IT can be a breeding ground for burnout<\/p>\n
* Date: June 14th, 2010
\n * Author: Toni Bowers
\n * Category: General
\n * Tags: Information Technology, Burnout, Strategy, Management, <\/p>\n
ComputerWorld published a piece this month called \u201cIT career burnout: What to do when the thrill is gone.\u201d The author, Meridith Levinson, focused her advice on CIOs who were feeling burned out. The piece drew a couple of comments from IT staffers who were less than sympathetic toward CIO stress and burnout.<\/p>\n
In defense of the piece, it was written specifically for the IT leader audience. Some staffers seem to believe that everything is sunshine and roses once you ascend to the \u201ctop,\u201d when, in fact, there is a whole other set of pressures and stress that accompany it.<\/p>\n
But for those who were seeking guidance on how to recognize and then handle burnout on a staffer level, I have written this piece.<\/p>\n
First, let\u2019s look at the stressors that can contribute to burnout in IT pros.
\nLong hours<\/p>\n
Long hours are a given in IT. Long hours in IT were an issue even before the economy tanked, causing more people to be laid off and the remaining staff forced to take on more responsibility. Some of the long hours are due to the nature of the work, but sometimes they\u2019re due to the way you work. There are tons of sources out there that give good time management advice and teach you how to use your time more wisely. I\u2019ve heard good things about Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.
\nLack of respect<\/p>\n
While the CIO may feel a lack of respect in the boardroom, IT staffers are often faced with it every day. Help desk personnel will occasionally get the appreciative end-user but many times they\u2019ll be treated as though they invented the technology that is causing the end-user problems.<\/p>\n
Network administrators are usually below the radar, only showing up when the system goes down. People rarely recognize the time the system is up. In other words, the more successful a net admin is at the job, the lower his or her profile.
\nNo recognition<\/p>\n
Probably the complaint I hear most often from TR members is that they don\u2019t feel they are rewarded properly. In a bad economy, raises and promotions aren\u2019t forthcoming. Even despite these factors, IT can be a thankless job. After all, you\u2019re not out there doing the things that get attention like other departments (e.g., Sales gets the glory if they land a big account). Savvy bosses will constantly sing the praises of their staffers. It\u2019s the best way to get the IT department on the radar.<\/p>\n
But if they don\u2019t, you need to do it yourself. Throughout the year you should log your wins and keep track of the metrics that show you\u2019re doing your job. Take the highlights of this and include them in your yearly review. I understand self-promotion is hard for IT pros who just want to do their jobs and not worry about their images, but if you don\u2019t, you\u2019ll be hit by another stressor:
\nPolitics<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t care who you are or where you work, you will encounter people who seem to work less, but have more political clout. It\u2019s infuriating but it shows the power of marketing oneself.
\nThe effects of burnout<\/p>\n
According to the American Psychological Association, burnout can cause depression, anxiety, and physical illness. Many people suffering from burnout turn to drugs or alcohol. If left unaddressed, burnout can cause physical and mental breakdowns, suicide, stroke, or heart attack.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a free burnout assessment quiz you can take to determine if you\u2019re already suffering from burnout or well on your way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IT can be a breeding ground for burnout * Date: June 14th, 2010 * Author: Toni Bowers * Category: General * Tags: Information Technology, Burnout, Strategy, Management, ComputerWorld published a piece this month called \u201cIT career burnout: What to do when the thrill is gone.\u201d The author, Meridith Levinson, focused her advice on CIOs who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedarktimes.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedarktimes.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedarktimes.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedarktimes.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedarktimes.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedarktimes.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":190,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedarktimes.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions\/190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedarktimes.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedarktimes.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedarktimes.us\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}