Solsticin

That's it, I've had it. Two years ago I was on the top of my game. I was (and still am I'd be willing to bet) one of the best IT people you've ever seen. I've helped create RFCs, written a ridiculous amount of training, helped likely every large business in America with their problems when no one else could figure it out, led the way in security when no one wanted to, I write code in many langauges, do databases, understand how all this junk works ...blah, blah, blah

But I've had it. I want out.

I had a nervous break two years ago while still working for Microsoft. I went from the best they had, to the worst, in less than a week and I couldn't recouperate. I quit. I quit with the intention of coming back later when I felt better.

I've since had time to reevaluate my life. I hate this industry. It is souless. I want no part of it anymore. I had to stand back and look at it from the outside to finally see it for what it was. I want to work someplace where I can have a LIFE. I don't want to be chained to some pager/cell phone like a damned slave. I WANT TO WORK 9 - 5 not 100 hours a week minimum.

Money isn't everything. This isn't coming from someone who never had it who is jealous. I had it. I was much happier when I was living off Ramen noodles. Making six figures a year was nice, but I'd rather make minimum wage than have my short life taken from me.

OK, now that that is said, where in the hell do I go from here? I'm 33 years old and I'm wanting to start a new career. Money isn't an object. I could care less, I'm set, but I need to work or I'm gonna go mad.

I NEED IDEAS!!

I'm getting back into playing music again (I'm a drummer) and that has helped a great deal, but it's a hobby. I need to find something to do for a living. The only thing I ever wanted to do since I was a little kid was be around computers all day. I would still like that, but I can't handle working for these greedy self-important corporate halfwits anymore (for the record, I don't mean Microsoft here, that was the best employer ever, but the people I helped while working there fit the description for the most part).

HELP!!! I'm completely stumped!

There has to be some idustry out there that is worth working for ....right?

Thanks for your input gang.

*EDIT*
By the way, I'm not arrogant (see the first paragraph heheh) I was just trying to put this into perspective. I'm very good at what I do. I have no idea how else to put it!

*EDIT 2*
I'm in the Dallas area by the way.

girlwriter

Solsticin,

Congratulations! It sounds like you're about to start loving life again.

My husband was a fairly high powered DBA for an internet start-up, and we figured we couldn't loose, but it was killing him. Hours sucked, and he hated it. He was living the life of a drone. Well, he got layed off a coulple of years ago and went to Real Estate collage, and he loves it. The hours are still crazy, but they seem much better because his work environment changes constantly (home, office, driving people around, etc.) We are both so much happier now. Also, even though he's chained to his cell phone, clients don't call at 3:00am. Databases don't care about time of day when they crash. Anyway, I feel for you.

So what are you interested in? Music and computers, there's a lot of possibilities there. If you still want to work with computers, you should look into small companies - especially small, fun, funky companies, like a microbrewery or internet company that sells music-related stuff. (Just pulling stuff out of the air, here.)

You could go back to school if you like that, explore around and see what you're interested in. Or try volunteering to see what's out there.

Can you teach? You could teach computer workshops to underprivilaged kids, single moms, etc. Or get a regular job teaching or tutoring.

Just a few ideas, it would help to know what your hobbies/loves/interests are. Keep us posted!

ohwilleke

Get a job as an IT professor with the University of Phoenix or something. Hours decent. Pay less than what you were making before. Uses your existing skills. Puts you in contact with lots of interesting people.

Loren Pechtel

Your anger is misdirected. Screw Micro$oft!

Maverick

This is a better fit for the lounge.

Maverick - SL&S Moderator

Vicar Philip

Do you have any interest in broadcast? I'm chief engineer for a decent sized television station, and I'll tell you it is extremely difficult to find any decent engineers these days. The other cool thing is that virtually everything in a station these days has a computer hanging off of it. So I get to work on my two loves (besides my wife, of course ): computers and electronics.

villainess

Dunno how much of a goody-two-shoes you are inclined to be (the half of me that's not a villainess is a real bleeding heart) but Idealist.org has a lot of listings for people who want to be around computers but not in a big business corporate setting. They do job listings from all sorts of nonprofits - everything from little shoestring hole in the wall charities to the major universities and foundations. Of course, I've been searching in New York so I don't know what their listings are like for Dallas.

the.villainess

Jutsuka

There is always the computer gaming industry...

Godless Dave

What kind of training and/or experience would someone need for a job like that?

pz

No, go for a real university instead. Computer science departments are begging for people -- the differential in what a university can pay vs. what industry pays is so great that it is just sucking people out of academe.