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A Quarter of IT Pros Find Their Job Very Stressful (itproportal.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-they-feel dept.

An anonymous reader writes: A new report from Spiceworks, entitled A Portrait of IT Workers, says 41 per cent of IT pros in the UK consider themselves "accidental" -- and that they ended up in their career via a "non-traditional" route. The report, which covers areas including the career plans and education levels of IT professionals, found that a third (33 per cent) of the UK's IT job force don't have a college or a university degree. [...] When it comes to working, British IT bods work 41 hours a week, "far above" the 31 hour average across all industries. Almost all (89 per cent) see themselves as "somewhat stressed" at work, with a quarter (26 per cent) reported being extremely stressed.

3 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. Ha! by dragon-file · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "British IT bods work 41 hours a week, "far above" the 31 hour average across all industries." That's funny because I would consider a 41 hour week fairly laid back compared to the 50 or so hours I currently work. But I'm American so I won't pretend to understand how things are done in the UK.

    --
    Whenever a player quits EVE to go play WoW, the Average IQ of both games increase.
  2. Stressful.. by oakgrove · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Before getting into IT, I busted my ass roofing, landscaping, framing, and pouring concrete. My feet hurt so bad at the end of the day I'd have to walk on the sides of them and don't even ask how much money I was making. Now I sit on my ass all day typing shit in on a computer. If one finds IT "stressful", I assure there's a world of opportunity waiting in the trades. Let me know how wonderful and carefree your life becomes.

    --
    The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
    1. Re:Stressful.. by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The problem, both in your response and the article itself, is that neither focus on why a job is, or could be, stressful.

      For instance, constantly living in fear that management is going to ax or outsource your department/your job could be pretty stressful for most people. Having a terrible boss is stressful regardless of where you work or what you do. Having coworkers that are annoying, bad, lazy, backstabbing, etc can be pretty stressful regardless of the physical conditions.

      Were pay/benefits not an issue, I'd much prefer a job that involved lots of hard physical labor but had a team with strong camaraderie, a decent boss, and a sense of accomplishment/value at what I did, to one that lacked those things but was in an air conditioned office at a desk.

      And yes, I've worked at jobs like that, as well as in IT. I've even worked in jobs where I was getting shot at as a part of job (military). Certainly that was stressful too, but that's hardly the only thing worth considering, and it sure doesn't mean that there aren't other situations that are also stressful to some degree.