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You work hard, harder than any of your bosses or users really know. IT life is challenging, to say the least. We are always on, we are always in demand, we are the fundamental cog in this wheel of business. Without IT Admins, businesses don’t function, users have frustration, budgets don’t align….whew! It’s a LOT.
We at JumpCloud realize the stress that you’re under and we want to offer you some solutions to rebuild your IT life. Maybe you see how you’re traveling down the road to burnout. Maybe your mental health is already suffering. We want you to know that you are more than just IT Administrators. You are not defined by your job.
June is Rebuild Your IT Life Month
When we are in stressful situations, when we are overwhelmed, it’s hard to pull back and see the bigger picture of what we do. Sometimes it can be hard to see our value as IT Admins beyond being a glorified button-pusher. Make no mistake, you are worth more than the buttons you push. Your impact on the lives of others is huge. Your impact on the business is ginormous.
Certainly, if you are being overworked and underpaid (or otherwise unappreciated) you have options. You can have the conversation with your manager, with your Skip level, or with someone in HR. It’s probably wise to go in with a plan for what kind of remedies you want to see.
Of course, depending on how difficult things have become and the atmosphere at the job, you may be having a discussion that’s more of an ultimatum session. There is nothing wrong with moving on to greener pastures, making sure that no bridges get burned in the process.
Or, it might be that you need to re-energize your love of IT or you might want to branch out and do different IT-related things. Maybe you want to move into security or networking rather than desktop support. Learn a new skill that can bring you new interest and could be career-enhancing.
Growth is Fun
Take a class, teach a class, start a meetup group, use your IT knowledge and skills to help folks less fortunate than you, become a mentor – the opportunity to use our expertise in other ways keeps things fresh. We have so many options, we can always find something that will rebuild our interest in the IT life.
And, of course, you can learn to use your tools in new and different ways. Maybe there’s a feature in a tool that you haven’t touched yet – learn how to use it. Maybe there’s a tool you’re interested in but haven’t set aside the time to test it out. Well, build a couple VM’s and get to it. New tools build new interest and new interest keeps us from getting bored.
The IT Toolkit
You have a lot on your plate. We hear you. We’ve built an IT Toolkit to help you rebuild your IT life. And we’ve built a Community where you can reach out for assistance on any topic you encounter in your IT life: networking, hardware, software, budgeting strategies, communication, career changes and growth, and so much more.
We all know that the right tools make the job easier. We’ve built some for you. Take a look at our IT Toolkit and download anything you want. For free.
IT Inventory Assessment Tool – Grab the checklist to start measuring your org’s current state and effectiveness. Use the checklist to ensure you’ve got the information you need to build an effective strategy for the next year.
Using a Priority Matrix – You need a system in order to overcome the challenges IT departments face. The matrix is an essential tool that ensures that the most important tasks receive the time and resources they deserve.
Budget Strategies – Budgeting is a core condition to execute (or not) your strategy in support of the broader organizational mission. Download this budget spreadsheet template to ensure you have the best visibility into what you can (and do) spend.
Sign up for JumpCloud and see what a difference centralized management can make.
