Should I start looking for a new job?

Hello TFP. I'm posting this anonymously but I used to be an active lurker here and have always respected your opinions. With that said, I have a life dilemma and I'm not sure what the appropriate course of action to take is. Sorry in advance for the really long post.

I had quit my last job in around October 2010 - which was not IT related - due to differences I had with the company, and it allowed me to focus my last couple of semesters at the university anyways. I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in IT in May of 2011, so not too long ago, and obtained two lower-level certifications (A+ and Network+). so I put in about 300 or so resumes throughout the USA from about January of 2011 up until August 2011, when I got interviewed for a local IT position.

Take note that I was desperately trying to get out of my little town and even my state, mostly because I didn't want to be near or around my politically crazy and racist parent in which I live with unfortunately due to my financial situation, but also because I felt that I've been living here for far too long in this town - since I was a kid - that is made up of what seems to be 90% of people over the age of 60, and I feel that I'll never get the chance to start a family or make friends here because I literally haven't made a single friend here in around 7 years, and have had one short-term girlfriend in my entire life. I'm sure it's mostly my fault - I'm not here to argue that - but I feel like it'd be easier to start a new life somewhere else. Plus, I'd absolutely love to just see what a different place has to offer; I don't get the feeling of independence in this little town.

Anyhow, I interviewed for the local job because I wasn't getting any offers or interviews elsewhere. I figured it'd probably pay well, I'd stick to it for at least a year saving up some money and gaining some experience, and move on like I had wanted to before to somewhere else in the country. I did well in the interview considering that this was my first "real" interview and that I don't have a lot of job experience. I asked them a few questions like, what is the job schedule like (he answered: "pretty standard"), around how many people we support (answered: around 2000 in-house), and how many people will I be working with (answered: there's a lot of us, *laugh*). A couple of weeks later, after me having pestered them about the job status, I got a call from HR saying they want to hire me. I was actually excited because I really needed the money. She said I'd get paid $12.75, so $23,700 at 36 hours a week. My jaw dropped to the floor and I couldn't speak. I was looking up annual salaries for the position nationwide, and the absolute lowest was $30,000, the average being $34,000, and went up to $42,000. There have been other jobs that I didn't even apply to that were one position lower than the one I have now and they averaged around at $27,000-$30,000, but I didn't apply to them because I am overqualified and never expected to be stuck at something that pays so low. I tried negotiating with her, to the point where I made it seem like I would decline the job, but she said that's the best they could do.

I took the job anyways, as I really needed the money and lost confidence in finding anything in this economy, and thought I could still use the experience. So I worked a few normal weeks, and things started to change.

What went from a normal schedule (in which he said it would be in the interview) that was Monday-Friday, 8am-4:30pm changed to a schedule that has me coming in at odd hours on some days (6:30am, 8am, 10am) and working 2 out of 3 weekends for a 12 hour shift, then I get 5 days off in a row every 3rd week. It's weird, it sucks that I can't really sign up for martial arts classes that I wanted to eventually join, and it's just not what I was told was going to happen. And I was told I had to work Thanksgiving the day before because someone above me wanted that off, even though it was scheduled to be my day off. Plus I work a 12 hour shift on Christmas, so the only one day that I DO want to be with my family and see my brothers and nephew and niece, I don't get to because "1" person has to be there in the IT department for 12 hours and it so happened to be me.

On top of that, the position I applied for is not really the position I am doing right now. It's a mix of the lower position that I didn't apply to in other jobs and a mix of the one I did apply for. So 80% of the time I'm answering stupid phone calls that should be handled to someone lower, which brings me to my next point; they are understaffed to hell, which is why I have to do that lower position stuff too.

Now, I wouldn't mind working Christmases or having odd schedules if I were getting paid a good amount of money. I wouldn't care about having to do the lower position stuff at all if I were paid averagely, I can make sacrifices. But that's not how it is, and although I love working in IT and enjoy doing the stuff I signed up for, it all boils down to me being angry at my poor salary and location. It doesn't help that I was essentially lied to about the schedule either.

But I'm not sure what to do... I feel like, "there are other people out there who can't even find a job, and here I am complaining about a $23,700 salary..." But I feel miserable living in this town and having no friends here. I don't know if I should try applying for other jobs or sticking this one out. I'd also feel bad for quitting my job because my manager is a really cool guy and I knew what the salary was when I accepted the job, and after giving a two weeks notice, those last two weeks there would be so extremely awkward for me, just knowing that all of them thinks I was a shitty employee for leaving them only after 4 or so months (or whenever I could find a new job).

I really don't know what to do and could really use some advice...

 

Find another job before you quit the current one. Preferably in an area you'd like to move to.

If you find another job, out of town, you can play it off as "I really want to relocate" over "your job sucks, shove it!" for those last two weeks. Also, the company is more than aware of the fact that they are not paying you enough - they will understand exactly why you are leaving after just a few months, especially if you have a better opportunity elsewhere.

 

Here's what you do, deal with it. And deal with it with a smile on your face. Until you can walk away from that job and move to a better one, it is the only one you have. It is far, far easier to get a job when you are employed, no matter what the employment conditions are. I know, I just went through 17 months of unemplyment. So suck it up, sure it isn't what you were told it would be, but that happens. All the time. Be eager to do what ever. You probably are one of the least senior on staff. Those people always get the shitty hours. But that will change if you are there long enough.

And here's a site to help you with your job searches http://www.roberthalftechnology.com/ There's a great salary calculator on it that adjusts salaries by zip code.

Good luck and hang in there. No one has their first job forever.

 

do not quit till you have a new one. do not quit until you have a new one.

 

Frankly, I think you should have kept sending out resumes from the beginning. You knew you were compromising to take this job. Find a job you want in a locale you desire and move on. When you land said job, tell your boss the truth: You enjoyed working for him, but the hours and the pay don't meet your needs and you are moving on. Your coworkers opinions don't count. You're leaving town anyway.

 

yeah the conditions might suck and you have to work holidays and you're overqualified for the job, but you said it yourself: nobody else is hiring. you have valid complaints and maybe it isn't fair that you have to do all this extra stuff, but these days everyone has to cinch their belt down an extra notch and live off of what they can get. if that means that you have to put up with some bullshit at work, hey, it's better than not being employed at all.

 

This is like looking at a blog post of mine a year or two later. Crazy familiar.

*****

Hi, my name is wet towel and I'm going to lay around for a bit.

Welcome to the bottom of the barrel of the IT industry. You will be here awhile. You will hate it but if you want to get anywhere you have to have experience somewhere.

I've been there, still really there, and working the same job you worked. Except I did the whole package, phone support and network admin tasks for the same price you did. It sucks.

Learn to deal with low level, level 1 tech support; it will be your life for AWHILE.

I've asked this same question, but really there is only one real answer. Bend over, grab your ankles and say, "Please sir, can I have some more." You need experience and this company is willing to provide it and pay for it. The IT industry SUCKS right now, people want years of experience but want to pay them shit for it. I know guys with 20+ years of experience having to work shitty low level IT jobs just because no one is hiring.

My advice? Suck it up, work the shitty hours (do you get paid by the hour? then count yourself lucky, most places put you on salary and work you all the hours they can) and then move on to another low paying job that will hopefully get you some more experience. Keep doing this til you can get somewhere you don't mind working the shitty hours or you get lucky enough to BS someone to hire you for a job you are not really qualified for so that you can actually learn something.

I try and work a job for at least a year, employers don't want to see you jumped from job to job.

Keep sending resumes, dump them everywhere.

Also, a college degree and two low level CompTIA certs does make someone experienced. That makes you just qualified enough to get the job you have, nothing more.

*****

Teach yourself something useful. Get a good cert (CCNA is great for resumes) and start learning something in your spare time. Figure out what direction in the IT industry you want to do and start learning the skills related to that section. Web design? Learn PHP and mysql (knowing flash/dreamweaver can't hurt). Network admin (windows)? Learn server OSes, powershell, VMs (VMware). For linux, setup a linux box at your house and start playing around on the shell command line. Dumpster dive and get you some old switches/equipment to play around on.

Learn and network. Do anything at your job that you can fluff up on your resume. Talk to anyone that could help you get a better job, it will help out later. Interships help too.

I just left a job like yours and it sucks. Think of it this way, every job is a stepping stone to a better gig. Second the people saying that jobs are scarce right now, be glad you got one. I know guys with experience that makes me look like a best buy geek squad jockey and THEY can't find jobs. I had to tell myself that every morning before I went to work at my soul sucking, dead-end, shit factory job I was working at. I had to answer phone calls on my day off (and at all hours of the night) and do all the stupid shit that was thrown my way. At least your company didn't sell $50k worth of the wrong equipment and then expect you to duct tape it together to make it work before the client sued us for taking money and then not finishing the job.

 

Make a copy of this thread and re read it 3, 5, or 10 years from now

And later, when you've got a situation you like and the new kid comes in, pissed because he didn't get the salary or department, or hours he wanted, annoy him and tell him how hard it was back in the old days

 

I didn't come here to annoy him, I came here to give him the cold hard truth. Same thing that was given to me when I bitched about my low paying job. I was told I was inexperienced and under-qualified for the job and they were right. I took that and worked on fixing the situation. Martian speaks the truth, his post is dead on. The points on my post and his that are similar are because both of us work in the industry and know the ends and outs of it. Martian is the one that layed the cold hard truth on me and I would listen to him.

I didn't want someone to sugarcoat the truth for me and I won't do the same for someone else.

Who wants to hear, "Oh poor baby, they just don't know how SMART you are. You should be making 6 figures with just a college degree! You have to work past 5 o'clock? Those BIG MEANIES!" If that's what he wants to hear, he came to the wrong place. I'm sure he has a phone number in his cell phone that will feed him that line of BS.

 

Sack.Up.Nancy.

Look around. Notice all of those people who are losing their stuff? Yeah, they'd gladly take your job. Sack up, and keep looking.

 

The bottom line is, it is what it is, I'm afraid. A shame that the employment situation has deteriorated to the point where a job is so precious employees have to deal with whatever shit they get handed. It's an employer's market, though. Supply and demand rules the day in the absence of the state and federal policies which at one time might have at least insured they couldn't fuck with your hours they way they do without your explicit consent beforehand.

I don't know enough about the IT job market to comment further - for all I know this could be the way they do everyone and have always done everyone. Are you getting paid overtime (time and a half) for extended hours and on call hours worked? I believe that is federal law for hourly employees.

Makes me glad I never had an interest in IT, though I'd probably have paid my dues by now.

As others have said, don't quit this job until you've got another in the bag. It's much easier to find a job when you have a job. Everyone pays their dues in one fashion or another. You are paying yours. You don't have to like it but you do have to grit your teeth and bear it if you want to reap benefits later.

 

While my own experience is more working for a software vendor, I can empathise with a lot of what Martian is saying. I have almost 25 years working in software development, quite a chunk of the early part of that spent in a client facing role. In the last year I've

• done an all nighter helping get data sent from our data centre in London to the client's data centre in America
• worked quite a few late nights getting prepared for demos/client meetings

And I am a salaried worker (no over time for me), though I'm well above minimum wage now.

I started in this straight out of high school and don't have a degree. I'm well aware of the limitations in my knowledge, but also have a pretty good handle on my strengths. Experience is everything in IT.

The upsides? Well, I spent 6 weeks in Europe this year, relationship building on the company coin and I work mostly unsupervised from home and have really flexible hours. I took a lot of toil to get to this point, though.

 

My post wasn't directed at you Lordeden or Martian for that matter
here, I'll add more words for clarity

Because Anonymoose, and I don't speak about the IT industry but work life in general, as you will come to realize in thoses years, you gotta put yur time in. That position you want, already belongs to someone, someone who used to work the hours you did and for probably less pay. That someone put his time in and set about making himself valuable to his employer, so that when one of his collegues retired, got fired, or whatever, he would be among those they considered to fill the post. He probably even made a friend or two instead of sulking about the conditions of his entry level job. So make a copy of this thread and when you have some years under your belt, you can look back with some perspective and maybe get a little chuckle out of the fact that you expected so much when you had so little to offer.

You see, Anonymoose, once you have gained experience, perspective, and a working knowledge of how work works ( IT, finance, insert your industry here), there's gonna come a day when some kid fresh out of school is gonna come in thinking that all you old guys are stuck in the middle ages because you came up with technology 3, 5, 10 years ago and he just mastered new versions of that along with brand new OS's that haven't even hit the market yet. Not only that he's great at it because he scored in the top 3% of his class. So why should he have to start at the bottom when you geezers are just getting by.
Annoy him by telling him that he's not the golden boy he thinks he is, annoy him by letting him know tht school teaches you theory and theory is only enough to get you in the door. It will be practice and experience that will give you your biggest education.
Besides, by this time you are doing your job almost blindly and it's not as exciting as you thought it would be when you were a kid. Sure it has it's high points, but you have to endure the mundane to get to the high points. So having a new kid around who's bubble you can deflate can be a diversion, it can pass the day, espessially if that kid is full of himself. Plus it'll help him out in the long run, exposing him to the ways of life.

um better? no?

 

IT is a broad field and I can only speak to the network infrastructure portion.

I'm your competition. I have 30 years experience with IBM and 4 more with another 3 letter acronym company. I have CCNA, CCNP, and an engineering degree. I'm currently employed, unhappy as hell, and actively looking for something a bit more pleasant. It's a tough job market at the moment and contacts mean as much as experience. Use your existing job to improve your experience and make contacts.

 

Hey guys, sorry it has taken me so long to reply back in this thread, but I have read every post.

It seems like there almost an even 50/50 mix of "apply elsewhere but keep your current job until you get the offer" or "suck it up". I'd like to go into a bit more detail and clear up some misconceptions:

I'd never just quit my job and then start applying and waiting again; I'd of course apply and interview while I have my current job.

To all the replies perceiving that I feel I'm better than my current title due to schooling and that I want to move up immediately, that's far from how I feel. I love what I do for the most part, and feel the Desktop Support is perfect for my level. Yes, at the time I was in college I felt I'd learn enough to skip all these entry level positions, but by the time I graduated I knew that I needed an entry level position to learn from and I'm okay with that. I didn't want to give away my identity to the outside any further, but I work in a hospital, and I love the environment. 95% of the time I can solve the problem at work, whether it's a break/fix, user access problem, or knowing who to call that supports the software/hardware in-house or not. The other 4.5% it's a Desktop Support 2 issue that I will attempt to fix if I have the time to, which I usually don't because I have a million other issues to deal with and have to hand them over the issue so that I can do my job and they can do theirs.

With the above said, I would apply for Desktop Support 1 positions elsewhere, preferably in a hospital setting because I now have at least a little experience there. My main issue isn't that I don't feel I'm right for the position, it's that I'm not making the money I feel that I "can" get if I were working elsewhere doing a similar role. For example, I looked at the job listings for a popular University that is 2 hours away and they had a position on their medical campus with a pay range of $13.50 - $26.85. Considering I make $23,700 at 36 hours a week, is it wrong to at least apply for a position with a pay range of $28,000 at 40 hours a week or possibly more? The range they use is very high, so would it be out of the question altogether to be making $32,000 - $35,000 in a similar position? I'm making $23,700 now with the potential of 2% annual raise (which is $450-$500 a year) and not a lot of room to move up in position to their constantly highly stingy budget, so with this in mind I'll be stuck in the lower-to-mid $20K range, when I can leave right now and start off potentially making $4K -$9K more. Whether or not that would happen, is it wrong of me to apply and possibly interview and try to get that while I hold my current job?

 

Of course its not wrong to look around whilst you are still in employment. You have a valid reason to be looking for a change - a need to escape family. Its a scarey time to be looking for work. Maybe, whilst in your current employment, someone might come across you and think to ask you if you would like a change of scenery and more money because they can see you have proven yourself. Borla forgot to tell you the secret of his success is his mate 'Lucky Stanley', who does give him a lot of support outside of the workplace, is equipped to 'smooch around for new contacts' with his impeccable manners and deportment. Support of true friends is a good thing to have.

 

Just keep putting out the resumes. If you have the opportunity to go somewhere else, take it. Move in with Uncle Billy* in a real city and try to get the next job. As someone from Shitsville, NC, I never had any opportunities, until I moved out to a larger town.

I work in IT. I've worked in desktop support, and all the way up to network and server administration, Windows, Unix/Linux. I have done some coding too. I didn't choose the industry, and I don't know why anyone would. It's a crap job all around. Bad hours, thankless bosses. Even when the pay is good, it doesn't seem worth it ( darn having kids and bills). I get paid well, btw ( I am pretty good at my job though )

(* I really don't know if you have an Uncle Billy )