1: Stress
Don't let anyone ever tell you that a career in IT is easy going.
It's a rare occasion that someone will have a job in the IT field where
there isn't stress. Remember, IT is
disaster management. When a
client or user calls you, it's almost always an emergency that must be
taken care of immediately. And when you are working on those jobs, you
had better get everything right, as failure could cost you a contract or
a job. What makes this worse is that the stress rarely lets up. Every
minute of the day, you are working and working harder than you might
expect.
2: Hours
If you want a Monday through Friday, 9-to-5 job, look elsewhere -- IT
seems to be a job you carry around with you 24/7. Not only do you put
in more hours in the office (or the field) than your average
professional, you also have to work outside the office to keep your
skills up and make sure you're better than the guy standing next to you.
And the people who aren't your clients or users (friends and family,
for example) will want to take advantage of your knowledge and keep
their computers running smoothly for free.
3: Getting paid
If you are an independent contractor, one of the most
stressful issues you face is getting paid. I can't tell you how many
consultants I know who have had to make threats or use an attorney to
get paid. And when you're freelancing, if they don't pay you, you don't
eat. That is some serious stress there. You don't have the advantage of
having that regular check coming in weekly or biweekly. Honing your
interpersonal skills is key to keeping those relationships as good as
possible. Good relationships (even with not-so-good people) will go a
long way to make sure you do eventually get paid.
4: People (in general)
This one I hate to mention. A long time ago, I was a positive,
upbeat, people-loving kind of person. But after being in the consulting
business, I've found myself getting taken advantage of, used, abused,
unpaid, underpaid, unappreciated, and more. It's a constant fight to
resist wanting to retreat to the woods and off the grid. That is not to
say that people, in general, are bad. It's just that when you have your
IT hat on, people seem to look at you in a different light. You are both
savior and sinner in one stressed-out package.
5: The chain of command
Let's face it. Not many higher-ups understand your job. They think
you should be able to get everything done on a shoestring budget, with
no help, and you should treat end users as if they were better humans
than yourself. And to make matters worse, the higher-ups want you to
magically make those PCs last for more than a decade. This
misunderstanding of both duty and technology does one thing: It makes
your job impossible. When the powers-that-be begin to micromanage your
department for you, every single bad element is exacerbated. You know
your job and you know you know your job. Management does not know your
job, but they don't know they don't know your job. It's all a vicious
Mobius strip of stress.
6: Technology
Have you ever had one of those days when it seems like the whole of
technology has rebelled against you and it looks like the singularity
might very well be on the horizon? Those days will have you wishing you
were walking out of the building with your belongings in a cardboard
box. This has been one of the issues I have had to deal with since
working with a consultancy that deals primarily with Windows clients. It
seems that entropy has a strong hold on the Windows operating system,
and every day is a battle to keep PCs and systems working. Some days you
win that battle, some days you lose it. The days you win are always
lost in the pile of days you lose.
7: Competition
One thing you can count on -- there will always be someone better
than you. But in the IT industry, it isn't a 1:1 ratio. Instead, it
seems that for every one of you there are one hundred IT pros who are
smarter, faster, and better equipped. That ratio is quickly realized in
dollar signs. Remember, the IT landscape is constantly changing, and if
you can't keep up, you may not be hired or remain employed. The longer I
am in this business, the more I realize it's a young person's game.
Being as agile as necessary, being able to work the necessary hours...
it all adds up. I'm not saying us older folks can't run with the pack.
We can. But every day we work is another day even more competition is
added to the field, and the competition is fierce.
8: The cloud
Every time I hear an actor on TV speak the phrase "to the cloud" I
want to pull out my hair and kick in the television. The cloud has been
one of those aspects of IT whose definition has been, and probably
always will be, in flux. What exactly is the cloud? Should I be using
it? Is the cloud safe? How much does the cloud cost? I get hit with
these questions all the time. Generally, I just answer by asking the
clients if they've used Google Docs before. If they say "yes," I tell
them they are already using the cloud. But that is never satisfying.
Clients and end users want the cloud to be some magical experience that
will make all their work easier, better, and faster. If only they knew
the truth.
9: Lack of standards
Our lives would be infinitely better if some sort of standards could
be applied, across the board, in IT. Many open source projects have done
everything they can to achieve a set of standards, only to be knocked
down by proprietary software. Those proprietary software vendors want to
keep their code closed and not compliant with standards so they can
keep their bottom line as padded as possible. I get that, I really do.
But while they are refusing to conform to any sort of standard, they are
causing end users and IT pros any number of horrendous headaches on a
daily basis. There is no reason why standards can't be followed without
preventing proprietary software vendors from making a killing.
10: Respect
The general public has a bad taste in its mouth for IT professionals.
Why? There are many reasons. They've been burned before. They've been
ripped off before. They've had consultants who only seemed to want to
sell them bigger and better things. So long has this gone on, and so
jaded has the public become, that IT pros have a hard time earning
respect. Oh sure, when they see you walk in the door you are their best
friend... for the moment. But the minute you get that one "impending
doom" issue resolved, it's time to go off on you or insist you do more
than they hired you to do (or more than you have time to do).
11: No Social Media perks and no friendships in nepotism culture
The I have material collections including CDs, books, DVDs, Blurays, a car, videogames. I didn't get comments or attention of my material stuff. No comments. No recognition. Very few mall trips, MLB gatherings, NFL gatherings, pub gatherings, no friendships in nepotism world.
Thinking about quitting?
Are the downsides of working in IT starting to outweigh the positive
aspects of your job? What career would you pursue if you left IT? Share
your thoughts with other TechRepublic members
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