I'm about to be done with my A.S. degree and that has been the final goal for so long I really am not sure what comes next if anything. I'm growing weary of my current job (self-employed computer repair guy) and am hoping to expand my IT knowledge and move on to something else, something different, interesting, and less tedious, but I really am not sure what. I'm wondering if an ulterior motive for getting my degree was to have an excuse to sit back and wait for something to fall into my lap. Alas, I am sadly lacking in knowledgeable acquaintances that can get my foot in the door anywhere good. I could probably get a level 2/3 job at a call center for T-Mobile fairly easily with surprisingly decent pay but I think the annoyances that come with that job are too similar to the ones I'm trying to get away from. Besides, my job has some really good points and I don't want to risk it on something I'm likely to hate as much or worse. I'm wondering if I stick out my current job out and go for the 4 year degree or if it's time to get moving on my career. I hate school and I'm not sure what I want to do for work. I've done the certification thing and I don't like it very much, I feel as if I learn very little in the process of passing the test, but I actually have a couple tests bought and paid for right now from years ago (vouchers for two Server 03 tests, and I think I could pass both with a couple/few months of study and a copy of server 03). Just throw some stuff out there to help my mind start moving, it's stuck in a pitiful, useless, depressing loop. I'm so excited, yet, I'm wondering if this degree will collect dust while my Starcraft efficiency improves far too much. With the condo-buying activities essentially dealt with, and the degree earned (I think), and my job declining somewhat (by choice), it seems like I need to make some kind of decision about where to invest my energy. I cycle in life going from a frantic pace to a lethargic one fairly regularly, and I feel the frantic stage declining and I've passed the healthy in between a few weeks ago.
The other thing is that maybe my career is secondary, I also want to learn the truth about things and better myself as a person, get rid of some bad habits and clear up some life confusion. My priorities are a jumble, I have no idea what's more important, I only know it's all important. (disappearing for a bit while I repair my copy of windows XP that committed suicide)
I've been in your position before... After leaving my job on the Hill, I started doing consulting. The money and hours were great, but as time went on, it got incredibly boring. I'd also been in the DC area most of my life and I'd gotten sick of it, the traffic, the high cost of living, the general people that lived in the area. I ended up picking up and moving 1200 miles away, on a whim, and started over. I got a job at a bank, which was doing much what I'd been doing prior, generally not using any of the skills I'd gained that led up to my MSCE+I, and basically wasting all of that knowledge. I got laid off from the job, and that felt like winning the lottery. I found my current position after that, and while its been ok, I work for an awesome company, but its still doing more of the same. That's when I decided to start working on my degree and looking at migrating out of the IT field. I've been doing it for 20 years, and I'm positively sick of it. I realize that you're in a different position, especially being married, (I'd been divorced for a few years when I decided to move). If you asked me 20 years ago, I wouldn't have been able to tell you that I would develop an interest, or even a passion, in psychology that would replace the passion that I felt for working with computers. My decision to get out of the IT field was easy, but where to go, to find what did interest me enough that I'd be willing to work in the field for the next 20 years took long amounts of introspecition as well as long talks with friends, family, and my wife. One thing I learned is that once you put that ring on, never try to make big decisions without input from the wife, otherwise, you'll likely be taking it back off... ROFL. But what it comes down to is that you've gotta do what's right for you, because if you don't, you end up with ulcers and generally ticking everyone around you off. You don't have to love your job, but you have to be able to at least tolerate it. Probably the biggest piece of advice I can give is Don't waffle. Take your time, make a plan, stick to it. And most of all, don't bail if it gets beyond your comfort level. Go at it even harder... That's how we grow as individuals.
Good advice, for sure, especially the part about waffling. What a huge time waster, you see it every day. As for my wife, she's great, she doesn't care what I do and is on-board with any ideas I throw in the ring.
