On Jun 16, 2004, at 6:47 PM, Moose wrote:
> Good for you!! So many people stick with jobs that aren't right for
> them, then wonder why they spend their life depressed and unhealthy.
Definitely applies here. I spent just over 3 years doing telephone tech
support for a local ISP. Previously, I had spent 1.5 years unemployed
after leaving a similar job at another ISP (which I'd held for about
1.5 years). 4.5 years of tech support was getting me nowhere. As much
as the companies will tell you it's an "entry level" job into the
company it's just not the case. Even among companies that do make it a
practise to hire internally, there's just too many people needed at
that bottom level and then not enough positions to move them up.
In the first tech support job, I bought into the "entry level" spiel
completely. In the second one, I was hoping it was different and I also
knew people who had moved up within the company. Unfortunately, it
turns out that those days had ended before I joined the company. In the
3 years that I was there 3 people moved into other positions within the
company. That's out of at least 100 employees that I worked with during
that time. 1 of those people took a pay cut to change positions and get
a better schedule.
Work stress and lack of job satisfaction aside, the job was literally
making me sick. Working a 24/7 shift rotation was not agreeing with me
and work was unwilling to make any accommodations in the schedule.
Frequently, I would work 3:30pm to 12am for a week and then switch to
8:00am to 4:30pm for a week, then back again. The constant sleep
changes were really plaguing my health. Not to mention that it made it
nearly impossible to take part in any kind of activity outside of work
that required a regular time commitment.
I almost quit once before about 1.5 years ago. I was thinking of going
back to school full time. Literally on the day I came in to put in my 2
weeks notice I heard a rumour about a job opening up in the systems
administration group. I had been performing some sys admin duties part
time and had been fighting hard to turn it into a full time position.
The rumour was that they had finally decided to do so. I figured I had
a really good shot because I'd already been doing the job part time for
over a year at that point. I decided to gamble on getting the job and
stayed. I went through a very difficult couple of months waiting for
the job to be posted. Finally it was and I interviewed for it only for
them to offer the job to an external applicant. I wasted just over
another year just spinning my wheels. Finally, I'd had enough. I stuck
it out for some time hoping things would improve and they didn't. It
was a hard decision to make because I didn't have anything else lined
up when I left but I had realised that staying there wasn't getting me
anywhere and it was time to move on. Registering for the 2 continuing
education courses also really helped pressure me. I knew that with the
work schedule that I wouldn't be able to get as much out of the classes
as I wanted to. It's been my experience that with those types of
classes that you really get out of the class what you put into it and I
knew I couldn't put my full effort into the courses and still work
there. So I quit and I haven't regretted it at all. I've been so busy
with the classes (putting in 4-8 hrs a week in the darkroom) and now
this new opportunity has come up, it's really been great.
> The new adventure will be a great opportunity for growth and change.
Thank you, and the other list members, for the kind words of
encouragement. I really don't know what will come of this opportunity
but I've really been overdue for a change and this will definitely
shake things up quite a bit.
Andrew "Frugal" Dacey
frugal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.tildefrugal.net/
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|