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What to do?

L

LookBehindYou

Platinum Member
I think I am having a mid life crisis. I am 31 years old and am still debating if what I am doing now is "what I want to do when I grow up".

I didnt graduate high school. I joined the Air Force, got married, have a kid, then got of the Air Force. I got involved in I.T. a couple years before I got out and 3 years after seperating I work for the fed as a sys admin.

Here is the problem, my job is too boring! I litteraly surf the internet almost all day. I went from a job at a private company as a net admin that was super busy, super stressfull to a job that pays more, has great hours (7-3:30), but offers me very little in terms of satisfaction. I start school again at UofL this month, going for a Bachelors in Antrhopology just to give me something else to do. I am to the point where I dont know if I.T. is right for me anymore. I'm very good at it, but its just not satisfying where i'm at. Part of me wants a completely different career, part of me wants to just do small pc stuff and open a business in my small town (I work in Louisville, live outside in a small town).

Just don't know what to do....end vent.
 
I went from a job at a private company as a net admin that was super busy, super stressfull to a job that pays more, has great hours (7-3:30), but offers me very little in terms of satisfaction.
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I would take good hours and better pay over stress any day, regardless of satisfaction level.
 
OP, you aren't alone. I left my job in IT a little over a year too, it was too repetitious and didn't get me feeling satisfied. The pay was alright, but not at the amount of people I had to put up with. Not the thing I could see myself doing until 50+. Now I'm working the way into forensics & criminal investigative biology.
 
oldsmoboat said:
"Bachelors in Anthropology"
Ya, that will be fun and exciting.
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Didnt think it would be exciting, just figured it'd be interesting. Volunteering and a Hobby isn't what I need. Outside of work I have fun, spend time with the family, etc. It's the 8 hours a day at work that are starting to drive me insane.
 
gaidensensei said:
OP, you aren't alone. I left my job in IT a little over a year too, it was too repetitious and didn't get me feeling satisfied. The pay was alright, but not at the amount of people I had to put up with. Not the thing I could see myself doing until 50+. Now I'm working the way into forensics & criminal investigative biology.
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How'd you get involved in forensics and criminal investigative biology?
 
Start a home based internet business as a side job. It would be something to keep your mind occupied, and will hopefully make you some money later on.

When I say "home based business", I simply mean a blog, and put some amazon banners or google adsense on it.

What I really want to do is either Anthropology or Archeology, but both would take my away from my family - which is something I do not want to do. If I moved away from my kids and other family members, I would be sad and down in the dumps. So its a lose-lose situation.
 
Imo IT people really do require a week or two off a year, especially types where you're on-call or otherwise 'responsible' for stuff 24/7



IT is extremely draining. Few positions dump so much responsibility and accountability on one person. There are TONS of IT 'burn outs', don't be one of them!


Edit:

Also remember that once you leave IT it can be very difficult to get back in.
 
SandEagle said:
be thankful you have a job. stop complaining.
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Why should I be thankful I have a job? It's not my fault others either do not have marketable skills, refuse to re-locate to a better job market, or are simply too lazy to pursue something else and better themselves.

I worked with someone at my last place who said that when i left. We were talking about how I was leaving because we were just overworked and understaffed and it wasnt worth it. His statement was "i'm just happy to have a job". An attitude like that will be why he never gets the raise he deserves, never gets promoted, and never betters himself.

Even in this economy, I will never "be thankful I have a job".
 
LookBehindYou said:
How'd you get involved in forensics and criminal investigative biology?
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I've a personal sense of upbringing the law at times. Some kind of vigilante in me that wants to put guilty criminals behind bars.

The OJ case, watching it as a teen, made me feel revolted at the way our justice system worked. In my spare time, I always liked the biology of animals and microbiology, even though I grew up with IT as a kid in the 80's.
The day I was thinking about how boring my IT job was to put up constantly with our corporate contracts, I found myself thinking of what I wanted to do in life by the time I was an old fart. The more I started thinking about career changes.

A few years back, I signed up with a local police station for volunteering, then I started to look into city forensics technician jobs (not the crime scene dispatchers, that's a rough job IMO). They all required backgrounds of Biology/Chemistry for toxicology or areas of DNA emphasis. Found the AAFS, and there I started into the tracks. Initially, I found advice from a forum for "old farts" who went back to college for career shifts, a lot of these guys were getting MD's and PhD's in their 40's and 50's. Kind of a bit out of my range, but I found momentum there thinking if these guys were doing their career shifts way later than I did, I could totally do this.

I'd admit I have the transition easier than you do, I'm not settled down, nor do I have a kid. The girlfriend is looking for job areas related to her area of emphasis and we'll look into finding the right town in the future that works for both of us then get to settle down.
 
The transition isn't too much of an issue for me. My wife and kid will be happy to move if we had too, education is paid for, i have minimal debt. It really comes down to losing my great benefits with the government job and do something different. I could either find another IT position somewhere else that may be a medium to what i was doing before and now (not crazy stressfull and busy, but not utterly boring either). I really need to figure out what I would enjoy the most, i'm just not sure if i'm digging I.T. anymore....
 
Wyndru said:
I would take good hours and better pay over stress any day, regardless of satisfaction level.
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+1000. I don't count on my job to bring me satisfaction. I count on my job bringing me enough money to be able to the things I enjoy afterwards that bring me satisfaction.
 
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