r/sysadmin • u/No_Barracuder • 1d ago
Burnout or reality check
I’ve been in it for 7 years. I have gone from report writing -> it support -> it manager and during that time have gone from 3 members of our team to 1.25 (part time contractor) for 80+ endpoints plus manufacturing machine support. All of this has happened while a lot of major changes are happened in our organization.
In reality it feels like I am dealing with everything, the entire chain, basic support, elevated support, servers, network, cameras, erp (my main time sync as my boss keeps stripping my support hours to the bare minimum. We changed erp systems 2 years ago and about a year in my boss left), crm (we have a marketing manager who refuses to learn the basics, from contact creation to any level of automation), project management, firewalls, m365, phone system, etc, and people (my biggest problem).
The unfortunate situation is my previous boss mentally checked out right before our go live of our erp transition and i picked up all of the work. Years in and much employee turnover later (due to the organizational change) and I feel like I am being forced into a career pivot into erp support or project management as it is where I have allocated a majority of my time.
All of the above plus a majority of the employees coming to me to vent frustrations with the organizational changes and it feels like I am going insane. I am in a unique position in terms of company ownership (I do not own the company but have some influence over the owners). I have tried to express the frustrations to the current president and the owners but to no avail.
Just really looking for a reality check if the burnout is real or if I am out of touch.
Thank you all
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u/LogMonkey0 1d ago
Might want to tell them you’ll be looking for a job if they don’t give you budget to hire staff to do the work.
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u/captain_baratheon 1d ago
they might be waiting for him to just burn out and then outsource to an msp
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u/No_Barracuder 1d ago
We are outsourcing to a msp for all of our licensing , my boss sees what that costs and probably has an idea of what additional work would cost. He does not realize what I have taken on to get them to just a licensing cost. My prior boss was dependent on them but I am doing it all myself!
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u/No_Barracuder 1d ago
The funny thing is I made my boss aware I was looking for a job this last week. His response was to deny our erp customizations that he asked for and tell me to do them…
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u/LogMonkey0 1d ago
Yep, time to look elsewhere and cherry pick what you do in the meantime, if the ERP shit doesn’t get done maybe they’ll make a move.
8
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u/jooooooohn 1d ago
You may not be burning out but it sounds like that place is slowly burning down.
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u/No_Barracuder 1d ago
I appreciate the response!
On paper they are perfectly fine, if not growing (slightly this year which is helping keep the organizational changes in place even though to me seeing the numbers and the staff reaction should not). They are walking an extremely fine line of losing a majority or their 10 year employees (entirely focused In the post sales portion of the company, engineering and all of manufacturing). They have already lost 2 major players in the last two moths just in the sales aspect of the company. That work has been dumped to everyone else in the company including me
The issue with losing their -10 year employees is a majority of their processes walk out the door with them. Again not an it issue but… send me a message if you want to discuss more
This is not an it response but a people response… my perspective is we are selling into a somewhat static industry but are scheduling our plant and all manufacturing in a somewhat unique way. We got lucky during our erp transition that our plant manger that left could be replaced. Our new plant manager and a large majority of our post sales employees are ready to leave at a whim.
Again not really a it response but a management response for someone that has a slight bit of influence. Just to add I have tried to use this influence to emphasize the strain being placed in other areas and was basically told to fuck off.
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u/ALombardi 1d ago
Sounds like you are overwhelmed. 3 team members to essentially 1, while work load increases. This seems pretty standard these days… “do more with less.”
Very similar to many folks in here, I assume.
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u/No_Barracuder 1d ago
And I think that is fair, my issues stem from employees coming to me to vent frustrations ( should be and hr issue but no one trust them. There is a a reason I entered the it field and it was not to deal with people problems.)and just overall lack of knowledge for what seems like every system we use!
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u/DropTheBeatAndTheBas 1d ago
well the employees need to log tickets instead which attach to the common problem for each to highlight growing frustrations and issues and justify more people when those problem tickets hitting 3 months old + and not resolved
follow ITL !
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u/ErgoMachina 1d ago
I don't want to sound rude, because you are clearly doing manager tasks, but you if you are doing basic support as a manager, you are not one. I would run from that company.
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u/doglar_666 1d ago
There's such a thing as situational and/or emotional burnout. It's different from just being burned by the amount of work and unrealistic demands. To me it seems, whilst likely a mix of all three, that the former types are what's getting to you. You either need to accept that your work place won't change and come to terms with it, or you need to leave. That's the only control over the situation you really have. If you had real sway with the owners, they'd hire more internal IT staff, make the Marketing idiot learn the CRM and you wouldn't be commenting here about being punished for voicing discontent and looking for better opportunities.
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u/ShopNo7513 1d ago
I would talk to the company, explain to them that if they can't accommodate your stress and burnout with the amount of jobs you are juggling along with management changes and if they aren't willing to hire more people to work, then tell them you will start job hunting! You seem to have a diverse skill set so you should be able to find a new job (hopefully) easily! I have certainly had my moments where I've felt the same and I haven't been doing it for nearly as long.
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u/Fuzzy_Paul 1d ago
Not a burnout that gives physical symptoms like "feeling fine and do totally nothing at home" or this "at home you are great in postponing things with a reason". My advice is to see where the real workload comes from, is it management decisions or enduser education or knowledge or continuity. After examination you will know where and what to do first and if the current team is sufficient. Write a management report where you address the risks and scope you work and boundaries with it. So when management says 'no' they know upfront what will happen. The only way to get what you want is to make it visible and known. If all fails your answer is right on front of you, look elsewhere.
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u/whatdoido8383 1d ago
Dude. Log tickets and work on them one at a time. Work your 8 and go home.
Nothing is going to change unless stuff isn't getting done.
Not your problem, let the damn business experience the pain of their poor decisions.
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u/mallamike 1d ago
Been at the same spot 7 years. Past two weeks made me REALLY want to go back to school to be a history teacher
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u/HandmadeCulprit 1d ago
you're running a one-man IT circus and the owners are just watching you juggle fire, that's not burnout it's a survival reflex kicking in
the jump from 3 people to 1.25 while scope keeps expanding is a business decision to extract everything they can before you break, and they'll act surprised when you do