Ambition once came with a promise: a home, a salary, progress and fulfilment. What happens when that promise is broken? Meet the women who are turning their backs on consumerism, materialism and burnout
Ambition once came with a promise: a home, a salary, progress and fulfilment. What happens when that promise is broken? Meet the women who are turning their backs on consumerism, materialism and burnout
I may do it if the pay is impressive but seems the intention is to move me up. I dont even know if I can actually pull off the job without looking like a clown.
thats like all jobs really. at least in tech. go from feeling like an unstoppable god to being the biggest fool that ever failed to fool a fool.
Potentially to sysadmin for the building, from being just the tech guy that kinda stagnated. Not much I been learning on the job other than the setup. I don’t know if I could even manage to land it though.
Over an entire life worth of experience difference between me and the boss.
If you’re being considered for this position by the boss with “over an entire life worth of experience difference” more than you, then trust that experience in their hiring judgement too.
There are SO MANY THINGS that simply cannot be taught. Maybe your boss would far rather teach a guy how to do advanced sysadmin tasks than try to teach him how to own and operate a working conscience, for example, or have to depend once again on a technical genius who lies constantly and fails to show up on time. Maybe he likes that you’re learning – and you’re actually continuously doing the unseen tasks of teaching yourself – and not just coasting on some very thin laurels you constantly repeat to everyone so that no one EVER forgets you’re a genius, even long enough to refill your coffee. And those are just examples; there are many, many more where those came from.
See, employees have a lot more to offer than the actual job skills. Those are just the first step for a seasoned manager. And sometime they’re not even as important as the other skills you’re discounting as unimportant. This boss isn’t thinking of you in this position because he likes constant hemorrhoids and anal bleeding; if he’s thinking of you in this position it’s because he knows you can make a go of it, learn on the job, and not make his life hell while you constantly lie about what you can do (including the personal five-finger employee discount program you created for yourself and think no one knows about).
Maybe he likes that when you say you’re gonna do something, you either do it as planned or keep him apprised of actual progress. Maybe he likes that he can trust you with outside clients, and knows you won’t show up in the C-suite in flip-flops with a bag of Fritos and then stare at some suit-wearing highly-paid CFO’s bodacious rack for the whole meeting while he’s trying to get or keep the funding that is what keeps you both in a job. Maybe he just likes that you don’t lie when you fuck things up, and look actively for solutions instead of engaging in immature emotionally self-protective behavior to the extent no one wants to work with you. Again, lots more examples where those came from.
But whatever his reasons, if you trust his experience, and he seems like a decent person and good manager, then trust his managerial expertise too. Just tell the truth about where you are, regarding both skills and concerns. Don’t exaggerate. Maybe let him decide if you’re a good fit before you turn him down, lol. IOW, if it’s ever offered, don’t turn this advanced position down on the sole basis of your inexperience.
Effective managers know the difference between good employees and bad ones, and chances are almost perfect that HE learned on the job too. So if he wants to hire you for this, even knowing your true level of skill, he’ll make sure you have support just to save his own ass – and you can ask about the kind of support you’ll have in the job yourself. Hope this helps.
Holy crap, man.
I can’t tell if that’s good or bad, lol. It’s just boomer yelling at cloud; you’re free to ignore it all. I wrote it because I was shocked at how short you’re selling your total employee value, but now that you’re thinking about it, my job here is done.
It’s hard to think about and plan for because it is vaguely in the future, be it tomorrow or a few years from now. Nothing is in stone yet, I just know it will happen eventually and I got to figure out some plans. Who knows, the pay could just not be worth it, or they just say no. The low stress I got now is amazing and that’s going to be hard to let go of.
It feels like its the first “adult” job where I go to an office and do boring office stuff instead of literally running 3 peoples worth of calls. I do 0-6 tickets instead of 30-100. I basically am doing a 10th of the work at twice the pay of the last job. That’s jarring enough on its own.
Those are absolutely great reasons to say no, and if you’re happy where you are, stay there. You’re also in a fantastic mental position from which to refuse whatever jobs or titles you don’t want and to bargain for what you really do, because you don’t NEED whatever’s offered. You’re looking for quality of life and interest as well as the paycheck, and mentally that gives you a very strong hand should you ever decide to go looking for more than what you have.
But if you do nothing else for now, and you’re not sure the current situation is necessarily going to remain as stable as it is today, then at least start thinking about what YOU want, what interests you beyond the paycheck in the work you do, so that if you ever have to start moving in a different direction, you have an option or two already picked. If there’s something more interesting in tech for you – you said “sysadmin” but, just as an example, maybe you realize the security end of things interests you a lot more than network closets – then that’s a direction you could start finding out more about.
At the very least, if you start looking into different sysadmin related titles and skills and finding out a little bit about everything that’s out there, you will be able to bullshit better if you ever have to switch jobs. You’ll also have a much better idea than many about how all the parts work together (or don’t) in a corporate organization. Knowing the lay of the land is a sort of experience too.
So coast all you want, keeping your eyes open and remaining curious while you do. But don’t sell yourself short. That’s really the part I wanted you to hear, because at that point it’s not other people shutting the door of opportunity on you, that’s you shutting it on yourself, and lack of experience in itself is not a good reason. I hope you find out what interests you and where your best fit lies.
Thanks.