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Most IT Admins Have Considered Quitting Due To Stress
Orome1 writes "The number of IT professionals considering leaving their job due to workplace stress has jumped from 69% last year to 73%. One-third of those surveyed cited dealing with managers as their most stressful job requirement, particularly for IT staff in larger organizations. Handling end user support requests, budget squeeze and tight deadlines were also listed as the main causes of workplace stress for IT managers. Although users are not causing IT staff as much stress as they used to, it isn't stopping them from creating moments that make IT admins want to tear their hair out in frustration. Of great concern is the impact that work stress is having on health and relationships. While a total of 80% of participants revealed that their job had negatively impacted their personal life in some way, the survey discovered some significant personal impact: 18% have suffered stress-related health issues due to their work, and 28% have lost sleep due to work."
Join the club. We meet at the bar after work.
Only 73% have considered quitting? The other 27% are lying to you, probably because they're worried that the survey is being snooped on by the corporate Barracuda firewall.
I wish I had a kryptonite cross, because then you could keep Dracula and Superman away.
When IT and computer/internet field in general settle down and become mature, things will get better.
Right now there's just too many new technolgies and buzzwords and platforms and architecture and paradigms popping up, and pointy-haired managers and VPs all want to implement this and that and oh by the way make it work with our legacy system and nothing better get lost or you're fired.
Picking your boss. If you're not up a creek looking for work, that interview is to let you meet your managers, talk to some workers about the managers.
When I started working it was "If I can just get in the door"
When I was in my 20's it was "What cool things will this job do for me"
Now That i'm in my 30's its "Will I be able to work with these people"
I'm an IT professional and more than once I've thought about quitting, especially when I was doing high-stress consulting. Clients treat you like meat, like "the help." They have no problem waking you up at 5AM with nonsense problems. If you don't answer and do it politely, they call your boss and then your job/livelihood is in jeopardy.
This isn't just a 9-5 thing where, when you leave the office, you're no longer on the hook -- it's always happening. Sometimes, you're at a bar at 10PM and you get an urgent call -- pick it up, and you in your tipsy state are now on the hook to resolve an important issue.
The fear of getting these calls has made me stay home sometimes when I could have been being social, and not travel away on vacation when I knew some action was going on I'd be needed for. It creates a lot of stress to be depended on so much, and now with telecommuting, you're expected to be responsive at all times wherever you are.
It's a lot of stress even in the best setup/most-redundant environments, and the job is not for everyone. And when projects come up that are difficult and highly user-facing, it's hard to avoid this type of a situation.
Working in IT (started as support drone, now admin and consultant) for 20 years.
Back to college right now. Just started Law School.
Most of my friends either gave up IT to just work in management, or are in the process of switching fields.
The comodititization of IT destroyed it.
morcego
How much of that manager-induced stress is a result of managers who don't know how to lead?
If I'm the head of the department you work in, then my No. 1 job is to clear obstacles out of your way so you can do yours. If I'm the head of a different department that relies on you (as an infrastructure manager) to do its job, then my No. 1 job is to work with you to find the most reasonable way of making it happen.
On the other side of that, though, I've run into folks who think they're the gatekeepers just because they have the keys to the building. Any good manager should take "no" for an answer from IT if IT just can't do it, e.g., it introduces unacceptable security risk, the infrastructure just isn't there, etc. But an IT person who says it can't be done and won't explain why shouldn't expect to stick around very long.
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
... Only to later hire you and your division back as 'consultants,' at double the standard rate, once we realize that a call center in India can't do shit about a broken fiber link on the local campus.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
This is what we do all day. We're a 3 person shop and have some of the most clueless users I've had the misfortune of dealing with. Not that I expect them to know much of anything on how a PC works but I do expect them to know how to change their own batteries in their wireless mice before submitting a ticket. Don't get me wrong, I'll take the ticket credit because it looks good in the reports, but FFS!
And because this is Slashdot, I present you with a car analogy: Do you call a mechanic every time your car runs out of gas?!
Oh, and in Soviet Russia, stress quits you!!!
I really hate the ticket/metric system. Its designed pretty much to determine at what exact point they can do with one less person.
Good-bye
I've never had a job other than IT support, so I don't know how it compares to other work, but I have had different IT support jobs with wildly different stress levels.
On the low-stress side, picture a small shop. 50 to 100 servers, two or three admins. You know each server, what it does, what its quirks are, what external systems it talks to, you control not only the server but its storage and networking and backups, you're the dba, the webmaster, you know by name all the developers that write the code that runs on the servers, you know most of the users and all of the managers of the company by name... It's a lot of different hats, but with the limited number of systems you have enough time to pay each its proper attention. You can tweak each server individually. Only in extremely rare occasions like a failed controller on the SAN do you get called off-hours. This sort of job is fun and engaging.
The high-stress job is from being on a team that "owns" a few thousand servers in a global corporation with a poorly set up support model - but you only has access to the OS. No ability to work on the databases or SAN, no rights to the switches or hypervisor, and when it's your turn to be on-call you are guaranteed to get calls all through the night - calls ranging ranging from hung servers that need a reboot, to performance issues that take hours and hours to coordinate troubleshooting with the SAN team that swears it's not their issue even though its several systems all connected to the same controller, users on the other side of the world having whatever issue, on systems you don't know they first thing about except its a database server or whatever because of the naming convenntion. No sleep that week, no ability to go to a movie without fear of being paged... Pure stress for the week of being on-call, and dreadful anticipation all other times.
I was glad to have been laid off from a job like the latter during the financial crisis.
I'll take a job like the former, even with a micro-managing, cover-sheet-your-TPS-report, the-sky-is-falling type boss, over another one like the latter any day.
There's a lot of good management people. They just all hire each other and end up working for the same few companies, and the rest pick up the scrap.
Something like (numbers out of my rear) the top 5% places to work for will eat up 95% of the good IT managers...the last 5% being made of people who want to take a crappy company and salvage it for recognition...
The people who are stressed about working in IT have a valid point. But this doesn't make you any different than say... a head chef?
Millions of blue collar workers have to survive on less than half what the average introductory IT job pays and many have to do it in an environment where they don't speak the language. Imagine going into work and having to learn the ropes your first day just by watching. I had to work in kitchens for ten years and I'm telling you the responsibilities don't end there. It's your night or day off? Too bad, the dishwasher called in sick and we have to put you in? Oh sorry we can't pay you overtime, we're just going to pay you in regular wage with cash. Oops, we're paying you too much cash because you're working too much. How about we just pay you the same ammount every month no matter how much you work? Sexual harrasment? Too bad, your boss, is the HR, your manager, and the mediator all rolled into one.
There are literally rehab centers built specifically for chefs because thouands of them burn out and start drinking on the job to deal the with stress. If everyone else wants to go home early, or the numbers arn't right that week, your boss will send everyone else home and you have to clean the kitchen yourself.
4% more IT workers want to quit because of stress? Boo fucking hoo. So does everyone else who has to work a shitty job with long hours. At least you're being compensated at a fair wage for the skills you've developed. You're probably being paid over time if you're by the hour and you can probably also afford to buy a house. Not to mention basic health if not full benefits. If I cut myself with a knife I have to pay cash for the 5 stitches it takes to sew it up.
Every job that takes skill and dedication looks shitty from the inside out. But seriously? Whenever I think about quiting my job or get angry about something trivial, I remember that I'm not dodging the secret police in North Korea or Bullets in Bosnia and I realize how lucky I am to even have a job. I wish I had the skills to be an IT worker so I could at least get paid a fair wage and didn't have to go home with dishpan hands every night. But this is what I get for playing more video games in college than doing actual work. Ultimately we're all masters of our own destiny.
Be the change you want to see in your life. I would have been a lot happier and probably drank a lot less if I was on an IT workers salary. But as far as I'm concerned, I read this headline as "NEWS FLASH, PEOPLE HATE THEIR JOBS!"
The Blade Itself
...I'm embarrassed that the top source of stress is (wait for it...) "management". Even users cause stress less often (16% vs 35%). Obviously, there are way too many PHB around. Hope I'm not already assimilated...
@KipBoyle
If you break your car too badly the mechanic might tell you it's beyond repair and send you away. IT admins can't say that. Most users demand EVERYTHING, even when they are too clueless to find MS Word when they accidentally drag the icon from the desktop into a folder.
"God complex" is really justified when most of the idiots on the system can easily cause significant problems, which are then blamed onto the IT because "it's the software that's broken!" The users are never at fault.
I run a managed services department (so essentially I'm an IT director), and I think it's probably one of the most high stress positions that I've ever held. I'm on call 24x7, there is always money on the line, and it's a highly competitive industry.
It was summer, and it started as just a weird burning/itching feeling along my right armpit, and I initially thought that I had gotten some poison oak/ivy/whatever on myself. I rubbed some calomine on it, and called it a day. Fast forward three days, and I had a incredibly painful rash that ran in a band from the center of my chest, under my armpit, and around the back of my shoulder. And holy shit did it hurt. Now I'm only in my early 30's, and for someone my age, Shingles really only has one source - stress. That particular week I had 26 customer facing engagements, and had worked 70+ for over a month.
It was definitely a clarifying moment for me, and was directly responsible for my current attitude where we overstaff our department a little bit to keep the workload manageable, and I keep an eye on peoples timecards, and start hassling them about flextime when they go over 50 hours. The extra work hours just aren't worth the risk of someone having a health meltdown of some sort.
-matt
Your resignation letter only has to say the minimum - Nixon's resignation letter, is the best example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Letter_of_Resignation_of_Richard_M._Nixon,_1974.jpg
I've used the same basic letter when I've quit in the past. You may get hauled into a meeting to find out why, but you don't have to tell them anything other than you quit (if they want you to work a notice period you'll find out)
I now speak to users and IT on the phone and via remote connection software. Only 60K per year, but I telecommute 100% of the time now.
Well worth the change
Procrastination; I'll think of a sig tomorrow.
Sounds right.
I can deal with the PHBs, the MBA metric BS, theory X, theory Y, all sorts of management types with no problems. What really gets under my skin is the manager with some sort of side deal going on. They say, "You've got to improve your communications skills". I reply with, "If you've got something to communicate, put it in a memo. E-mail me. Leave a voice mail."
"Insubordination!"
When they want something done, but they can't leave any evidence, things get tense. And its not just in IT, but the opportunities are more abundant when upper management doesn't "get" rapidly changing technology.
Have gnu, will travel.
IT users are the ultimate proof of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing".
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
A stranger came to visit Chelm, together with his very old, very skinny cow. The mayor of Chelm insisted the stranger stay in his home during that time and even made room in his own barn for the cow. The stranger was a little worried about being in a strange town, so, he hid his gold in the straw in the barn under his cow.
The next morning, the mayor walked into the barn to care for his animals, and he noticed the gold in the straw. He figured out that this cow, unlike all other cows, gave gold instead of milk. He was very excited!! He called a special meeting of the Chelm Town Council and insisted that they buy the cow from the stranger. They collected money from all the citizens in town. The mayor asked the stranger if he would be willing to sell the cow, and he offered double the usual price for a good milk cow. The stranger started to protest that the cow wasn't worth that much, but the mayor misunderstood and increased his offer. The more the stranger protested, the more the mayor offered. Finally, completely confused, the stranger agreed to sell. The mayor gave the scrawny cow the best stall in his barn. He fed her the very best feed in town. The next morning, the mayor approached the cow to milk her. As he started, he was very surprised to find that the cow gave...milk! And not even very good milk!! The mayor was annoyed. The stranger had sold him a cow that gave gold, but all he had gotten was milk! He reported back to the Town Council. They were angry. When they told the townspeople, everyone was furious! They decided to track down the stranger to get their money back. They found the stranger in the next town. With everyone yelling at him all at once, he had no idea what was going on, but eventually, he figured it out. He turned to the mayor and asked, "Did you feed the cow?" The mayor answered, "Of course we fed the cow! Do you think we don't know how to care for a cow?!!" The stranger answered, "Did you ever have a cow that gave gold before? Didn't you notice how scrawny she was when I came into town? There's only one way to get her to give gold... You have to stop feeding her! But, it took me weeks to teach her to not eat. This is what you have to do. Every day, feed her a little less. At the end of three weeks, you should be able to cut her down to eating nothing. The next day, milk her, and she will give gold again." The Chelmites look at the stranger, embarrassed about their previous anger at him. They return to Chelm and start the feeding regimen that the stranger told them. The cow got skinnier and skinnier, and the mayor of Chelm was very pleased. Until, one morning, on the very first day she would have gotten no food, the cow was found dead in her stall.
The people of Chelm were, of course, very disappointed. But they always looked back nostalgically on the day when, if only their cow hadn't died, they would have been the richest town in Poland...
I worked for 9 years in the IT dept. of a car dealership with 17 stores, ALL IT done in house, 2 man dept, me as an "admin" and an "IT DIRECTOR" (self titled) with a god complex. We grew almost double the time I was there, and my pay actually decreased in gross the last 4 years I was there as they cut overtime, yet expected more work. I was a sysadmin, web developer, dba, cellphone trainer, and the personal repair tech to the 7 owners and their ungrateful privileged children. I finally said screw this, I am going to build furniture, being in the hospital 2 times a month for stress is not worth what the janitor makes. I was replaced with 2 people and half of my work was sent out of the company (all website work) it's all about the $$$.
Electrical and plumbing have apprenticeships and rules that some PHB / VP can't make you passover / not follow.
IT can do good with a apprenticeship system that let's people learn hands on and even give an manager if they take the same classes a much better view of the field then the CS theory based classes.
Is when they ask you to implement something you had ZERO input into. Usually there are about 5-10 other projects that really need to be done before their request can be done sanely, but you have to find workarounds to make what they want work NOW and then you have to REDO it all AGAIN once the other projects are done. Planning? Ain't nobody got time fo dat. SHOVE IT IN and who gives a fuck if it's your ass on the line....we'll fire your ass because we asked you to do somethign we shouldn't. Ain't no wonder I frickin hate my job at times.
Plus then there's uptime. They want zero downtime but they don't want to actually PAY FOR IT. THA SUCK!
Gorkman