Lost in the career

[jason.copas]

Anyone else feel a little lost in their career?  I can't complain, I make enough to send 3 kids to private school and I run the network at my current job.  I make more than my last job and have more "say" so to speak, but it is a pretty small organization.  Less than 2k users.  Somehow I am just not feeling challenged despite only being here for a couple of months, I feel like I'm already over qualified.  That said, I can't stand the idea of moving to our working in a big city like Seattle...  What do you do?

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[deanwebb]

Good question.

Part of a network engineer role is to provide what I think of as insurance for a firm. They don't need us all the time, but want us ready to go just in case all hell breaks loose. This means lots of downtime. Some guys use it to keep sharp, others use it to stream cat videos after checking and reading email.

So now you have to add up all the benefits of your role and determine if they're enough to keep you where you are. You mentioned good pay, desirable location, and I'm assuming the quiet at work gives you a good work/life balance.

So now you can ask yourself if there are things you can do to make things better there. What still needs documentation? Are the network maps current? How are the firewall rule sets? Does the IPS need tuning? Are the switch configs standardized? Do you have good backups?

And if that stuff is already done or getting done, then you need to either find more projects to occupy your time or if there are vendor roles that you can fill while working from home with occasional travel. While I'll never move to the heart of a big city and I do not look forward to air travel, being able to work inside a major city and expense everything provides some welcome variety in my job. I'm within 30 minutes of DFW Airport, so travel is pretty much getting to the airport so I can hurry up and wait to board the flight.

In my role, I support customers globally and have a lot of environments to keep track of. I still have downtime, but I also feel that when I'm called up to work with a customer that I'm innovating and using my skills and also developing my skills.

I'm also a dad with older kids. For me, family time is becoming more and more time with my wife, and I'm glad I'm able to work from home so that my eventual retirement won't be a shock to the household.

[icecream-guy]

So now you can ask yourself if there are things you can do to make things better there. What still needs documentation? Are the network maps current? How are the firewall rule sets? Does the IPS need tuning? Are the switch configs standardized? Do you have good backups?

And if that stuff is already done or getting done, then you need to either find more projects to occupy your time...

True, True. There is always something in a DC that needs to be done, either documented, fixed, improved, or upgraded.
Make a list of all the crap you see flying around, and get to work fixing that list.

[deanwebb]

At the very least, you'll have done so much that the next guy they hire will never be as good as you were, in everybody's mind.

[Dieselboy]

Small company... but 2000 users is a big number. I work in a company with less than 2000 users. I have 35 users. I love my job because I'm always working with new things that challenge me. Lots of cloud things at the moment down to voip and sometimes the two. Based on your OP it seems that I may earn less than 0.25% of your present salary. So I conclude that it's not the job that you feel deflated with, it's the high salary?

True, True. There is always something in a DC that needs to be done, either documented, fixed, improved, or upgraded.
Make a list of all the crap you see flying around, and get to work fixing that list.

Always need a list. You should see mine!  I've never seen a perfect network... hence the list.

[deanwebb]

And once you're done with the list, start back at the beginning. Chances are, something changed and needs documentation.

[Dieselboy]

Speaking of lists... I need to update my network diagrams. I had a complicated tool a few years ago that allowed me to upload jpg versions of the network diagrams and plot devices on there and consumed bandwidth lines. I was able to make the items hyperlinks so that I could drill down into switch ports and scale back to the network as a whole where I plotted the bandwidth lines for the site links. It was complicated and time consuming but looked nice and was functional and helpful. Is there anything like that these days which is easier? Back then I had to spend years in visio getting it right, then take a jpg and upload it and then plot on more stuff.

[deanwebb]

And here I am with a customer canceling a 4-hour session at the last minute, with all this time on my hands... down time happens to everyone, so learn how to use it wisely and it won't bum you out at your current job.