Should I start looking for a new job?

Personally I think IT people are very overpaid (in the UK certainly)

Entry level people who go around and fix printers or install software or tell you to turn it off and on again get paid literally double entry level people who are on the phone all day in Operations making the company actually work.

I was offered a transfer in my company to the IT dept to work as a Business Analyst (basically someone who explains what you want the program to do to the person who writes the code as the people who write code arent able to understand business requirements)... I would have got more money and a company car, but I turned it down. When I see the level of reward compared to the level of work in comparison to most other people perhaps I really did make a mistake.

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Any ANYONE working in a nice office and earning £20K or something doesnt have much sympathy for me. There are poor bastards driving container wagons, away from home sleeping in the cab 4 days a week, transporting stuff around the country so that people who can eat and live who are on similar wages. And people working in factories earning half of that or with no job at all who would love to get a driving job.

Be grateful that you have a job if you have one, and if you want to better yourself you have to earn it, not assume you are entitled to it because you went to school.

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When I was a kid I worked in warehouses and factories, working with migrant workers who are on minimum wage or people who have been doing work like that for 20 or 30 years. Meat processing plants (for 2 weeks), a truck stop.. I'm grateful that I personally had the wherewithal to do something else, but I dont think that I have some kind of automatic entitlment to be better off that guys like that.

Anyway, rant over.

 

He is far from overpaid. Just because the truck drivers might have to work harder, that is their problem, not his.

Maybe the phone people in Operations are vastly underpaid.

To the OP, yes, have an exit strategy. Hopefully you are somehow saving a lot of money for a move. Although part of the reason jobs pay more in other cities is that the cost of living is higher. If you are spending $6000 on rent, you will need to earn $8000 more before taxes or something. Plus utilities...

 

pretty much what everyone has said, dont quit till you have a new gig, and keep looking for a new gig (i.e. resumes) update ur resume often, and make sure that each submission is tailored to the position ur applying for. this show above average insight and efficiency.

Most of all i think the 3rd or 4th post said "do it with a smile on your face". this is most pivotal... keep eating the shit sandwich and dont ever let them see you sweat. confidence (which u said u were down on due to all of this) comes from within. your self image, and unique skills are something noone can take away form you, and you must believe this to not only make urself marketable to employers, but also to keep urself mentally healthy. it also makes u marketable to girls...

 

If anyone wanted an update to this old thread, I had accepted a job offer in early June and am just waiting for the background investigations to go through before they tell me they're ready for me to start. It's literally 1000 miles away, so it'll be a big move but I'm very excited and extremely grateful!