Professional Direction.

[TotalControl]

I work in IT support at present (on the phones, day in, day out) and seem to have come to a rather inevitable decision regarding my health. The longer I work in a demanding technical call centre, the more chances I have of this situation getting worse.

So I guess the question is where do I go from here? Ideally I'd like to find something local and still definitely in IT, but what types of roles do not involve sitting in a call centre environment and doing nothing but listening to peoples problems over the phone?

If it helps, I have worked in Technical/Broadband Support (1st/2nd&partial 3rd line) for the last 7.5 years. No degree. Just hard graft experience with some short courses. The only major course is ITIL which I am trying to learn at present.

Anyone been in a similar situation?

Edited by TotalControl on Tuesday 31st January 19:43

[TurricanII]

What is the nature of your health concerns? That has a bearing on what might be a good move for you. If you want low stress and boring, go work in house as an IT support person. Learn one setup inside out and handle occasional changes.

Working in a 3rd party support company is good if you want new skills but that brings with it the stress of learning new stuff all the time, plus dealing with many different clients.

[TotalControl]

I have Ménière's disease, but seems to affect me differently whereby if I am on the phones too long I get dizzy and sick with some occasional ear discomfort. So I have to walk around or come off the phones totally.

Also, another minor concern of mine, is that I have put on weight. Not a lot, but if I don't do something now, it may spiral out of control.

The hours are a bit too long for my liking at 10 hour a day. This leaves me with next to no time for my family/own activities.

[TurricanII]

Can you move 'in house' where you are now, so you maintain the IT of the call center?

Other than that I can only suggest you look at a job working in-house at a mid to large company near you. A company with 300 to 500 staff in one place generally has a variety of things that need doing, so you are not always stuck at your desk. It is nice to be able to walk to the people to help them when working in house.

Or look at a move into education - teaching IT at college or working in house at an educational establishment? Not sure how easy that would be to get into.

[TotalControl]

Unfortunately there are no vacancies in house. And they are quite selective with their people (favouritism) if any job does come up.

What you do suggest though is exactly what I would like, working in house.

I wont be able to go into teaching as I did some research a few years ago and the requirements in regards to degree/teaching courses and dedication towards them isn't feasible with the time and funds I have.

[Crafty_]

Look in to system design/implementation. You are able to support a system, so if you had free reign how would you design it and / or implement ??

Leads to consultancy type jobs, gets you away from the call centre.
Alternatively you could look at training ?

[snowmuncher]

Look for an in-house support job in the public sector

Local councils in particular.
Not just a "slower pace of life", but are more sympathetic to health conditions too.

[TotalControl]

Spoke to my employer and it doesn't look too good. They have stated that there are no other positions.