Do I stay or do i go?

[BlueSmoke]

Hi folks.

I'm in a bit of a pickle at the moment. About 7 months ago, I got made redundant. At the time I was working as an IT Network Administrator.

At the time, I was applying for anything in a similar field, and ended up landing a job about 6 weeks later as a 2nd Line Technical Support Analyst. At the time of applying, they asked for a set of core skills, which I had, and said I would be doing this, that and the other.

I'm around 2 weeks away from completing my 6 months' probationary period. However, I am far from happy here. For the past 5 months, I have barely had any work to do, and have spent the majority of my time surfing the net. Which is not as great as it sounds. I'm completely bored.

I have gone to managers and the main boss, explained to them that I need something to get my teeth into. I get told I will soon be doing such and such and that somebody will be going through something with me and getting me involved. It never materialises.

There's another "new" guy, who came in around the same time as me. He is the main manager of our dept, and so a lot of the focus has been on getting him upto speed, which is fair enough. But there is no training in place here, no induction, no nothing. I have asked many many times about things and still have seen nothing change. All the previous people to have done my job were promoted internally, and needed no such induction, apparently.

Then to add to this, the guys that I immediately work with appear to have some sort of little clique thing going on. Always going for lunch together etc. they never ask me what I am doing for dinner, or invite me to join them. The stupid thing is, I am the type of person who gets on with most people, and I actually have a load of seperate mates who don't know each other, as they are all very different types of people and probably wouldn't get on if I had them all out as a group. Yet I am able to get on with them all, as I am just very comfortable with most people.

I recently went to London to our big office down there to do some work with two of the guys. They reported back to the big boss that I did a decent enough job, but wasn't hungry enough. My jaw literally hit the floor when I heard this. I did all the donkey work, took jobs on without being asked to try and be helpful, made notes on everything we did, joined in and did stuff myself at every opportunity etc. so to hear that was a real kick in the teeth.

I am losing the skills I came here with, because I am not using any of them. I am a competent IT guy, but I don't really specialise in anything, and was really hoping when I came here that I could start working towards a specialism somewhere. My weak point is Cisco stuff, as nobody ever seems to want to train you on it.

I'm about to turn 28 and I want more than this crappy £22k job. I'd like to be a field engineer, have a company car, plus a few more £k like a mate of mine does. I don't mind putting in some time at home and improving my skills etc.

My main problem I guess, is that I am quite a loyal person, and also I have only been here 5 and a half months. It's going to look bad to prospective employers, I fear. And despite everything, I would still feel guilty leaving so soon, when they did get me back into employment.

What would you do, in my shoes?

Apologies for the long winded post.

[don4l]

Do you think that the guys that said that you didn't seem hungry enough were being malicious?

If they weren't, then could you have a chat with them?

This might be a "culture" thing. You might be used to a more regimented regime.


Don
--

[TwistingMyMelon]

Cor blimey I was in the exact same position a while ago, similar company policies, not enough work, same cliqueness among staff, similar age, no training ops , similar IT job title!

Thankfully things did change and got better, I am now taking as many training ops I am being offered to set myself up better for future.

Hmm sorry I can't be more help, sounds to me like you could do with moving on, have a look out there, but you need to be brutally honest with yourself. Take some time and use the job you are in now to think what you actually want to do in the future, thats what I did.

Good luck work situations like that can drag you down a bit I found

[BlueSmoke]

don4l said:

Do you think that the guys that said that you didn't seem hungry enough were being malicious?

If they weren't, then could you have a chat with them?

This might be a "culture" thing. You might be used to a more regimented regime.


Don
--

Well, the two guys are right good mates, and have been used to working together for a few years, so I get the impressiont hey want to protect such trips to ensure they get the gig in the future, and stop me muscling in on it.

One of them is technically my line manager I suppose, but when I asked him if there was anything I did wrong or could have done better, he just diverted the question and said something about doing some other work he had given me. Load of rubbish basically.

TwistingMyMelon said:

Cor blimey I was in the exact same position a while ago, similar company policies, not enough work, same cliqueness among staff, similar age, no training ops , similar IT job title!

Thankfully things did change and got better, I am now taking as many training ops I am being offered to set myself up better for future.

Hmm sorry I can't be more help, sounds to me like you could do with moving on, have a look out there, but you need to be brutally honest with yourself. Take some time and use the job you are in now to think what you actually want to do in the future, thats what I did.

Good luck work situations like that can drag you down a bit I found

Cheers. What I really want to do, and have done for a few years now, is field work. I enjoy travelling about, going to different sites, and to be honest hate being in the office all day. I used to do a job where I went around a large site, fixing stuff etc. but here I just sit in the same seat all day.

The last job was great because, although it wasn't field based, there were 16 offices nationwide, and I did get to visit them at times. I enjoy all that.

[XDA]

You sound exactly like i did about a year ago. Similiar age and same job. I hated it, felt so bored and useless. I spent that much time surfing the web, i ran out of sites to visit and even that got boring. I was also the 'outcast' as i was so much younger than everyone else. The best thing i ever did was to leave. Im now a field service engineer and love it. I would have another chat with the boss and outline the things you have said in your post. If nothing happens then start looking elsewhere. You are on probation - is there any chance that they might say you arent upto the job and ask you to go, when the probation is up?

[BlueSmoke]

XDA said:

You sound exactly like i did about a year ago. Similiar age and same job. I hated it, felt so bored and useless. I spent that much time surfing the web, i ran out of sites to visit and even that got boring. I was also the 'outcast' as i was so much younger than everyone else. The best thing i ever did was to leave. Im now a field service engineer and love it. I would have another chat with the boss and outline the things you have said in your post. If nothing happens then start looking elsewhere. You are on probation - is there any chance that they might say you arent upto the job and ask you to go, when the probation is up?

I'll find out in two weeks!

I certainly haven't done anything wrong, but the whole situation just seems bizarre.

[sleep envy]

you need to ask??

blimey, write the time off as being redundant (I was off for nearly 8 months last year) if you're that worried about your CV

[BlueSmoke]

sleep envy said:

you need to ask??

blimey, write the time off as being redundant (I was off for nearly 8 months last year) if you're that worried about your CV

Good idea lol. I just feel bad leaving so soon, feel like I will be dropping them in it. I know I should look out for #1 though, and also, seeing as there's rarely anything for me to do, I guess there's no "it" to drop them into.

[TwistingMyMelon]

Mate don't feel guilty about leaving, look out for number one, Its taken me a while to realise this. If the company struggles you could be one of the first out, due to your lack of work load. This is business , as long as you follow procedure you don't really owe them anything

There are some interesting field engineer jobs out there.

[XDA]

BlueSmoke said:

Good idea lol. I just feel bad leaving so soon, feel like I will be dropping them in it. I know I should look out for #1 though, and also, seeing as there's rarely anything for me to do, I guess there's no "it" to drop them into.

When I was going to leave, i felt bad. However, after thinking about it i came to the conclusion that the employer wouldnt think twice about laying me off etc. They would only be looking after number one! No disrespect to you, but seeing as you havent been doing anything/much, then i dont think they are going to miss you? I dont mean that in a nasty way

[MidlandDan84]

Have a chat with your boss, explain the situation, if nothing happens then leave when you can.

I left my old position about 9 months ago, i had a cushy job, decent money and a company car.....but the recesion was hitting hard spent all week doing nothing basically, work was drying up and the management kept looking the other way.

I found another job and left. I dont regret it for a minute, to be honest im 25 and thought i was too young to sit about and let it happen (like you are). Good luck.

[Steve Evil]

I'm in a very similar boat chap, checking the job boards daily though and I'm sure something will turn up eventually.

[don4l]

BlueSmoke said:

don4l said:

Do you think that the guys that said that you didn't seem hungry enough were being malicious?

If they weren't, then could you have a chat with them?

This might be a "culture" thing. You might be used to a more regimented regime.


Don
--

Well, the two guys are right good mates, and have been used to working together for a few years, so I get the impressiont hey want to protect such trips to ensure they get the gig in the future, and stop me muscling in on it.

One of them is technically my line manager I suppose, but when I asked him if there was anything I did wrong or could have done better, he just diverted the question and said something about doing some other work he had given me. Load of rubbish basically.

I have a suspicion that he wasn't talking a load of old rubbish. He may have been telling you about his dissatisfaction, but you didn't want to hear.

Either way, I think that you should start looking for another job.
Things do tend to work out for the best.

Don
--

[BlueSmoke]

don4l said:

BlueSmoke said:

don4l said:

Do you think that the guys that said that you didn't seem hungry enough were being malicious?

If they weren't, then could you have a chat with them?

This might be a "culture" thing. You might be used to a more regimented regime.


Don
--

Well, the two guys are right good mates, and have been used to working together for a few years, so I get the impressiont hey want to protect such trips to ensure they get the gig in the future, and stop me muscling in on it.

One of them is technically my line manager I suppose, but when I asked him if there was anything I did wrong or could have done better, he just diverted the question and said something about doing some other work he had given me. Load of rubbish basically.

I have a suspicion that he wasn't talking a load of old rubbish. He may have been telling you about his dissatisfaction, but you didn't want to hear.

Either way, I think that you should start looking for another job.
Things do tend to work out for the best.

Don
--

Sorry I don't really follow?

I don't mean that he told me about doing other work while in London, I mean that rather than answer what I could have done better, he fobbed me off by saying "oh you'll be fine just crack on with that new stuff I've given you".

I made short work of that and have been awaiting feedback for around a week.

[don4l]

BlueSmoke said:

don4l said:

BlueSmoke said:

don4l said:

Do you think that the guys that said that you didn't seem hungry enough were being malicious?

If they weren't, then could you have a chat with them?

This might be a "culture" thing. You might be used to a more regimented regime.


Don
--

Well, the two guys are right good mates, and have been used to working together for a few years, so I get the impressiont hey want to protect such trips to ensure they get the gig in the future, and stop me muscling in on it.

One of them is technically my line manager I suppose, but when I asked him if there was anything I did wrong or could have done better, he just diverted the question and said something about doing some other work he had given me. Load of rubbish basically.

I have a suspicion that he wasn't talking a load of old rubbish. He may have been telling you about his dissatisfaction, but you didn't want to hear.

Either way, I think that you should start looking for another job.
Things do tend to work out for the best.

Don
--

Sorry I don't really follow?

I don't mean that he told me about doing other work while in London, I mean that rather than answer what I could have done better, he fobbed me off by saying "oh you'll be fine just crack on with that new stuff I've given you".

I made short work of that and have been awaiting feedback for around a week.

From what I've read, I really think that there is a communication problem.

You think that it is your colleagues' fault. The reality is that *you* have the problem. The rights and wrongs of the situation are irrelevant. You must think of your own future. If you cannot progress your career in your current employment, then you should move.

Don
--

[bogwoppit]

As I see it, you've tried to tell them there is a problem with not being challenged, and they have failed to take action. It also sounds like nobody is willing to take this seriously and highlight your issues higher up the chain on your behalf, so what is the point in staying? Remember that probation periods work both ways, so don't feel guilty about leaving if the job is not living up to its promise and you don't believe it ever can. Prospective employers should also understand this, and your reasons for leaving are hardly bad - basically you want to do more work and feel challenged. Believe it or not, it can be difficult to find employees with a bit of get up and go, so you saying this would be music to my ears.

[bazking69]

I'd get past the six month mark first...