You Aren't Allowed to Hate Your Job

Aahh...I can't stay away...I miss you guys too much.

Reading this article about weird tech support calls brought back some memories about doing phone support -- it's never pleasant. Tech support is the entry-level, bargain-basement, bread-and-butter section of IT and most of us started out that way. I think I've spent a lot of time thinking about the wrong end of the problem. Tech support is a miserable job, sure - but is the answer to say "People should be smarter!"? Probably not...we're still wrestling with the notion that an application can be feature-rich and intuitive. It's also fair to say that human perception is a tricky thing and therefore to create a common vision of what is 'intuitive' is an elusive goal.

This is why we hire UI architects...but I digress.

Beyond the whole question of 'why are the people who call tech support so dumb?' and the 'People should do more work to understand their systems' line - let's realize the truth: The real problem isn't that people are 'dumb' - it's that you hate doing tech support. It's frustrating to you - it's a thankless job with no future and no respect and you hate that job. You might lay awake at night wondering why Cindy, the lead rep, enjoys it so much when you don't and what that might say about you, personally. Stop it with the angst. Not everyone hates this job - but you do...admit the truth, at least to yourself. Now that you've done that, let's move on to the main purpose of the exercise…

STOP IT!

That's right, boys and girls, stop hating your job! Instead - move onto a job that you don't hate or, maybe even better a job that you love! That's what IT allows us to do - do what we love to do, and play with tech while doing it. Do you like working outdoors? You're a Field rep! Do you like public speaking? You're an IT Trainer! Do you love tech but also love another field, like medicine, law, real estate, groceries, food service? Become an IT consultant to those industries - they're all using some kind of tech and they need someone who can fix it! The field is unlimited.

Here is what no one likes to talk about: The openness of Information Technology asks us, demands of us, to do our best in our job roles. But to do that, we have to engage our heart as well as our brain. It is what allows us to put in the extra time, extra care and extra attention to detail that makes the job stand out. You can ‘work smarter not harder’ all you want, the people who love their jobs are motivated to go the extra mile to make it all come together. Your willingness to go that extra mile is what makes you valued in your organization. It is too difficult to do otherwise - the field is littered with people who can dedicate themselves to the task because they care about it. That goes for you, too, bucko! You can't do the job well unless you care about doing a good job and guess what? You can't force yourself to care about something – not even for money.

When you do what you love to do – it shows. You know it and your customers, clients, bosses, executive VPs…they know it, too. Being in a job that you love is a boost to your quality of life; you sleep better at night, you eat junk food and drink less often. It’s amazing how a shift in your job contributes to your general mental health – it’s even more amazing how much you don’t realize this until it happens.

You are the master of your own destiny. Complaining about your situation when there is so much opportunity for you to do better is unacceptable. Don’t hate your job – find a job you love! Just changing jobs or career paths isn’t an instant guarantee of success, however – I’ll talk more about this in Part II.