What can a senior desktop support tech do who is burned out?

3 years ago by Meow.tar.gz to c/asklemmy

I am wondering what kind of career moves I have available to me because I am over the bullshit of desktop support. I have been brushing up on my Linux skills, learning docker, and doing a whole bunch of networking-related things. At this point, I am 46 years old. Would it benefit me to go back to school to learn a skill to help me advance beyond this role? I just don't know what to do. There are many options, none of them truly low cost and all of them involving a significant amount of risk.

I get that there is no avoiding risk when making a career change so late in life. I was looking at training for Java or Oracle and it isn't cheap. Maybe given my experience I could teach A+ or Network+? I don't know. I'll welcome any ideas right now.

8565 60 points 3 years ago

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

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Semi-Hemi-Demigod 28 points 3 years ago

Users are definitely harder to train than turkeys

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flop_leash_973 14 points 3 years ago

And it is more discouraged to kill and eat the users when they get out of line.

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8565 2 points 3 years ago

And they taste worse. Farmhands are also hard to train maybe worse than users

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8565 7 points 3 years ago

Users are so hard. Turkeys you just have to find any way they may kill themselves and fix it before they do

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ablackcatstail 8 points 3 years ago

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.

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8565 9 points 3 years ago

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

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ablackcatstail 17 points 3 years ago

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.

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8565 2 points 3 years ago

Hey just trying to offer options lol.

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6jarjar6 2 points 3 years ago

I thought they were only recruiting from the AF, did they recently open it up more?

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8565 2 points 3 years ago

They never were only recruiting from the air force. They were pulling out of the Army as well. But, for at least the last couple years they have been doing public recruiting as well

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8565 6 points 3 years ago

Picking something that doesn't take much prior skill is a very good way out. (Not saying you necessarily should) but, it's very easy. The Farm even provides me with housing and paid me to move so it worked out very well

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Elegast 6 points 3 years ago

Man that's a jump. My issue is leaving the fairly good pay. But I think it's going to need to happen soon.

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8565 6 points 3 years ago

I left a Factory IT Admin job and honestly after factoring in my free housing only make 1k less a year than I did in IT. but, I left March 2020 and the factory didn't survive COVID. Glad I jumped that ship

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Elegast 1 point 3 years ago

That's interesting. How did you come about finding the job? I've done IT my whole life and wouldn't even know what to look for if not IT.

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8565 1 point 3 years ago

It's from the community I grew up in (1 mile from my dad's house where I grew up) so it was posted in a community FB page

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dbtonez 2 points 3 years ago

wouldn't you know it, look who i found...

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8565 1 point 3 years ago

Yeah man I'm here lol weird seeing other JB guys out and about

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dbtonez 2 points 3 years ago

the beauty of federation, you'll find us in the weirdest places XD

good to see you, keep on carrying on friend

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yanyuan 2 points 3 years ago

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8565 8 points 3 years ago

Almost no stress at all. I have like 1 or two deadlines a month (load out and baby bird arrival) we have 40k birds handled between me and a part time farmhand. Everyday is as easy as walking through barns and picking up dead followed by yard work and maintenance. And once a month I run a litter machine through one of 3 finishers to keep the barns clean. Other than that it's just monitoring bird health which after you get used to it is easy. Most important thing is to keep the birds healthy, comfortable and happy

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oats 1 point 3 years ago

keeping them healthy, comfortable and happy until their throats are slit 🥰

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simple 15 points 3 years ago

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.

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ablackcatstail 8 points 3 years ago

Okay, that sounds promising. By QA I believe you mean software QA, right?

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simple 8 points 3 years ago

Yep, correct

Different companies have different requirements, but generally if you know a bit of SQL and a bit of Linux terminal commands you should be good. Maybe have a browse through a testing framework like Selenium, though frameworks would vary depending on what the company does, so don't fret too much about that.

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bumbo_jumbo 4 points 3 years ago

Playwright is another good testing framework to lean

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ivenoidea 1 point 3 years ago

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Dirk 11 points 3 years ago

With Docker and Linux you could check the opportunities in the field of IT operations.

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aniki 11 points 3 years ago

There's not enough Linux admins. Come to the dark side. I make so much more money than I ever did doing desktop support.

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ablackcatstail 9 points 3 years ago

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?

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PancakedWaffle 6 points 3 years ago

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.

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ablackcatstail 4 points 3 years ago

Upwork, huh? I've never heard of it. Thanks!

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aniki 5 points 3 years ago

You're going to need a portfolio of stuff you've built if you want to show you can do it but if you have a nice webpage that you setup professionally and have Linux skills on your resume you'll get a hit. My company cannot hire competent Linux admins fast enough.

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Blaze 11 points 3 years ago

DevOps?

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ablackcatstail 10 points 3 years ago

Okay, I don't really know what DevOps means or is. I'll have to search on this one. Thank you for giving me something to consider. 👍

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tinyVoltron 5 points 3 years ago

DevOps is fun and you'll learn a lot in a short amount of time. You will have to learn a bunch of stuff about automation, how different technologies are built and deployed, source control, etc. It's a steep learning curve but awesome if you're up to the challenge. It is never boring. I've been working on DevOps processes since before it was called DevOps. I've always been happy to be in this sector. Keep in mind that there is no set definition for DevOps. Some purists will argue what I do, setting up the tools and automation then let the devs do their thing, is not DevOps. They might believe that DevOps means developers set everything up and support everything. Of course, that doesn't scale. Other companies just rebrand build engineers as DevOps. That's about the most boring thing I can think of, besides QA. :-) Good luck!

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Blaze 4 points 3 years ago

You are welcome, have a good day!

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cyborganism 1 point 3 years ago

No. I switched to DevOps and it's worse.

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MigratingtoLemmy 8 points 3 years ago

Goat farming

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Kissaki 2 points 3 years ago

You can start by feeding me

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MigratingtoLemmy 2 points 3 years ago

I'll need to milk you first

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CmdrShepard 2 points 3 years ago

Hi, it's me your goat.

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MigratingtoLemmy 2 points 3 years ago

Been looking for your baby. Go stand in the shed now honey, I'll squeeze the pleasure out of you

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secret_ninja 8 points 3 years ago

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.

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ablackcatstail 1 point 3 years ago

I don't know why I am languishing as senior desktop support then. It seems I lack the ability to even get my resume in front of anyone, let alone an interview.

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secret_ninja 1 point 3 years ago

Believe it or not, with the right skill set (ie if you have skills that employers are looking for) you won’t even need to apply. Headhunters WILL find your linkedin. Right now the market is noticeably slow and thousands of IT professionals got laid off in the last few months alone. The economy will recover soon though so maybe get ready for when that happens by learning new skills. AI, big data, IaC, etc are all in demand.

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ablackcatstail 1 point 3 years ago

This is why now it is a good time for me to hunker down and simply learn and get through this tough time. Much as I hate dealing with the over-privileged assholes in state government, I'll do what I have to whilst learning.

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dream_weasel 1 point 3 years ago

How many employers have you gone through in 6 years?

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secret_ninja 1 point 3 years ago

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.

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dream_weasel 0 points 3 years ago

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.

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taigaman 6 points 3 years ago

I'm currently a software dev in the US, and I've always got a few things in the back of my mind: USPS, UPS, tradesman (electrician, carpentry, plumbing). Also not sure what your family situation is like, but if it's just you, I've always found the idea of owning my own tiny home exciting, and it could potentially reduce your financial burdens opening up more options for work because you won't need as much money.

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Pieisawesome 4 points 3 years ago

I'd consider learning cloud. There are a lot of cheap certs for azure/aws.

You could also learn kubernetes, it's something you'll get paid quite well to be able to run for a company

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TheSaneWriter 4 points 3 years ago

If you are wanting to move into a more programming oriented career, then I would say that while a college degree is useful it is by no means required. One of the things that you could do is complete a certification course and then apply for an entry level position, you'll take a pay cut but unfortunately that's common when changing careers. What type of work are you currently hope to move into?

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ablackcatstail 2 points 3 years ago

I have to search for a course that would hold weight and not just look like Uncle Slappy's IT Career School.

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TheSaneWriter 2 points 3 years ago

Indeed. I'm certain they exist, but it's a case of needing to research which organizations are reputable and respected for their certifications.

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rolaulten 3 points 3 years ago

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...).

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ablackcatstail 3 points 3 years ago

I've been in a support role for 25 years. I can stomach it no longer.

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rolaulten 2 points 3 years ago

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.

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ablackcatstail 1 point 3 years ago

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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RotaryKeyboard 3 points 3 years ago

This happened to me in my mid-thirties. I tried a couple pivots. One was to web development, which I found didn't really help the burnout. So I pivoted again to project management. Project management doesn't pay as well, but the hours and workload are far easier to deal with. It's also a lot more accepting of older workers than IT is. Find yourself a project management position in IT somewhere. If you can get one in information security you could build up some time in that sector and get the CISSP, which would open a lot of doors to great paying jobs.

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ablackcatstail 1 point 3 years ago

I tried Project Management and did not succeed at it. I am thinking of the DevOps course of action. I am still relatively young at 46. I'll try and make the pivot.

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The_HKP 2 points 3 years ago

I was a SysAdmin/Tech Support for 15+ years and also super burned out. I moved into Analytics, specifically using visualization software (Tableau) with SQL, and I could not be happier with it. The stakes are so much lower, and therefore, so is the stress. I feel that it's just technical enough to scratch that itch, but not so much that I end up just doing tech support again. Nobody needs a pie chart at 3 fucking am like they needed with server reboots.

With your background in tech, any viz software should be relatively easy for you to pick up. I was able to get into a free program in my area that trained for Analytics, so I'm not sure what may or may be available to you in your area. But at the very least, there should be plenty of stuff online for learning Tableau and SQL for free if that interests you.

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ablackcatstail 3 points 3 years ago

That's really good that you were able to get out. I guess I could consider Tableau and SQL but I literally have zero passion or interest in it/for it. If I am going to make a change, this time it both has to make monetary sense and has to be something that I don't hate every waking minute of.

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perishthethought 2 points 3 years ago

Hey person, I was in tech support for about 6 different companies, over 8 years. I left that to become a consultant. Best move, for me. It's a lot like TS but you earn more and make money for the company, instead of being a cost center.

I taught myself some coding before I got my first job. JS and web technologies in my case. If you've been successful in TS for years, you could do this next.

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mars 2 points 3 years ago

What kind of technology did you work with while doing desktop support? If you like working with endpoints you could consider doing client platform engineering.

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