Commute v miles v work hours

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Sums up pretty well why after fifteen years in IT (and ten of those as a freelance consultant) I realised that I was going to lose my mind if I carried on. If you work in IT you are quite simply detested by your 'colleagues' or clients who hold you personally responsible for every fault in every installation of Microsoft software ever. In the end some little hacker tick took it upon himself to destroy a large chunk of my business for his own amusement, so I took it as my cue to get the hell out. During the police investigation one ex-client who threatened to sue me for everything I had when said hacker trashed me refused to help convict my hacker by giving a statement to the police about the damage done, which was pretty much the final straw and I shut up shop.

Mind you, I reckon a lot of the stress resulted from being self employed with no backup from colleagues, I think if I had stayed as an employee in an IT department I'd probably quite happily still be involved in IT.

Wish I actually had an IT department... had 3 bosses, 2 of which knew only user level IT (but at least admitted it and could follow instructions, the final one thought himself an IT person and discussing issues was useless (he also knew nothing techincal whatsoever)) 550 clients, 500 company owned machines, 200+ privately owned machines on any architecture, any OS and any language(!), 25 servers (20 windows, 5 linux based) 96 wireless points... I could go on. For the 7 years I was there, half the time I was on my own, the other half I had to train some junior tech who was less use to me than the students I ran the IT activity for... (The armed forces was 360 people 4 techies, helpdesk and boss - all were IT trained...) I actually refused to become a consultant and just stayed as a senior technician and also twice refused my bosses job & promotion!

So when the chance came, people were actually surprised that I wanted to quit my job and go off and cycle around the world. Now, they don't understand why I'm not that bothered about going back into IT and why we are quite happy to life off one income and 'make do'!

Now I am looking for something else, but have yet to find it...

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Wish I actually had an IT department... had 3 bosses, 2 of which knew only user level IT (but at least admitted it and could follow instructions, the final one thought himself an IT person and discussing issues was useless (he also knew nothing techincal whatsoever)) 550 clients, 500 company owned machines, 200+ privately owned machines on any architecture, any OS and any language(!), 25 servers (20 windows, 5 linux based) 96 wireless points... I could go on. For the 7 years I was there, half the time I was on my own, the other half I had to train some junior tech who was less use to me than the students I ran the IT activity for... (The armed forces was 360 people 4 techies, helpdesk and boss - all were IT trained...) I actually refused to become a consultant and just stayed as a senior technician and also twice refused my bosses job & promotion!

So when the chance came, people were actually surprised that I wanted to quit my job and go off and cycle around the world. Now, they don't understand why I'm not that bothered about going back into IT and why we are quite happy to life off one income and 'make do'!

Now I am looking for something else, but have yet to find it...

I nearly had a panic attack just reading that list!

I went into selling big industrial machines, which satisfies my geeky urges and removes the need for me to deal with pissed off customers. I'm still responsible for IT within the company but that doesn't bother me too much.

 

[cyberknight]

I have a 40 mile commute (20 each way) and do the occasional weekend 60 miler ( more frequently recently) I also have a busy job that requires moving around town visiting sites/projects/clients all day, most days.

And I could not do what you do.

A 12 hour physical shift would do me in regardless of the riding.

Kudos

now, go put your feet up and have a cuppa.

Cheers JJ,
I know a lot of people do work in offices but whenever i see training/commuting articles on teh interweb or magazines they always talk about fitting training around lunchours,keeping /drieing kit in nice offices and being able to get out for rides in the evening .
I actually had contact with Rob Speeding ( spellt right ?) from cycling plus with regards to this and how the magazine should also consider training plans for other people who have physical jobs, kids etc working shifts and i think they shied away from my suggestions as it did not fit into their target audience of mamil`s with spare time and cash .
I know their is a cyclist who wins races but i am danged if i can find it but if i remember rightly he was slef employed so could fit his work round his training ?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I nearly had a panic attack just reading that list!

I went into selling big industrial machines, which satisfies my geeky urges and removes the need for me to deal with ****ed off customers. I'm still responsible for IT within the company but that doesn't bother me too much.

I could add that I was responsible from everything from doing the wiring needed for a new IT room, down to building servers, re-do firewalls and all sorts more.... built both a sharepoint server and a sql server without any training, also did the images for the builds and also all hardware faults from anything from printers, routers, wireless points, switches, servers, and desktops/laptops - drew the line a phones and got the 'complaint'... had a row with one visitor after spending an hour with him trying to support a Mac in Spanish on firefox, so an archiecture I didn't know, a program I did not want to know and in a language I could not speak... He didn't take it too well when I told him I really didn't care if he went to the Headmaster and complained that I could not help him... Korean and chinese were good fun - thank you MS for having everyting in the same place with the same answers, defaults and options and icons - only way I survived, Arabic was also interesting and the only one that completely through me - keyboard was amazingly 'pretty' but could not make head or tail of it!

Currently, all I am doing is learning spanish at college for South America tour which is planned when leg better, and getting leg better... so get to go out an cycle a lot during the day! Oh and cook, wash, clean - not too good at those last two though shaking a tent out was so much easier!

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I could add that I was responsible from everything from doing the wiring needed for a new IT room, down to building servers, re-do firewalls and all sorts more.... built both a sharepoint server and a sql server without any training, also did the images for the builds and also all hardware faults from anything from printers, routers, wireless points, switches, servers, and desktops/laptops - drew the line a phones and got the 'complaint'... had a row with one visitor after spending an hour with him trying to support a Mac in Spanish on firefox, so an archiecture I didn't know, a program I did not want to know and in a language I could not speak... He didn't take it too well when I told him I really didn't care if he went to the Headmaster and complained that I could not help him... Korean and chinese were good fun - thank you MS for having everyting in the same place with the same answers, defaults and options and icons - only way I survived, Arabic was also interesting and the only one that completely through me - keyboard was amazingly 'pretty' but could not make head or tail of it!

Currently, all I am doing is learning spanish at college for South America tour which is planned when leg better, and getting leg better... so get to go out an cycle a lot during the day! Oh and cook, wash, clean - not too good at those last two though shaking a tent out was so much easier!

IT must have the highest expectations in relation to actual wages, I had one user (who was quite senior) complain endlessly that his iPhone wouldn't do some things that it was never designed to do, I did mention that I didn't support phones but was frequently told that it was 'unacceptable' that Apple sell a device that did exactly what he wanted it to do. Even if I placated said user by agreeing he'd want to know what I was going to do to fix it!

Theoretically I was actually a freelance webmaster, but somehow that inevitably covering IT hardware, software, fax machines, Internet connectivity, phone systems, security systems, cellphones, PowerPoint presentations, photography, video editing... In fact I've just found a blog post I wrote about the realities of being a webmaster! http://lawsie.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/are-you-sure-you-want-to-be-webmaster.html

 

[Miquel In De Rain]

I wish I was in IT,it's all glory isn't it?

M-F 9-5
Wear a suit
Feel Important
Iphone and Laptop on the train,my mobile office.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I wish I was in IT,it's all glory isn't it?
....

Let you know if I ever find any...
used to have to remind my boss that I was not employed for my tact - only my ability! He started to intervene if anyone senior had a problem - worked well except for one ex-forces guy who seemed to appreciate that if I could not do it now, I would tell him so and it would leave me alone until I rang him to say I could do it now... the rest of the world did not like me telling them no - or go away!

Good luck in Thailand...

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Let you know if I ever find any...
used to have to remind my boss that I was not employed for my tact - only my ability! He started to intervene if anyone senior had a problem - worked well except for one ex-forces guy who seemed to appreciate that if I could not do it now, I would tell him so and it would leave me alone until I rang him to say I could do it now... the rest of the world did not like me telling them no - or go away!

Some folk used to demand I tell them at a technical level why something wasn't working, and I used to reply 'are you sure you want to know?'

 

[Miquel In De Rain]

Let you know if I ever find any...
used to have to remind my boss that I was not employed for my tact - only my ability! He started to intervene if anyone senior had a problem - worked well except for one ex-forces guy who seemed to appreciate that if I could not do it now, I would tell him so and it would leave me alone until I rang him to say I could do it now... the rest of the world did not like me telling them no - or go away!

Good luck in Thailand...

Thanks,just joshing,been doing shifts for thirty years.Suppose im envious sometimes.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Thanks,just joshing,been doing shifts for thirty years.Suppose im envious sometimes.

won't get me doing shifts - hard enough as it was... anyone working 12 hours shift needs a medal or something more... as for nights - forget it. not interested in being on call... proper sulky IT engineer I am... 7am start during school holidays sometimes not getting home til 11p or worse... during school hours it was 8:30am to 5pm... used to get all those cracks about great working in a school isn't it - yep school holidays I get to work even more hours because its the only time I can get routine maintenance done...

anyhow I'll quit on this rant and congratulate OP on his shifts, just sort out his food and he should be OK (if I'm still on the right posting).

 

[Miquel In De Rain]

I agree,I find being out 12 hours on a workday is bad enough.(That's including traveling)

 

[Drago]

12 hour shifts are hard work.

But the 4 days off between each set are bliss.

 

[Peteaud]

12 hour shifts are hard work.

But the 4 days off between each set are bliss.

I dont get 4 days off.

Work Mon & Tue, Thur & Friday

Days off are Sat, Sun & Wed.

 

[Drago]

I do mainly 4 on 4 off, but only 10hr days at weekends.

 

[The Brewer]

12 hour shifts, no breaks and quite often get a right hook....the joys of carework

You namby pamby moaners