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Anxiety and IT?
An anonymous reader writes "During these long breaks from work, it's refreshing to not have to worry about your job. Unless you work in IT, in which case you're salaried and constantly on the clock. To all the server room monkeys and desktop admins, do you suffer from anxiety? How do you deal with it? Does the crushing worry of a businesses IT infrastructure (and the rest of the business) coming to a screeching halt make IT occupations prone to anxiety?"
Get on the treadmill, go for a run, etc... Stop stressin' dude.
Most people I know that work in IT smoke egregious amounts of pot.
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The workers care about the stuff that they do, and get anxiety about it. Managers don't give a rat's ass, and have no anxiety.
The hallmark of a good executive, is that he can turn his problems, into yours.
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I find if I spend all my free time on the computer too (even if I'm doing fun things) I'm more likely to keep thinking about work and the fact those of us who are talented at work are out numbers by poor management and poor developers.
Salaried or not, take your free time and get away from the computer and do something physical and fun. Eat better too. Junk food is nice sometimes but eating better will have an effect on how you feel and as always get a decent sleep.
My biggest problem was drinking coffee through out the day even minutes before bed while staying up late. I was getting very little sleep. That really drains you (or me at least).
If the opposition is just entropy, it's not too bad. Active opposition is much more stressful. Lifeguards, firefighters, and EMTs tend not to be overly stressed. Cops and soldiers, though, routinely get stressed out.
Of course a crushing worry will introduce anxiety. In stressful times, people will be stressed. So I'm not sure what you're asking, other than idle chit-chat of anxiety anecdotes.
Anyway, it's certainly not specific to IT. Guess who else deal with standby time: doctors, police, flight attendants, engineers and service crews in other fields (transportation, organised events, most restaurants and bars). Each of which having to deal with systems far less redundant and scalable than what we can set up in IT.
I have found that handling the anxiety comes with experience. For example, I no longer care if the rest of the business comes to a screeching halt.
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
Does the crushing worry of a businesses IT infrastructure... coming to a screeching halt make IT occupations prone to anxiety?"
.. is to do it so things work.
Things don't come "to a screeching halt" on their own. It requires talent to make the sorts of mistakes that aren't blindingly obvious and that remain hidden during the pre-prod testing (you *do* test before putting something live?). Having a resilient configuration, that is monitored properly and gives plenty of warning of a problem helps, too.
So far, in 12 years looking after this current setup, I've never had an unscheduled call outside working hours. The problem with that is that it makes me look invisible. It's hard to convince "management" that the systems don't look after themselves and will throw novel and exotic problems if not looked after properly. But that's why we take vacations.
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I've gotten a lot more disciplined in my exercise schedule, and have always eaten good foods, but I've started going to weekly mediation and have been going for about a year now. The exercise just helps me feel good (hooked on endorphins!), but meditation helps bring awareness and focus and has given me the ability to slow down and pause during the day, let my thoughts all line up, and then focus on one at a time. Having the ability to focus on one thing at a time is nice.
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I don't think IT is any more stressful than any other attention-filled, high demand position in the work field, I think what makes it stressful and piles on the anxiety is what everyone else in the world has to deal with any job: co-worker cooperation (or lack-there-of), difficult boss, tight deadlines, piss-poor-planning, busy streaks in industry or retail, demanding work performance, stupid end-users/consumers, ect. I could go on forever.
Almost every position I've applied for has asked "How do you deal with stress?" because it's something that comes along with any job, not just IT. If you don't have a particular outlet (e.g. break time to take a walk, co-worker to vent to, shruggable conscious, squeeze ball with your co-worker's face on it), then you better get one.
But let's face it, a lot of anxiety and stress can be self-inflicted, too. I've been a Systems Administrator by day profession for quite some time now and I couldn't think of a more fluid position to have to constantly get used to. Every year, I see ton's of "new guys" come in and can't handle it because they are cocky, their resume doesn't match their skillset (e.g. LIED) or just don't have common sense. If you know your job, do it well, can multi-task and prioritize without having someone hold your hand, everything else will fall into place.
Nope. Upper management will fire you instead. The engineer needs a warning and 3 write-ups and an improvement plan and all that nonsense before you can fire him. If the VP of sales can't get his email out he can convince HR to not go through these procedures to go after you though.
Also you are responsible for what someone does without your knowledge. If he makes a mistake on your day off your job is on the line. You hired him right? Management makes more for a reason.
Really?
I have no stress in my job at all. I'm an Electrical Engineer. I work on billion-dollar pieces of life-critical equipment with tight deadlines, zero tolerance for error, and 20-30 year reliability requirements.
I just don't stress about it, I don't come in on overtime unless I'm paid for it, and I enjoy my work. Some people think that you have to be stressed out ("it's part of the field") but that's just a way to move into a small below-ground apartment ahead of schedule.
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If you suffer from anxiety (and even if you don't) I suggest you take a magnesium supplement, preferably magnesium citrate or magnesium ororate. Magnesium helps you relax.
You cannot "think" yourself out of stress
It's true you can't "think" yourself out of stress but you can meditate on your stress, its effect on your body and your thinking, and come to terms with it in that way. Meditation does not involve thinking i.e., internal dialog, but it does involve taking the time to sit quietly for a half hour or more and just focusing on what exactly the"stress" is. That's the only way to achieve real understanding of it, to come to terms with it, to live with it, and to mitigate its negative effects. It's the same for other types of pain.
If, like most people, you deal with stress by trying not to think about it, by staying busy, by drinking, taking drugs, watching TV, even by exercising (alone) you'll still suffer from it.
If you want to see what meditation is about download a few lectures from audiodharma (to your smartphone or PC) and listen to them while commuting or before bed.
Meditation techniques are even taught in hospitals in the US thanks to unequivocal research showing its beneficial effects. See also books/audiobooks by Jack Kornfield, Lama Surya Das, the Dalai Lama, or Alan Watts among many.