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Anyone else experiencing burn out? Career advice? (self.sysadmin)

submitted ago by cparedessystems engineer. whatever that means

So, I've been working in the field for about three years as a UNIX systems administrator - I usually enjoy systems administration quite a bit, but lately, I've been feeling a bit of burn out. I'm almost convinced that this field might not be for me, though it pays pretty damn well (and I do need the money - I still have a ton of student debt to pay back.)

I figure I'll have to stick around for a bit, though I'm really really tempted to quit and sling coffee for a bit before going back into the fray (although again, student debt is clawing at my back all of the time - I don't know if this is even an option at this point.)

What do you guys suggest?

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[–]rossiFan 11 points12 points ago

Change jobs, or start an interesting project at your current one. Three years sounds like job boredom, not burn out.

[–]labmansteverepadmin /syncall /force 4 points5 points ago

Amen. Good places to start. OP, do you have any hobbies or whatnot to distract you?

[–]cparedessystems engineer. whatever that means[S] 5 points6 points ago

Yep, at least lately. :)

I've been playing video games for a while now, but I've also started to invite folks over for watching films, I've started to bike around a lot more, and started to draw random shit (portraits, environments around me, etc.)

[–]labmansteverepadmin /syncall /force 5 points6 points ago

Excellent. That is your best bet. If I didn't have my arduino, hiking boots, guns, and books I'd go nuts.

Ask yourself a couple of basic questions: When you get up in the morning do you hate the prospect of going to work, or are you just intensly disinterested? When you're not at work, do you find yourself constantly thinking about it (and not in a good way) or can you honestly let it go. Being bored and getting truely burned out are not quite the same thing.

Been through both, getting bored you can (usually) deal with, but burning out really, really sucks.

[–]DangerChips 6 points7 points ago

This, a million times over. Job burnout usually leaves you feeling ill about the prospect of going to work. Boredom usually is just where you'd rather do a million and one other things other then work (sorta like cleaning your room when you were a kid, at least, for me). Finding good hobbies (working out, dating, building vast and complex bunkers throughout the nevada landscape in preparation of the eventual AI wars to take place between Deep Blue and Watson over who's the geekiest computer and our lives are simply pawns in their epic chess game of the apocalypse) can make the difference and reinvigorate you professionally.

[–]jaywalkkerStandalone...so alone 4 points5 points ago

building vast and complex bunkers throughout the nevada landscape in preparation of the eventual AI wars to take place between Deep Blue and Watson over who's the geekiest computer and our lives are simply pawns in their epic chess game of the apocalypse

I've yet to see this scenario presented in r/netsec and I have no idea what my preparedness plan should be.

[–]labmansteverepadmin /syncall /force 0 points1 point ago

I like the way you think. I hope to partake in said war. ;-)

[–]RobotPirateMonkey 2 points3 points ago

These guys (steve and danger) are in the right.

Serious burn out is pretty wide reaching. It just sucks the life out of your life. Makes you irritable and isolationist. Even fun hobbies start to lose their appeal, because you know that you should be doing catch-up work or just dread having to go back to work.

Typical burnout is usually from being overworked or having demands that are too far outside your skill set. Boredom is caused by the opposite of that. One way to cure boredom is to get a more interesting job (i.e. fast-paced contract work, cutting-edge tech, large constantly-evolving environment, whatever). These jobs are harder to find because there is much more competition to get them.

[–]DoormattyJack of All Trades 0 points1 point ago

Out of curiosity, what are you doing with your Arduino? I'm always looking for new ideas.

[–]labmansteverepadmin /syncall /force 0 points1 point ago

Just starting to learn. I'm working towards building a robot that will chase light.

[–]PasswordIsntHAMSTERSysadmin in training 0 points1 point ago

arduino, hiking boots, guns, and books

I'd love to live a weekend in your shoes.

Also, look into the Teensy. It's got 1:1 compatibility with Arduino/Arduino IDE but more pins and memory, smaller form, fits on a breadboard, and is USB class-compliant for the MIDI, HID, Mouse and Keyboard formats (meaning you could build a DJ controller, mouse, keyboard, printer, etc. without needing any drivers)

[–]labmansteverepadmin /syncall /force 1 point2 points ago

It's fun being me sometimes. especially when I combine the above mentioned items... I will definately check ou the teensy. Thanks for the heads up!

[–]cparedessystems engineer. whatever that means[S] 0 points1 point ago

I should probably note that I'm, by many standards, a 'job hopper'. I think I get pretty damn bored pretty easily. I've worked on a lot of interesting projects so far... but it doesn't seem to be enough to carry me through.

[–]darksim905Windows Sysadmin 4 points5 points ago

I get bored fast, then I realize I've only been here 3 hours...

[–]wicem 2 points3 points ago

Does that has something to do with Windows? ;)

[–]darksim905Windows Sysadmin 3 points4 points ago

Probably ;(

[–]telecomando2 6 points7 points ago

Take a long vacation, do something fun for yourself. Give yourself something to look forward too. The School - > Work transition is a mother. You spend 20 something years of your life in school which cycles with the seasons then find yourself in a day job that just goes by day after day with no real end or break. You just have to learn how to break it up and enjoy your life, especially if you're making money and can afford to do the things you love.

Also, talk to me about burn out after you been doing this for 10+ years, 3 is nothing.

[–]eviljollyAnything that plugs into a wall admin 8 points9 points ago

6 years doing IT here, 3 years in tech support previously, and 2 years in computer sales.

Last year I took two vacation days and my boss said we were "too busy" when I asked him in October if I could take any of my remaining days before the end of the year. Sure I like the money of cashing them in, but man I need a vacation.

Burn-out happens a lot faster when you don't get time off...

[–]hacktheory 1 point2 points ago

5-6 years of Linux System admin here. Before that I worked in a PC shop, help desk at the university... etc.

Im at the same point as you. Difference is that I KNOW that this is not what I want to do forever. Its a lot of fun most of the time but Engineering is what I really enjoy.

My suggestion is to get involved in a project that interests you or try to get in contact with a HackerSpace in your area. It can help you see if you really want to be doing what you are now or if its time to start moving on.

[–]cparedessystems engineer. whatever that means[S] 2 points3 points ago

Hell yeah, there's an awesome HackerSpace around here that I go to every now and then (Metrix:CreateSpace.) Haven't been there for a bit, should probably drop by for a bit.

[–]B-I-N-G-Oismynam-o 4 points5 points ago

I've been where you are but never again. IMHO, debt makes you a slave to your job. I buckled down a few years ago, lived like a hermit and paid off all my debt. In hindsight, it wasn't all that hard. But I would rather suffer a lot for a short period of time than suffer a little for the foreseeable future. I need that light at the end of the tunnel. And now? It's fucking awesome! When I want to switch jobs, my bills aren't even a factor. And that puts me in a better bargaining position when negotiating salaries. I've turned down more jobs than I can remember. I have a good skill set and I can afford to wait for something better.

I had a contract about two years ago that started screwing me around. They were getting rid of everyone after a merger but still had a couple of huge projects that were behind schedule and I was a key player in the biggest. They would actually tell me on the 28th if they were extending me another month. On the last day of the month I could never get in the building because they had a strict policy that contractor badges expired every 30 days. Same for my Active Directory account. Once my account expired during the weekend while I was on-call. Who can live like that? I waited until the final month of the project when they were going to work me like slave to finish it on time and turned down the last monthly extension. I wasn't a jerk about it. I just said since you've only been extending me a month at a time, I lined up a new long-term contract. And I want to take a month off before I start since as a contractor I didn't get vacations. My contract was month-to-month so I didn't even have to give two weeks notice. Because of their policy to wait until the end of the month, they got exactly one day's notice.

[–]cparedessystems engineer. whatever that means[S] 0 points1 point ago

I'm hoping to start saving a ton more money over the next few months and just pay off the whole thing in huge chunks per month. Seems like a huge mountain to get over though - right now, I pay about $600/month minimum. Yick.

[–]0x570x690x6c0x6cJack of All Trades 3 points4 points ago* 

Obligatory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_%28psychology%29 - Be very careful when using the term burnout. There is so much involved there.

Eleven years doing IT work here. I started with web design and ended up as an IT Operations Manager after successfully starting a web hosting shop and unsuccessfully closing it down. I'll probably continue to do what I enjoy until my knowledge becomes obsolete. By then, I'm guessing I'll be in my forties and probably asking reddit advice on what to do for my next 40 years, given the current/future economic climate; I'm guessing I'll be working until I die or fall ill (depressing.)

That being said, I have a lot of experience in this topic. One thing I've observed is that there is a high attrition rate with IT folks. Why? Because there are absolutely zero balances in the IT world. You go to the office, bust your butt, come back home, and still continue to be attached to your work via mobile and/or notebook. Not to mention that awful after hour support tickets, service calls, etc... Where does that leave us? With frustration of course. You cannot shut down if you're always married to your mobile phone.

Anyhow, a lot of the IT folks take pride in their work, they work relentlessly for their employers. Often through difficult situations just to get their job done. Sometimes, they get fired for doing too much: http://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/oj3o8/hi_rsysadmin_remember_the_guy_with_the_hacked/ - In all fairness, there was more to this, but you get the idea.

What is even more frustrating is that most IT folks are paid well to a point where they can't walk-away their job despite hating it. How am I doing so far? Stating the obvious?

I've been there. I had previously posted a reply on a similar topic. I've gone through nearly every stage of being burnt out. The harder I worked, the less rewarding it would become. Not to mention my peers didn't see the value in my hard work, it was just me basically telling myself "I'm busting my ass for this place, and I get nothing for it." That manifests itself in a lot of different ways until I felt that I didn't have a fight in me. I left one job for the other with no direction in what I wanted to do. Luckily, I had no problem finding jobs. During interviews, I would show a lot of enthusiasm, but the end result would always be the same. Since 2010, I've had four jobs. That's not normal considering that I would walk-away under the most normal circumstances, saying that I needed more. The reality was that I was burnt out, neglecting my own needs, displacing conflicts because I couldn't see a foot in front of me. It got to a point that I would isolate myself because I didn't want to deal with people at all. I digress.

I've finally toned it down; I have a job that I enjoy. It affords me certain perks such as telecommuting and being able to exercise sound judgement, play with new technologies, etc. It's basically an evolution in my learning process.

The life/work balance is bullshit HR invented. You have to figure out what works best for you. Having personal time away from work is important. Being disconnected is just as important. That means no cell phone, the internet, etc. I love camping in remote areas for a few days on. Unfortunately, I don't get to do it much, but I try. This is going to sound silly, but learn to love yourself. Figure out something that has no cord attached to it (literally.) Go for an hour walk around the neighborhood.

Three years is just too short to consider yourself burnt out. In my first three years, I was putting together my business, which was an objective. I looked forward to its success. Without an objective, you go crazy wondering aimlessly. Figure out what you want to do it, and go for it. That will help you guide through the trivial crap, and do something that's more meaningful without feeling bored or burnt out.

The point of my reply was to give a test case to see whether your situation compares to someone that has been there. If not

[–]WhoIsMikeJones 1 point2 points ago

"I've finally toned it down; I have a job that I enjoy. It affords me certain perks such as telecommuting and being able to exercise sound judgement, play with new technologies, etc. It's basically an evolution in my learning process."

Can you speak on this a bit? What are you doing now? I feel like I'm in the same position that you were.

[–]0x570x690x6c0x6cJack of All Trades 0 points1 point ago

I started off by identifying the triggers that caused me to feel burnt out. It’s easy to do this through some analysis paralysis. In the instance, I felt a situation was causing trouble; I would either write it down or commit to memory. Build a knowledge base of people, events and things that distressed me.

The next step was to analyze and figure out why I felt the way I did, and then try to formulate an action plan. A lot of the feelings that I had were self-induced. Believe it or not, that’s part of the “burnt out” process. It has to do with self-sabotage. You try to prove yourself, work hard, neglect needs, displace conflicts, remain in denial, withdraw and then give up and go into a funk.

In my case, I felt burnt out because I remained in my comfort-zone, doing more of the same things, and then complain because someone didn’t do something right or I wasn’t given the opportunity to take the initiative to do something. Mind you, that I would learn a new technology here or there, but I would still do the same thing not recognizing that I had reached a glass ceiling that needed to be broken. That’s pretty much the definition of insanity; do the same thing, expect different results. It won’t scale, and it certainly did not help. At that point, I had a clear idea of what I needed to do.

First, I took a bit of time off and just slacked off to decompress. I have bills, but I was able to afford to take time off (YMMV) to take care of myself. Then, I looked for a job (passing on a few other offers) that allowed me to expand on my hands-on experience in networking, web ops and management. I took a $5k pay cut just to satisfy my requirements. After all, it isn’t about the money, right?

So now, I’m working for a thirty-person organization, I’m a stakeholder and a key member of the organization. What I create becomes legacy here. I’ve always had the motive and the spirit; I just needed to be allowed to use them. The new experiences on my resume opened the door to other (active) opportunities.

I hope this helps.

[–]WhoIsMikeJones 1 point2 points ago

"In my case, I felt burnt out because I remained in my comfort-zone, doing more of the same things, and then complain because someone didn’t do something right or I wasn’t given the opportunity to take the initiative to do something. Mind you, that I would learn a new technology here or there, but I would still do the same thing not recognizing that I had reached a glass ceiling that needed to be broken. That’s pretty much the definition of insanity; do the same thing, expect different results. It won’t scale, and it certainly did not help. At that point, I had a clear idea of what I needed to do."

This is exactly where I am now - my organization has SANS, VMWare, getting IP telephony put in by a vendor at the moment, but all of my experience with it feels fairly superficial, and day to day I'm still managing the spam filter, fighting with backups, and BSing with network accounts. There are some implementations I do with outside vendors and other basic server admin stuff, but I feel like I'm in a dead end right now.

"First, I took a bit of time off and just slacked off to decompress. I have bills, but I was able to afford to take time off (YMMV) to take care of myself. Then, I looked for a job (passing on a few other offers) that allowed me to expand on my hands-on experience in networking, web ops and management. I took a $5k pay cut just to satisfy my requirements. After all, it isn’t about the money, right?"

I've always wanted to take a few months off to just relax and get my bearings again, but I've been told this is resume suicide. Money for me is not an issue in the slightest. Also, I don't think dropping 5K warrants a "money isn't evernything" note - you were still pretty close. Thoughts?

Also if you don't mind me asking, can you elaborate a bit on what you were doing before and what you do now?

Finally, I'm reading "What Color is Your Parachute" right now and I think it's helping me organize my thoughts a bit - I'd recommend it anyone going through the things you're talking about.

Thanks a lot for your two cents.

[–]0x570x690x6c0x6cJack of All Trades 1 point2 points ago* 

This is exactly where I am now - my organization has SANS, VMWare, getting IP telephony put in by a vendor at the moment, but all of my experience with it feels fairly superficial, and day to day I'm still managing the spam filter, fighting with backups, and BSing with network accounts. There are some implementations I do with outside vendors and other basic server admin stuff, but I feel like I'm in a dead end right now.

Is there any room in your organization to do more? Have you approached management about this?

I've always wanted to take a few months off to just relax and get my bearings again, but I've been told this is resume suicide.

It depends how long and who you ask. I'm very forth coming with employers, I'll tell them that I took time off.

Also, I don't think dropping 5K warrants a "money isn't everything" note - you were still pretty close. Thoughts?

It's all relative. I'm close but, that's $312 (based on 25% tax bracket) that I won't see. I like to think every bit helps. I might have used the comment in the wrong context? To put it in perspective, I'd like to think that's someone's mortgage payment for a small condo :)

Also if you don't mind me asking, can you elaborate a bit on what you were doing before and what you do now?

I don't mind. If I could be a motivational speaker for geeks, I would do it! My first true love was/is psychology. Before, I was in IT handling helpdesk, end-users, corporate infrastructure. Now, I'm a production architect with other duties in networking, system management, automation, IS, compliance, etc. I think the production environment is interesting because you get to deal with the cutting edge and less with end-users. My customers are the C-level.

[–]WhoIsMikeJones 0 points1 point ago

"Is there any room in your organization to do more? Have you approached management about this? "

The way it works, everyone on my team (including myself) has their paws in every technical pot in some way or another, but the workload is so massive (we're consultants and our network team is six people with our largest customer being 5000 users - and that's just one customer) it's hard to have the time to actually focus on anything. In other words, everyone is doing everything relatively shallowly and you have to work 80 hours a week to get anything done.

Relatedly, if I'm really busy with something and my boss has some new tech to show me, if I say I'm too busy he'll say "don't you want to learn something?" - and expect a 20 minute demo be enough "training" for me to re-implement whatever he's shown me three months later when we actually have to do it for production.

I'm also not clear on what doing IT for corp infrastructure vs being a production architect actually entails - I guess setting up and maintaining the systems vs doing business analysis stuff for the C level folks?

[–]0x570x690x6c0x6cJack of All Trades 1 point2 points ago

Relatedly, if I'm really busy with something and my boss has some new tech to show me, if I say I'm too busy he'll say "don't you want to learn something?" - and expect a 20 minute demo be enough "training" for me to re-implement whatever he's shown me three months later when we actually have to do it for production.

You're in a silo. Might I recommend a job with a smaller company that pays the same, but gives you breathing room (in academic terms) to explore new tech?

I'm also not clear on what doing IT for corp infrastructure vs being production architect actually entails - I guess setting up and maintaining the systems vs doing business analysis stuff for the C level folks?

Not really the same, but kind of the same. In my experience, there is a distinct difference between corp and Ops (now DevOps.) Corp will have more end-user desktops, Active directory, groupware etc. Production is largely based on *nix, big data, monitoring, more monitoring and the high nines. In terms of budget, ops usually has a larger one than corp because of it's importance. I for one think that corp infrastructure is trending toward outsourced infrastructure (e.g. Google apps.) The same can be said about production (e.g. AWS), but there is still some level of control over the environment (s.)

C-Level is more curious about the bread and butter than the corp stuff. At least, that how it is where I’ve worked over the years.

[–]WhoIsMikeJones 0 points1 point ago

"You're in a silo. Might I recommend a job with a smaller company that pays the same, but gives you breathing room (in academic terms) to explore new tech? "

Can you define "silo"? - I've also been thinking about trying to land a university job due to what I've heard about the work enviornment - the complete opposite of what I have now - relaxed schedules and "it's done when it's done"-itness, though this might be a reaction to what I'm doing now.

"Not really the same, but kind of the same. In my experience, there is a distinct difference between corp and Ops (now DevOps.) Corp will have more end-user desktops, Active directory, groupware etc. Production is largely based on *nix, big data, monitoring, more monitoring and the high nines."

I've been actually thinking about migrating from purely tech to either business analysis or some kind of operations function - they're both still kind of techy (especially ops), but don't require you to care about the nitty gritty details technical stuff.

Do you have any resources you'd recommend in regards to what day to day in ops management entails?

[–]0x570x690x6c0x6cJack of All Trades 1 point2 points ago

Can you define "silo"?

You can only do your job. There is not enough time to do anything else because just like a silo, they pour stuff into, empty it from the bottom, and refill it from the top at the same time. It's never empty. Yes to the University job. I know someone in Stanford, from what I've heard, this is true to some extent. It depends on the department.

I've been actually thinking about migrating from purely tech to either business analysis or some kind of operations function - they're both still kind of techy (especially ops), but don't require you to care about the nitty gritty details technical stuff.

BAs are plentiful. I've seen quite a few come and go. There are other niches out there based on requirements.

Do you have any resources you'd recommend in regards to what day to day in ops management entails?

Unfortunately, no. I've been too immersed to be able to identify anything that's worthy of using.

[–]WhoIsMikeJones 0 points1 point ago

Thanks a lot, you've been immensely helpful.

[–]tiredofnick 1 point2 points ago

Vacation. Do it. Turn your phone off.

[–]cparedessystems engineer. whatever that means[S] 0 points1 point ago

Here's a question then: how do I pull this off without accrued vacation time? (Mentioned earlier that I'm a bit of a job hopper - I'm currently with a startup as well. :x)

[–]kordless 5 points6 points ago

Just ask for it. You'll get 2-3 weeks of vacation per year with most startups. Just borrow against it. If they don't let you take it, quit. Life is too short dude. Don't let people abuse your brain.

[–]DGMavnHelp Desk/PFY 0 points1 point ago

burnout

startup

I think we need to get you a nice cushy government job.

[–]cparedessystems engineer. whatever that means[S] 0 points1 point ago

Did those. Bureaucracy sucks.

I'm thinking a Google or Amazon might satiate me. :x

[–]DRcable 0 points1 point ago

only the most sort after jobs in the profesion are good enough for me :)

[–]tiredofnick 0 points1 point ago

take time when you're between jobs? ha

[–]Freezerburn 0 points1 point ago

LOL 2 hours after the ball dropped on new years day my exchange server crashed and I was 16 hour drive away.

[–]tomkatt 0 points1 point ago

Please tell me they didn't make you drive back...

[–]Freezerburn 2 points3 points ago

oh no, I'm a far better systems admin than that :D Just got into the ILO of the blade enclosure and rebooted it from there by vpn. It was just a blue screen.

[–]tomkatt 1 point2 points ago

* slow clap *

[–]brwhyanLinux, Puppet, Automation 1 point2 points ago

For me, I'm very strict about separating my work time from nonwork time. Except for maybe a few times a year, I never work much more than 40 hours per week, unless it's really an emergency or I'm on call. Speaking of which, if you're spending a lot of time on call, that's probably the biggest culprit. If you can't limit your time at your current job, maybe it's time to move on. You have to look out for yourself.. It's a rare employer who will encourage you to set limits around work, but they do exist.

[–]castufariIT Manager 0 points1 point ago

Find something to do at work to make your job interesting. Create a project. I had the same thing hit me once. I signed up for some classes, which I took during the day. Then I created a website for work. The urge to quit was heavy for a while but, like you, I had debts to take care of.

I'm going through the same thing now. We have a migration planned but it's only to take a week. My prep was done months ago, unlike my coworkers who are now scrambling to get ready. I come in late, leave early. Sometimes I go home to read up on new tech, other times I just go hike and make notes about work or whatever. One person asked me about this, management didn't seem to care - it's easier to let me go play and rethink life than it is to toss me and have to retrain.

[–]CuseTown/r/SAP 0 points1 point ago

Take a look at contract work were the pay is higher and you will change environments. It's not for everyone but you get to travel and they can be fun.

[–]littlegoddess 1 point2 points ago

Defer your loans for a little bit. Tell them you'll be out of a job and you need to defer. Interest may accrue, but that's true even if you're paying it back.

Follow your heart! Life is too short to be a slave to a bunch of numbers on a screen. If your heart is telling you 'enough' then listen, you won't regret it, I promise!

I could go on about student loan debt and interest payments and how fucked up it all is, but I won't. I'll simply say that I understand. I have student loan debt that's so big I wonder if I'll get to pay it back before the loan company goes bust...

TLDR; Follow your heart!! Life is too short! Defer your loans!

[–]cparedessystems engineer. whatever that means[S] 0 points1 point ago

I'll have to look into this. Honestly, I would really fucking love being a barista. (Had a taste of that for a little bit when I was in college. Aside from opening the shop at 5:45 AM and the low pay, I fucking loved that job.)

[–]littlegoddess 1 point2 points ago

Perhaps one day you'll open up your own coffee bar. I've been to some really quaint ones in little nooks and outdoor places. I loved to frequent those rather than starbucks or something.

We need more coffee shops like that.

[–]Mr_Mars 0 points1 point ago

So a few thoughts:

First of all, it's entirely possible that you're right and this career just isn't for you. A lot of us love it, but it's not for everyone. I wouldn't recommend bailing just yet, but it's certainly possible that this is indeed the case.

You say you work for a startup. That's not bad, since startups tend to offer you more flexibility in terms of scheduling and benefits. Are you on flex time right now? If not, pushing for that might be helpful. Set yourself up with a VPN and start working from home. You can get up, read the paper, have a coffee, then plug away on projects in the afternoon. You can run errands or go grocery shopping at 1 in the afternoon on a Wednesday, while all the other poor slobs are at work. You can save hours of your life by measuring your commute in feet. This is what I do, and when I start to feel like I'm dragging my feet it's easy to stay home for 3 or 4 days of a week and work half days to give myself a bit of time to recover. Just make sure you set deadlines and stick to them, or else you may find that your productivity plummets.

Failing that, you might see if you can score a long weekend or two. If you just started with the company a full week off might be a bit much to ask, but getting a Friday here or there wouldn't be as big of a deal and still gives you a bit of time to disengage.

[–]cparedessystems engineer. whatever that means[S] 0 points1 point ago

I'm having doubts about that too - I've been hooked on computers ever since I was a little kid, started fixing them up since I was 7 or 8, had IT jobs all throughout college (save for a few odd jobs here and there), and snagged a sysadmin job right after graduating. And still, at the end of it all, I find myself pretty damn bored (that, or firefighting all the time. I figure having a ton of good, solid engineering problems to solve could mitigate this.)

I think the biggest reason why my motivation is plummeting is simply not having much of any clue of where anyone's at. As far as I can tell on my end, the machines are well oiled, they're completely automated, and I'm pretty much done for the sprint (while the other folks are leaking features like crazy.) So I do a lot of thumb twiddling... and I can't just take time off at this point, either (because the RELEASE will happen ANY DAY NOW. Meh.)

I'll try to snag a few long weekends. I definitely need 'em.

[–]LVsFINEST 0 points1 point ago

Get into IT Security. Find a route that you like (Forensics, Netsec, Appsec, etc) and do some side projects at home or work. Most security apps/tools run on Unix anyway so you'll fit right in. If you find it interesting, it'll definitely curb that boredom while still gaining you skills to make even more money.

[–]cparedessystems engineer. whatever that means[S] 0 points1 point ago

That ain't a bad idea - a friend of mine (who's kind of my mentor as well) is in IT security as well, could probably ask for his thoughts as well.

[–]UnoriginalGuyJack of All Trades 1 point2 points ago

Go take a two week holiday to some place hot and slow moving, like Spain, or Hawaii. Honestly far too many single people just waste their time off by sitting around the house doing nothing thinking about work!

So go relax. Get work off the brain, then come back refreshed. It isn't a long term solution but it should do for the next six months or so.

[–]xor2g 0 points1 point ago

The jump from operational IT staff like your (or me before) to jobs like IT project manager or something isn't really that hard.

maybe you should consider that. Because as a project manager each project is usually fairly short (up to 6 months), whereby the next project is something completely different.

this way you wouldn't feel like in a dead end job. Also, i make it a habbit of taking a week or 2 off between each project. Usually by the 2nd or 3rd week i start questioning my added value to this world (since i'm just sitting on ass then); and get right back to work.

another trick is to just reduce your hours.

I have my eyes set on this freelancing gig, whereby you decide yourself when you come, since you are billing by the hour.

my goal is to work about 6 hours /day, for 4/5 days

[–]the_timmer_42 0 points1 point ago

I have a second job slinging burgers a couple hours a week. It's nice to go to a job and not have to really think about what's happening.

[–]sfcaptainrobSystems Analyst 0 points1 point ago

I've got a buddy who was in a similar situation. Went to school and started working in IT for a few years but started to burn out on it quickly. Eventually he just decided this career wasn't for him. So he saved up some money, quit his job, and is going back to school for something completely not tech related.

I don't know if that's what you need to do or not, as it's pretty extreme but it's always an option. Maybe you can't necessarily quit your job because of your student loan debt, but you could always start going back to school in the evenings.

Like others have said though, I'd try a nice long vacation first and then decide.

[–]HachyaJack of All Trades 0 points1 point ago* 

Happens to the best of us, and sometimes a break is needed. Try to use vacation time, though I'm laughing to myself while typing that because I know all too well how that goes...

Also, if your the lone wolf, then you may need to assess all you responsibilities and ask for help. And, if they cannot offer such, leave and go to another admin job. May sound crazy, but there ARE companies who appreciate their admins...which I'm looking for myself.

The other way to look at this is an experience builder/resume padder to get into a better situation. Also, when interviewing ask about the team and whether you will have help as well, this way to don't get into a similar situation int he future.

[–]cparedessystems engineer. whatever that means[S] 0 points1 point ago

Yeah - I doubt that'll happen with how things are right now. The other engineer is not too great with UNIX, and so he's pretty afraid to touch the tools I've setup to help administer the infrastructure (Chef, RunDeck, Graphite, etc.)

(It's not like he actually has to login to do anything... but I digress.)

I'm actually fine with being the sole systems engineer - however, there needs to be cross pollination of skill sets so that the product (and infrastructure) is, in general, a lot more robust (the main engineer will start to learn about production issues, I will start to learn about product issues). There's nothing like that right now.

[–]echosofverture 0 points1 point ago

I often compare being a sysadmin to working at the post office. The tickets just keep coming in and never stop. EVER!

[–]nedtugentSHOOT_ALL_SERVERS 1 point2 points ago

Go see a donkey show, and then reevaluate how burned out you are; could be worse.

[–]labmansteverepadmin /syncall /force 1 point2 points ago

Oh god not a donkey show... Good point though.

[–]insufficient_fundsWindows Admin 1 point2 points ago

I'm getting burned out at my job, which I haven't had yet for a year - but for me it's mostly because they have never given me many responsibilities/duties. I was an addition to their team, not a replacement. In the first couple months, I mentioned to my boss that I wasn't doing much work, and didn't know what they wanted me to do. He kept saying that it would all be figured out soon enough.. I'm 2 months shy of a year, and it's not all figured out. I spend 90% of my day doing nothing (reddit, mcitp practice exams, facebook, cnn news articles..) and it's mind numbing.

[–]YourMothersLover 0 points1 point ago* 

"So, I've been working in the field for about three years as a UNIX systems administrator "

It sounds like you need to expand your skillset and take a new job with a different focus. Learn Cisco, VM tech, Microsoft. Limiting yourself to one platform can really limit what you get to do in this field. When I was in the Navy I hated system administration because everything I did was the same shit day in and day out. Once I got out and started working for an IT consulting firm I had so many different challenges thrown at me and I was pretty much on my own. It was awesome!

[–]layer2routerOld, Confused and Cranky 0 points1 point ago

A little late to the party but I feel your pain. This work has scant few rewards thus the high turnover.

[–]Thereal_Sandman -2 points-1 points ago

Start drinking, or drink more ;)

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