Stuck in a job you dislike but can't get out

Anyone here similar boat? Say you have been in a job for 2+ years and it is getting tedious. There is hardly any work to do and all you can do is study and get certs. So Ive gotten like 3 more certs and am tired of getting certs but i'm chugging along getting more. Applying to new jobs with no callbacks. Salary is under my value but still decent so that's fine. The company randomly fires people so that doesn't help (not for work performance issues).

What do you do? Just keep chugging along applying to more places? I apply to like 5 places a day this job market seems to suck... I learn nothing new here because there is so little work to do (maybe 15 minutes of real work to do a day). I think i'm going crazy here. I know I should be happy since I have a job at all and many people don't. It's just for some reason I'm not. Sigh.

Anyone else feel like this?

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Comments

RobertKaucher

Why are you not getting call backs?

loxleynew

Possibly my resume sucks or the fact I only have 2.5 years experience for jobs asking for 5 years (all seem to ask for 5 but I apply anyways). I'm going to be getting my resume re-done professionally here in the next day or two and hopefully that helps. I thought it looked good but I guess not..

gorebrush

Am in a similar position. UK economy has meant that there are hardly any jobs going.

However, I have currently got two applications awaiting closing dates and feedback, which are located 5 miles from my house.

If either of these come off, then I'm looking at moving to a job with a £2-4K payrise (potentially), and work commuting comes down from 14,400 miles a year just for work mileage to 2400.

Given that I can probably get 500-550 miles out of a tank of diesel... I could probably only spend £240 that whole year commuting to work. Nice.

However, I feel wasted in my current job, basically tackling 1st/2nd line support since they made the junior role redundant back in November. So fed up with that now, I should be moving upwards, not being dragged back (in my opinion!)

loxleynew

gorebrush wrote: »

However, I feel wasted in my current job, basically tackling 1st/2nd line support since they made the junior role redundant back in November. So fed up with that now, I should be moving upwards, not being dragged back (in my opinion!)

Thanks that's exactly the way I feel! I want to move forward in my career not do tier 1 level work. On top of that I only get about 15 minutes of that a day.

GAngel

If a job is asking for 5+ years they're looking for intermediate to senior staff. With only 2.5 total you're not even a contender verses all the people out of work. The job market has changed alot in the last 2 years now 5 means 5. Maybe try submitting to jobs that aern't asking for quite so much as well. You're still a junior by industry standards and need to tough it out. I see mcsa but not mcse? 5+ years is usually well above mcsa level which you may be but now you have to have the total package including certs.

loxleynew

GAngel wrote: »

If a job is asking for 5+ years they're looking for intermediate to senior staff. With only 2.5 total you're not even a contender verses all the people out of work. The job market has changed alot in the last 2 years now 5 means 5. Maybe try submitting to jobs that aern't asking for quite so much as well. You're still a junior by industry standards and need to tough it out. I see mcsa but not mcse? 5+ years is usually well above mcsa level which you may be but now you have to have the total package including certs.

I think that is true. Yea I'm just an MCSA and I will be getting my CCENT in 1 month. That's the problem for every 5 jobs that require 5+ years experience I see one that says 3+. It's just tough and retarded because i'm not learning anything more now at my current job besides what I study. Even if I got my MCSE this year id still only have 3 years experience. It sucks

I guess I could do that since It's only 2 more tests I think.

Turgon

loxleynew wrote: »

Anyone here similar boat? Say you have been in a job for 2+ years and it is getting tedious. There is hardly any work to do and all you can do is study and get certs. So Ive gotten like 3 more certs and am tired of getting certs but i'm chugging along getting more. Applying to new jobs with no callbacks. Salary is under my value but still decent so that's fine. The company randomly fires people so that doesn't help (not for work performance issues).

What do you do? Just keep chugging along applying to more places? I apply to like 5 places a day this job market seems to suck... I learn nothing new here because there is so little work to do (maybe 15 minutes of real work to do a day). I think i'm going crazy here. I know I should be happy since I have a job at all and many people don't. It's just for some reason I'm not. Sigh.

Anyone else feel like this?

A well balanced post. It's a common problem. Perhaps some self promotion to get more *meaningful* work might assist you. Having a job is important. If the opportunities dont arise soon at work to get more exposure, keep applying elsewhere, keep up with the studies and maybe look at some moonlighting to get more hands on. Either way its another day another dollar and you are longer in the industry which should help.

joey74055

Here is usually the progresion or something similiar:

1) Entry level (1-3 years) - 1st tier helpdesk/desktop support.
2) Hybrid Role (3-5 years) - 2nd/3rd tier helpdesk/desktop support and some server/network tasks/duties. Step 1 gets you this position.
3) Systems/Network Administration (5+ years). Perhaps specialize at this point or at least navigate to the server side or the network side. Step 2 gets you this position.

If you have your certs, particularly your MCSE you might be able to go from step 1 to a lower level postion with an IT consulting firm. If you can do this you will get ALOT of on the job exp. helping you to get to step 3 maybe faster.

GAngel

If you want to do other things at work talk to your bos. I love getting people to do work for free and your boss probably will too. But seriously he/she would never know unless you ask and you'be be surprised how much they'll let you do or atelast be apart of.

loxleynew

GAngel wrote: »

If you want to do other things at work talk to your bos. I love getting people to do work for free and your boss probably will too. But seriously he/she would never know unless you ask and you'be be surprised how much they'll let you do or atelast be apart of.

Well I lucked out in a way with this job. My degree was totally unrelated field and I got this job with only 5 months of IT experience. I'm a sys admin now at this job and have been for over a year. So in that regard I lucked out. So going back to doing desktop support would suck. I guess that's why I'm stuck in a hard place. I am able to touch or manage any network/server in our company. Not saying i'm amazingly smart, I'm not. Is there such a thing as a jr. sys admin position? And how much would they get paid?

Turgon

joey74055 wrote: »

Here is usually the progresion or something similiar:

1) Entry level (1-3 years) - 1st tier helpdesk/desktop support.
2) Hybrid Role (3-5 years) - 2nd/3rd tier helpdesk/desktop support and some server/network tasks/duties. Step 1 gets you this position.
3) Systems/Network Administration (5+ years). Perhaps specialize at this point or at least navigate to the server side or the network side. Step 2 gets you this position.

If you have your certs, particularly your MCSE you might be able to go from step 1 to a lower level postion with an IT consulting firm. If you can do this you will get ALOT of on the job exp. helping you to get to step 3 maybe faster.

This is true. The problem is there is a tendency for this progression to involve looking after more stuff, with more responsibility. The *stuff* can go and the jobs with it, so its important that you get involved in design, changing things architecturally as opposed to looking after more and more sites. This can be difficult because increasingly support teams and design teams have clearly defined roles. In the downturn, all are affected. With less money around we see less need for designers as there are fewer new expensive projects to build out or migrate to. Many have years of experience and are looking for support roles to pay the bills. Some have no recent hands on to speak of, others do. Either way its putting the squeeze on support job rates and expectations. At the same time with the squeeze, companies are looking to cut costs and move it all out somewhere cheaper. You need designers to do that and get you there. For designers, try and stay in design, and for support pros, try and get into more design work.

A friend of mine is doing an MBA and its quite simple. Look at an excel spreadsheet and see the ongoing inhouse or local hosting and support costs. Then add another row with another alternative that is cheaper. It's an easy sell by the C-levels to the board but to do it takes design skills.

In 2020 when the market rebounds we will see a need for more Support and Design skills as things come *home*. It didn't work out and opportunities will be there providing you are still around and kept your skills current. Many will drop out in the years ahead. Think long term!

SrSysAdmin

loxleynew wrote: »

Is there such a thing as a jr. sys admin position?

Nope, never heard of such a thing.

Hyper-Me

joey74055 wrote: »

Here is usually the progresion or something similiar:

1) Entry level (1-3 years) - 1st tier helpdesk/desktop support.
2) Hybrid Role (3-5 years) - 2nd/3rd tier helpdesk/desktop support and some server/network tasks/duties. Step 1 gets you this position.
3) Systems/Network Administration (5+ years). Perhaps specialize at this point or at least navigate to the server side or the network side. Step 2 gets you this position.

If you have your certs, particularly your MCSE you might be able to go from step 1 to a lower level postion with an IT consulting firm. If you can do this you will get ALOT of on the job exp. helping you to get to step 3 maybe faster.

By end of year 2 I was at your step 3+. Designing a huge ms infrastructure.

Its amazing what you can do if you apply yourself, work hard, and have just a little luck.

irishpunk

Keep applying the job market is grim right now. Ive been on a steady diet of temp work that barely qualifies as IT work(seriously I'm like Roy from The IT crowd I frequently want to say "do you even know what a button is?" ) and Unemployment checks. Unemployment is actually becoming preferable as these two week temp assignments royally screw up my unemployment. So keep your head up, keep applying things will improve man just gotta hang in there.

Take care,
Sean

dynamik

Hang in there. Persistence will pay off. I spent a miserable six years trying to get into a position that I enjoyed. Just make the best of it and keep plugging away.

earweed

It could be worse. You could be working in retail right now and be trying to land the job you HAVE.

Look at the thread on resume do's and dont's. I had a so called professional polish my resume and it still has several don'ts on it. If you have time to work on your resume it may help you get some call backs.

RobertKaucher

phoeneous wrote: »

Is this your personal prediction or the general consensus of our industry?

I pray to God it is Turgon's opinion and not some Cassandrian sort of prediction.

Hyper-Me

I dont know about it taking another decade.

I'm already seeing dozens of jobs in IT being posted whereas this time last year it was deader than dead. Thats not to say the recession is over or ending, its possible we are experiencing a minor upturn, but its definitely a good thing for right now.

Turgon

RobertKaucher wrote: »

I pray to God it is Turgon's opinion and not some Cassandrian sort of prediction.

I think it will be bumpy for a few years although there will be growth in some niche areas. Hopefully by the end of the decade there will be another *surge*.

joey74055

Hyper-Me wrote: »

By end of year 2 I was at your step 3+. Designing a huge ms infrastructure.

Its amazing what you can do if you apply yourself, work hard, and have just a little luck.

Awesome! Yes, if you apply yourself and get the right breaks you can be where you want to be much faster. Alot of it depends on the type of jobs you land. In a tough job market it may be harder to go from step to step because of hiring freezes and the jobs listed ususally have hundreds of out of work applicants. If you are able maybe you could move to another area that has more offering, not sure if thats applicable though for you. For now your best bet is to hunker down, punch out them certs, be thankful you are employed and keep looking. You will find something sooner or later! Good luck!

loxleynew

Ya Ive stopped applying to jobs currently to try and get my resume re-done by a professional. Hopefully I get more callbacks. It's just getting over that 2.5 year exp on my resume because I know my stuff but it's hard to show that on my stupid resume.

wheez

Hyper-Me wrote: »

I'm already seeing dozens of jobs in IT being posted whereas this time last year it was deader than dead. Thats not to say the recession is over or ending, its possible we are experiencing a minor upturn, but its definitely a good thing for right now.

Agreed, I've seen some really interesting, challenging jobs being posted recently. Here's hoping it'll continue in this way.

Onefive

I am in the exact same situation.

I work as a Systems Administrator in a NOC environment. My responsibilities range from troubleshooting servers, to troubleshooting networking issues on our Cisco routers and switches. I get an interesting case maybe once a week if I am lucky, and it usually involves 10 or 15 minutes of troubleshooting. Id say I am pretty good at my job, but really I just know our network like the back of my hand and isolating problems comes naturally for me now. Since I have been working at my current job I've got my CCNA and CCNP. I am now thinking about going for the CCIE, simply for lack of anything better to do. In a 9 hour work shift, I probably work 1 hour tops. The only cool thing about my job is that I have enable/root access to our entire network and get to troubleshoot some really complex and interesting stuff, but ONLY when such a case arises. ( which like I said is seldom ).

I've been looking for a new job, but hell it is really tough. I have the knowledge to be a good Network Engineer, but I only have a few years of experience in a NOC, so nobody will even give me a chance. Since I have more experience with Linux and Systems stuff, I do get some interviews for that, but it seems employers want Sys admins to know EVERYTHING these days. I know Linux very well, and I am competent in Perl scripting, and have a good understanding of C. This is what you should need to know to be a good Linux Admin. However now you need to be a jack of all trades, DBA, expert python programmer, security specialist, all in a box.

loxleynew

Onefive wrote: »

I am in the exact same situation.

I work as a Systems Administrator in a NOC environment. My responsibilities range from troubleshooting servers, to troubleshooting networking issues on our Cisco routers and switches. I get an interesting case maybe once a week if I am lucky, and it usually involves 10 or 15 minutes of troubleshooting. Id say I am pretty good at my job, but really I just know our network like the back of my hand and isolating problems comes naturally for me now. Since I have been working at my current job I've got my CCNA and CCNP. I am now thinking about going for the CCIE, simply for lack of anything better to do. In a 9 hour work shift, I probably work 1 hour tops. The only cool thing about my job is that I have enable/root access to our entire network and get to troubleshoot some really complex and interesting stuff, but ONLY when such a case arises. ( which like I said is seldom ).

I've been looking for a new job, but hell it is really tough. I have the knowledge to be a good Network Engineer, but I only have a few years of experience in a NOC, so nobody will even give me a chance. Since I have more experience with Linux and Systems stuff, I do get some interviews for that, but it seems employers want Sys admins to know EVERYTHING these days. I know Linux very well, and I am competent in Perl scripting, and have a good understanding of C. This is what you should need to know to be a good Linux Admin. However now you need to be a jack of all trades, DBA, expert python programmer, security specialist, all in a box.

Dang you know a ton more than me. I don't feel as bad anymore haha. But seriously I feel ya. Studying for 6 hours a day gets tiring after a while doesn't it? I know for me it does. People always say wow you get paid to study all day amazing! But in real life after a few months of doing that it gets old.

Onefive

Studying all day at work does get old after a while. You get burnt out, and go through phases of watching youtube or reading slashdot all day. Right now I am helping a friend write some code for a packet injection library- similar to libdnet. ( It allows you to generate spoofed ARP packets, CDP packets, double tagged packets, and just about any kind of packet you can think of ).