Ever just get the itch to change careers?

I've been doing this IT thing for about 4-5 years now. Great pay, great benefits, job security if you actually show up and act like a normal human being, just no job satisfaction. Not like I had when I was a mechanic. There are times here and there where I get it and I'm proud of what I've accomplished. I just have had this urge to go back to school and get an education in another field to allow me to start a career in something outdoors. Not saying a formal education is the answer just an idea. I also have these ideals of grandeur about working in the car industry again and making the same salary via a race team or race track haha. I don't know it just feels like my career has been very mundane and lackluster and I feel like I was much more happy with life when I was doing the mechanic thing. Maybe go back and finish the engineering degree I started?

Go apply at Tesla Motors and combine your two careers?

I'm only half joking.

Going through the same thing man...

Any chance of going into business for yourself?

As a guy who just lost his 'safe' insurance job for a second time in ten years, I wouldn't dismiss the security and good pay of something boring.

ddavidv wrote: As a guy who just lost his 'safe' insurance job for a second time in ten years, I wouldn't dismiss the security and good pay of something boring.

This.

Use the pay/benefits/stability to do things you enjoy outside of work.

Por ejemplo, next week my wife and I are flying to Nashville just to see a concert and hang out for a few days.

Oh hell yes. But as David said, and as I found out twice, job security is a nice problem to have. 22 years here doing the exact same thing as the day I walked in the door. I still have 4-5 years to work and have toyed with the idea of going out as what I came in as, but age discrimination is real.

13 years in dealerships doing the same thing day in and day out... yeah, I could say I'm burnt. But that would be an understatement. gotta get out while I still have a shred of humanity left in me.

I feel exactly the same way, except my pay sucks and the benefits and job security aren't great either.

DirtyBird222 wrote: I've been doing this IT thing for about 4-5 years now. Great pay, great benefits, job security if you actually show up and act like a normal human being, just no job satisfaction. Not like I had when I was a mechanic. There are times here and there where I get it and I'm proud of what I've accomplished. I just have had this urge to go back to school and get an education in another field to allow me to start a career in something outdoors. Not saying a formal education is the answer just an idea. I also have these ideals of grandeur about working in the car industry again and making the same salary via a race team or race track haha. I don't know it just feels like my career has been very mundane and lackluster and I feel like I was much more happy with life when I was doing the mechanic thing. Maybe go back and finish the engineering degree I started?

I feel you. I was a network admin for 3 years. When they asked why I was leaving, I said something along the lines of: "Lack of gratitude. No one ever said thank you for the 99.8% uptime, but there were plenty of complaints to go around on a daily basis"

Think about it all the time but at 56 time is running out.

Boring is good. Job security is good. Steady pay is good. You do know that they call if "work" and not "play time" for a reason, right? And that's why they give you money to do it, right? Enjoy your time off.

Been working IT for close to 10 years now and I know that feel. I never went to school and started work straight out of high school. So for me, going to school was the only option if I wanted to do anything else, which at the time was wanting to join the TWRA (Wildlife resource agency). So a biology degree was in order. I got through 2 semesters, then moved states, got a new job in the same field, doing the same stuff I did before. Something I've found out through all this, it wasn't the job that was unsatisfying, it was who I was working for. I'll eventually get back to getting my degree, but right now I'm content with my position and my new company.

Also in IT, and I think about it every single day.

I've met some folks, without children, comfortable in a small home driving older vehicles, who were perfectly fine without having job security.

My father never minded work, as long as it was work he liked doing. He never looked for boring jobs, never would apply someplace because "it paid well." Although some good paying/boring jobs dropped into his lap, he would work them for a few years then go back to being a poor self-employed finish carpenter.

Obviously when your raising kids, this becomes a bit of an issue, as it did between my parents. My mother felt like she was the breadwinner and it didn't help that my dad insisted on us living in a fixer upper.

He really impressed me the benefit of getting an education (in his mind) was the potential to open up more interesting jobs that may or may not also pay a little better. He had been denied a lot of jobs simply because he didn't have a degree.

Also, don't listen to anyone else (especially me).

I have friends, co-workers and family who love sitting behind a desk. They can focus on the tasks and job assigned to them, and they feel satisfied when they leave work to come home and do the same thing again tomorrow. To some, work IS life, and its despite time just sailing on by, they are content to look forward to vacation, the weekends, or retirement.

Additionally, there are a lot of people out there who will tell you to stay in a job you hate because they frankly love their job. They get flexibility, "enough" vacation, enough pay, enough variety, that they kinda assume everyone else does too.

I've met ex-Surveyors who hated being out in the weather, and guys who retired never learning to use CAD or MicroStation, content to be outdoors everyday.

I've noticed in the last couple of years, mostly since working in a cube, that work can be busy, and I don't get stressed. They can ask me to work 50 hours a week driving for projects up north, and thats fine by me. Special projects outside the scope of my duties? Sweet. Sweeping floors? Great.

What stresses me out? The days when I'm not doing anything different.

I appear as a go-getter, as self-motivated, willing to learn, always ready to take on new responsibilities. My supervisors love this, but I don't do it so I can move up or get paid more, I do it because I HATE sitting in the cube.

I envy the maintenance guys, and I may move that direction.

Consider your options within the company. Maybe there is a job that requires more travel that others don't want. Maybe you can job shadow someone in maintenance or sales. You don't need more education to get out of a cube, you just need to appear willing to do work that others don't want to do.

calteg wrote: When they asked why I was leaving, I said something along the lines of: "Lack of gratitude. No one ever said thank you for the 99.8% uptime, but there were plenty of complaints to go around on a daily basis"

My boss tells me straight up all the time that this is a basic reality of IT work. To paraphrase, "Nobody thanks you for keeping things running. Nobody appreciates any improvements you make in the background. But the minute something breaks, they will bitch and you'll be in the E36 M3ter." He often tells me this as a warning against trying clever new things that carry increased risk.

I just did this. I went from running a good steady paycheck as a guy who ran a Overhaul and Repair facility for Jet engines to a guy who is a senior individual contributor in the tech industry.

The change is tougher than you think.

What does that even mean "Senior Individual Contributor?"

Sounds like "I get paid a lot to give people my opinions."

Which sounds awesome.

I'm ready to retire

With almost 20 years in IT, I thought about this daily. I decided a few years ago to side step the technical side that I'm comfortable with and move more to business side.

I started down the trail of project management, process improvement, and training. I still get to be in touch with my techie side, but I get use that knowledge to supplement my new direction.

I know there are many opponents to us Six Sigma, ITIL, PMP toting peeps, but after a session or two, they understand the value I bring with my background in IT. It's a win-win!! I get to do something different every few months, but still tied to IT (my bread and butter).

TL;DR - Maybe look at using your IT skillset differently and use it in other opportunities.

Guys in the building next door started tearing apart a large (for my company) jet yesterday. With power tools. It was another one of those times that I really resented being constantly tied to a desk. They're to cut the thing to ribbons; no part can be large enough to be recognizable as an aircraft part unless the part is going back to the manufacturer or into spare parts supply.

If I ever get that hot tub time machine built I'm coming back with an A&P license and asking to be sent to work in a service center in Europe.

pres589 wrote: Guys in the building next door started tearing apart a large (for my company) jet yesterday. With power tools. [...] They're to cut the thing to ribbons; no part can be large enough to be recognizable as an aircraft part unless the part is going back to the manufacturer or into spare parts supply.

You work at Area 51? That's pretty cool by itself!

In reply to GameboyRMH:

Nobody builds jets in Roswell, they just test there. I've never been there myself.

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

As a few have mentioned, I'd keep your day job and explore other avenues that interest you as a hobby. If the hobby develops into something where you can make a living at it (and want to), then you can figure it out at that point.