Questions about personality, genetic make, and projectized work

I was wondering what type of employee you are and how has self realization assisted you on your journey.Let me explain. I've worked mainly operational position for the majority of my career. With that said I find myself rather ADHD which has made grinding through daily activities a chore and then some. I find myself enjoying projectized work a lot more and find myself more valuable to a company in these dynamics.

On two different occasions I spoke to high level consultants and they both said they are miserable doing operational work, but when it comes to project work they excel. I find myself in the same boat. Give me an operation to manage for 5 years and I will struggle I become disinterested and bored. However put me on a project where it requires 60-80 hours in the beginning and through execution then trending downward towards closure I find myself excelling. I have been complimented on all my project achievements. Is this a common personality type? Put me on a 9 month to 1 year project and I give it 120% and then some, but what ends up happenings is I need time to reset. I need a month or 2 off and then I can go back at it strong. I am exceptional when used in this type of dynamic. I haven't seen a lot posted on this type of behavior and/or personality.

I'm wondering if you can be successful with this way of thinking. I usually set exceptions right away letting them know this is why I am good for this position. (When applying for project based work). I am sound financially and my wife does fairly well giving me the flexibility to take on endeavors such as project type work.Can you be successful working in a projectized environment going off and on projects through a large part of your career? ***Sorry for the rant, but I have been struggling with the idea of working in a day to day operation it bores the tears out of me and quiet frankly doesn't synch up to my skill sets. Give me 9 month or a year on a project I will give you everything I have and then some more. Again I do burn out after the project is over and I need to recharge my batteries. I am hoping to get some positive feedback and some light shed on this type of work effort. Thanks for any thoughts I appreciate it.I do know people who do this, but I am not sure if this is normal or a huge exception.

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Comments

Rakurai

I would have to say that I am the same as you, in being that I probably couldn't stand a day to day grind, doing the same thing. However being in the military does give me opportunities to do different things. Example, in my Afghanistan deployment it was 100% network based, which got me into pursuing networking career. It was a good change of pace from the day to day grind that garrisoned environment of just putting in trouble tickets to do anything was. Currently, my day to day, 12 hour grind, is driving me insane, as none of it has much to do with anything IT related, unless I wanted to work with Boeing in the Dallas area. I would love to get back to a networking job, and would love it even more if it was a design oriented job.

Sorry for my small work related rant...

N2IT

Thanks for serving in the military

You rant is fine, it is essentially what I spouted off. I'm glad to see others like myself out there who are making it.

ptilsen

I'm not dissimilar. I like and excel in unique challenges. Day-to-day repetition with only trivial variety bores me and burns me out. I don't think I can ever go back to a full-time operations/maintenance role.

N2IT

PT

That's what attracts me to project management and project type work. I love the start and finishes element and the deliverable or deliverables at the end of the project. Take 2-3 months off and back onto another project. That to me is the dream.

jmritenour

I'd have to say neither. I like being the problem solver, the one who gets the issues no one else has been able to make sense of, and working my way through it. I'm in heaven when I can spend a few hours slamming away at a head scratcher, then getting that moment where it all clicks and comes together.

After that, I like projects, if I find the task interesting. Day to day stuff bores me to tears.

N2IT

jm I agree day to day is awful to say the least.

I am going to look for transition and projectized work moving forward. Stability isn't there and of course there is a end date, but that is what makes it great! I love accomplishing something and moving on to the next goal.

***This is not knocking day to day work, it's critical. Some people are better at handling the daily grind. My best friend is like that. He never gets to high or to low, but stead as she goes. Day to day plays into his strengths. He could never do the up and down transitional work I have become accustom to. 3 months working at 100 hours a week and then literally 20 hours a week the last month or so.

Jacob18

@n2it.
I've been a hard charger/rest zone guy for decades. Had family tell me I have ADHD, OCD, etc. I have been known to change topics midsentence. I have a low tolerance for boredom. I have to have something to do a lot of the time.
I find project management to be perfect. Let me clear. A project manager. I have to design, plan, keep up and finish projects..directing my technicians, subcontractors, customers, etc. It is a perfect fit as a problem solver and people value that skill. I don't get bored and when time eases up, I look at things that interest me.

How old are you? You may need to focus long term goals. Do you want to just work at a job that suits you or are you interested in a specific industry or job category? The old literature was that type a personalities are bad for your health. Not so, if it suits your personality. Some people thrive on stress, challenges..

I don't get heartburn, but I have been known to induce it in others...LOL

Let's get the job done and get a cup of coffee..Beer in my younger days....

Everyone

If you're super ADD, a job like mine might suite you well. All small "projects" ranging from 1 hour to usually only a week long at most, but occasionally longer.

This week alone I am working with 3 different companies on 3 different projects (all over the phone).

Next month I have a couple of 2 day projects with 2 different customers, both of these unique as well (these are on-site).

I love it so far. I control the pace for the most part. I always found operations work boring. Even when doing mostly project work, if the project isn't progressing as fast as I think it should, I get frustrated. Nothing annoys me more than someone else being a road block and keeping me from finishing something.

N2IT

Jacob thanks for replying

I'm 36 years old and I am looking to transition back into Project Management. My last job before my current was a project coordination/team lead position over an IT team. Lot's of financials, scheduling, and planning in general. Direct management was also a part of my job, but I loved it. I was able to stay focused because there was so much to do. I did well in that environment.

My main experience with projectized work is in the IT realm.

the_Grinch

Maybe look for an MSP? Usually lot's of project work in that arena and would give you a steady paycheck, with occasional breaks.

ptilsen

An MSP is not a bad idea for this problem, but N2 specifically would most likely be miserable within a smaller MSP, and there are only a couple of large ones present in the state. I'm not aware of any large MSPs in his area, and I think he would be miserable at any MSP.

Really, given your location N2, I think you're with the right employer. It's just a matter of getting yourself into the right specific position.

Jacob18

Don't discount architechs and engineering firms, even construction. They may still need IT professionals to help them and you may be able to do project management for it after job starts.

I have been doing project management for 11yrs. My goal is to get my PMP and CISSP this year. I'm old school, never got any certs. Too busy working/military. We're integrators and design/install quite a bit including networks with switches, server software, access control, physical security, backups, deal with IT depts, etc. I hope I can find someone to endorse my CISSP..I assume so but never take it for granted. BTW HIPPA is fun, recommend reading Bruce Schneier, modern cryptography. It really helps.

N2IT

Thanks for all the great information. I'm going to keep grinding it out but looking to transition into PM work.

blargoe

N2IT wrote: »

That's what attracts me to project management and project type work. I love the start and finishes element and the deliverable or deliverables at the end of the project. Take 2-3 months off and back onto another project. That to me is the dream

I think you have been reading my mind today... I spent most of my lunch thinking about the exact same thing. I like projects, and get bored to tears over the day to day after that "hand-off" point where my project goes into a steady state (which in the past, I have handed off to myself to continue to maintain). But I like challenging projects, working on new/adjacent technologies from my current skill set when I have the opportunity.

My ideal situation, I think, would be to come in here and there for 3-6 months, sometimes longer, as an architect-level resource, take the work that interests me (within reason), and have the freedom to not work for a month at a time if I so choose. Leave the day to day ops and the political BS to the office jockeys.

Everyone

^^ Sounds like you need to go to work for yourself and be a "consultant".

Jacob18

@blargo. If you are looking for job with months off. Project manager ain't it at least from my prospective. I normally don't get more than four days off, week at most. When times ease up you have to work on things, contact customers, follow up. I do get a little time to read tech, new products, etc. but you are not getting interrupted every 30 seconds. Chaos, then steady march kind of pace, then chaos...but then I wear several hats so your mileage may vary.

paul78

To the project managers out there - just curious - are you typically managing more than one project at a time? I was wondering if it's the multi-tasking that folks find appealing versus the structure.

@jmritenour - I'm more your type. I enjoy problem solving, especially technical operational issues where time is of-the-essence. I don't get to do that very often because it's not part of my job. But when the things blow-up, a big part of my value to my employer is managing the incidents.

Other than that - I do not to like to work on singular projects.

I'm a multi-tasker - and lots of things going on at one time - a typical day could include budget forecasting, design review, audits, incident management, customer calls, contract negotiations, etc. - and that's before lunch.

powerfool

I tend to be very Type A and focused. If I am interested in something, I can sit there for hours on end completing it, no matter how monotonous (like indexing all of my baseball and basketball cards over a period of three days, when I was a kid... seriously, I did this... and I had a ton of them). However, I really like to be challenged, so it is much more personally fulfilling to do something that hasn't been done before, like a project. If I do operational work, I turn it into a project to find the best way to do it. A former micro-managing boss of mine was so worried about the details of user moves that happened on a large scale every couple of months for our sales staff. However, as frantic as he always was about the details, he always seemed to miss things. So, he was really worried about how it was going to work and how it was going to be staged. I took the list and figured out who needed move so that someone else could move. Since he wanted to move them in "phases" I simple showed him who needed to be in phase one, and so forth. None of that was rocket science, but he was impressed... which I took as an insult... but I guess that says more about him than it does about me.

blargoe

Jacob18 wrote: »

@blargo. If you are looking for job with months off. Project manager ain't it at least from my prospective. I normally don't get more than four days off, week at most. When times ease up you have to work on things, contact customers, follow up. ...

if I had my ideal I would not be perm for any company, but would just pick and choose contract. Maybe as a PM maybe as an architect... I think it would have to be one of those two types of work to make enough $$$ to have 5 or 6 weeks off per year. Might would consider supplementing with contracting as an instructor for VMware or MS if I could get in.

Not to derail N2's thread...

Jacob18

Just some thoughts. Some projects especially major construction projects can last for years (building, infrastructure, electrical). Most PMs seem to handle multiple projects, ESP. As you rise up you get assistants, subcontractors, and so on. Back to discussion. Personality does and should play a part in it. For example I've been multitasking tonight. Go to bed around midnight well ok 12:30 and back up at 5:30. And I've doing this for decades. No stress and not really tired. Preparing for meeting at 9, project close out meeting later in morning, give briefings to techs on one job, sub on another, calls, etc. you get the idea. It is rewarding both personally, professionally, and financially. But you better have the right personality, training, and exp. or the job will chew you up. Family and a sense of humor, help too. IT is a part of it but you have interact with quite a few other trades. Good luck. And if you want to own your own business, well......