I work at a Higher Ed institution. About a year ago we were told by the state to merge with a medical research college. Suffice to say it’s been hell. I didn’t used to dread going into the office. Now I lay awake at night worrying and angry over it. There are pay inequities, office reassignments, and general resentment and anger at my campus. So that’s the back story. As for me... I don’t really want to work here anymore. The new organization is too different. This has led me to allot of soul searching and realizations about my job satisfaction.
Before I took this job I was a web administrator for a city website. I won a few awards, one of which placed my work at third in the nation for a city of our size. I was heavily into web development. But the university came knocking and it just seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up. Once at the university I saw my Unix certification become my only job function. I was promised I would be able to continue my web development but that didn’t really happen. The university was laid back and easy. I became complacent.
Post-merger I have been assigned as programmer to the enterprise group. The programmers are really application curators here. As a result I don’t really have an interest in the work. I opted for programming because the systems group is that bad. Before I moved to Higher Ed I was focused on web development. But now, I see myself using oracle forms and other legacy crap in the future. To complicate things I’m completely self-taught. Other than the fact that I can learn pretty much anything I put my mind to, I don’t have allot of current skills to offer. I’ve flirted with mobile, Django, and jQuery, but I just don’t know the best way forward. It’s hard to come home from work and be motivated. The atmosphere is so toxic and depressing. Last year I wrote a note to myself… You have to build that bridge to get there… I haven’t even laid the first brick. Any advice is appreciated.