Anyone else become disillusioned with the IT industry?

[BSoD]

Well that is up to you then, no-one is going to hand out achievements, you gotta do it yourself in any way you can. Learn something new in I.T. Decide on a path you want to take. Act on point 1 and 2.

I am confused. At what point am I asking for handouts? If you read throughout the thread you will see that I am constantly self studying and trying to learn new things. Not only to further my career but mainly as I enjoy it. I get the impression that you think I am some lazy employee sitting around, doing nothing, and bitching about not getting anything. Each to their own I guess.

 

[DA-LION-619]

I am confused. At what point am I asking for handouts? If you read throughout the thread you will see that I am constantly self studying and trying to learn new things. Not only to further my career but mainly as I enjoy it. I get the impression that you think I am some lazy employee sitting around, doing nothing, and bitching about not getting anything. Each to their own I guess.

I think he meant, your work goes unappreciated so don't look for praise. He wasn't calling you lazy

 

[The_Librarian]

*raises hairy paw*

disillusioned I am... and I would love a change of career.

 

[halfmoonforever]

My contract disallows this.

No contract on earth would disallow you to code something that's not in direct competition with your current company after hours and then profiting from that. It's illegal for a company to do so.

For example, my day job I do .NET/SQL/Oracle stuff, my after hours stuff is in PHP/MySQL.

My company also have a clause in their contract, but since I'm not competing directly with them nor am I divulging company secrets or using what I learn at the company for personal gain, I'm well within my right to do so, and if you read your contract again, you will see you are too.

 

[Sinbad]

Depends. If your after hours work is leaving you so tired that it's affecting your work performance, your company has a legitimate reason to be unhappy.

 

[halfmoonforever]

Pretty much. This is why I have my side project and reading interests I mentioned earlier.

Everyone seems to be mentioning money, and while I admit that it is a factor, as I said above, I am wanting a sense of achievement and progression. I am a prime example of why gamification works. Steam achievements? Vitality Active Rewards? Hell, even Visual Studio achievements.

This is what I mean by flat. The money is a by-product.

My dad did mind numbing work for 30 years to provide for his family, and had hobbies that he was interested in on weekends/holidays (running his own side business)

People lie when they say "if you love what you do it won't seem like work at all" or "turn your hobby into your work and get paid to enjoy it" or some such crap. I love what I do as a hobby, it's now my career, and I've come to loathe it a little.

Work and what you love to do should be separate. My dad did what he needed to provide for his family, and kept his hobbies his hobbies to have a balanced life... and now that he is retired, have a bit of income from the hobbies he love doing.

So maybe get out of the mindset of boredom, challenge yourself elsewhere, find balance there. If it's not just about the money or position, then do your 8-9 hours a day at your work to earn a living, then spend the rest of the time however you feel like to get that balance in your life.

No one does these things FOR you. Want to feel like you're achieving something? Set a goal, achieve it.

 

[BSoD]

No contract on earth would disallow you to code something that's not in direct competition with your current company after hours and then profiting from that. It's illegal for a company to do so.

For example, my day job I do .NET/SQL/Oracle stuff, my after hours stuff is in PHP/MySQL.

My company also have a clause in their contract, but since I'm not competing directly with them nor am I divulging company secrets or using what I learn at the company for personal gain, I'm well within my right to do so, and if you read your contract again, you will see you are too.

I can send you the exact clause tonight, but I actually read it last night to check if I could start my own side business. It is along the lines of me not being allowed to participate in or run any business outside of work without the written consent of the board. I have a meeting with the GM next week to get approval.

 

[halfmoonforever]

Depends. If your after hours work is leaving you so tired that it's affecting your work performance, your company has a legitimate reason to be unhappy.

2-3 hours working on my own stuff or spending weekends on it doesn't make me tired to do my normal duties at work. Sometimes I don't work on my personal projects for months because I don't feel like it. It still generates an income from people buying stuff.

Not like I'm spending 20 hours a day working constantly. It's a balance. That's why I said he needs to find one.

Look at lazygamer.net for example, started out as a passion project / after hours and now it's the guy's day job earning him a decent income and doing what he wants.

I also have to echo whatever people said here. You don't get a pat on the back each time you code a new line that saves the company millions, nor do you get a promotion. that's just something you have to deal with

 

[halfmoonforever]

I can send you the exact clause tonight, but I actually read it last night to check if I could start my own side business. It is along the lines of me not being allowed to participate in or run any business outside of work without the written consent of the board. I have a meeting with the GM next week to get approval.

Only if it directly competes with them or means your performance at your job is impacted. Meaning you'd rather spend time on your own business and come into work late at 11am etc.

If you're unsure, go to the CCMA, they'll tell you what your rights are

 

[BSoD]

I also have to echo whatever people said here. You don't get a pat on the back each time you code a new line that saves the company millions, nor do you get a promotion. that's just something you have to deal with

I swear the amount of condescension in this thread is amazing.

I'm not asking for a "pat on the back". Also, I'll take what you said a hyperbole, but writing something that saves or earns your company "millions" does deserve recognition in my opinion. If an lawyer closes a massive deal or client, they are recognised. if I do my job, complete my tickets, do I expect recognition? No, that is what I am there to do. But going above and beyond does deserve some recognition. And you if you honestly dont think so, maybe you are more jaded and disillusioned than you are willing to admit.

 

[Fuma]

My dad did mind numbing work for 30 years to provide for his family, and had hobbies that he was interested in on weekends/holidays (running his own side business)

People lie when they say "if you love what you do it won't seem like work at all" or "turn your hobby into your work and get paid to enjoy it" or some such crap. I love what I do as a hobby, it's now my career, and I've come to loathe it a little.

Work and what you love to do should be separate. My dad did what he needed to provide for his family, and kept his hobbies his hobbies to have a balanced life... and now that he is retired, have a bit of income from the hobbies he love doing.

So maybe get out of the mindset of boredom, challenge yourself elsewhere, find balance there. If it's not just about the money or position, then do your 8-9 hours a day at your work to earn a living, then spend the rest of the time however you feel like to get that balance in your life.

No one does these things FOR you. Want to feel like you're achieving something? Set a goal, achieve it.

Listen to this guy.

There is more to life than a job. If it wasn't for paying the bills, I wouldn't be working. I would be travelling, playing sports, spending time with my son, etc. So you need to find something you enjoy after work or weekends.

 

[DA-LION-619]

I swear the amount of condescension in this thread is amazing.

I'm not asking for a "pat on the back". Also, I'll take what you said a hyperbole, but writing something that saves or earns your company "millions" does deserve recognition in my opinion. If an lawyer closes a massive deal or client, they are recognised. if I do my job, complete my tickets, do I expect recognition? No, that is what I am there to do. But going above and beyond does deserve some recognition. And you if you honestly dont think so, maybe you are more jaded and disillusioned than you are willing to admit.

Nobody is saying you don't deserve it, but the chances of you going to get it...
Listen business people don't care who did what to make things happen, they see the graph they're happy and that's about it.

 

[rward]

BSoD - what's your current goal?

What's your goal for this year?

What's your 5 year goal?

If you can't answer any of those then that could be the issue.

If you can answer them then hard and you trying to achieve them?

 

[BSoD]

BSoD - what's your current goal?

What's your goal for this year?

To be Team Leader of my own project.

What's your 5 year goal?

To be a technical lead in the company.

If you can answer them then hard and you trying to achieve them?

I have just finished my Xamarin Certification and am starting my MSCD. I have also put forward a mentorship programme aimed at helping grads and junior developers get a better understanding of best practices and how to apply them to their current project.

 

[Spacerat]

I have just finished my Xamarin Certification and am starting my MSCD. I have also put forward a mentorship programme aimed at helping grads and junior developers get a better understanding of best practices and how to apply them to their current project.

That should be recognised in some way or another.

Also, I'll take what you said a hyperbole, but writing something that saves or earns your company "millions" does deserve recognition in my opinion. If an lawyer closes a massive deal or client, they are recognised. if I do my job, complete my tickets, do I expect recognition? No, that is what I am there to do. But going above and beyond does deserve some recognition

Well, if the thing that you do/are building earns the company millions and it was your idea and you ran with it, yes then you deserve recognition. If you are part of a larger team then not so much. Big difference between a sales guy closing a big deal and someone on a team completing tickets.

 

[NullHypothesis]

My dad did mind numbing work for 30 years to provide for his family, and had hobbies that he was interested in on weekends/holidays (running his own side business)

People lie when they say "if you love what you do it won't seem like work at all" or "turn your hobby into your work and get paid to enjoy it" or some such crap. I love what I do as a hobby, it's now my career, and I've come to loathe it a little.

Work and what you love to do should be separate. My dad did what he needed to provide for his family, and kept his hobbies his hobbies to have a balanced life... and now that he is retired, have a bit of income from the hobbies he love doing.

So maybe get out of the mindset of boredom, challenge yourself elsewhere, find balance there. If it's not just about the money or position, then do your 8-9 hours a day at your work to earn a living, then spend the rest of the time however you feel like to get that balance in your life.

No one does these things FOR you. Want to feel like you're achieving something? Set a goal, achieve it.

Listen to this guy.

There is more to life than a job. If it wasn't for paying the bills, I wouldn't be working. I would be travelling, playing sports, spending time with my son, etc. So you need to find something you enjoy after work or weekends.

I agree with these two. To me my work in IT is about survival and a means to an end. Why IT? Because its all I know. I do various different things sideline also, take part-time courses (I'm self-employed so I'm flexible) and do and learn other stuff that I like. But I work in IT for the money. Yes, when I was younger I loved computers (and still do) but now I can think of many different things I would rather be doing than work. I've been in the industry over 12 years, and I'm pretty sure after 4 years I was still gung-ho

 

[rward]

To be Team Leader of my own project.

To be a technical lead in the company.

I have just finished my Xamarin Certification and am starting my MSCD. I have also put forward a mentorship programme aimed at helping grads and junior developers get a better understanding of best practices and how to apply them to their current project.

I'm unsure what's wrong with your employer. It sounds like you're working your socks off and not getting much back.
I'd hire you if I were in the position to do so.

I don't blame you for feeling despondent and all I can offer is if your company doesn't pull through on that Team Lead position then start looking somewhere else ..

 

[halfmoonforever]

do I expect recognition? No, that is what I am there to do. But going above and beyond does deserve some recognition. And you if you honestly dont think so, maybe you are more jaded and disillusioned than you are willing to admit.

You contradict yourself very wildly in that one statement.

If you go above and beyond and have some kind of mindset that you somehow deserve recognition, then forget about it. You won't get that recognition. It's only when you leave or stop working as hard that they will realize the effort you put in.

So the question you have to ask yourself is do you continue going above and beyond, or just do what you get paid to do and stop being their doormat that leads to you feeling disillusioned?

I'm not jaded or disillusioned, I just know, from experience, that what you think you deserve because of your hard work isn't always what you will get, and that that type of recognition is few and far between (hence the pat on the back comment)

You either accept that or GTFO. And I think that's what you don't get and why you think people are being condescending.

 

[BSoD]

You contradict yourself very wildly in that one statement.

I don't see the contradiction?

If you go above and beyond and have some kind of mindset that you somehow deserve recognition, then forget about it. You won't get that recognition. It's only when you leave or stop working as hard that they will realize the effort you put in.

So the question you have to ask yourself is do you continue going above and beyond, or just do what you get paid to do and stop being their doormat that leads to you feeling disillusioned?

I'm not jaded or disillusioned, I just know, from experience, that what you think you deserve because of your hard work isn't always what you will get, and that that type of recognition is few and far between (hence the pat on the back comment)

You either accept that or GTFO. And I think that's what you don't get and why you think people are being condescending.

So basically I must shut up, sit down, do the bare minimum and be happy with what I get?

 

[cguy]

Pretty much. This is why I have my side project and reading interests I mentioned earlier.

Everyone seems to be mentioning money, and while I admit that it is a factor, as I said above, I am wanting a sense of achievement and progression. I am a prime example of why gamification works. Steam achievements? Vitality Active Rewards? Hell, even Visual Studio achievements.

This is what I mean by flat. The money is a by-product.

Be careful - it's one thing to be proud of tangible achievements, like building something, or solving a hard problem. Titles, becoming a "manager" or "lead" is often just false currency - something you're given as alternative compensation i.e., they pay your ego, instread of your bank account. If you don't actually prefer the actual act of leading or managing, and if it doesn't come with a significant pay increase I would be careful of valuing it as real progression.

I have been in yearly review meetings where we've discussed engineers, who wanted "career progression", so we would promote them to a different level or make them a "manager" with mostly hands on duties, since it was free to do so (they didn't get paid for it - titles are free). Last year, I turned down a "Managing Director" job, to keep my "coding job" since at the end of the day, it really is only about how much you enjoy your job and how much you get paid - everything else is just fluff.