When I got burnt out I did a hard turn. I now manage a Turkey Farm and just do IT on the side. Most relaxing decision I've ever made
Users are definitely harder to train than turkeys
And it is more discouraged to kill and eat the users when they get out of line.
Users are so hard. Turkeys you just have to find any way they may kill themselves and fix it before they do
That's pretty cool actually. Wish I were in a position to do something similar but I need my next step to parlay with the base skill set I already have.
If your under 39 and in decent enough shape (and US based) the Space Force is looking for recruits and has plenty of IT jobs available. When I'm ready to get back in to the service that is my plan currently
LOLOLOLO! I am 46, suffer from bipolar disorder, PTSD, and autism. I cannot even qualify for a security clearance, much less go to Space Force. But that much said, I appreciate you reaching out to me. Thanks.
Hey just trying to offer options lol.
There’s a lot of good advice here. I just want to add that you absolutely do not need to go back to school. It’s a waste of money! I’m 100% self-taught, work in “DevOps” and not a single employer in the last 6 years has asked me about my education or credentials. I enjoy it and it pays well. You don’t have to do DevOps though. Lots of jobs in IT and employers are competing for skills.
How many employers have you gone through in 6 years?
3 (all contracts and by choice). But I did at least a dozen interviews in the same period and no one ever asked about any diplomas.
Ah the interview number makes sense with your post. At first glance it read like you had had a seriously large amount of jobs in that time which didn't seem very desirable.
QA work has a fairly low barrier of entry, and from there I've known a few people who moved from QA into Developer roles. So there's that route.
DevOps?
There's not enough Linux admins. Come to the dark side. I make so much more money than I ever did doing desktop support.
The hard part is convincing somebody to hire me without formal production experience. I am in the classic Catch-22 situation: How do I get experience if nobody will give me the opportunity?
Go look on upwork for some gigs at your current hourly rate. Once you do one or two the interviews will go much smoother.
Highly recommend this Linux admin path for you. Knowing from personal exp the pay in support desk vs devops, you might 4x your pay inside 3 years.
Goat farming
The best advice I can give is to get away from a front line support role. If you stay in tech you could work your to engineering, sysadmin, data stuff, or project management. If you want to get away from tech go as far as you feel you can (because once people learn your good with computers...).
I've been in a support role for 25 years. I can stomach it no longer.
Then. Honestly. You need to do a radical shift. No matter what part of IT you are in you will still be doing some level of support.
I don't think I mind the support aspect. I just want to work at higher level than I am currently at where I have more challenge and reward.
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