In Search of a Rewarding Job...
I've worked for around three years as a Consultant in IT. Before that it was mostly support engineer and system admin-type stuff.
My current job is decent, my manager is reasonable and mature, my salary is above average, my coworkers are good people.
And I am very bored.
The problem is that the work itself is some of the most incredibly tedious, technocratic nonsense I've ever had to do. Almost none of my day-to-day is what I'd describe as 'IT'. The project I work on is a multi-year piece of work. The customer is large and operates in the highly regulated financial sector. The people are lovely, but the culture is lethargic and inefficient. They play at being Agile but miss every single deadline and repetitively plan and deliberate over tiny details that have no impact.
I've worked for this customer for over two years, on and off, and since June last year I feel like I've achieved nothing of merit and nothing to be proud of.
How do I get out of this situation? This is a brain dump of thoughts to help me try and process what my next steps should be to find a job with more satisfaction.
I listened to an interview with Jason Fried yesterday and I was constantly blown away by his clarity of thought on what he does, and why he does it. His company build things they want to use and they love doing it.
I would absolutely love to be part of a tight knit team of 'builders' that operate in this way. Being a Consultant specialising in Microsoft 365 now feels so far removed from this way of working and thinking; I advise, scope, plan and deliver projects for customers that are solely within the Microsoft 365 stack, and there is much to complain about in this stack.
My job does not really allow for creative thoughts or the chance to build something unique; Microsoft 365 is a suite of services that you sell. They sometimes fit a customer well, but often they don't. But most Managed Service Providers or Consultancies are not interested in challenging this, or proposing novel solutions. So much of what Microsoft offers is a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. Most customers want small, manageable, modest tools, that address their immediate IT concerns, with as little complexity, vendor lock-in, and operational overhead as possible.
I have very few opportunities to pursue this type of solution in my current or even my previous jobs. Looking ahead to my logical next step, I could become a Solution Architect. Let me say now that an SA at most consultancies is an absolute joke; you are a glorified salesperson with some technical background, licensed only to propose 'solutions' within a very narrow range of commercial vendors and partners. The thought of entering this role now fills me with disappointment.
So with that off my chest, what do I actually enjoy doing and what might I want next in my career?
I enjoy using technology in the most efficient and direct way, to solve real problems that exist now. I enjoy discovering and learning about new tools and software that can help do this. I enjoy throwing years of inefficient, sprawling, complex hardware and software in the bin, and encouraging people to start again and completely rethink what they actually need in their company, business, organisation.
I want to work somewhere that talks straight, drops the acronyms, stops bamboozling people with intelligent sounding technical words, won't sell you that sledgehammer to crack that nut, won't pretend AI will solve all your problems, won't try and upsell or cross-sell, and won't force fit a partner's products just because they need to meet a sales target.
Does this exist anywhere in the UK? Is there a small to medium size IT Consultancy that hires for this mindset? That drops the BS. That stops banging on about corporate values. That hires smart people and doesn't tell them what to do? That actually employs curious, self-starters that talk to a customer, maps out their current issues, and proposes a best fit solution, regardless of profit margin, or supplier kickbacks, or sales incentives?
Because if not, then I either need to start my own business, or leave the IT / tech sector completely...