Ask HN: Stuck in support role

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3250335

by stuck434 • 15 years ago

6 9 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Is there any way out of a support role? Long story short, I started working at a company part-time in college supporting a CMS (slicing, integrating cms, troubleshooting, etc). I did it for over 3 years. Recently I transitioned into full time, but it seems like I've terribly outgrown the job. Even though there are other positions for UI/UX, programming, the company pretty much only wants me doing support. The company hires totally new people for these positions all the time, and it really hurts. This is the case for pretty much everyone at this company that started on support, there seems to be no way out. I worked really hard for this company in college since I thought I was working for something more (long hours, less pay for more responsibility, harder or equal work as full timers).

Should I be grateful to even have a job? Am I asking for too much? I figured I should have been given some semblance of a chance by now to do anything else. High tail it out of this company, or what? I didn't go to a well known college, and only have one significant project I can point to outside of work, so I'm finding it difficult building a solid resume. I feel really gimped, but a lot of the blame must obviously fall on me.

steventruong• 15 years ago

Have you tried talking to them? Bring up your concerns and make it apparent you are interested in one of the other positions, and see what they say. I wouldn't assume unless you've already brought it up and they were unwilling to do anything about it.

stuck4342• 15 years ago

I have, and for the most part, he wants me to wait it out. I've waited quite a while already really, and I'm not really interested in being led on once more.

md1515• 15 years ago

Then give him an ultimatum. Don't be headstrong if you can't find another job, but if you have that cushion, I would suggest telling him. You would like to be put in a more serious position instead of support and you feel like there should be a set date or milestone where you will be allowed to do so.

Sometimes it feels like they hold all the chips, but you can quit at any time and they will be sh*t out of luck. Don't let them forget it and your bargaining will be easier.

kls• 15 years ago

Ask for a raise or new responsibilities. Tell them if they want you to wait it out that you need to be compensated for your skills languishing. Take the higher compensation and start working on a side project, invest all the money that you make over your current compensation into launching that side project when you are ready.

nandemo• 15 years ago

I've been in a similar situation. It could be that your boss feels the company has invested time and money into your "training" (even if you didn't receive any formal instruction), so they don't want to replace you and incur that cost again. Whether this sort of thinking is justified or not -- I think it's not, considering you've been there for 3 years and your training must have paid out long ago -- in practice it's clear your boss' interests aren't aligned with yours.

Given that, and given that you've already expressed your wishes to your boss, you should start looking for another job. Unless you live an area with a shortage of programming jobs and you are unable to move to a better area (very unlikely if you live in the US), I'm sure you'll find something.

Don't even mention leaving your job if you don't have a job offer from another company. In fact, if you get a good job offer you should probably accept it; using it as leverage to move within your company might work, but you should think really hard if you want to stay at your current company.

lojack• 15 years ago

Tell your boss that the work isn't fulfilling enough and if he doesn't do anything about it start looking elsewhere. You're in an industry where demand for your labor is much higher than you probably realize.

stuck4342• 15 years ago

I'm finding that to be not so true.

anigbrowl• 15 years ago

Apply for a more interesting job at a competitor.

codeslush• 15 years ago

I started my professional career in QA, then "downgraded" to a support role in a different company because (a) it was a mile from my house instead of a 2hr commute each way every day and (b) it actually paid more! Now for the interesting part: In support, you have an opportunity to SHOW and CREATE tremendous value! Value drives recognition. Value drives increases in salary. Value drives opportunity - within or outside your current employer.

Let me back up my assertions:

I worked for a large software company that had acquired a smaller niche company. Niche company had some bugs that caused some problems for its customers.

I helped said customers resolve those issues. Those customers wrote really nice letters and sent them to my employer. Regularly. It was actually a little embarrassing after a while. It's almost as though I was asking for them, and I wasn't. It just wasn't "normal" -- enter "Wonder Boy" nickname. That's all good - I got raises and recognition.

Next, I developed a utility to help correct this problem. I didn't actually understand much about programming, and it was a fairly complicated issue for me to solve. Had to do with bitwise operators and all that good stuff. I sought out answers to an equation I wasn't smart enough to solve, but for a problem I knew existed. Once I had the bits (funny, huh?) of info I needed, I wrote a very simple program/utility to save companies from experiencing this problem. Guess what happened then? Development manager tried to recruit me (lucky for him, I didn't accept).

Then...I started working closer and closer with partners. I was becoming somewhat of a subject matter expert. I then get invited to present in partner training. So I go do this. What do you know? Sales Consulting people see me and say - Wow - this guy is confident, knows his stuff, and can communicate to an audience. Now, I get recruited to sales consulting. Sweet - that works! Not smart enough to figure out complicated bit shifts, but smart enough to solve real world problems and communicate those solutions to high level business people and lower level techies. That works.

Create value! Have passion. Seek solutions to problems to problems that only you have visibility to! You are in a unique position - you are the front-line! You are seeing things that escape everyone else. Use it as an opportunity to make people happy. You make them happy and you solve your own situation. You will have customers trying to recruit you when you solve major problems. You'll have internal people fighting for you. You'll have your HR department spinning their heads not knowing what to do when your boss is trying to give you a raise out of cycle, and two or more people from other departments in the same company are asking them for salary advice when trying to negotiate your role in their department.

Hope this helps! (no time to proof and hope it makes sense - forgive any typos or strange sentences/fragments - hopefully you get the concepts)

Ask HN: Stuck in support role

Related Stories