May 23, 2018 at 8:12 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Lessons for all of us
May 24, 2018 at 1:15 am
I disagree about working to live. I live to work, whether that's working for money or working on my house. I like to work hard and then when I sit down I can relax knowing I've put a shift in. If I don't work then I can't relax. It's that simple for me.
May 24, 2018 at 2:52 am
I kind of agree with both yourself and Andy. Work is important because it is growth and there is nothing not even family without growth and invention but... sometimes the best way to get more productive is to take breaks you may in the short term be more productive by putting in ten hour shifts but keep that up for a couple of years and your heading for an early grave.
I had a stressful year last year at the same time I
Moved house and
conducted two big ETL projects : those kind of projects where you know if it goes well no one will notice but if it goes badly people might be out of a job.
I worked harder than was good for me in the belief that I would be able to take it easier this year. I have been and the hard work has benefited me this year despite the fact that I am not working as hard now.
I think it is a good idea to try and keep fit so you can literally work harder or at least it helps me cope with stress.
I try to
Not eat till I am 100% full - when I got married my diet significantly improved but the amount I ate dramatically increased. I managed to get my wife to accept that I didn't need quite as much as I was being given!
Regularly run short distances - typically 5km twice a week with one swim. My wife likes walking and I get out 4 or 5 times with her but I really need the runs as the walks don't loosen me off enough.
Its a balancing act that I get right some years and wrong others even if I keeled over before 50 I would count myself lucky. I enjoy my work but it can mean I work too hard and I see the signs every now and then. I am however very motivated to work hard on automation as I feel it offers the opportunity to work less hard but produce more sometime in the future.
Now automation is so addictive I can overwork myself trying to achieve it.
May 24, 2018 at 5:44 am
I agree with many of the points made in the editorial. I consider technical work to be "hard" generally speaking. While not physically demanding, the attention to detail and precision required exceeds a lot of other types of position. Not to mention the potential implications of even a minor error. There is also a constantly changing landscape you need to keep up with.
One of the more difficult aspects of technical work I've been pondering recently is the relative lack of influence and advancement potential in some, perhaps even many, organizations. I've seen different firms where decisions\promises were being made by non-technical staff motivated by making a sale without regard to feasibility. I've also seen companies where management didn't want to hear about "geek stuff" or complained that they even needed to have IT staff for their multi-site company with thousands of employees. I'm not sure what the solution is, or even if there is one, but it certainly seems worth exploring to me.
May 24, 2018 at 6:10 am
I'm glad I found (well, it found me) my current position. While there are some stressful periods, very rarely do I have to deal with weekend / holiday work and when I do, I get comp time for it that I can use later, my pay is far better than my previous job so I'm finally able to start indulging in some of the hobbies I'd put on hold (model trains can be EXPENSIVE!) and (my Dr is happy about this) I'm finally getting off my butt and working on getting into shape. I'm even planning, once I get a bit more into shape, on riding my bike to and from work a couple days a week (~15 miles one-way)
Even better, while I'm currently the only DBA in my team, the management is working on getting one of the developers set up to be a backup for when I do go on vacation so I don't have to take along my work laptop and phone. Which will be nice, even though I probably (unless they explicitly tell me not too) will take them along anyways, just in case. Will I look at them while I'm gone? The phone I'll glance at once or twice a day when I'm in the hotel room (it gets my e-mail as well,) the laptop only if there's something that needs my attention (and my bar for that is fairly high, say, multiple e-mails plus phone calls and texts to my personal phone.)
But overall, yes, I do enjoy where I work, who I work with, and don't see burnout coming my way any time soon.
May 24, 2018 at 7:28 am
I look at this in a few different ways. Here are my thoughts:
The majority of IT / engineers are doing their job and going home. Nothing wrong with that. Those that encumber themselves with too many demands suffer and burnout - often without being rewarded. I know in early jobs I had it was expected I would write code all day and night and when I asked for a raise they resisted. I left for a much better opportunity. Most people will not do that. I use the term "jobbers" for this group. In a way they are being taken advantage of and in another way they are being opportunistic with the labor they want to commit. Consequently this is not the highest paid bunch.
Then we have the top engineers at each organization. They are the movers and shakers who make most things happen. Remember learning about the Pareto Principle? These are the 20% of people who do 80% of the work. High compensation is here but also too is much higher expectations. Demands are far beyond just write some more code or do it faster. In these roles you are expected to work way more than 40 hour weeks. You'll likely be dealing with direct reports and their issues (so people issues and not technical issues) along with your technical duties. It will be harder to take vacation or be away for long. Taking phone calls after hours and travel can wear on a person. Burnout happens here but different. In the above group burnout is more from being bored and directionless. With the top group it is about truly burning the candle at both ends.
I like this topic - it encompasses many of the soft skills that technical people are not often taught. Ex. how many of your peers are good at advocating for themselves or being assertive (not aggressive but simply assertive)? Compare that with the personalities of your sales staff. Pretty different.
May 24, 2018 at 7:49 am
Some good points. I was discussing our mutual aging with a mechanic I know, and he commented that the physical demands of his job affected him more with age than my job would affect me, and I can see his point. I would suppose the situation is even worse for jobs like carpentry, masonry or farming.
I like my situation. I've worked here for nearly thirty years, and there are quite a few people here who've been longer than me. Stable job situations do remove a lot of stress. I'm 68, and of course I could have retired, but to me working is like riding a bicycle... if you stop, you fall. I could take a 'post retirement' type job.. but why?
...
-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
May 24, 2018 at 7:54 am
Whenever I hear non-IT folks talk about how those of us in IT have it easy, I'm reminded of that Dire Straits song 'Money For Nothing'. 😛
Normally I don't work from home, but I will on those days when there is a scheduled appliance repair or delivery. The HVAC/electrician/rug shampooer will often times ask what I do for a living and then comment that it must be nice working in IT. Some of them even ask how to go about starting a career in IT.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
May 24, 2018 at 7:58 am
Jeff Mlakar - Thursday, May 24, 2018 7:28 AMI like this topic - it encompasses many of the soft skills that technical people are not often taught. Ex. how many of your peers are good at advocating for themselves or being assertive (not aggressive but simply assertive)? Compare that with the personalities of your sales staff. Pretty different.
I liked your whole comment but this part really stood out to me. I can learn 10 different programming languages in a year but it may take the same amount of time for me to figure out how to confidently approach my boss for a raise, a task that any decent sale rep doesn't even consider a task. It just comes naturally to confidently approach another human with your thoughts.
May 24, 2018 at 8:13 am
thisisfutile - Thursday, May 24, 2018 7:58 AMJeff Mlakar - Thursday, May 24, 2018 7:28 AMI like this topic - it encompasses many of the soft skills that technical people are not often taught. Ex. how many of your peers are good at advocating for themselves or being assertive (not aggressive but simply assertive)? Compare that with the personalities of your sales staff. Pretty different.I liked your whole comment but this part really stood out to me. I can learn 10 different programming languages in a year but it may take the same amount of time for me to figure out how to confidently approach my boss for a raise, a task that any decent sale rep doesn't even consider a task. It just comes naturally to confidently approach another human with your thoughts.
Thanks. I am a very introverted person and this has been my focus for the past few years. I don't want the limelight or stage but I do want to be heard. I've come up with some strategies for that. IMO this is a skill that can be learned.
May 24, 2018 at 9:30 am
Very good advice, Steve. Although I'd like to add that sometimes, depending upon one's circumstances, you might put in a lot of time related to your job due to commuting. In my current job I'm gone from home for work about 14 or more hours a day. That's because I have to commute over 100 miles per day. (At least I'm not stuck in traffic for a couple of hours in the morning and afternoon just to travel 10 miles to work. 🙂 ) The reason for that is because where the job is, its quite expensive, for housing, etc. We can't afford a home near work, so I commute. My first job in this state was working for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array (VLA). Very interesting place to work (although at the time I wasn't a developer nor DBA, but a technical staff person). It was a similar situation in which I had to commute a very long distance. (I think it was a 90 mile commute.) But in that case it was simply because there wasn't anything near the VLA. That and the fact that the job required me to live in a certain place.
It's funny but it was only this year that I realized I live in a state where technical jobs are only in certain places. Because much of my time I've not lived with 45 miles of where I worked. There's vast spaces of emptiness with only a few places with a concentration of work. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. If there's people on this forum who live and/or work in Nevada, I bet you face similar commutes.
I've got a suggestion I'd like to make. I suffer from poor circulation, resulting in my hands and feet being cold. I've just thought it was me; my body, etc. However, recently I read an article online about how to address cold feet/hands. It said you could get up briefly every 20 minutes or so, to stretch or something. Windows 10 has an Alarms & Clock app, with a built-in timer. I've created a timer for 20 minutes. At least twice an hour when it goes off I'll get up and do some squats for 30 seconds, then sit down and get back to work. I've been doing this for about 3 months and I've noticed my hands and feet are no longer cold. 🙂 I hope this will help someone else.
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
May 24, 2018 at 9:50 am
jasona.work - Thursday, May 24, 2018 6:10 AMI'm glad I found (well, it found me) my current position. While there are some stressful periods, very rarely do I have to deal with weekend / holiday work and when I do, I get comp time for it that I can use later, my pay is far better than my previous job so I'm finally able to start indulging in some of the hobbies I'd put on hold (model trains can be EXPENSIVE!) and (my Dr is happy about this) I'm finally getting off my butt and working on getting into shape. I'm even planning, once I get a bit more into shape, on riding my bike to and from work a couple days a week (~15 miles one-way)
Good for you. I used to live 12mi from work and I started commuting by bike. One hint, weather and life comes up, so I used to drive to work Mon am. I'd have clothes/bike in the car. I'd then ride home Mon pm and commute all week. Fri, I'd drive home.
That kept me going, and I could usually arrange a ride if I needed one because of weather.
May 24, 2018 at 9:51 am
Rod at work - Thursday, May 24, 2018 9:30 AMI've got a suggestion I'd like to make. I suffer from poor circulation, resulting in my hands and feet being cold. I've just thought it was me; my body, etc. However, recently I read an article online about how to address cold feet/hands. It said you could get up briefly every 20 minutes or so, to stretch or something. Windows 10 has an Alarms & Clock app, with a built-in timer. I've created a timer for 20 minutes. At least twice an hour when it goes off I'll get up and do some squats for 30 seconds, then sit down and get back to work. I've been doing this for about 3 months and I've noticed my hands and feet are no longer cold. 🙂 I hope this will help someone else.
Interesting. I should probably just have that alarm to remember to move more. Lately, lots of desk time.
Hope the commute gets better or you find it's worth it.
May 24, 2018 at 9:56 am
jay-h - Thursday, May 24, 2018 7:49 AMSome good points. I was discussing our mutual aging with a mechanic I know, and he commented that the physical demands of his job affected him more with age than my job would affect me, and I can see his point. I would suppose the situation is even worse for jobs like carpentry, masonry or farming.I like my situation. I've worked here for nearly thirty years, and there are quite a few people here who've been longer than me. Stable job situations do remove a lot of stress. I'm 68, and of course I could have retired, but to me working is like riding a bicycle... if you stop, you fall. I could take a 'post retirement' type job.. but why?
Mostly how I feel. Someone asked if I was leaving recently since I've written a bit about retirement. I think about it because I'm close to the end of kid commitments. Worth considering how life changes, but I have no desire to sit around and do nothing and also have nothing I'd rather do than this.
May 24, 2018 at 10:48 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor - Thursday, May 24, 2018 9:56 AMMostly how I feel. Someone asked if I was leaving recently since I've written a bit about retirement. I think about it because I'm close to the end of kid commitments. Worth considering how life changes, but I have no desire to sit around and do nothing and also have nothing I'd rather do than this.
Humorous event, one fellow I know retired from his IT job and puttered around a bit. One day he had to go to the post office, and arrived there well before it opened only to see several old men doing the same thing. That shook him up a bit, and he went back to work part time.
...
-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
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