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I don't think you realise until you are well and truly out of there, nor do you realise the damage it's doing to you. I was under a traumatic level of stress for 25 years in three different jobs, and responded by drinking far, far too much; using coke and dope far, far too much. It wasn't until I said "sod the lot of you" and just stopped that I started to get an idea that I was under any stress at all, it was just "normal". It took a long time to get to my current laid-back state!
Now I hardly drink, I haven't smoked for fifteen years, I haven't used any drugs in decades. Except caffeine, I still mainline that one.
Stress will kill you from the inside long before it manages to kill your body.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Wow.
OriginalGriff wrote: Stress will kill you from the inside long before it manages to kill your body.
Agreed - my wife says this new job probably saved my life.
Latest Article - Web Frameworks - A Solution Looking for a Problem?
Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny
Artificial intelligence is the only remedy for natural stupidity. - CDP1802
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Marc Clifton wrote: I'm curious if others have realized that they need to heal from traumatic work experiences?
YES
Keep your friends close. Keep Kill your enemies closer.
The End
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Yes I had a manager once that tried to sabatoge me at every turn. Tried to fireach me but his boss wouldn't let him. Everything he asked me to do I had him put it in writing and sign it. Then I had to take paperwork home because he would go through my desk at night and take papers. It was a freaking nightmare.
Got my site back up after my time in the woods!
JaxCoder.com
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Mike Hankey wrote: Then I had to take paperwork home because he would go through my desk at night and take papers.
Why wasn't he fired? Though, that was the question I asked myself every day at these previous jobs. The answer to one was old school corporate mentality, the other was basically "drinking buddies on the CEO's boat and neighbor of the CEO's brother." Talk about a conflict of interest.
Latest Article - Web Frameworks - A Solution Looking for a Problem?
Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny
Artificial intelligence is the only remedy for natural stupidity. - CDP1802
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The whole department, except me was eventually showed the door. Every job we had done was so poorly managed and equipment so outdated that they all sued the company.
Example; a PDP-11/23 to run a water treatment plant.
Got my site back up after my time in the woods!
JaxCoder.com
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Mike Hankey wrote: Example; a PDP-11/23 to run a water treatment plant.
With the program on punch tape?
Latest Article - Web Frameworks - A Solution Looking for a Problem?
Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny
Artificial intelligence is the only remedy for natural stupidity. - CDP1802
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C senor
Got my site back up after my time in the woods!
JaxCoder.com
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Sheeet! I cut my programming teeth in 7th grade on one of those. Wrote a Star Trek game -- 10x10 grid that printed on a teletype each turn. A couple starbases, the Romulan neutral zone, bad guys. Those were the days!
Latest Article - Web Frameworks - A Solution Looking for a Problem?
Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny
Artificial intelligence is the only remedy for natural stupidity. - CDP1802
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Printing the maps on thermal paper ... hoping you won't run out of paper before you finish (or the modem disconnects).
"(I) am amazed to see myself here rather than there ... now rather than then".
― Blaise Pascal
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Marc Clifton wrote: Why wasn't he fired? Though, that was the question I asked myself every day at these previous jobs. The answer to one was old school corporate mentality, the other was basically "drinking buddies on the CEO's boat and neighbor of the CEO's brother." Exactly. I've been in a couple of situations where a complete idiot could not get fired 'cuz they had buddies in the stratosphere. It didn't matter how badly they screwed up.
Like in Wargames, the only way to win is to not play the game. Ya move on to a better place.
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I had my share of stress too, but I think it is almost unavoidable in our line of business. When things get complicated, which they always do in IT, people get stressed and that brings out the worst in some people. But what I personally found much worse than stress is being unemployed, which I experienced several times.
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RickZeeland wrote: When things get complicated, which they always do in IT, people get stressed and that brings out the worst in some people. I'm working in IT because the work in itself is relatively stress-free
You have complete control of the environment (admin on your PC), there's a VCS with a history of changes, and each change is small and testable.
Stress is sometimes introduced on purpose; makes the crowd more active, more alive. And it is as easy as promising early delivery. I do not feel the need to keep someone else's promise.
If there is stress, the first thing I'll do is go outside for a relaxing smoke. People who are pumping adrenaline are not the greatest thinkers. Step back, relax, and fix it.
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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Quote: I'm working in IT because the work in itself is relatively stress-free I think you watched too many episodes of "Utopia"
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RickZeeland wrote: I think you watched too many episodes of "Utopia" No, seriously.
That doesn't mean that I did not have my share of PBH's who assumed it would help to motivate me by applying deadlines and guaranteed deliverables; but I did have some fun annoying them before moving on.
Go stress your surgeon if you think it helps and let me do the work I studied and am paid for
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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Eddy Vluggen wrote: You have complete control of the environment (admin on your PC), Not always...
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Localadmin is preferred for development. Without it, expect some unexpected delays
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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Eddy Vluggen wrote: Without it, expect some unexpected delays Like 3 Weeks to be able to install VS2017 Pro?
Luckily enough, a bug in the installations package from the domain forced them to give me local admin level
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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In my case I flooded the help desk with (genuine) tickets for installs, and blamed delays on their backlog. I got LocalAdmin.
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The only job I've ever had like that was my first programming job. I started part-time while I was in college, and then full-time for two years after graduation. In hindsight, the boss confused me with one of his kids. He constantly looked over my shoulder, questioned my decisions, and so on. Some of this is appropriate for a wet-behind-the-ears intern, but I think it could have been handled better [war stories omitted].
Two things forever removed me from becoming too emotionally wrapped-up in my job: becoming a parent and a runner. If you are paying attention at all, being a parent realigns your priorities and you recognize that your job is no longer a holy calling, but just what you do to pay the bills. For me, becoming a runner helped me realize that being a computer geek was not the whole of my being. There were other things I could be that gave me a sense of accomplishment and purpose, that had nothing to do with my education or how I earned my living.
I still get excited when things go well at work, and pissed when they go sideways, but those feelings aren't all-encompassing.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Previous boss would stroll in at 9:30/10ish, fall asleep in his office and leave around 3. My normal day was get in around 6:30/7ish, leave around 4:30/5ish. He came over to my desk one day at lunch and "caught" me slacking off reading the news. Treated me like garbage from that point on no matter how good of a job I did, how much money I saved the company, etc.
Years have passed and I haven't had any contact with him and I still get this guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach when I leave at noon on a Friday after I've already put in 45-50 hours for the week.
Current job is tanking the confidence I have in my own decision making abilities because everything has to go up the chain, even some of the simplest stuff like "Can I take a day to go to a vendor conference that I was invited to speak at? No cost to the company and free publicity in our industry." takes two weeks as it goes through 3-4 levels to get a decision.
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RJOberg wrote: Can I take a day to go to a vendor conference that I was invited to speak at? No cost to the company and free publicity in our industry I can understand why that needs high level approval, there is substantial reputational risk to the organisation involved in public presentations. You may be confident and capable in your subject matter but management actually needs to look at a wider picture. So it is not your decision making capability that is in question (after all you have already made that recommendation to management)
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity -
RAH
I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP
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That's all true and I agree with all of it but that example was probably the highest profile occurrence. In normal instances it can be something as simple as sending an email to another department and running it past two levels of management.
In the example, I think the part that really got me was the person who finally approved my request did so by stating, "Of course he can go! No he doesn't need to take time off, we'll pay for his time, why are you even bothering me with this question?"
Honestly, the level of red tape is one root problem and not trusting their employees is another.
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Just ask for time off. Why do you need to give a reason/destination?
Only use your personal contact information with a generic "industry" resume that omits your current employer.
If they don't want the publicity, don't give it to them.
If they do want the publicity, it should not count against your vacation.
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First, congrats on finding a place you're happy!
And no, its not just you. I think anyone who lasts long enough in this industry eventually encounters one of those jobs. My advice, when its good cherish it! That's a rare thing nowadays. When it gets bad enough to negatively impact your life, flee immediately!
The tricky part is recognizing when its bad enough. Often, you get a honeymoon period with a new job. Other times, you start with great management, but they leave...only to be replaced by terrible management.
In either case, inertia usually casts you in role of the "frog" in that Boiling frog[^] metaphor
Despite being around the block more than a few times, I've never quite learned how to avoid that. At best, I've reduced the lag time between its onset and my departure to about a year.
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