Job coasting, career advancement. Hey older guys.
 

Anyone out there feel they are just coasting in thier career?

Ive been doing telecommunication network repair for over 10 years now including my military service. ive been here at my current job for about six years.
Im good at what i do, im comfortable that i can fix any network issue that comes my way. All in all, it is a pretty good gig and they pay me a pretty nice wage. Its august and i have already broken 50k this year. So, being comfortable and making money to pay my bills and toys, i think i just grew a little too comfortable and have been coasting.

I dont know if i really realized that untill about 30 minuits ago. My boss called me into his office and asked where i want to go with my career. Ive tried to get into a tier 2 position several times but just got shot down, they want people with 20 years of experience.
He brought up the idea of possibly being a design engineer. My problem is i have no idea what they do other than work a 9-5 m-f and pull in an easy 6 digit income. However not knowing the job for me is pretty freaky, i dont like being the new guy who doesent know squat, i preffer to be the "go to" guy that everyone can rely on. Money is nice and all, but it isnt everything....

so that got me thinking. It is not an offer though, just a suggestion for progression. I guess he feels that my talents are wasted in my current position.

At what point do you take the jump and plunge into a new field that you know nothing about? I have no desire for management, but a higher technical field sounds pretty appealing.

anyone else found themselves a little bit too comfortable with thier job? how do you know when it is time to try to go further? Im 29, this is the longest i have ever worked somewhere.

My opinion, you are YOUNG, at 29, its worth the risk Id say. Take the plunge man, if and ONLY if you think you may enjoy it.

Oh, and im not old :)

Would your current boss be willing to keep your old job open incase you don't like the new one?

Project management may be a logical progression for you. I would certainly move on to greater challenges regardless, you don't want to become "pigeon holed" in your current position.

Build up your resume and enjoy it. If the work becomes unsatisfying, then I would be willing to bet your company would find a spot for you back in your old job.. if not, then it may be time to move on. Last survey I read predicted that most workers would change jobs 6 times in thier career on "average".

It's not the like good old days where you go to work at the company you evenutally retire from. It sounds like you do a good job, so I would roll with it and show your eagerness to play the part your company needs you for.

:beerchug:

Yo im going to have to completely disagree with Madmatt, if you continue to stay at what your doing your never going to get anywhere, the only way your going to make money is by taking risk, And honestly, when it comes to making money it dosn't matter about if your the new guy or not. After I graduated high school I went to college and because a licensed AutoCAD designer, spent about $3,000 in school, got a job, made about $40,000, which at age 18 thats a lot of money, but then i got offered a job doing mortgages, and with no idea of what a mortgage even was, i took the job because of the money involved in it, it was a huge risk, i didn't know anything, but i knew that if it all fails i'll just go back to being a drafter. Well as of today im still a Broker and making about $50k+ a year just sitting there in my office slacking off and mostly sometimes working from home, this is just my first year doing this too, by next year i want to be at over $100,000 and then after that, the skys the limit. I took a risk, and honestly, if later on something els comes my way to do something els, i dont care if its designing toilets, if it pays more id probably take the job and give it a try and see how it works out, I dont want to be doing something for the rest of my life and then later on when im like 30, 40, 50? want to change my career. Honestly, Chicks are not going to care if your a PRO at something and only make $50k, or if your a rookie making $100,000. Take risk give it a try, and if all els fails you have 6 years experience to easily land yourself a job doing the same **** and probably for more money. Then again tho, im only 19 and money hungry. Remember your not always going to be a rookie at it anyways, so what gives?

You actually agreed with me completely, but ok. :)

Sorry bud, i had read through your post fast and thought you said "your young dont take a risk"

First since you have made 50k already I am assuming you are an hourly person that gets paid OT? If not then your base pay must be in the 80-90k?

Being a network designer would be a challenging and always changing position given the fact you would almost be considered an architect given the fact you are creating, verifying and validating potential customer or internal network diagrams in addition to designing the layouts, what switches, cable routing, etc.

In your current role are you working on switches, routers, IP based routing, VoIP, sonnet rings, DS3's, Fiber?

Currently i work Surveillance and customer report troubles, hardware, and translations on Nortel DMS500, Lucent 5ess, Sonus VOIP switches, Siemens EWSD switches, SS7 signaling and all the hardware that comes across that, plus VOIP services with cisco routers.

Not so much on the OC's, we have a transport department that does the dumb work for us. hehehehehe

i did used to splice fiber in the military. tedious to say the least, but relaxing.

Ive got an incredible resume. most companys either have Nortel or lucent or sonus, or siemans. Not many expect you to learn more than one aspect of any of the class 5 switching systems. Well.... sonus is class 4, it piggybacks our class 5's to get the class 5 features.

Yah im hourly. just a hair under 60k. with OT and the 7k shift differential i think ill break 80 this year.

and i still feel broke as ****. lol....

well it sounds like you have good breadth of knowledge and would likely do well in the design field. Again that is a dynamic position since you will be working on many different projects as well as learning new technoligies so you will be able to incorporate those into new customer needs. I say go the design route!!

Thanks for replying to my response bitch -_-

Slappy, You bring up a real good point about career choices. Maybe these young guns in here can heed your advice or your decision. You are in the pre middle stages of your career. Right now in your age frame would be the time to step out and try something different. Your career years are taking the bell curve to the right. It will be harder to advance as you advance in years. I would definately give it some serious thought but you should also assure yourself some fallback room for your current position. You seem to be in the drivers seat regardless. Experience in any field is worth it's weight in wages.. I took several different roads in my industrial mechanical career, and as I am reaching the 50 year old mark, I wonder should I have tried something less physical but yet something in my general field of knowledge.

What I really mean is as you get older it's harder to learn new stuff.. And harder to do the work in the concrete jungle.. :surrender

Its cool.

Slappy, after reading your last post, it seems that even if you do take the risk, youll have no trouble getting a job right back where you are, or somewhere with similar pay. GO FOR IT!!!

If you're not happy in what you do for a living, all the money in the world doesn't mean a thing. Do what you enjoy. Do you enjoy the challenge of a new job more than being The Guy in your current department? Then do it. Do you enjoy being top dog at your current position? Stay. Life's too short to not have a good time at what you do and money isn't everything.

This thought brought to you by a 44 year old.