Career Stagnation
What is required to move one’s career out of the slumps? How important is it to “move up” or “onwards” in a career path? Is one’s career a reflection of their persona or simply a means to an end?
My thoughts of late have centered on these things. I’ve been a System Administrator since 1993. That’s pretty much my station in life, it appears. I’ve tried doing other things: I’ve been a CTO at a failing company and an infrastructure consultant for Internet companies. But the key is that both of these forays into other career territory have ultimately just brought me back around to being a sysadmin in some way, shape or form. I’m really pretty good at it, not the best but not the worst. I’m proud of my accomplishments and resume. Some would say that from a career standpoint, I’m at the top of my game with a primo Microsoft job.
The problem is that I really hate it. I just don’t care anymore about what I’m doing. I sit at work all day and wish that I was doing something else. My job consists of mainly editing configuration files and dealing with silly politics that have nothing really to do with me. I have a ton of ideas about what Microsoft should be doing (who around here doesn’t), but I know that my ideas, like almost everyone else’s, will ultimately not be heard. I feel like my career has stopped. I make the same amount of money (on par) as I did in 2001. I have approximately the same amount of influence over the company I work for as I did then. I have zero creative outlets at my job, so I get home and I have tons of cool things that I want to do, but my mind is adrift by then and I end up slouching on the sofa and IMming with friends and being a slob. It’s very hard for me not to feel sorry for myself.
I deserve more for myself. I deserve to have my ideas heard. I deserve at least some creativity in my workplace so that when I come home from work, I can feel free to spend time with my wife (and the baby in June) and not think about it. I deserve to make more money. I deserve to be happy and fulfilled in my home and in my work, not just one or the other.
Now what?
Maybe there is some way to create a creative outlet at Microsoft? I know I have found ways to do that at Nokia.
I would imagine that a large company like Microsoft encourages or at least tolerates a fair amount of lateral movement. Maybe there’s something inside Microsoft more suited to your desires?
Deteriorata
(1972 - written by Tony Hendra; music by Christopher Guest)
Go placidly amid the noise and waste,
And remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
Avoid quiet and passive persons, unless you are in need of sleep.
Rotate your tires.
Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself,
And heed well their advice, even though they be turkeys.
Know what to kiss, and when.
Consider that two wrongs never make a right, but that three do.
Wherever possible, put people on hold.
Be comforted that in the face of all aridity and disillusionment,
and despite the changing fortunes of time,
There is always a big future in computer maintenance.
You are a fluke of the universe.
You have no right to be here.
And whether you can hear it or not,
The universe is laughing behind your back.
Remember The Pueblo.
Strive at all times to bend, fold, spindle, and mutilate.
Know yourself.
If you need help, call the FBI.
Exercise caution in your daily affairs,
Especially with those persons closest to you -
That lemon on your left, for instance.
Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls
Would scarcely get your feet wet.
Fall not in love therefore. It will stick to your face.
Gracefully surrender the things of youth: birds, clean air, tuna, Taiwan.
And let not the sands of time get in your lunch.
Hire people with hooks.
For a good time, call 606-4311. Ask for Ken.
Take heart in the deepening gloom
That your dog is finally getting enough cheese.
And reflect that whatever fortune may be your lot,
It could only be worse in Milwaukee.
You are a fluke of the universe.
You have no right to be here.
And whether you can hear it or not,
The universe is laughing behind your back.
Therefore, make peace with your god,
Whatever you perceive him to be - hairy thunderer, or cosmic muffin.
With all its hopes, dreams, promises, and urban renewal,
The world continues to deteriorate.
Give up!
You are a fluke of the universe.
You have no right to be here.
And whether you can hear it or not,
The universe is laughing behind your back.