Anyone else in a weird place, career wise?

[JM Aggie08]

I started out highly technical, but have since moved into more managerial roles, now running a medium-sized team. I can't say I'm particularly pleased with where I'm at right now, but:

1. Generally speaking, don't have enough managerial experience (years) to qualify for most available roles in the area/my domain
2. Lack in-depth, current technical skills given that I've been on a managerial track for a while now

I don't want to say I feel trapped...but shit.

 

[herm0016]

yep. 7 years working in the field, oil and gas well completions and interventions. over seas, off shore, land, you name it, i did it in that world, some stuff only one of a few on earth to do some of it. now i do admin, logistics, etc from home because the international location I was based in a few years ago totally dried up with regular work. boring as F. I get the job done but i am not the best at this stuff. pays well and i'm home all the time, instead of being home like 1/3 of the year though. so ill keep doing it till they get rid of me. haha.

i interject my technical expertise as much as I can, and i'm almost always the one of the few with the practical and easy to execute idea, but nobody believes me because of the roll I now have. the technical people get there, eventually, usually. I do have one person in our project management team that i am the go to for her technical stuff in my area.

i swear that its more about being in the right place at the right time to get interesting jobs. I had a really interesting, fulfilling and very tough job for 7 years. i made a decision to take another position because i saw that oil bust coming in that area, and now i'm stuck doing admin/middle management, probably for the rest of my career. but hopefully i can retire when we are like 50.

i also feel the shift of the pure technical skills, I could not walk onto a rig and run the computer for the job anymore, it would take a good bit of learning. The rest would be cake. A lot of our current field people don't have the intuition or practical skills to do the weird and wonderful stuff, or the drive to learn things that they may only do once in their career.


would not mind changing industries, but every job description is ( paraphrasing)
requirements: 10 years of experience painting dots of rare monkey poo on parts made of super-duper titanium and a masters in materials science

duties: prepping parts for coating

pay: 3rd shift 20 per hr.

lol.

i'm managing logistics for 8+ digits of revenue per year and worked on electromechanical systems all over the earth in places that you have never heard of, and systems you cant imagine, but i don't have the experience/cant learn to work on wind turbines or built high end 4x4 campers, or really do anything else anyone is hiring to do for a decent wage.

anyhow, rant over.

 

[deadlyapp]

I switched companies and positions about 2 years ago, going into inside sales. New company promoted me almost immediately into a manager role, so I now have three guys reporting to me (They're all in their 50's, seasoned sales guys, and here I am in early 30s). I'm pretty happy right now, doing well, getting paid fantastic, but there are limited opportunities to move upward within this company and I don't want to get stuck in a middle management sales role for years, so I'm kind of unsure of my long term plan now.

 

[brianmanahan]

i keep getting managers who want to promote me to lead a team

but i don't have the mental capacity to track anyone else's work but my own. sometimes i can barely keep my own tasks straight.

so i'm saving all the money i can to hopefully be able to retire in 7 and a half years.

 

[olds]

I have no job, no job prospects and I am currently homeless.

 

[ponyo]

I have no job, no job prospects and I am currently homeless.

hey, me too! But strangely, I'm gaining weight and becoming fat. I should quit dumpster diving.

 

[Captante]

hey, me too! But strangely, I'm gaining weight and becoming fat. I should quit dumpster diving.

My guess is that your dumpster could support diving by entire homeless communities!

 

[skyking]

Yes, currently trying to motivate myself to go there. I am suffering short-timers syndrome.
I do enjoy work, I keep telling myself.

 

[herm0016]

Yes, currently trying to motivate myself to go there. I am suffering short-timers syndrome.
I do enjoy work, I keep telling myself.

you should start buying up old equipment cheap and fixing it up.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Me sort of. I originally took computer science with the plan to go in IT. I did the IT thing for a few years starting at level 1 support and then jumped to level 3 server, but I ended up in a not so good environment. Really nasty IT manager, just a real asshole that created a poisonous environment. Ended up jumping ship to NOC which is not quite my original goal as it's more on the telephony side, but it has lot of perks such as shift work, and slightly higher pay.

However it is sort of a "dead end" job. There is nowhere to progress from here as everything else is a downgrade pay and perk wise. One thing about this job is to make the shiftwork work, it's based on 8 and 12 hour days or 40 hour weeks in average. All the other departments get 7.5 hours. So moving to another department, even of same pay scale, is basically losing half an hour of pay per day. This is also the highest obtainable pay scale that is non management. That and the shift work is nice due to all the time off I get. Basically this is a retirement job, there is no real reason to move to any other job as they are actually more work for less pay, and less time off. So this has made me a bit complacent. I'm so behind when it comes to IT stuff for example. Everything is all cloud now, I hear stuff like Office 360 and Azure and stuff, but I don't know much about them other than that. My experience is with a standard Windows 2003/2008 environment with Exchange and AD running in VMs running on ESX with a SAN back end. I don't think any companies are doing any of that now days, it's pretty much all cloud and thin clients. I'm sure I could learn all of that, but if I had to apply to an IT job right now, I'd basically be going in with 0 experience.

Interestingly though when I was in high school and did a co-op and one of the jobs I had was at a NOC for another telco. It was a cool job but not really what I was aiming for.... and now that's the job I'm doing. Funny how that happens.

 

[Fenixgoon]

I just applied to be my group's manager, but I've always been very technical. I'd be lying if I said I weren't a little terrified. I also worry that my technical skills will fade into irrelevance.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Understand the skills they pay higher. It isn't a matter of simply more skills = better. Its a matter of scarcity of skills = better.

I come from a background of highly skillful tech stuff. I have eventually shifted from instead of 100% technical skills devotion to about 40% technical 60% client facing.

My point? It's not my skills that are a scarcity, it's the combination that is. the same goes for someone that goes from technical to managerial. The combination is what's not common, and hence what it pays more.

 

[shortylickens]

Yeah I keep getting offered work that doesnt relate to my training or experience.
Companies in my region are so desperate so fill jobs they take in anyone.
I dont mind building air conditioners, but I'm not good at it. Probably will be let go soon.
I keep hearing theres also kinds of work for people like me but I'm not finding it and when I do, I dont get hired.

 

[snoopy7548]

Same here. I'm the strongest technical person on my team but pretty soon I'll be the manager. Even though I love the work, I know I'll eventually get bored of it and want to move onto the next challenge. At least in my company, managers tend to be highly technical so it's not like I'll be hanging up my hat - I'll become more of a mentor which is fine with me as long as I get paid more.

 

[deadlyapp]

Me sort of. I originally took computer science with the plan to go in IT. I did the IT thing for a few years starting at level 1 support and then jumped to level 3 server, but I ended up in a not so good environment. Really nasty IT manager, just a real asshole that created a poisonous environment. Ended up jumping ship to NOC which is not quite my original goal as it's more on the telephony side, but it has lot of perks such as shift work, and slightly higher pay.

However it is sort of a "dead end" job. There is nowhere to progress from here as everything else is a downgrade pay and perk wise. One thing about this job is to make the shiftwork work, it's based on 8 and 12 hour days or 40 hour weeks in average. All the other departments get 7.5 hours. So moving to another department, even of same pay scale, is basically losing half an hour of pay per day. This is also the highest obtainable pay scale that is non management. That and the shift work is nice due to all the time off I get. Basically this is a retirement job, there is no real reason to move to any other job as they are actually more work for less pay, and less time off. So this has made me a bit complacent. I'm so behind when it comes to IT stuff for example. Everything is all cloud now, I hear stuff like Office 360 and Azure and stuff, but I don't know much about them other than that. My experience is with a standard Windows 2003/2008 environment with Exchange and AD running in VMs running on ESX with a SAN back end. I don't think any companies are doing any of that now days, it's pretty much all cloud and thin clients. I'm sure I could learn all of that, but if I had to apply to an IT job right now, I'd basically be going in with 0 experience.

Interestingly though when I was in high school and did a co-op and one of the jobs I had was at a NOC for another telco. It was a cool job but not really what I was aiming for.... and now that's the job I'm doing. Funny how that happens.

I suspect you're not so great at a customer facing type role if you've pigeonholed yourself into shift work and a NOC, however if you have networking aptitude, your best bet towards forward progression is in network architecture and deployment. One of my good friends handles enterprise networking in a blended customer facing / technical role and it keeps you technical but also prevents you from being pigeonholed as an individual contributor forever.

If you don't do well with people though, stay at the NOC.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I suspect you're not so great at a customer facing type role if you've pigeonholed yourself into shift work and a NOC, however if you have networking aptitude, your best bet towards forward progression is in network architecture and deployment. One of my good friends handles enterprise networking in a blended customer facing / technical role and it keeps you technical but also prevents you from being pigeonholed as an individual contributor forever.

If you don't do well with people though, stay at the NOC.

Not so much that I don't do well, it's that I just don't like it. The less I have to deal with people, the better. I thought L3 would not involve dealing with people and that I'd be in the background doing my thing, but I thought wrong as it was like 80% politics/dealing with people and maybe 20% actual tech. I actually got an award for customer service back when I was at help desk. They flew me out of province and everything.

There is a L3 department for networking, and it's crossed my mind often moving there as it would be right up my alley, but that means going back to full normal shifts, and also losing half an hour per day, so it would be a pay cut. (the pay scale is same as my current job). They would probably love me there as they could use someone that can code, but I just feel as far a pay and perks go, it would be a downgrade. Same with CO field tech, I sometimes consider that as it would be cool to work with all the telcom equipment like DMS and cell base stations and stuff, probably even 5G stuff, but it would be a downgrade as well pay wise and schedule wise. Though, probably more job security as it's a physical job where you actually need to be there. L3 network and my job could easily be sent to India at the drop of a hat.

 

[deadlyapp]

Not so much that I don't do well, it's that I just don't like it. The less I have to deal with people, the better. I thought L3 would not involve dealing with people and that I'd be in the background doing my thing, but I thought wrong as it was like 80% politics/dealing with people and maybe 20% actual tech. I actually got an award for customer service back when I was at help desk. They flew me out of province and everything.

There is a L3 department for networking, and it's crossed my mind often moving there as it would be right up my alley, but that means going back to full normal shifts, and also losing half an hour per day, so it would be a pay cut. (the pay scale is same as my current job). They would probably love me there as they could use someone that can code, but I just feel as far a pay and perks go, it would be a downgrade. Same with CO field tech, I sometimes consider that as it would be cool to work with all the telcom equipment like DMS and cell base stations and stuff, probably even 5G stuff, but it would be a downgrade as well pay wise and schedule wise. Though, probably more job security as it's a physical job where you actually need to be there. L3 network and my job could easily be sent to India at the drop of a hat.

You're in a scarcity mindset about losing the half hour of pay. That's what - like $15-$20 CAD? With the opportunity of moving up / pay increase? I see this all the time with people who don't want to leave a very brute force type position and go into management because they'll go salary and take a pay cut, but you'll never ever advance your career.

Now the above notwithstanding - some people don't want to advance. They're super happy to just have low level positions their entire life. No problem with that.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Not so much that I don't do well, it's that I just don't like it. The less I have to deal with people, the better.\

And thats what I was referring to in my post is that the combination of skills of client facing AND technically knowledged is more rare than people realize.

Plenty of folks are just... GOD AWFUL at presentations. ESPECIALLY tech people. As much as they are decent at using things like MS PowerPoint - I've had plenty of people that are SUPPOSED to be technical - but they are just horrible at using simple presentation and presentation software.....


For fucks sake - boring slides with nothing but text makes people glaze and fall asleep.
Animations are CRUCIAL for making you audience eye's divert to where you want them to.
Cater to you audience. Don't speak technical to non-technical. Speak technical to technical. You get the idea.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You're in a scarcity mindset about losing the half hour of pay. That's what - like $15-$20 CAD? With the opportunity of moving up / pay increase? I see this all the time with people who don't want to leave a very brute force type position and go into management because they'll go salary and take a pay cut, but you'll never ever advance your career.

Now the above notwithstanding - some people don't want to advance. They're super happy to just have low level positions their entire life. No problem with that.

How would losing half hour equal to pay raise? Like I said both jobs are the same pay scale except mine is 8h days (in average) and the other is 7.5. So per year, that adds up to a few grand less at least. And yeah I would not want to be a manager at all, just not my thing. There's also no job security as you're no longer in the union. Managers get shuffled around and laid off all the time. Would never want to be a manager for my company as it's just not secure and honestly just not something I'd be happy doing anyway. Having to directly deal with all the politics etc.

 

[Kaido]

I (attempted) to make the switch from IT to BEC (Business Efficiency Consulting) & then COVID hit, so I'm still in limbo doing both. IT-wise, I've set up more VPN's in the last year than I ever have in my life. On the flip side, companies need efficiency more than ever due to reduced budgets, operational constraints, limited staffing, etc., so I've been fleshing out my system to account for the ever-changing present-business needs. Much synergy. Wow.

 

[deadlyapp]

How would losing half hour equal to pay raise? Like I said both jobs are the same pay scale except mine is 8h days (in average) and the other is 7.5. So per year, that adds up to a few grand less at least. And yeah I would not want to be a manager at all, just not my thing. There's also no job security as you're no longer in the union. Managers get shuffled around and laid off all the time. Would never want to be a manager for my company as it's just not secure and honestly just not something I'd be happy doing anyway. Having to directly deal with all the politics etc.

I'm saying that what you're doing now sounds like it is dead end. You can continue getting measly raises as negotiated by the union or you can pivot and lose a few hours a week (which even if you are making 50/hr would only be $6500/yr before taxes) and give yourself more mobility.

However you seem scared to leave the union anyways, so you're stuck. It's not that scary out in the real world and there are hundreds of millions of people out there that are not protected by the union and get by just fine.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'm saying that what you're doing now sounds like it is dead end. You can continue getting measly raises as negotiated by the union or you can pivot and lose a few hours a week (which even if you are making 50/hr would only be $6500/yr before taxes) and give yourself more mobility.

However you seem scared to leave the union anyways, so you're stuck. It's not that scary out in the real world and there are hundreds of millions of people out there that are not protected by the union and get by just fine.

It's not just about not wanting to get out of union, but also because I have zero interest in being a manager. Not what I even went to school for or what I want to do. I could make good money working in the mine too, but it's just not really a job I want. No sense in making good money if you're in a job you don't like. Though I would probably work in the mine if I lost my job and an opening came up. The mine has pretty good hours, I don't know the schedule exactly but it's like 1 week in 1 week out or something like that. Tough work though, have to work in the heat all the time with full PPE, it gets hot underground.

My long term goal really is to try to find a more passive source of income and get more financially independent. Once I can get to that point I can move somewhere cheaper where there's less ongoing expenses. Ex: off grid.

 

[deadlyapp]

It's not just about not wanting to get out of union, but also because I have zero interest in being a manager. Not what I even went to school for or what I want to do. I could make good money working in the mine too, but it's just not really a job I want. No sense in making good money if you're in a job you don't like. Though I would probably work in the mine if I lost my job and an opening came up. The mine has pretty good hours, I don't know the schedule exactly but it's like 1 week in 1 week out or something like that. Tough work though, have to work in the heat all the time with full PPE, it gets hot underground.

My long term goal really is to try to find a more passive source of income and get more financially independent. Once I can get to that point I can move somewhere cheaper where there's less ongoing expenses. Ex: off grid.

You don't have to be a manager, but you can go into a more specialist role, you can be in a role with more interaction with others (eg solve bigger problems), you can be in a more customer solutions oriented role (generally pays more).

If you're happy doing what you're doing, happy with the pay, and don't have interest in upward mobility, then just keep on up. You're not in an awkward position career wise, you're just content.

Personally, I get bored and look for new challenges. Whether or not that is managing people, managing more work, managing different work, or managing a different company, it is different for everyone.

 

[Fritzo]

Brother, I was EXACTLY there 6 years ago. I was in a soul-crushing dead end job, I stayed there waaaaaay too long because I didn't think I had enough experience to do anything else, and felt trapped and useless.

I finally had enough and just posted a resume on Monster on a whim. They give you suggestions on places to apply, and I just went down the list. A few weeks later I got a call from a IT firm that was impressed with how long I had been at my job. They equated that with stability, and in their business that's what they needed.

I got hired and the first year was rough...but I was making my own prison with imposter syndrome: I was so convinced I didn't know what I was doing and so used to trying to anticipate how "the boss" would think instead of how I would think that I was hampering my own performance. Everyone kept telling my I was doing a good job, but my head kept telling me there is no way that's true.

After some time, I realized "This place wants me to use my brain and come up with my own solutions!" It was such a freeing revelation...and I've been happy ever since. 6 years later I'm highly respected at the firm, regarded as "hot talent," and with raises I'm close to making twice what I did at my last job. Everyone is appreciative here, work = rewards, and our company owner is the nicest guy you could imagine working for.

My point: STOP DEFINING YOURSELF. It's almost a 100% certainty that others don't view you the way you view yourself. Take a chance, put yourself out there, and you'll most likely succeed. Promise!

 

[Exterous]

I started out highly technical, but have since moved into more managerial roles, now running a medium-sized team. I can't say I'm particularly pleased with where I'm at right now, but:

1. Generally speaking, don't have enough managerial experience (years) to qualify for most available roles in the area/my domain
2. Lack in-depth, current technical skills given that I've been on a managerial track for a while now

I don't want to say I feel trapped...but shit.

I just applied to be my group's manager, but I've always been very technical. I'd be lying if I said I weren't a little terrified. I also worry that my technical skills will fade into irrelevance.

It's a tough transition - or at least it has been for me. I've been managing now for a little over 3 years after coming from a technical lead position. I do look back with a little envy about the 'ease' of the past job. Less stress, less insight into the disgusting process of sausage making, although I didn't really realize it at the time. That said I feel my skills maturing and am getting much better at the 'managerial' skills. Yes the headaches are more because I'm responsible for more but the ability to control the 'dumb management' decisions has increased as well. So has the $ which doesn't hurt. I've also gotten more experience managing projects that I have little technical knowledge in - I feel once you get a hang of that your opportunities open up a lot - far more than in a technical position. So the early years of transitioning from technical leadership to managerial responsibilities is a bit of a slog but it gets better. Or I have Stockholm Syndrome.