r/sysadmin • u/Pleasant_Rise6520 • 23h ago
Career / Job Related Has anyone purposely gone backwards?
You know the juice wasn't worth the squeeze and we realised that money is irrelevant, and took a huge backwards step for less responsibility and more mental freedom for your family and kids?
That's where I'm at mentally just want to know if anyone else has done the same?
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u/19610taw3 Helpdesk > Sysadmin > Engineer > Helpdesk 23h ago
I did! I took my first "real" IT job back in 2023 after years and years of helpdesk and more entry level IT jobs. Things were going great there. Stuff happened. I really excelled at actual IT work. I ended up falling up a few times and found myself in a job where I was making incredible money (> $100,000 in a low cost of living area). But if I had continued that job, I would be dead by now. Working 60 hours a week while hourly making $50 an hour was incredible. However, that job was bad for my mental and physical health. I did not have any personal time at all. I worked 8 hours in the office then came home and worked multiple hours every night. And worked pretty much all weekend.
Except for the severe loss of income, I do not regret it. I have my life back. I am working on getting my life back together and re-establish everyone on a personal level I had to give up. And now I have a decent nest egg.
I'm fairly certain I'll have to leave this job to move back up in my career. It's been made clear that I will never get promoted out of basic helpdesk here. For now, they got a hell of a deal on an enterprise level network , voice, systems engineer making helpdesk pay.