Having a hard time deciding where I fit in IT. Any advice?

[dirtyfingers]

My targets:
Work 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, acknowledging a possibility of that going up to 10-12 but rarely.
NEVER on call: once I leave the building that's it for the day. No cellphone required!
Salary wise I'd like to be around $45k-$60k if possible.
I'd also like to remain "hidden"; the guy you don't see but gets his stuff done.
Absolutely no client facing.
No travel.

Here are my thoughts on popular IT choices and what I think of them:

Linux/Unix/Windows Admin: Sounds great except being on call. Would only consider if I could stay as Jr. Admin - have no interest in being a senior level guy.

Database admin: See above.

App developer: After the C++/Delphi era I have had little to no love or desire to learn the new programming languages. Python is nice but who hires a pure Python guy? I also don't want to have to face clients.

Web designer/dev: Not sure if this is even possible - the market seems way over saturated with folks as it is. I like the idea but not even sure I could get my foot in the door.

I don't know if this makes me sound like a lazy bastard; I'm just burnt out working 70-80 hour weeks, continual learning stuff one week and tossing it out the next, stress from looming job cuts, etc. etc. etc.

Any advice would be appreciated!

[Papa Dras]

Personally, I don't think you belong in IT at all. Based on your expectations, the field has long passed you by. There may be some lazy, socially crippled IT people here that hide in the corporate basement writing code, but I doubt they will know about this place. The other option I see is to move into tech support with everyone else starting out.

[Numbersix]

I'd plan to work for yourself. I don't think you're going to find an IT gig that will allow you this type of work environment unless you perhaps find something with a small non-profit or government agency.

[ClockworkChad]

it recruiting is a pretty hot field right now - you can be a sysadmin for a smaller company and might be able to get away with something similar to that. find IT recruiters and go from there.

[Diamond Dave]

Personally, I don't think you belong in IT at all. Based on your expectations, the field has long passed you by. There may be some lazy, socially crippled IT people here that hide in the corporate basement writing code, but I doubt they will know about this place. The other option I see is to move into tech support with everyone else starting out.

Reposting b/c I couldn't re-word this any more accurately. Tech support might be out too b/c you'll most likely need to work at least one weekend day.

[Vision33r]

My targets:
Work 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, acknowledging a possibility of that going up to 10-12 but rarely.
NEVER on call: once I leave the building that's it for the day. No cellphone required!
Salary wise I'd like to be around $45k-$60k if possible.
I'd also like to remain "hidden"; the guy you don't see but gets his stuff done.
Absolutely no client facing.
No travel.

Here are my thoughts on popular IT choices and what I think of them:

Linux/Unix/Windows Admin: Sounds great except being on call. Would only consider if I could stay as Jr. Admin - have no interest in being a senior level guy.

Database admin: See above.

App developer: After the C++/Delphi era I have had little to no love or desire to learn the new programming languages. Python is nice but who hires a pure Python guy? I also don't want to have to face clients.

Web designer/dev: Not sure if this is even possible - the market seems way over saturated with folks as it is. I like the idea but not even sure I could get my foot in the door.

I don't know if this makes me sound like a lazy bastard; I'm just burnt out working 70-80 hour weeks, continual learning stuff one week and tossing it out the next, stress from looming job cuts, etc. etc. etc.

Any advice would be appreciated!

There are IT jobs like that..

The ones I can think are networking related, Application developer, security specialists, and infrastructure specialists.

Depending on the background of the company, especially companies in the finance industry. Like a hedge fund do not have off hours staff. But these firms want you to be in early.

I don't think it's that hard to find a job with these reqs but you better be damn sharp or good.

For example many years ago I work as application engineer consultant and I only work 10-5. No phone calls at night. No clients to face other than my project leader and peers.

Everything is project oriented work and racking up the equivalent of $100k on a very specialized line of work. Jobs like this don't usually last forever, you have to be sharp and mobile. I went to 4 different companies over 2 years. The only thing exhaustive is that once I start a project I like to grind it out. Some people may work overtime to rack up hours but I like to take it slow and stretch out some days and go home early instead.

[dirtyfingers]

I want to say thanks for all the nice comments. I've also had many private messages of support by those also in my shoes. The solution is simply to take a vacation and reassess. Lately I've been doing triple duty due to layoffs (funny there is enough work to keep three people busy but "we have no money" <- LOL)

Anyway, going to take a breather. Thanks.

[Markos]

You could be a software tester and make that pay range, work 40 hours, no on-call, etc. I think a junior QA person would be in the $45k range and senior would be in the $75k+ range. You don't actually need to do devevlopment at the Jr. level, but as you go up in complexity, you'll be writing automated test cases, test harnesses, etc. You will have to document test cases and scenarios, so be comfortable documenting (which most devs don't like).

[Jettin2pointSlow]

Engineer at a DC? Or start your own hosting/colo company (alot of money in this, and can require little work on your end once you have the DC's taking the trouble tickets).

[Papa Dras]

Engineer at a DC?

Good call. I work with every DC/cloud/hosting/colo company in my region and this is actually a position that would fall into this description. They are always looking for people and they are either in one of two stages. They exist and are growing, or are being started and are ready to buy other colos or are ready to sell their infrastructure to another company. There is constant movement now.

[Jettin2pointSlow]

Good call. I work with every DC/cloud/hosting/colo company in my region and this is actually a position that would fall into this description. They are always looking for people and they are either in one of two stages. They exist and are growing, or are being started and are ready to buy other colos or are ready to sell their infrastructure to another company. There is constant movement now.

Definitely! I work for a hardware company now that supplies server platforms to various DC's and Colo's.... I tell ya, these guys have got it made.... Its not perfect by any means, but as good as it gets for someone that wants minimal human interaction or oversight while still making great money.

[Egilbe]

What's a colo?

Nevermind. I googled it. These are pretty much server farms?

[Papa Dras]

Just an old school term for a hosting center.

[Jettin2pointSlow]

What's a colo?

Nevermind. I googled it. These are pretty much server farms?

Colo is pretty much instead of buying the server and throwing it in a rack at DC yourself, and managing it yourself, your renting space on a server that is owned and managed by a company that takes care of the techincal stuff for you.

[DramatizedMinds]

For the web admin portion, freelance may be saturated, but think of this position with a large company.

For instance I work for a electric company, we have our external sites yes, but what people do not think of is all the internal only sites that are hosted such as department sites, line of business sites etc. This ranges from the 100's to thousands.

My point is there is plenty of web work with large corporation.

You can easily get your foot in the door in a Web Administration department as a Level 1 systems Integrator/Analyst as long as you know Microsoft SharePoint and Designer.

Pay in this department ranges from 50-75k in Arizona.

[adoniram7]

Security is good, that's my field. But it's hard to find a job in security that
doesn't require off-hours support. Same for network support - if you become
a Cisco router guy, you'll need to be there at time off-hours.

Oracle database admin, GREAT career. Not too much off-hours. Take
every course and keep up on certifications, and you can be charging,
as a consultant, $125/hour and your customers will be happy they're
getting you so cheap.

The UNIX guy. Been there, done that, know what a pager is?
If you like you life outside of work, again, avoid this.

I can't really recommend web design. Tons of work, deadlines, nasty
customers, flooded market.

I'd suggest going into various Craigslists of cities around the country,
and looking at the Services section, where people offer up their
talents. You'll find tons of web people, a bit of security, and hardly
anything hardcore Oracle database. Those people, like high-end
Cisco networking guys, are REALLY hard to find. This is a good way
to know what the competition in your particular area is like...

I should add, as far as pay is concerned, there's generally a limit to what
you can make in web design, Sharepoint design, unix admin, and etc.
The high-end Cisco router guys and Oracle developers get paid 2x as much.