IT jobs with the Best Work / Life Balance (no on-call)?

minit

Hey Folks,

Glad I found this place. I'm currently working in a small IT dept. as a "jack of all trades". Doing everything from help desk, desktop support, printing support, PBX, Windows Server administration, GPO roll outs, major system/software upgrades, Perl scripting, basic Cisco switch configuration, etc. etc. This is my first IT job (straight out of college (B.S. in MIS)), and I've been here for 5 years.

I'm at the point where I want to take my career in a particular direction, while considering a couple things:

1. I really need to lower my stress level. Being a "joat" is at times like being swarmed by a squadren of blood thirsty gnats. It might not kill you, but it hurts like hell. Not being a true expert in anything adds to this stress. I need to find a position that's lower stress, that's what I want the most.

2. You might laugh at this one. I'm not going to take a job that requires some type of 'on-call' work. I don't mind working extra hours, but once I'm home I don't want to hear any cell phones, or pagers going off. There needs to be more life in my work / life balance.

Right now my career trajectory is taking me on a path to become some type of system admin. But, this doesn't really jive with #2, as I know a lot of these people have to be on-call. So, I'm thinking about changing my path to something like Web Development, as I've always had an interest in that as well.

I see that I have a couple of options.

1. Start working on certs, and search for admin jobs that don't require on-call (which are probably really hard to find).

2. Work towards becoming a Web Developer, or some other role that doesn't require being on-call.

What other types of IT jobs do not require being on-call?
Are you on-call at your current job? If not what is your role?

I greatly appreciate anyone who can lend me some advice.

networker050184

First things to come to mind without on call are design, high level engineering, consulting, pretty much anything where you aren't directly involved in the day to day activities of running the systems/network. It usually takes a while to work your way up to a position like this though.

Pishof

I am a JOAT system administrator at a K-12 in a department of two. I need no overtime as we make sure to plan all projects around having plenty of time to accomplish our goals during the breaks and summers when major projects take place.

I could technically be on-call if needed but I've never run into an issue after working here almost four years. Users are typically only here around 7am-4pm so any downtime would be within my work schedule anyway.

Disadvantages are you will typically run into lower pay than private corporations but stress is much lower and unless you're in a huge corporation, there isn't much politics for IT staff.

There are a wide variety of positions always open all the way from entry level to technology directors. The state of IN has a very numerous amount of IT jobs open right now and I see many more posted each week from all ranges of experience required. Your results may vary depending on location of course.

minit

Pishof wrote: »

I am a JOAT system administrator at a K-12 in a department of two. I need no overtime as we make sure to plan all projects around having plenty of time to accomplish our goals during the breaks and summers when major projects take place.

I could technically be on-call if needed but I've never run into an issue after working here almost four years. Users are typically only here around 7am-4pm so any downtime would be within my work schedule anyway.

Pishof, I really appreciate the reply. I've actually been looking for a job in the schools in my area (Southern NJ), but haven't been able to find one yet. Your spot on when it comes to the working hours. If the users aren't around using the systems at night, theres no need for on-call.

Any job boards out there that post mostly public sector IT jobs?
How has working in a school compared to your other jobs? Or is this your first IT job?

SteveLord

I too am a JOAT system admin in the public sector (but a small agency). I rarely get contacted about urgent issues after hours...and I take comp time for any of that. the higher up IT guys are susceptible, but they also are the SMEs on critical state systems. I believe they rotate maintenance/update tasks (2am on a Sunday from home kind of thing.) Got to earn their $90K to $140K salaries.

For these jobs, you need to look at the webpages belonging to the city/county/state. Just Google "city/county/state of X employment"

jmasterj206

You could also look at a larger employer. I used to work for a large home improvement retailer and we had 25 people in our department and would switch off every week, so you only had to take call twice a year. Another option would be health clinics. They are generally 8-5 Monday - Friday. Take a look at tech schools and universities in your area as well.

Just be sure to stay away from hospitals. Ask me how I know

minit

Thanks for the reply Steve. How many hours are you working in a typical week? Would you consider your job low stress?

minit

jmasterj206 wrote: »

You could also look at a larger employer. I used to work for a large home improvement retailer and we had 25 people in our department and would switch off every week, so you only had to take call twice a year. Another option would be health clinics. They are generally 8-5 Monday - Friday. Take a look at tech schools and universities in your area as well.

Thanks j! I've actually been trying to find a university job. I typically use njherc.org (nj universities). Thanks for the tip on the health clinics as well.

SteveLord

minit wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Steve. How many hours are you working in a typical week? Would you consider your job low stress?

40-45 most of the time. Really, the only time I ever work more is if I want to get the jump on issues that have come up, I show up early to a conference to ensure equipment is working, or there are special projects (new hardware/software deployed.)

Low stress for the most part. Just typical work stress from a few select co-workers from time to time. Being the lone goto guy also means you're expected to be the SME on everything and have a quick solution for everything. Although I wouldf say most IT positions are apart of a team. Departments extremely dependent on tax money would likely face more as that affects IT and staff budgets and we always want the government to do more with far far less every year. My agency is self funded through fees, so that has almost never been an issue in my 4 years here.

cisco_ma

I've worked in a large K-12 school district in IL for about 5 years now. The job doesn't require too much on call time, with most of it occurring now that we're implementing virtual desktops and a system that allowed students to access resources outside of the school-day using Citrix to access a virtual desktop from home. Now we have to pretty much make sure that there is no down time without extensive notice and the work is usually done on off hours. I would say to look for a school district that isn't too big or using these sorts of all hours learning systems.

I love the site: K-12 Job Spot for finding tech jobs in schools. I don't know if NJ is represented on that site, as only certain states are, but I find it very helpful here in IL. If you're looking for higher ed jobs, I like this site as well: HERC Jobs.

Hope that helps!

Turgon

Try contracting in the public sector and try to get into design work. Avoid operations or try to move from that to design if you start out in ops.

minit

cisco_ma wrote: »

I've worked in a large K-12 school district in IL for about 5 years now. The job doesn't require too much on call time, with most of it occurring now that we're implementing virtual desktops and a system that allowed students to access resources outside of the school-day using Citrix to access a virtual desktop from home. Now we have to pretty much make sure that there is no down time without extensive notice and the work is usually done on off hours. I would say to look for a school district that isn't too big or using these sorts of all hours learning systems.

I love the site: K-12 Job Spot for finding tech jobs in schools. I don't know if NJ is represented on that site, as only certain states are, but I find it very helpful here in IL. If you're looking for higher ed jobs, I like this site as well: HERC Jobs.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the heads up on the K-12 site!

minit

Thanks again for the replies. Cisco_ma, thanks for the heads up on the K-12 site!

xxxooxxx

I work in a smaller place (around 150 staffs) and technically I am on-call 24x7.

However, with proper preventive maintenance, the pager (well..cell phone...) haven't beeped in a couple years now.

As long as you find a place where everything is running smoothly and stable, it doesn't really matter whether you are on-call or not. You will not be spending too much time after hours.

MrNetTek

In my own career, I am not oncall, the job is overall a great job, with decent benefits. You can find what you're looking for...as long you know what the goal is.

Depending on your personality and what you're willing to tolerate in your IT career, there are many, many IT possibilities, however I'd steer clear of any job that is a conveyor belt. This includes hospitals, fast food restaurants, grocery stores, and super/mega stores. Of course, like you said, get your certs...and as many as you can, from as many vendors as you can (if you want to continue being a JOAT get them all, otherwise get certs in your specialty). No matter what anyone tells you, certs do matter. Experience plus certs can be a downright lethal combination in obtaining and maintaining a strong IT career.

Other things I recommend:
-Build an online presence. You want positive and professional search engine returns.
-Create a basic webpage/website showcasing your talents and skillsets.
-Consistently update your resume to prestine levels.
-Stay abreast in the knowledge of your field; sites like this, books, and magazines are a great start.
-Collect letters of recommendation where ever you go, even in email form.
-Join Linkedin.com. Start networking with other professionals.
-Download common job descriptions and interview questions you would be expected to answer at any given time.

Some non-IT things you can do:
-Give to a charity of your choice. Looks very good.
-Find a hobby (even a small one) other than just computers.


Eddie Jackson (aka MrNetTek)
Eddie Jackson - Professional Profile

MrNetTek

jmasterj206 wrote: »

You could also look at a larger employer. I used to work for a large home improvement retailer and we had 25 people in our department and would switch off every week, so you only had to take call twice a year. Another option would be health clinics. They are generally 8-5 Monday - Friday. Take a look at tech schools and universities in your area as well.

Just be sure to stay away from hospitals. Ask me how I know

Totally agree, stay away from hospitals (9 year hospital IT veteran here).

Eddie Jackson (aka MrNetTek)
Eddie Jackson - Professional Profile

NTinside

Even though there's already plenty of great advice on this thread, I believe the best kind of I.T. job that is not on-call would be somewhere along the lines of a computer support specialist or I.T. support specialist. I was a CSS for three years with a fixed schedule of 8-4, mon-fri with a school district. I also come across jobs similar to that at hospitals, schools, colleges, non-profit organizations and small businesses. But I definitely recommend searching for all educational institutions in your area first because they have good schedules and you get the holidays off, which is always nice. Hope this helps

LinuxRacr

I can attest to staying away from hospitals. My first IT job was support for a local hospital. I left there after 9 months....

minit

Thanks for the replies guys, I really appreciate it. What about developer jobs, such as web development? Anyone currently in that kind of role? These folks don't have to be on-call as far as I know right?

TLeTourneau

MrNetTek wrote: »

Totally agree, stay away from hospitals (9 year hospital IT veteran here).

Depends on the hospital, I've got well over a decade in healthcare IT and am not currently in an on-call position. But then again I work for a VERY large provider.

TLeTourneau

minit wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys, I really appreciate it. What about developer jobs, such as web development? Anyone currently in that kind of role? These folks don't have to be on-call as far as I know right?

It really depends on the organization and the business segment. We have developers that are on call rotation for various things but we have a lot of 24x7 mission critical patient care systems. For many industries there probably wouldn't be an on-call requirement for developers.

NOC-Ninja

MrNetTek wrote: »

Totally agree, stay away from hospitals (9 year hospital IT veteran here).

Eddie Jackson (aka MrNetTek)
Eddie Jackson - Professional Profile

haha funny .GIF at home lab.

MrNetTek

minit wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys, I really appreciate it. What about developer jobs, such as web development? Anyone currently in that kind of role? These folks don't have to be on-call as far as I know right?

I have basically found the perfect job, I'm a Software Packaging Engineer/Script & Coding Solutions Developer. If you haven't heard of this type of job, it's basically taking a rough install setup from a vendor and automating it 100% through scripting languages. I get to deal with both client and server automation tasks. My lab is huge, my responsibilities are many, but my job is great. I stay busy writing and compiling code to service, patch, maintain, and administer 30,000+ computers. Check out my Engineering page: Archives.

How did I break into this area of computing? I started off as a network admin for a mom-and-pop shop, drifted into hospital IT, moved over into a Desktop Admin position (where my scripting got kicked up a notch), started doing Desktop Engineering work (where I managed 3,400+machines), then eventually moved into computer automation-client and server (because many companies are looking for effeciencies in software management and distribution).

The skills you need to do this job are in high demand, always changing, and IT career fulfilling - if you can stay abreast in all the technology. I consider myself a solutions developer as I get to come up with innovative coding and scripting ideas that no one else in the company can come up with.

I work in the private, for-profit education sector.

Skills needed:
OS Imaging (Ghost and WIMs), OS Deployment (WDS/MDT), scripting in almost all scripting languages (top ones are WMI, VBScript, Shell, PowerShell), advanced OS comprehension (for Windows XP, Windows 7, Server 2003, and Server 2008 , hardware troubleshooting skills across multiple vendors (top ones are Dell and HP), advanced knowledge of MSI and EXE package creation, ORCA, creativity for user interfaces, know how to use LANDesk/SMS/SCCM/Prism/Altiris/GP, and the list goes on.


Eddie Jackson (aka MrNetTek)
Eddie Jackson - Professional Profile

MrNetTek

NOC-Ninja wrote: »

haha funny .GIF at home lab.

You like it...you know you do.



Eddie Jackson (aka MrNetTek)
Eddie Jackson - Professional Profile

Turgon

MrNetTek wrote: »

I have basically found the perfect job, I'm a Software Packaging Engineer/Script & Coding Solutions Developer. If you haven't heard of this type of job, it's basically taking a rough install setup from a vendor and automating it 100% through scripting languages. I get to deal with both client and server automation tasks. My lab is huge, my responsibilities are many, but my job is great. I stay busy writing and compiling code to service, patch, maintain, and administer 30,000+ computers. Check out my Engineering page: Archives.

How did I break into this area of computing? I started off as a network admin for a mom-and-pop shop, drifted into hospital IT, moved over into a Desktop Admin position (where my scripting got kicked up a notch), started doing Desktop Engineering work (where I manage 3,400+machines), then eventually moved into computer automation-client and server (because many companies are looking for effeciencies in software management and distribution).

The skills you need to do this job are in high demand, always changing, and IT career fulfilling if you can stay abreast in all the technology. I consider myself a solutions developer as I get to come up with innovative coding and scripting ideas that no one else in the company can come up with.

I work in the private, for-profit education sector.

Skills needed:
OS Imaging (Ghost and WIMs), OS Deployment (WDS/MDT), scripting in almost all scripting languages (top ones are WMI, VBScript, Shell, PowerShell), advanced OS comprehension (for Windows XP, Windows 7, Server 2003, and Server 2003) , hardware troubleshooting skills across multiple vendors (top ones are Dell and HP), advanced knowledge of MSI and EXE package creation, ORCA, creativity for user interfaces, know how to use LANDesk/SMS/SCCM/Prism/Altiris/GP, and the list goes on.


Eddie Jackson (aka MrNetTek)
Eddie Jackson - Professional Profile

A good line of work I should say. Automation is in demand to keep headcount down.