I don't think he did it so much from burnout, but Larry Constantine left tech to become a therapist, then returned: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Constantine
Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist
91–100 of 328 posts
Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have experienced everything you cited. Especially the death threats. Even when we shut off a customer for non-payment we would sometimes get them at my one job. The negativity seems to be pervasive at companies where tech is viewed as a cost center. At those kind of companies, IT tries to be proactive at first, but being proactive usually costs money, so it's often ignored. And then a failure happens as a result of…
>As for IT being understaffed, I do think this problem could be improved if companies invested more in their employees (e.g. training). And maybe took more chances on peoples capability, instead of requiring 2-3 years of experience on a range of skills prior to hiring them. I disagree. There are people who graduate with a 3 year degree and they know absolutely nothing. I've interviewed 7 CCNAs with 3 year degrees in…
Is that a Windows thing? I'd investigate an unknown system starting with commands like `systemctl status`, `lspci`, `lsusb`, `apt policy`, `dpkg -l`, and `top`.
Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist
#93And from the other side of the aisle, "Why I Quit Being a Therapist": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0Fi32LbXHA
Wow thanks for the opposing perspective. Seems like even as a therapist you're still fighting the system and still only able to treat the symptoms.
I imagine that OP has done his due diligence, but if it were me, I don't think I'd handle the transition very well. Like any other branch of medicine, psychiatric practice is tightly regulated, and operating outside the standards of the professional community is strictly forbidden. That means that innovation is no longer part of his job description, as that responsibility falls principally to researchers.
In other words, OP has basically left his job as a developer (of software) to be a sysadmin (of humans). Not to disparage the choice, or even remotely suggest that it's the end of the road! Only to say that existential dread can await you no matter what path you choose.
Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist
#94There is a severe workplace burnout problem in IT(especially MSPs); which when not addressed grows into bigger mental health issues and even literal sicknesses. There just isn't enough skilled IT people. The industry is immature and is bottom heavy. The top performers and seniors, are then overwhelmed with work and the business is unable to hire more senior people to reduce workload. Then the business keeps growing a…
Slight digression: how many thinks that there's also a strong "burnout" trend across the whole job surface ? health, teachers, programmers ..
These statistics exist and have been reconfirmed many times.
For the last 10 years healthcare has been #1 burnt out. IT following up very closely. In the last 1-2 years IT has been showing up as #1 in the studies done. Up around ~65%. Major corps like Nvidia and Cisco being worse yet.
ER was something like 90%. Nursing was 40%. Over 1/3 of healthcare has been diagnosed with depression.
Whereas industries like Education is below 15%, hotels are below 10%.
It's not literally all workers. In fact there's a negative relationship with burnout and unions. The unions make sure you're not being overworked.
Teachers in Canada for example have below 5% burnout. The union is immensely strong. They get paid $140,000/year. They work 5 hour days and only 8 months a year. Their 'boss' the principal can't actually just show up and make sure they are working. That's not allowed. Basically no accountability as a teacher.
Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
>As for IT being understaffed, I do think this problem could be improved if companies invested more in their employees (e.g. training). And maybe took more chances on peoples capability, instead of requiring 2-3 years of experience on a range of skills prior to hiring them. I disagree. There are people who graduate with a 3 year degree and they know absolutely nothing. I've interviewed 7 CCNAs with 3 year degrees in…
Is that a Windows thing? I'd investigate an unknown system starting with commands like `systemctl status`, `lspci`, `lsusb`, `apt policy`, `dpkg -l`, and `top`.
It's a cisco thing.
Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist
#96There is a severe workplace burnout problem in IT(especially MSPs); which when not addressed grows into bigger mental health issues and even literal sicknesses. There just isn't enough skilled IT people. The industry is immature and is bottom heavy. The top performers and seniors, are then overwhelmed with work and the business is unable to hire more senior people to reduce workload. Then the business keeps growing a…
> their IT person quit upon discovered 2 drives dead on the raid 5 array and no backups. Based on the rest of your story, he probably feared for his life...
Wow. I never made that link before. Makes complete sense.
Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist
#97There is a severe workplace burnout problem in IT(especially MSPs); which when not addressed grows into bigger mental health issues and even literal sicknesses. There just isn't enough skilled IT people. The industry is immature and is bottom heavy. The top performers and seniors, are then overwhelmed with work and the business is unable to hire more senior people to reduce workload. Then the business keeps growing a…
>I had places where I would go onsite to resolve an emergency. I never caused the outage, I was there to help. I would still get death threats from clients. "The accounting files are the server, if you lost them I'm going to go to your office and kill everyone." Isn't that a criminal offence?
>Isn't that a criminal offence?
Think how it plays out.
"Accountant said she'd kill me."
"I did not."
Ends with nothing happening.
Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I had places where I would go onsite to resolve an emergency. I never caused the outage, I was there to help. I would still get death threats from clients. "The accounting files are the server, if you lost them I'm going to go to your office and kill everyone." Isn't that a criminal offence?
Yeah, I can't see how a professional services company overlooks this casually, unless they're really hurting for new work. Can you imagine a client treating their tax lawyers or accountants like this ? But then, if the service company needs the new business that bad, that's hard to square with "there are not enough IT people".
I report it, they told me "She wasnt serious"
Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, but filing a police report against a client isn't good for business.
If good IT work is in high demand as claimed, that shouldn't be a problem. And "we make sure customers don't abuse our staff" should be the baseline of "how do I keep any good employees I might have", not a luxury.
If anything my ex-employer would be pissed that they skipped the line on being abusive to me.
I ended up getting fired within 18 hours after reporting harassment.
Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps there really is a severe workplace burnout problem in IT, but perhaps that's not the problem. There're ton of companies with burnout problems and worse turnover rates than IT. I personally believe that the issue we are seeing today is that most people don't know how to manager stress, emotion & energy. Most people are leading a very reactive life and constantly been pulled and pushed in all directions by "lif…
>Perhaps there really is a severe workplace burnout problem in IT, but perhaps that's not the problem. There're ton of companies with burnout problems and worse turnover rates than IT. This is true. IT is the second worst industry. Healthcare is worse. The way Law has dealt with this. The top performers are made partner and are driving Ferraris and the bullshit work is dealt with by the juniors. >I personally believe…
> The way Law has dealt with this. The top performers are made partner and are driving Ferraris and the bullshit work is dealt with by the juniors.
This is not true. Partners at top firms might be driving Ferraris, but they still work insane hours doing stressful work. Making partner doesn't let you take your foot off the gas. The stress and burnout issue at Biglaw firms is probably worse than in IT.