If you love working in the tech field but you find yourself with an impending feeling of doom every Sunday night at the thought of facing your boss, you’re not alone. Numerous people love what they do but don’t necessarily love who they do it for. According to a poll from Monster, 32 percent of employees say they work for a horrible boss, while a mere 15 percent say they have an “excellent” one. Before you decide to abandon the IT field to live on a goat farm in Vermont, stop and reflect. You might not have a bad job or a bad career. You might just be working for a bad IT manager.
Are You Being Micromanaged?
If your boss is constantly hanging over your shoulder, it’s impossible to get anything done in an efficient manner. Micromanaging can be a difficult trait for managers to overcome, and it’s not likely that your boss will change. One way to handle a micromanager is to over-communicate with them. Send detailed emails and pop into your boss’s office at the start and end of each day to recap. If you can provide your boss with more information than they need, they will accept you are on top of things and may give you a little more space throughout the day.
Is Your Boss Not an Advocate?
Strong leaders go to bat for their teams. They help them get the tools they need to do their jobs well and to succeed. They share the limelight when successes occur, and they never place blame when failures occur. If your boss does the opposite; if they never advocate for the group to leadership, take all the credit for success and pass all the blame, you and your co-workers are likely an unhappy group. As employees, you are there to support your boss, but good managers know that can only happen when they support you, too.
Is Your Boss a New Manager?
Every manager was a “new” manager at one point in their career, but working for someone who has just taken their first leadership role often comes with challenges. New managers are learning and getting their bearings and should be cut a little bit of slack, but it’s difficult to work with someone who doesn’t know what they are doing just yet. If you happen to be more qualified than a new manager, feelings of resentment can build quickly, as well.
Do You Struggle to Get up in the Morning?
If you can’t bring yourself to get out of bed until the last possible second; if you spend your entire commute dreading your day; or if you find yourself using more and more “mental health” days just to get away from your boss, it’s probably time to move on. If you love what you do, but dislike who you do it for, don’t let it ruin your passion for the IT field.
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