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Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

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Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#41

Post by ethbro »

pennaMan wrote: post #18
sleepysysadmin wrote: post #9

There 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?

(IanaL) Generally speaking, in the US, no.

Specifically speaking, if it's done in person, state law holds. In Virginia v Black (2003), the Supreme Court found [1] that states may ban speech which represents a "true threat" (i.e. one whose intent it to cause another party to fear for their lives). But there's generally a high bar and more aimed at allowing regulation of cross burning and neo Nazis than an angry co-worker.

If it's done via the Internet, federal §875 [2] governs. Because of some strange wording and first ammendment concerns, the Supreme Court has held that the intent to actually commit a crime must be present in order for the words to be illegal.

[1] https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/537/465.html

[2] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/875

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#42

Post by eeeeeeeeeeeee »

sleepysysadmin wrote: post #9

There 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 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 ignoring that issue and then the tech people get yelled at.

I've seen a major difference in attitude when the executives are involved/invested in the tech team. Even when things are really bad, failures happening all the time, it is still a positive environment and people want to help each other. It is stunning the difference it makes to just have everyone invested in the decisions from top-down so you don't feel all alone.

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.

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#43

Post by ovi256 »

pennaMan wrote: post #18
sleepysysadmin wrote: post #9

There 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?

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".

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#44

Post by detaro »

mfoy_ wrote: post #35
pennaMan wrote: post #18

Earlier 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?

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.

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#45

Post by charliepark »

mettamage wrote: post #7

I'm so jealous he got to work with Bret Victor on Dynamicland! (in a positive sense, I suppose envious is a better word) I've met 2 types of computer science students at uni: (1) the ones that love programming and love the mechanics of it. (2) The ones that love making music or similar forms of media. The reason the second type gets into computer science is because they love media and they love it so much they're wil…

https://notion.so, in addition to being a really great product, is the most Victor-ian company I’ve seen. Really great thinking and product sense there.

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#46

Post by ethbro »

madcaptenor wrote: post #34
ethbro wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of this is IT's fault. Any competent IT org should strive to balance crisis interactions with preemptive actions. Aka the package delivery person effect: 'Why does everyone like their package carrier? Because everytime you see them they bring a gift!' If you only ever see IT when your system melts down or an upgrade goes awry, you're going to hate them. Even if they're doing a wonderful job. So, please, if you r…

I like my package delivery person because they bring gifts. But I don't like my mail delivery person because they bring bills.

That's why I didn't say mail person. ;) (And yes, package delivery people can deliver legal packages... but I assume everyone gets the point)

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#47

Post by madcaptenor »

ethbro wrote: post #46
madcaptenor wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like my package delivery person because they bring gifts. But I don't like my mail delivery person because they bring bills.

That's why I didn't say mail person. ;) (And yes, package delivery people can deliver legal packages... but I assume everyone gets the point)

I mean, if we're going to tear this apart, sometimes my mail person brings gifts, if they're small enough to fit in the mailbox.

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#48

Post by baselined »

I realized quickly in undergrad I could not program. This prompted the change to psych and eventually a MS in Counseling Psych. Today I am licensed with a small practice and work full-time in public education.

Even though I have so much more to learn, moving towards a humanistic approach has had such a positive impact with clients and myself. Being able to sit back and be with a feeling, no matter how uncomfortable, challenges me to think about what is really the problem. This is beneficial in schools because it is the same way with students and faculty because the surface emotion is only an indicator something is wrong.

I think my curiosity to understand the human condition is what led me to study and practice. At the same time, involving tech into my practice is necessary to help indicate progress for clients in addition to how it can replace me when out of session.

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#49

Post by mfoy_ »

detaro wrote: post #44
mfoy_ wrote: post #35

Earlier 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.

There's a perception among management that they need to remain competitive. The IT service truly isn't a oligopoly like telcos are. My company hasn't increased rates in over 4 years out of fear that we would lose business even though we have more business than we have the resources to handle.

Re: Why I Quit Tech and Became a Therapist

#50

Post by eeeeeeeeeeeee »

nabnob wrote: post #36

I've been having the same existential crisis for a couple years now. I started working at a FAANG company right out of college, then after a bunch of personal health problems ended up taking a leave of absence that I didn't return from. I took a long break from software and started learning politics, philosophy, and history, and eventually came to the conclusion that most of the world's problems are social/political…

Just curious, what are you working on now?

I actually went to school for history, but I'm self-taught in tech. Thankfully, I never had to work at any dishonest or unethical companies (I stayed out of the startup world), but it still feels like most of the Bay Area companies are not really improving society much, and only a very small section of the population benefits, and they benefit heavily.

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