Current Events > I am unhappy with my job and have no interest in my career but the pay is great.

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80/80

23, only have associates in social sciences, IT job in Health Care field as tier2/3 desktop support getting paid $33.5~/hr roughly $69k salaried. I got into this gig through a long story of connections and luck. I love the pay but I have no passion for IT and advancing out of Desktop Support doesn't appeal to me as I find no real interest in Networking, Network Security, and Server Engineering. I'm only sticking with it because I feel like it'd be a wasted opportunity to give this up to pursue a job that I'd love to get paid half of much.

Anyone else been in this sort of situation where you're in a great spot with impressive financial opportunity and growth but just have no passion or love for the industry/career field? I feel like I'm just riding it out instead of diligently working on certs to keep myself marketable and have steady growth. The job is full time and with my lifestyle to balance I can't imagine finishing school to get a bachelors.
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I would keep it for a couple years. Save lots of money and plan where you'd like to go next.
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im sort of there, though im underpaid because wages in seattle are going fucking crazy. but the job is easy, I can do it in my sleep, but I hate it even though I get a lot more than I need.
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So long as you have job security I wouldn't worry one bit. Outside of petting puppies all day I can't think of one job that wouldn't get old. Enjoy your financial security and have your fun outside of work. As far as promotion goes there's plenty of time to change your mind and nothing wrong with just staying where you're at if it suits you.
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TC i was in the same boat, majored in IT in college because I figured that since I was into computers that it was a logical career choice, but when I started actually working in IT I realized that I had absolutely no interest in enterprise IT. ended up switching to a career that is finance-related and i am much happier now
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Godnorgosh posted...

Making 11/hr as a NOC tech. I'll take that job off your hands.

Lol yeah... that's why I feel like I gots'ta stay. I would be a fool to squander this opportunity and dip out so early when I've gotten so much.

mirage_004 posted...

I would keep it for a couple years. Save lots of money and plan where you'd like to go next.

MotaroRIP619 posted...

So long as you have job security I wouldn't worry one bit. Outside of petting puppies all day I can't think of one job that wouldn't get old. Enjoy your financial security and have your fun outside of work. As far as promotion goes there's plenty of time to change your mind and nothing wrong with just staying where you're at if it suits you.

Yeah.. I'm just going to ride it as long as I can but I can easily see myself not studying for certs to continue to climb the chain. If I do that I might as well change career path eventually when the time comes.

KILBOTz posted...

im sort of there, though im underpaid because wages in seattle are going fucking crazy. but the job is easy, I can do it in my sleep, but I hate it even though I get a lot more than I need.

Good that your job is at least easy. Mine is fairly easy though recent reorganization and lay offs make it a lot more difficult in a who-the-hell-do-i-contact-for-this-specific-issue sort of way.

green butter posted...

TC i was in the same boat, majored in IT in college because I figured that since I was into computers that it was a logical career choice, but when I started actually working in IT I realized that I had absolutely no interest in enterprise IT. ended up switching to a career that is finance-related and i am much happier now

@green_butter Right. I've learned I love creating gaming rigs and knowing how to use my own personal device but enterprise IT and the intricacies in each specific discipline seems so dry and unexciting to me. How exactly did you go about switching careers and get your mentality straightened out? Something that route (business related) seems so much more interesting to be honest. I feel like I'd need to grab a bachelors though..
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I'm making roughly $20 an hour and it's nice but def in the same boat. I absolutely hate what I do but w bills, I can't go anywhere yet.
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_Deuce_ posted...

I'm making roughly $20 an hour and it's nice but def in the same boat. I absolutely hate what I do but w bills, I can't go anywhere yet.

Feels bad man. What are you doing now and what would you rather be doing?
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I make $60K in a LCOL area, maxing out my company 401k, HSA, and personal IRA, with plenty of money left to spare on eating out and dumb bullshit.

My job is so mind numbingly boring though, I fucking hate it.

clearaflagrantj posted...

I make $60K in a LCOL area, maxing out my company 401k, HSA, and personal IRA, with plenty of money left to spare on eating out and dumb bullshit.

My job is so mind numbingly boring though, I fucking hate it.

I put 10% into two different retirement accounts and live without paying rent due to fortunate circumstances. I have my car bill to pay and that is it; saving for house.. staying at my job a very smart choice. You have anything you would prefer to do instead of what you do right ow?
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Holy_Pumpkin posted...

@green_butter Right. I've learned I love creating gaming rigs and knowing how to use my own personal device but enterprise IT and the intricacies in each specific discipline seems so dry and unexciting to me. How exactly did you go about switching careers and get your mentality straightened out? Something that route (business related) seems so much more interesting to be honest. I feel like I'd need to grab a bachelors though..

yea I was in the same boat, I liked to play PC games and go on Reddit and stuff like that so I figured that naturally IT was the career for me, but it turned out to be something I really disliked.

What I ended up doing was leveraging the soft skills and "business" skills that I gained in IT support to transition to a different career. In my case, it was the people skills, working on projects, and understanding business process/best practices (i.e. Six Sigma) that made me marketable for other fields.

Personally I'd suggest thinking about your skills in those terms. Really it's all about how you market yourself, although having a BA would really be a huge help since many companies will toss your resume immediately if you dont have a degree
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@green_butter thanks for the insight and advice. I can see how i can apply that to myself as I've been team lead of major projects and am currently the senior of my current team at my site as on site support. I think my good communication and organization skills are my best asset as technical wise the job isn't difficult as far as broken things go.. i'll need to get more acquanted with Six Sigma practices
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Honestly, it's just not sustainable. At some point, you will become bitter. Worse, if you get old in that job you are going to look back in rage that you never found something you enjoyed because now you are too old to do anything about it. The money will eventually lose its luster, and then you are stuck breaking your back in a job you hate having spent all your youth and energy on something you hated.

I'd suggest planning a big move, not necessarily right away, but at least have some goal in mind for the next couple years to give you something to work towards.

Holy_Pumpkin posted...

@green_butter thanks for the insight and advice. I can see how i can apply that to myself as I've been team lead of major projects and am currently the senior of my current team at my site as on site support. I think my good communication and organization skills are my best asset as technical wise the job isn't difficult as far as broken things go.. i'll need to get more acquanted with Six Sigma practices

I would also suggest trying to leverage your IT position to maybe get into a non-technical role with an IT company. i currently work for a major IT company everyone on here knows and I think they liked that I had some familiarity with the products, what we do, services we offer etc even though I do not touch the technical side at all
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Dash_Harber posted...

Honestly, it's just not sustainable. At some point, you will become bitter. Worse, if you get old in that job you are going to look back in rage that you never found something you enjoyed because now you are too old to do anything about it. The money will eventually lose its luster, and then you are stuck breaking your back in a job you hate having spent all your youth and energy on something you hated.

I'd suggest planning a big move, not necessarily right away, but at least have some goal in mind for the next couple years to give you something to work towards.

Wise words.. I've thought about that and it always eats me in the back of my mind. I'm young and have worked towards a glorious opportunity, but I don't want to be stuck in this same field for the rest of my life.. I think staying for a bit is smart, I'll need to formulate and exit plan eventually down the line.

green butter posted...

Holy_Pumpkin posted...

@green_butter thanks for the insight and advice. I can see how i can apply that to myself as I've been team lead of major projects and am currently the senior of my current team at my site as on site support. I think my good communication and organization skills are my best asset as technical wise the job isn't difficult as far as broken things go.. i'll need to get more acquanted with Six Sigma practices

I would also suggest trying to leverage your IT position to maybe get into a non-technical role with an IT company. i currently work for a major IT company everyone on here knows and I think they liked that I had some familiarity with the products, what we do, services we offer etc even though I do not touch the technical side at all

Sound advice. Thanks man I'll have to keep an eye out for that kind of possible transition.. even within my own current organization which I've never thought about. Being even something like an account manager seems so much more appealing to me than break fix.
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Holy_Pumpkin posted...

Wise words.. I've thought about that and it always eats me in the back of my mind. I'm young and have worked towards a glorious opportunity, but I don't want to be stuck in this same field for the rest of my life.. I think staying for a bit is smart, I'll need to formulate and exit plan eventually down the line.

Like I said, you don't have to move tomorrow, just start throwing around ideas. Take baby steps. Look up what apartments are in a city you've always wanted to live. Check out how to apply for school in a field that has always interested you. Something may catch your eye, but you don't have to commit to anything this second.

For me, me and my wife are moving across the country. We realize nothing was working for us where we were, so we arbitrarily decided to move to a city we had never been too because we needed a change. A job interview and my first flight later, and we have a place and are moving this month. We picked the city because I decided I wanted to live on the coast and that is all it took. We weren't getting anywhere here, and even though my wife had a good paying job, she knew she would never further her career here. But it all started years ago when we were considering places to move.

Baby steps, otherwise the idea of commitment will scare you off.