Reply to: Programmer burnout?

[VectraMan]

Basically I'm tired with the whole IT and corporate world.

Is it the IT world or the corporate world?

One of the things I don't like about contracting is most of the jobs are with big corporate clients, complete with all the big corporate client bulltulip. I'm much more at home in a smaller team where you feel you can make a difference, without wasting half your day dealing with TLAs, PMs, BAs or whatever.

So maybe moving to a different role in the corporate world is not the answer.

[Dark Black]

@expat & deano: Good posts, points well made. Well done

From my own experiences I have felt the same as the OP (potential burnout etc) as a permie a few years back. My temporary solution at the time was chuck permiedom with all it's politics etc and jump into contracting.

That has worked.. after a fashion, for a few years. I could still earn decent money and if a contract became dull or just plain frustrating, then I could chose to go elsewhere at renewal time. Sometimes I just took time out.

All along I was trying to think of a decent Plan B so I could walk away from IT altogether. As expat says, it's just not fun anymore. Sadly I've failed (so far) to come up with any decent ideas to allow us to live in the manner we wish (which isn't grand just pleasant).

So for now I've just accepted another contract with an old client to top the old company accounts up a bit. I'm waiting for the property market to bottom out and then start to invest again.

[expat]

I only want to point out one thing. Many people keep saying that becoming a BA or a PM is an evolution. Yet can somebody explain why there are many people who can switch from a programmer role to a BA/PM but no one can do the opposite?

Guys, let's face it, to be a programmer you need specific skills which you can't build up with experience. Not to say that other roles are less difficult but to me programmers are the most difficult roles and should be rewarded well, as you do find very few of them around ....

Francko, that is a question for society: why are some jobs paid less well than others that are easier to do?

I would note that I have seen programmers paid more than their bosses, indeed it has happened to me. That is part of what makes (or made) contracting so well-paid: if you want a contractor you have to pay the market rate, whereas permie jobs have their salaries limited by e.g. the manager's salary. Or the bean counters refuse to pay more for a programmer than for an accountant.

That worked for a while, but now ISTM that some of the market edge in contracting has been lost. There are too many contracts, way too many contractors, mostly inexperienced and not all good, so contracting now is just a payroll choice in most cases. It's still hard to get good programmers, but I think that most clients have given up on that and just accept warm bodies, overrunning projects, rubbish customised off-the-shelf packages etc.

Hmm. It is no fun any more.

[deano]

Be careful.

I’m quite an isolating person. I like to be left alone. I decided a few years ago that I wanted to be a Systems Analyst because it seemed somehow better. However as a Systems Analyst I have to force myself to deal with people. I don’t like that – it’s my psychological makeup I suppose – but I it has to be done. It was, in hindsight, one of the worse things I have done. I am good at it. Very good. But it has nearly killed me.

My guess is that a lot of technical people are similar to me, to a greater or lesser degree, which is probably why we have a reputation as "geeky nerds". We gravitate early on in life to dealing with things rather than people, because they are more reliable and predictable, and therefore secure a reputation as not being good with people.

So moving from programming to a role more involved with people can bring its own stresses if you are not suited to dealing with them. If you try to bring your own preferences for rationality, logic and predictability into an area where – for want of a better word – "normal" people are in the majority, you may find it hard to cope.

You will have to deal with all sorts of situations, not the least of which will be you will have to keep asking questions of your business colleagues, when they have been over it once. You will think that you are appearing thick, and you must learn to swallow your own pride in order to get all the information you need. Which is not easy if you are missing that extra layer of skin that separates "people" people from people like me.

Be realistic with yourself. Ask yourself if you have a wide circle of friends and can think of nothing worse than not being surrounded by people for most of the day, or are you the kind of person who may look longingly at that, but then returns to the technology-based series you have been watching on your own. It is a generalisation - perhaps even a parody - but you get my point.

I have generalised a lot, of course and most people can deal with other people quite easily. But the downside to getting it wrong for me was one of the things that led me down the hard road of alcohol abuse and it is only now that I am beginning to be able to deal with people – life on life’s terms – with the help of the Twelve-Step program. Remember the following…

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

[Mich the Tester]

I don't know where to post as it's certainly not Light Relief...

Basically I'm tired with the whole IT and corporate world.

I can sympathize as I've been feeling the same way. I'm not sure it's necessarily IT though; it could just be the corporate world. I still enjoy a challenging testing job; I’m just sick to the back teeth of all the bureaucratic tulipe, management BS and general turgidness of large corporations. I feel prevented from doing my work well. Perhaps time to set up shop with a group of developers and testers who do rapid application development and consciously choose not to grow beyond a certain number.

[BrilloPad]

Sounds like you should retrain as a councellor.

[basshead]

Just re-label yourself or skill up as an architect and you'll be earning more, be involved in business level discussions and be capitalising on your existing skill set.

[Francko]

I only want to point out one thing. Many people keep saying that becoming a BA or a PM is an evolution. Yet can somebody explain why there are many people who can switch from a programmer role to a BA/PM but no one can do the opposite?

Guys, let's face it, to be a programmer you need specific skills which you can't build up with experience. Not to say that other roles are less difficult but to me programmers are the most difficult roles and should be rewarded well, as you do find very few of them around (and yes even in our cheap pool of resources like India, it's still very hard to find some real programmers). I am somehow in the middle, mainly because most analysts are not real analysts and so you have to end up doing business analysis for them (or "supporting" them, as they like to say), however I do enjoy mostly the technical part despite I find it very unrewarding, compared to other areas where there are less skilled resources and you can get along with mediocre inputs.

[NickFitz]

whatever happened to Systems Analysts?

It turned out they were the ones who'd been saying "Use two digits for the 'Year' value, somebody else can fix it if they're still using this crock of tulip in 1999."

They were then rounded up by an élite unit from GCHQ, and incarcerated in a secret base beneath the ruined village of Imber. There they were forced to debug COBOL day and night - a terrible experience for many, as they didn't actually know how to create, modify, or use systems; just how to analyse them.

Once it was apparent that the menace threatened by their previous aberrations had passed, January 1st 2000 was the occasion of the Ceremonial Immolation of Systems Analysts.

A few sought to leave the ceremony before receiving their just rewards.

None managed to make it across Salisbury Plain to freedom.

[Bagpuss]

whatever happened to Systems Analysts?

[chris79]

I wouldn't let me recent story put you off, that was just unfortunate. I think it all depends on your own persona, what you want from life, and what gives you enjoyment.

If you like speaking to people, understanding systems, translating soft (human) problems into hard solutions then the BA or maybe PM role would be a fun thing to do. Equally if your comfort zone is to stick with what you know and use those skills to produce something, if you are happy doing this then stick with it.

There's always a bit of risk in trying to move direction a bit (like my recent story), but sometimes the risk will lead to a better reward either in terms of financial, or personal gain. Last week I was benched so had little to lose trying out the role I took (then walked).. I'll keep doing it until either the right thing comes along (or I run out of money)!

[TykeMerc]

Obvously you're referring to Chris's recent issue.

From my perspective I enjoy managing projects, I find it much more challenging than technical stuff these days as I spend less than 10% of my time on IT issues.
To me it's worthwhile.

[xchaotic]

With regards to systems thoery, for me it's yet another reason to move in that area - I find all that very interesting and have very little theoretical background so more room to grow.

Yet my main question is, is it worthwhile? Is it not early...

Judging by your recent experience chris79, I'll end up with the same data entry position you did
(btw. props for walking off, big cojones)

[TykeMerc]

I've worked with BA's and PM's who've come from programming backgrounds, it's entirely possible and doesn't necessarily imply a drop in rate or seniority to make the move. For that matter it's quite typical and usually makes better PM's than people with no technical history in my experience.
My background was infrastructure networks and systems, becoming a PM was just progression in much the same way you appear to be heading. I started as an engineer, moved through leading teams, work streams and stages to managing the projects and programmes.

[chris79]

On one hand, no amount of technology can solve people's emotional problems, on the other, that's why it's pure and logical - if sth doesn't work and we know why, we can fix that. Not so with humans.

Not true, go look up soft systems methodology.