“Anyone else experiencing a string of bad jobs? Need advice! #jobstruggles #careeradvice #badluckwithjobs
Are you facing a streak of disappointing job experiences like mine? After being laid off from a job I loved after 5 years, I’ve struggled to find the right fit. From help desk roles to feeling inadequate in a new system admin position, I feel like I keep making the wrong choices. Have you been in a similar situation? Any tips on navigating through tough career patches? Let’s share our stories and support each other!”
Are you me?
The first 4 companies I worked for are went out of business.
A lot of the companies I have worked for are in business but haven’t done well.
My current company included.
I have thought for a long time that not having a single good long-lasting job starting out really hamstrung me.
Basically I’ve always felt like a hired gun. Come in do whatever and leave.
I’ve managed team members who aren’t catching on as quick as we feel like they should, and yup it sucks all around.
Giving up already because you feel like you aren’t learning the environment isn’t a great decision in my opinion. You can feel some self pity and sadness, but try and channel your energy into structuring your onboarding better. You are as much if not more responsible for learning the information as the team is for providing resources for you to learn it.
1. What is it that you’re not learning fast enough? Are these things you can take more notes on? Are you taking notes? Are they in a system that works for you to look up answers and operating procedures quickly?
2. Are you asking questions and taking every initiative to shadow more senior folks to learn more/faster?
3. Have you been transparent with your team lead/manager about your feelings and asked them where they think you can improve or what they feel you’re lacking most?
4. Are you dealing with a range of technologies that you can study independently for? Are there certifications in the technologies you’re using? (Windows server, Cloud platforms, networking vendor, etc.) Are you studying for them and been transparent with your manager that you are doing so?
When I’ve been a manager of an engineering team, I would work with the members who maybe are slower to catch on but show strong initiative. If you’re slow to catch on, seeming disengaged by not asking questions or speaking up in meetings or chats, and don’t seem to be using the resources available to you to learn how to do the job, then indeed I would be seeking to get you off the team.
edit: minor typos
You’re not alone. Trying to find another job myself, mainly because I’m doing a crap ton of work and not getting compensated fairly. Job market is hard right now. Small amount of jobs and too many applicants I’m noticing.
be glad you have a job, my last tech job ended in October of 2022.
This gave me a bit of a panic attack because we’re Essentially living the same life lol. Loved my first IT job (fun projects, boss was remote so I was practically my own boss, had my own office) but they shut down last May and I’ve been taking shitty deskside support/helpdesk jobs ever since (at least 6 roles) and now I’m on a team where everyone thinks I’m slow and gets annoyed with me. Hang in there partner, we’ll get there.
Traditional sysadmin jobs are dying off anyway. They’ll still be around, but there’s more than enough qualified sysadmins around for the next 20 years – at least in the US.