10 Most hated jobs

If you believe this list, it must suck to be in IT.

News Headlines

10. Marketing Manager
9. CNC Machinist
8. Technical Support Analyst
7. Law Clerk
6. Electronics Technician
5. Technical Specialist
4. Senior Web Developer
3. Product Manager
2. Director of Sales and Marketing

and what is worse that a director of sales and marketing......

1. Director of Information Technology

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Comments

Timber Wolf

Hmmm my job shares the same title as number 8 on that list yet i love going to work every day. Odd.

KeithC

For me it's not necessarily the job that is hated but more the people I work with that makes the job suck. I fall under #6

N2IT

IT Directors get beat up by the business. I can see that being number 1. One of my former college mates ended up working for a top tier hosting company as their IT director and you can longer get a hold of him. He has been at it for over 10 years now and looks like his age has accelerated. THe business just beats the hell out of him all the time. It's a tough gig and most of us couldn't handle a job at that level.

N2IT

Timber Wolf wrote: »

Hmmm my job shares the same title as number 8 on that list yet i love going to work every day. Odd.

How long have you been at it? Support positions have a burnt out time frame, at least qualitative I view it that way. It seems around the 3 year mark support analyst/techs/etc start to get really burn out. When I was an "technical analyst" as soon as year ~2 hit I was ready to find a new job and I did. (IT team lead)

ptilsen

N2IT wrote: »

IT Directors get beat up by the business. I can see that being number 1. One of my former college mates ended up working for a top tier hosting company as their IT director and you can longer get a hold of him. He has been at it for over 10 years now and looks like his age has accelerated. THe business just beats the hell out of him all the time. It's a tough gig and most of us couldn't handle a job at that level.

N2IT wrote: »

How long have you been at it? Support positions have a burnt out time frame, at least qualitative I view it that way. It seems around the 3 year mark support analyst/techs/etc start to get really burn out. When I was an "technical analyst" as soon as year ~2 hit I was ready to find a new job and I did. (IT team lead)

To both of these posts, I have only this to say:
Yep! 1 - YouTube

It doesn't suck to work in IT, but there are many, many positions in which you just get beat up all the time. This list doesn't surprise me.

daviddws

I have worked as a technical specialist for a while and have enjoyed the work. The jobs that treated me well and payed better were obviously worth it. Some people can handle high levels of stress. At some point I would like to be a Director of Information Technology, but thats probably a few years away. Gotta get more certs!

N2IT

daviddws wrote: »

I have worked as a technical specialist for a while and have enjoyed the work. The jobs that treated me well and payed better were obviously worth it. Some people can handle high levels of stress. At some point I would like to be a Director of Information Technology, but thats probably a few years away. Gotta get more certs!

Directors and certifications? I think most would disagree with this strategy. Directors usually come from the business not IT. I honestly can say I have never met a director who didn't at least spend some serious time on the business side. Most directors have accounting or finance backgrounds with 10+ years of high level business experience.

Turgon

N2IT wrote: »

Directors and certifications? I think most would disagree with this strategy. Directors usually come from the business not IT. I honestly can say I have never met a director who didn't at least spend some serious time on the business side. Most directors have accounting or finance backgrounds with 10+ years of high level business experience.

I disagree. I have met plenty of directors with no accounting or finance backgrounds. That said they realised early on that IT is all about the money. Im afraid the glory days of being able to dazzle people with your technical acumen are over, at least for the rank and file. Yes there will remain roles for the technically brilliant but are you *that* good? many people up all night reading technical books the last 10 years. Its about solutioning and that doesn't mean the *best* technical solution.

Enough tech + good business savvy is the road to glory these days.

Can you run a meeting?
Can you relate to senior execs?
Can you present?
Do you understand what you should do as a company, not just because you like a technology? You may need to recommend a technology that sucks to make money..depends on the company situation, competition, core market...many things.

Do all that plus enough tech smarts and you are set.

N2IT

Turgon wrote: »

I disagree. I have met plenty of directors with no accounting or finance backgrounds. That said they realised early on that IT is all about the money. Im afraid the glory days of being able to dazzle people with your technical acumen are over, at least for the rank and file. Yes there will remain roles for the technically brilliant but are you *that* good? many people up all night reading technical books the last 10 years. Its about solutioning and that doesn't mean the *best* technical solution.

Enough tech + good business savvy is the road to glory these days.

Can you run a meeting?
Can you relate to senior execs?
Can you present?
Do you understand what you should do as a company, not just because you like a technology? You may need to recommend a technology that sucks to make money..depends on the company situation, competition, core market...many things.

Do all that plus enough tech smarts and you are set.

Are you just disagreeing about the degrees I listed or the whole statement? I think you are going to be hard pressed to find a IT director without business experience, true hardcore business experience. Budgeting, planning, and forecasting. Scheduling, leading, presenting, communicating. All of the directors I have known occupying high level IT management roles usually come from the business ranks.

I guess we will just agree to disagree.

Turgon

N2IT wrote: »

Are you just disagreeing about the degrees I listed or the whole statement? I think you are going to be hard pressed to find a IT director without business experience, true hardcore business experience. Budgeting, planning, and forecasting. Scheduling, leading, presenting, communicating. All of the directors I have known occupying high level IT management roles usually come from the business ranks.

I guess we will just agree to disagree.

Im disagreeing with the finance and accounting statements which suggest to me professional backgrounds in these areas. Many IT leaders have not come from these ranks although they have been savvy enough to appreciate that money pays the bills!

ptilsen

I would expand N2IT's statement to say that a director of IT, CIO, or CTO generally comes from a business-heavy or finance-heavy background, as opposed to a tech-heavy background. A standard director of IT is generally not really an IT professional at all, and only marginally more tech-savvy than the average CFO or COO. Personally, I have never met a director of IT who was not primarily from a business/management or finance background.

That's not to say an IT professional can't move into that type of position, but somewhere in there you stop being an IT professional and start being a manager.