June 30, 2015 at 3:03 pm
gregs 79056 (6/30/2015)
This has to be the best post I have ever read from you Steve (and I read most of them).I often forget why am working and do what I do. It is all for my family and this post reminded me to actually spend time with my beautiful wife and children.
Thankyou for reminding me on what is important!
Thanks
June 30, 2015 at 3:04 pm
Jeff Moden (6/30/2015)
Heh... You post such an editorial quite frequently, Steve. Are you reminding us... or you? 🙂
Both. I certainly get caught up with work at times.
July 1, 2015 at 5:45 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (6/30/2015)
Jeff Moden (6/30/2015)
Heh... You post such an editorial quite frequently, Steve. Are you reminding us... or you? 🙂Both. I certainly get caught up with work at times.
We all do. However, it is very important to keep in mind which parts of life are the most important and then treat them as such.
July 2, 2015 at 7:01 am
My first career was literally saving babies (running life support on extremely premature infants).
I find that IT is a far more stressful career than medicine.
In medicine, we are (mostly) working together for one goal. The patient.
IMHO, in IT, I don't often see groups within the organization (or in IT) willing to work together. Too many silo's, too many VP's trying to make themselves look good.
July 2, 2015 at 7:53 am
podmate (7/2/2015)
My first career was literally saving babies (running life support on extremely premature infants).I find that IT is a far more stressful career than medicine.
In medicine, we are (mostly) working together for one goal. The patient.
IMHO, in IT, I don't often see groups within the organization (or in IT) willing to work together. Too many silo's, too many VP's trying to make themselves look good.
That's why I'm working where I'm working and have turned down some pretty hefty offers. None of that happens where I work. We've practicing what people now refer to as "DevOps" long before anyone considered writing the term down. I also live close enough to work to be able to ride a unicycle without getting chaff marks to get there. It's only the second job in my life where I didn't have to drive at least an hour to get to or from work.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
July 2, 2015 at 9:33 am
podmate (7/2/2015)
My first career was literally saving babies (running life support on extremely premature infants).I find that IT is a far more stressful career than medicine.
In medicine, we are (mostly) working together for one goal. The patient.
IMHO, in IT, I don't often see groups within the organization (or in IT) willing to work together. Too many silo's, too many VP's trying to make themselves look good.
That's an interesting start, and I'm sure very rewarding. Can I ask why you changed? Was it not stressful?
It's a sad state that in IT we don't work together better. Like Jeff, I've tended to work in DevOps environments for 20 years. I ask questions in interviews to find out if we have a team. IF not, I'll look for something else.
July 2, 2015 at 10:50 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (7/2/2015)
podmate (7/2/2015)
My first career was literally saving babies (running life support on extremely premature infants).I find that IT is a far more stressful career than medicine.
In medicine, we are (mostly) working together for one goal. The patient.
IMHO, in IT, I don't often see groups within the organization (or in IT) willing to work together. Too many silo's, too many VP's trying to make themselves look good.
That's an interesting start, and I'm sure very rewarding. Can I ask why you changed? Was it not stressful?
It's a sad state that in IT we don't work together better. Like Jeff, I've tended to work in DevOps environments for 20 years. I ask questions in interviews to find out if we have a team. IF not, I'll look for something else.
There was stress in the job, but we were all very well trained and worked as a team.
We all shared the stress and the responsibility for taking care of the patients.
In IT, I don't see much sharing of stress in teams. One person is responsible for 'x' and all the stress of developing, debugging and maintaining falls on that one person. Lots of individual stress.
I work for a very well known company, my team is fantastic and very supportive, but I still see lots of stress and pressure focused on one person. We are a team, but we are silo'ed. One DBA, one DBD, one PM and one BI developer. Hard to share the stress when you are so specialized.
As to why I left medicine.
Most of my patients (in the early-middle 90's) were barely on the edge of viability (22-24 week gestation).
Most lived, but many who lived had devastating complications (cerebral palsy, diminished brain function due to bleeds in the brain, lungs with only partial functionality, blindness...) from being born at such a young age.
Some of this was hard to deal with. Who wants to spend months keeping a kid alive only to send a partially vegetative child home?
The thing that drove me from my position was watching the kids die.
After a hundred or so, I started being numb to what was happening. This was a self preservation 'shield' that my mind was throwing up in front of the pain and sorrow.
I quickly realized that while I really loved what I was doing, I needed to find another career for my sanity.
So, I chose IT :crazy:
July 2, 2015 at 11:16 am
Dropping the ball on an IT deliverable is somewhat stressful. It can ruin your day or your week, but it's not exactly the type of thing that sticks with you for the rest of your life. Unless someone is keeping score and has in in for you, it's water under the bridge.
I mean daily grind IT stress is no where near as bad as seeing a child die.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
July 2, 2015 at 11:21 am
Work to live, not live to work.
July 2, 2015 at 3:56 pm
Lynn Pettis (7/2/2015)
Work to live, not live to work.
yes
July 2, 2015 at 3:57 pm
podmate (7/2/2015)
There was stress in the job, but we were all very well trained and worked as a team.
Wow, quite a story. Not sure I'd handle that well.
I do agree that we don't share well in IT. We're still very immature in many organizations about working together.
July 5, 2015 at 8:23 am
Jeff Moden (7/2/2015)
podmate (7/2/2015)
My first career was literally saving babies (running life support on extremely premature infants).I find that IT is a far more stressful career than medicine.
In medicine, we are (mostly) working together for one goal. The patient.
IMHO, in IT, I don't often see groups within the organization (or in IT) willing to work together. Too many silo's, too many VP's trying to make themselves look good.
That's why I'm working where I'm working and have turned down some pretty hefty offers. None of that happens where I work. We've practicing what people now refer to as "DevOps" long before anyone considered writing the term down. I also live close enough to work to be able to ride a unicycle without getting chaff marks to get there. It's only the second job in my life where I didn't have to drive at least an hour to get to or from work.
I have to ask, where is it that you work, Jeff?
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
July 6, 2015 at 9:19 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (7/2/2015)
Lynn Pettis (7/2/2015)
Work to live, not live to work.yes
+1 and Amen
July 6, 2015 at 2:48 pm
jckfla (7/6/2015)
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (7/2/2015)
Lynn Pettis (7/2/2015)
Work to live, not live to work.yes
+1 and Amen
By the same token, work does allow you to live. It's good to have your own life and time with your kids and spouse but remember that sometimes some extraordinary effort is required to help out the place providing you with the check that allows you to live a bit. I think everyone needs to go hungry for a week or two to understand the mutual relationship of work. I'm also old enough to remember that if you didn't bust a hump in the field every day, your crops didn't grow and you went hungry. That really hasn't changed. Just where we work has.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
July 7, 2015 at 8:23 am
Jeff Moden (7/6/2015)
jckfla (7/6/2015)
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (7/2/2015)
Lynn Pettis (7/2/2015)
Work to live, not live to work.yes
+1 and Amen
By the same token, work does allow you to live. It's good to have your own life and time with your kids and spouse but remember that sometimes some extraordinary effort is required to help out the place providing you with the check that allows you to live a bit. I think everyone needs to go hungry for a week or two to understand the mutual relationship of work. I'm also old enough to remember that if you didn't bust a hump in the field every day, your crops didn't grow and you went hungry. That really hasn't changed. Just where we work has.
I agree with you Jeff, except I have worked where the corporate culture changed to one where you were expected to work 60 hour weeks for 40 hour week pay every week. This wasn't the extraordinary efforts needed to complete a project. I was asked by a Director once why I wasn't working 60 hour weeks when everyone around me was.
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