees and let you spend some time at work studying. That's worked for me in the past.

instant000

This *should* be the slower time of the year for a lot of shops, as far as *changes*.

Most businesses usually shut down on changes towards the end of the year, as they want to close out the books and make the annual cutover without event.

Also, depending on the shop you're in, this might be one of the best times of the year to relax a little bit and get some training in. It can't be 100 miles per hour all the time ... you'd burn out. Relax a little and study some, so that when things ramp back up, you'll be able to take care of them that much better!

Psoasman

networker050184 wrote: »

Even better reason to ask now. Tell them that you would love to increase your skill set while there is a little down time at work. Line up some dates and prices, go in there professional like and present your case. Hopefully it will work out for you.

This worked for me. I asked if it was alright to study for exams and my degree during downtime. They said yes and offered to reimburse me for any exams passed, too.
Same thing for my B.S. IT I just started.

docrice

I have never been in an environment where I couldn't find a way to improve things in a manner the business would appreciate, whether that's baselining, documentation, automating, or whatever. Run a port scan and see what's on the network, determine what ports and services are exposed, get permission to run Nessus (well, that technically requires a license in a commercial network), create a list of deviations from publicized security guidelines, read logs, generate reports on what gets dropped at the firewalls, how many login failures are occurring on remote access devices ... the list goes on.

djfunz

It's a good idea to tell them that you'd like different more challenging responsibilities to take on. The sooner the better otherwise you may become disgruntled and lazy if work is too easy or mundane. I tried to have this conversation and I received all smiles and shook hands at the end of the meeting. One month later, no follow up or any new info leading me to believe that our previous conversation went in one ear and out the other. Unfortunate, but it can happen so I advise you to schedule this meeting soon or you'll only be wasting more of your valuable time in your current company rather than nurturing your skills in a better one.

Kelkin

Ive seen with the companys I have work for that the work load goes into cycles where theres busy as heck and periods of calm before the storms.. usually what I do during this periods is study study study.. and prepare for the storm

But to answer your question.. really depends what kind of relationship you have with your boss.. I dont see anything wrong with going to the boss and say hey I would like to take on something more challenging and spread my wings some.. I guess its all how you approach it.. dont go in there and like hey im bored! but do it tactfully and you will be fine..

Trifidw

instant000 wrote: »

This *should* be the slower time of the year for a lot of shops, as far as *changes*.

Looks at the amount of projects we have going on. Nope, definitely not for us!

Turgon

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

Have any of you told your boss you were bored at work? How do you tell them this with the smallest amount of risk?

You dont. You need to spin your problem in a positive way so you can offer a better outcome for yourself. Telling the boss you are bored at work will not work in your favour.

Bl8ckr0uter

Turgon wrote: »

You dont. You need to spin your problem in a positive way so you can offer a better outcome for yourself. Telling the boss you are bored at work will not work in your favour.

How about, "Is there any additional problems you need solved or network features you want explored?"

I have to talk to him in a few minutes I am pretty nervous now lol.

drkat

heh - lucky to get them to say "yes"

Qord

I've been wondering this myself. I don't have enough "bored time" to take on large or time-sensitive projects, so I wasn't sure how to approach it. I just volunteer for "things" that come up. I've also carefully asked other IT folk if they would like help with anything they've got going on.

networker050184

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

How about, "Is there any additional problems you need solved or network features you want explored?"

I have to talk to him in a few minutes I am pretty nervous now lol.

Another idea besides training is to go at him with a new technology that you would like to look into for the company in the down time. Find a vendor willing to give some free stuff to demo and make your own project that you will ejnoy. You get to play with some new stuff too so its a no lose.

Bl8ckr0uter

Did the meeting. It went well. Guess who has more task to do now

Thanks all. +Rep all around

Stuppored

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

Did the meeting. It went well. Guess who has more task to do now

Thanks all. +Rep all around

What task did you get added to your responsibilities? It encourages learning and risk/responsibility? Just curious.

cisco_trooper

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

I tried that. I asked my senior and my manager (who told me to ask my senior) but it just seems like things are really slow. I might need to have a sit down with my manager about this as I hate being bored.

I use to work a ticket based job (cisco stuff) and a monitoring as well as proactive stuff. I liked it a lot.

Start thinking of things that YOU would like to see implemented. Start presenting your project ideas to your senior and/or your manager depending on how your organizational chart is setup. In my experience there is usually MORE than enough work to be done on a network. What it usually comes down to is having someone in the organization willing and able to identify that work and start making traction on it. It sounds like that person can be you if you are willing to present some sound ideas.

I would not ever outright say, "Hey bossman, I'm bored." You'll end up pushing paper or doing crap work to fill your time. Best of luck. Let us know how it goes.

Bl8ckr0uter

Stuppored wrote: »

What task did you get added to your responsibilities? It encourages learning and risk/responsibility? Just curious.

Well the major one is going to be the multisite IPS project. It was kind of up in the air as far as who was going to do it. I also may be doing some auditing of the network (in addition to the auditing I've been doing on my own ). We have a pen test coming up and I will be the person to fix the things they find on the network side. Also I volunteered to train a tier 1 tech to save our company 50-70k (we were hiring but once I found out why we were hiring I said I could tell this particular tier I guy what he needs to know). Oh (and this is the big one) there is a company that we may bring on as customers and I have to design the network solution for them. If I can figure it out, we will double our revenue (the senior network engineer and I are working on this but he is gone until next thursday and I would like to have it mostly done by then). If I can pull this off, it could change my career.

He also encouraged me to go to CCNP:S and CCIE:S. I feel like I could get to CCIE level by continuing to work at this place. The conversation was just interesting.