Tire of supporting people, time to support myself

[JCK2003]

Hi All:

coming in with my first post in this forum, some advise needed

I graduated from a computer engineering major in the BS, school was focused heavily on programming mainly on unix, I had a hell of time debugging and doing project in the school lab, didn't like it very much, got out of school with a PC technican job, which lasted 4 months, but it was a good start for me because it extended my ability as merely a computer end-user by gaining the hardware prospective of the field. doing support, troubleshoot, installation, I was studying for my MCSE (which I think is definitely overrated, but what can we do, Microsoft owns alot of plateform businss)

then I had a few jobs during the good years of IT, also including the one I have right now, is supporting people of various issues, software hardware, use CD-ROM drive as a cupholder type of things to more advance stuff I have no clue where to start, I am tried of being the supporting role, because people never leave you alone to do your own job that was written on the job description, I think the IT jobs I have so far basically are supporting, cleanup-after, take-the blame type of job instead of developing and managing type. I have been working for about 6 years now.

I am finishing up an MBA degree hopefully my background would help me into a managerial direction, help company delevop and stay with current technology, does any body think I should pursuit another techie certification like MCSE2000 or CCNP after that I would just going to another level of supporting job

I guess my question is: is computer and the IT field always involving supporting or programming ? a thing with the jobs is I am having trouble identify my own career direction since all I do is helping other people to accomplish their goal like get his computer fixed or get hers email working or make sure the sales people can dial-in, sure at beginning come out as a college kid, I am always eager to help people out and explorer things, but I feel I can't do this forever, is this what people called "paying your due" ? with the economy and my current experience, I don't see a light in the end of the tunnel.


any advise, comment, death threat are welcome to the above
Thanks
JK2003

 

[sleipnir214]

The IT field does support a third option: engineering. But that brand of IT nearly universally requires specialized training. Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!

 

[CajunCenturion]

IT by its very nature is a support group. (IT professionals by their very nature need their own support group - but that's a different issue)

Unless you are working for an engineering firm - building and selling hardware or software - then your job within any organization is to develop and maintain the tools that other people within the organization use to do their jobs. Sometimes that support is replacing a hard drive, sometimes is developing a new application to make some business process more efficient. In either case, we're providing support and services for that organization. There are career advancements, but most likely, they are geared towards management of the IT personnel.

Its possible that you could take your MBA and hang out your own shingle, but I think you'll find that the focus of your business will be to support your clients, unless again, you choose to get into product development. Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[Tarwn]

Well, there is another one I can think of, between support and development (I honestly think it's the worst of both worlds, but that may just be me).
A lot of applications and such out there have built in abilities for development. Companies buy the software and then never take advantage of it. An example is Excel...I personally hate excel with a passion, but since it supports add-ins and VBA there are a lot of companies that try to use it for reporting. So you get to do a little development (in VBA, ick) and a little support (well, you told me to write it for 2000, not 97...and...well lets see what we can do about the network problem your having gettnig the reports to the printer).

Basically thats about it. You either make it, support it(I consider installation and such to fall into this catagory), use it, teach it (almost forgot this one), or design/support the hardware that the above works on.

Out of curiousity (please don't take this the wrong way), if you don't like programming, don't like supporting it, and don't have the option to go into engineering, why are you in the field? Is there a certain type of position your aiming for?

If you can't see yourself in any of these fields, maybe it's time to re-evaluate and go into another field...

Personally I'll be a developer till they pry the cold keyboard from my fingers so they have room to shut the lid...which may be soon if I spend to much time with Excel

-Tarwn ________________________________________________________________________________
Sometimes it is how you ask the question: faq333-2924
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[spikestik]

8yrs experience MCSA,CCA,CCNA and I spend 90% of my day supporting SUE's. (Stupid USER Errors) There is nothing you can do. If you are working an MBA you may want to look toward another area of IT ... like Project Management.
Limiting yourself and thinking that certifications will advance you is a debate that will be debated long after you and are gone. Do what you really want to do.....and I can not believe that it is desktop support.

 

[mmorancbt]

First, any job of lasting worth is going to involve supporting or developing something. Now that is rather broad so track with me.... I don't necessarily mean developing from a programming sense but the creation of something (workflow analysis and restructuruing, marketing and business development analysis, and yes, technology development).

However, before you can create the job you desire you need to have an image and market for such a job. What do you want to do? and then create a plan to get you there?

Most people spend more time planning their weekend then then they do their life's work. In my seminars and workshops I promote a holistic idea of what it takes to build a technology career. Most of those factors involve non-technical skills and methodologies. Your career will happen to you (like life) whether you plan it or not.

In any case, having a plan of action and idea of where you want to be makes the tedious much more bearable. If you knew that your current career was actively taking you towards some longer-term objective - even while not ideally what you want to do - your attitude and perspective is bound to be positive. If, on the other hand, you cannot stand what you do, the people you work for, and have no idea of what you would like to do and have not plan of action to get there - you are bound for burnout!

I hope this is somewhat helpful. Matthew Moran
The I.T. Career Builder's Toolkit

http://www.cbtoolkit.com

 

[JCK2003]

I think Matt put out a good point, working out a long term objective on the career, even if what I am doing is not what I like in this amout of time. but important is setting a goal and action, I would not like to do support forever, with my growing experience, I would hope I can be look up by someone some day and not just someone to call if someone having computer trouble and ignore when everything is working ok, I just wish I can be someone making that call sometimes soon but not the one will have to look at a computer problem with a hammer. at least that is the way I am feeling now which most of you will think I am over reacting.

Yes the reason to going to MBA is to have some insight about how business is conducted under these computers, after all, to the very end of the production line, purpose of setting up these computer system is the bottom line, although some bosses always think the IT is nothing but a cost, it doesn't give them ROI, cash cow or margin. My ideal career is someone in that position to change or improve that like many others are trying now, at least that was my thought when I started my MBA, now I think I just want to have a stable job, taking constant workload, earn a fair amount to live and support my family and have time to enjoy with them. work is just work, not very ambiguous goals isn't it ?

more comments are welcome
thanks

 

[energy4life]

covering the lifecycle of most products and services, your choices are:

sales...

technical sales support (sales engineering, technical mktg, etc)

product development (mktg, marcomm, prodmgt)

engineering (programming, testing, q/a)

deployment

tech support

customer service

The ones in the middle are least customer facing. But to reiterate the point made above IT by definition is to supply services and products to make business better. ...it's all support. maybe move toward an area that has less end user contact; that may help with more planning/progressive type work, less on the user error minutia.

good luck; stay encourgaged...