A new challenge approaches
My position was eliminated in early January of this year (I am not heartbroken).
It worked out decently well, because over the past seven weeks I haven’t had to deal with the toxicity of my last employer, I’ve been getting stuff done—working on personal projects, working with our sons on their school work (as they were still doing school in a hybrid model, but are transitioning back to full face-to-face next week), working on freelance editing, and doing some contract writing and editing.
And a lot of thinking. A. Lot.
I’m pretty tired of IT support and IT as an industry. I’m tired of all the moving pieces and keeping up with them. I’m tired of stuff that works on one machine but not the other and having to figure out why. I’m tired of the attitudes. I’m tired of the idea that average metrics can be split evenly across a staff. I’m tired of staff not taking things seriously. I’m tired of the superhero devs and sysadmins. I’m tired of the users who think their issue is the only one that needs attention.
I’m just tired of IT, and IT’s not fun any longer.
Beyond that, IT is in for a massive sea change with the rise of automation, and I don’t think a lot of the workers have grasped that the clock is ticking (loudly) for millions of IT jobs (but you’d better believe the C-levels have grasped it). I’ve been yelling into the wind about this and about what needs to be done to prepare for it, and no one wants to listen.
I’m done with IT. Who knows? The perfect position at the perfect place might show up (but I think that’s unlikely).
One of the major pet peeves I’ve dealt with over the course of my IT career is how poor the writing has been—my staff members, bosses, coworkers, clients… lots of people. I don’t blame them entirely. I’ve taught somewhat at the college level (and wouldn’t mind doing so again), but I think the issues I’ve seen with writing are deeper than college. I think they go back to K-12. Plus, beyond that, I enjoy teaching and always have (that’s why IT support was a natural for me—it was oftentimes teaching).
So, what does that mean for me?
30 years ago this September, I started as a freshman in college. I went on to get a BA in English and then an MA in English. Then IT pulled me away from my aim to become a college professor. Now, I’ve changed a bit, and my ideas have changed, but I think I’ve settled on where I’m going for the next few decades.
30 years ago, I started college, and this year, I’m going back to start working on my teaching certificate in secondary education.