Couldn't agree with Tim Hall and Michael more.
One of the weird circumstances of working in IT is that one expects that
you will *looooooooove *keeping up with new technology the way you did when
you were say in your 30's, maybe even your 40's, for an undetermined amount
of time into your future.
Overtime, life happens. Raising children, family illness, dementia, even
death.
If you can juggle all of that on a constant basis and keep up with an IT
world that is even more challenging and even more demanding than it was
when many of us first started, then good luck, and God bless.
However, be aware that you are, no matter how smart and accomplished you
feel you are, limited.
IT is a great career. It's a hell of a ride. However, your goal should be
so much more than merely keeping up with the latest, greatest technology.
It is hard to give people under the age of 40 this advice. Especially if
they've ever been told they're really good at it.
Hopefully, you're socking some of that sweet salary away. That's what I
would tell *my* DBA team. "This is a non-standard raise you are
receiving. Get yourself a financial advisor."
Be healthy, go to bed, drink your water, so that you don't end up the
person who had a heart attack in the company gym.
And the benefits of yoga, especially during the time of COVID, cannot be
overstated. Breathe. When you feel that argument over something with your
colleague coming on, step away from your desk, go into another room, and
breathe.
On Sat, Dec 11, 2021 at 5:40 AM John Beresniewicz <
john.beresniewicz@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Totally agree Michael.
The body is just a machine, it wears down over time.
...but you are not the body
The mind arises out of the body’s machinery, and is subject to its
degradation.
...but you are not the mind
On Sat, Dec 11, 2021 at 4:21 AM Michael Möller <private2michael@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Disclaimer: As a retiree, I can only speak in the past tense w.r.t. "job"
:-)
---
I was to an eye-doctor a while back. While I was being examined, we
talked about this and that, sort of past life (having only eye, that gets
talked about for starters). At the end of the examination he said:
"Well, most of your problems is due to your birthcertifcat"
?! - I had mentioned I was German-born (my accent), and I just could not
understand why germans should have ... besides half my ancestry further up
the tree is Swedish ...
He noticed my perplexion and explained: "I meant your age" :-)
I have choosen to retire at 65. I, too, have noticed my chess skills
degrading - from double figure to single figure - ;-) I dont play chess,
but the equivalent in the computer games I play. Here is a relative
accurate measurement: I have games from the '90-ies, which I love to play
(now in a simulator as DOS based games want direct access to an EGA/VGA
card for speed but expect only a few MHz clock ...). Thus, exactly the same
challenge, but I can no longer keep the whole world and my strategy in my
head. More frequently I have to examine the info/stat screens for my
progress. Another game that is realtime rather than turnbased I have turned
the speed way down to keep up. All games are singleplayer.
Conclusion, uncomfortable: my brain runs slower - due to my
birthcertificate.
It is the same with the parents that shout at their teenage children.
"Turn of the music and the snapchat/youtube/TV - you can't concentrate!"
Well, they can. their brain can multiprocess. "Grownups" handle fewer
threads as processingbandwith decreases.
I remember sitting at the Oracle hotdesk in DK, having two conversations
at once (one phonehandset against in each ear) and searching the
bug-database. No way I could do that now.
---
There are many age related opinions: "younger people dont respect their
elders nowadays" - was said by an ancient greek, and it is still true. If
every year/generation youngers became less civilized, then after two
millenia we should be in total anarchy by now. We are not, so it must be a
relative observation bias.
The same about work getting harder, at least when uttered by a greyhaired
person. Busdrivers have always had long and uncomfortable hours and
aggrevating passengers. I conceed that the high workpressure might be "new"
to the IT-industry.
In DK we have short weeks, parttime, lunchbreaks and holidays a plenty.
Doesn't stop the griping or calling in sick. In DK, too, say 50 years ago,
this was NOT the case, you would have to suck it up and take it.
---
"Dont give me the drivel, just a one line executive summary":
The positive advice in this thread is <thumbs u>. I just offer the
opinion that some part of the "problem" is age related, some of it just the
relative (age)viewpoint.
Michael, fra mobilen
lør. 11. dec. 2021 10.14 skrev Tim Hall <tim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
Hi.
I suspect I'm slightly off topic with this answer, but there are a
couple of ways to look at this.
1) If you are the sort of person who quite happily does what you are
told, when you are told to do it, and generally stays oblivious to the
future, then IT jobs are amazingly simple. You follow a recipe someone else
has given you and never have to think for yourself. Doesn't matter if you
are tired or hungover, because you just follow the recipe and everything is
great.
2) You are someone that actually cares and tries to keep up with the
ever changing world of tech. Now you are constantly paranoid with fear of
missing out (FOMO), and constantly chasing to learn new things. A week away
from your quest is a week you will never get back. At this point being
tired or ill destroys you.
As for coping, then there are a few things that I fail to do on a
regular basis, but would help.
- Physical activity, as has been mentioned before. Doesn't matter what
it is. Do what you enjoy.
- Diet. I know it's boring, and I know it's me saying this, but the
better you eat, the better your body functions and the better your mind
functions. Crap food choices lead to crap brain choices.
- Sleep is the most underrated thing. So many adults suffer from sleep
apnea, which is literally taking years off their life, and don't even know
it. If you are not waking up feeling well rested, then something is wrong
and you need to fix it. It's not just fat people that suffer from this.
- Have an interest outside of serious tech that you can spend some time
on to reset. Could be hobbies, reading, watching films, playing games,
exercise etc. Anything that isn't tech.
- Take a step back and try to put things into context. Things seem
really important when they are up in your face. Being able to take a step
back and reframe them helps you to make better judgements.
Like I said, possibly not on topic, but it's what I thought of when I
saw the original post...
Cheers
Tim...
On Sat, Dec 11, 2021 at 12:01 AM Connor McDonald <
dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
To be honest, I'm still struggling with Lothar's talk of 1800 and 2200,
when the 600-ranked chess bot kicks my ass most days :-)
Connor McDonald
===========================
email: connor_mcdonald@xxxxxxxxx
blog: connor-mcdonald.com
twitter: connor_mc_d
On Saturday, 11 December 2021, 01:21:21 am AWST, Lothar Flatz <
l.flatz@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Guys
I mean to teach my collogues that they do a straining job (as DBAs in
Managed Service). They have to understand to take care of themselves.
By tradition we define a tough job as physically challenging. I think
we
underestimate mental work.
In some way I got the effect measured in 2011. I used to play chess
tournaments since I was 16.
In 2011 I played one tournament at Monday and one on Friday.
On Monday I scored 1st Rank with an ELO performance
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system) of >= 2200 and on
Friday I had an Elo performance of roughly 1800. (Elo performance means
that just one tournament is measured.)
Thus I effectively lost 3 levels due exhaustion by work . I stopped
playing tournaments. It is no fun to be reduced to expert when you can
play on national master level.
If you would please share your thoughts on how though IT Jobs are and
how you deal with it? Maybe you can also point me to some good articles.
Thanks
Lothar
