This collection of entries is from May 14, 2003.
I've been in the IT industry for 25 years now. I've had lows and highs over that time. I've never felt as low as I have over the last 5 months. Instead of being a tech lead I've been "riding" a Help Desk for the last 5 months. It has been the worst job I've had over the 25 years, even worse than being a computer operator and the beginning of my career. I don't get to manage or "own" anything. I just answer phone calls, fix what I can as a typical Level 1 person would do, and if not - "throw it over the wall" to the (few) other people that work here (there are only 6 of us).
I took this job because, after being out of work for almost 19 months, the money got too tight. I'm only making 63% of what I used to, so it's hard to makeup the difference over the 19 months and the difference in current salary. The job isn't all that challenging - the company is downsizing (well, considering there used to be over 50 people in IT), and the call volume varies radically from 0 in 4 hours to non-stop calls. Then there's the calls on Sundays that I won't go into because it just makes my blood boil... I've received no training to speak of. The documentation is close to being non-existant. I'm a "big picture" kind of guy - I want to understand how things "fit" together, how things feed and flow. That way, I could make some (semi-)intelligent decisions in problem, determination. I'm not getting that.
In general, I'm just not happy.
There's also something happening there that I don't want to discuss right now, though you will probably hear about it here in a few weeks, I suppose. I guess I need to start looking again - see if the market has changed at all. I don't want to be doing this for the rest of my career.
I am just not happy. I want to be happy again.