Anyone else feeling overwhelmed?

Posted by Wraith_9912@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 36 comments

I've worked in tech for 30 years and its always been busy but now it just feels overwhelming.
Theres just so much to be across, its to much.
Everyday I encounter new things that I feel I could spend hours reading and learning about but dont have the time, so I do what I have to, just to keep things moving.
I bounce from one huge task to the next, barely having time to think.
There's a stack of tickets to get through, no time to think or plan anything, no time to really learn.
Everyday I feel like I encounter new terms and tech, which I am just supposed to know instantly how it works.
Anyone else out there struggling like this?

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stephendt@reddit

Have you tried just becoming an expert in everything? Worked for me

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Wraith_9912@reddit (OP)

I've been trying!, but honestly I cant find the time to study anything

I dont see much of a future for us if this pace keeps up

how many will break down

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Lando_uk@reddit

You have to be prepared to literally throw away stuff that you learned 2 years ago because its no longer relievent. Don't bother leaning any of the new stuff, just ask AI. You must be close to retirement now, so what's the point of learning blinkyblong 2.1 when it'll be something else in 18 months time.

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Wraith_9912@reddit (OP)

What other industry is like this I wonder. If you were a doctor, bricklayer, anything else then experiece matters, you get better over time and more respected. You are right though that anything from a couple years ago is just lost skills now. This is a harsh job.

Asking AI is not a good idea its wrong most of the time!. I have lost count of the amount of times I've asked them something and its said to click something that doesnt exist.

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The_Long_Blank_Stare@reddit

It’s always been escalating; unfortunately it always will be. The best thing you can do is find a company that sectionalizes talent into specialized groups…of course the downfall of that is the fact that when you only serve a few functions in the grand scheme, you’re easier to let go. It’s always a trade-off.

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mysticusa1994@reddit

I guess the time of allrounders is over. You have to really focus on something specific. So you either specialize and risk finding it too monotonous or enjoy the wide range but lack depth and feel what you just described.

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Wraith_9912@reddit (OP)

Maybe you're right, I dont know where that leaves me though.

To specialize these days feels like you'll just end up sitting in more meetings all day.

Cyber is just extremely dull, writing reports

Cloud is just getting pulled into every meeting all day

Maybe networking?, I dont know, I'm close to quitting and just being a bus driver or gardener. I've been in IT so long I honestly dont know what else I could do

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MenBearsPigs@reddit

Heavily specializing (you've got to be very proficient) is definitely not a bad idea. But from what I've been seeing, companies are frequently trying to get away with tossing "analyst" or something at the end of an IT position and trying to have one guy do the jobs of what should be a team of 3.

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imgettingnerdchills@reddit

I got an offer to be an 'Exchange guy' and I turned it down because I am still relatively new to the profession and wanted something where I could get my hands on a large variety of tools before specializing. Now I am almost wishing I would have just been the 'Exchange guy'... but hey at least being a jack of all trades is moderately more difficult to replace/automate.

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Kuipyr@reddit

Honestly you dodged a bullet, anything email related is almost on par with Printers.

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imgettingnerdchills@reddit

Good to know, I'll keep this in mind for the future lol

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hodeer@reddit

Or dns

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beneschk@reddit

I'm secretly an 'Exchange guy' but I will never admit it.

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BuffaloJealous2958@reddit

I think a lot of people in tech feel this now, especially the last few years. It’s not just there’s a lot to do anymore, it’s constant context switching plus an endless stream of new tools, acronyms, AI products, security stuff, cloud stuff, updates, etc. And honestly, nobody truly knows all of it. The people who seem like they do are usually just better at navigating uncertainty without panicking.

One thing that helped me mentally was accepting that I don’t need to deeply learn every new thing immediately. A lot of tech disappears in 6 months anyway. I focus on understanding fundamentals and learning deeply only when something becomes relevant to my actual day-to-day work.

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Wraith_9912@reddit (OP)

well I'm glad its not just me!, I'm honestly starting to think about quitting and just doing something, anything else.

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AutisticSuperMom@reddit

Two important thoughts in one post!

navigating uncertainty without panicking

This is what helps and saves me in the EOD. One of my mentors once told me: "If you do not know what to do immediately, try not to panic. Remember, you're the one for this job; no one knows everything. Relax. Ask questions, feel free to admit that you do not know something. Try to do your best to fix the problem. Focus on the problem and not on your ego".

understanding fundamentals

This is what I understood years ago. There is no way to know every new framework, tool, etc. But, for example, the hardware is still the same. Most of the protocols have been with us for more than 50+ years.

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felixisthecat@reddit

AI has just added to the workload for me, not eased it. I feel like since 2020, everything’s been going 110%

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Wraith_9912@reddit (OP)

absolutely, I just had to deploy a policy to restrict some of what claude code can do, does it work?, I have no bloody clue. I've got people installing chat bots and letting them take over outlook and record every meeting then take that data overseas and when I explain why this might be a problem they act like I am talking nonsense

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beneschk@reddit

As you can tell there is more work than all sysadmins can collectively achieve.
In 2005 I was happily using an internet connection with 56k bandwidth. My available bandwidth is 17500 times more than that after 21 years and seemingly still isn't enough in some edge cases.
We haven't had a global population increase of 1:17500 in 21 years and only a small percent of people become Sysadmins/engineers.
There is more data moving around than there are people to manage it. Given productivity always has to increase over time otherwise the economy ends up in recession, we use new methods and tools to fill that productivity gap.
You aren't responsible for developing and designing a method to increase productivity to a point where it matches the amount of work. Make sure you're not setting unrealistic expectations on yourself.
There is someone out there that both needs your services and will respect your time by understanding only so much can be completed in a day.

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MenBearsPigs@reddit

Productivity and profits increase yet companies are rapidly downsizing. Seems like 90% of the population is getting pretty screwed, not that this is a revelation.

The work can* be completed imo. It's just that many companies opt to higher below the bare minimum. They want one IT guy to do several specialist jobs.

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TeflonJon__@reddit

This is my experience as well. Companies want to squeeze every single ounce of productivity out of one person to do things from L1 deskside support, to planning and implementing new policies for a large enterprise org, to basically being an IT PM, and on and on it goes. Mind you- you only get paid for one role.

I am wondering if scope creep is this bad for our field because of a generalized stereotype that IT folks are often less social/confrontational and just deal with whatever is thrown at them? Just conjecture

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Candid_Candle_905@reddit

IMO it's just the job getting too wide for one brain. My fix wasn't 'learn everything' (even though im naturally curious so it helps), it was to do hardcore triage: ticket queue, priorities, ownership, deadlines. For a month I logged what I did every 30 minutes, then used that to spot the repeat patterns and automate/delegate the rest.

If you’re constantly context switching and never getting time to plan or learn, I think that's burnout not personal failure.

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Wraith_9912@reddit (OP)

it is to wide
thats a good approach but i dont know when I'll find the time.
It feels like theres just to much to learn, to many meetings, to many tickets. I can barely keep the queue at a reasonable level. I have zero time to learn anything but somehow expected to know everything

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imgettingnerdchills@reddit

There's more stuff in this field than one could reasonably learn and scope is constantly increasing. I'm relatively new to the field but just in the last years especially with the increase in AI usage people have become more and more impatient and want answers instantly and expect you to be proficient with a new tool in matter of days while maintaining all the others tools. It's not sustainable and I've come close to burnout a few times and have some coworkers who are also on the edge..

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Wraith_9912@reddit (OP)

Dealing with AI has been a real pain for sure, today our parent company wants people to submit a use case to a new AI board, by writing a multiple page document outlining everything they want to do with new AI tools before they use them.
Then they expect a security exception to be submitted that is also like a long essay.
Meanwhile users are expecting it just to be turned on instantly for them and are going around the system any way they can, adding AI chat bots to meetings and all sorts of shit.

Its like emptying a boat with big holes, with a tea cup most days

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KerryBoehm@reddit

This does feel different. I chock it up to all the Boomers gone. Before you could train a Tier I to teach them where files go when you hit save.

Now with folks who have grown up with computers you get far more level 2/3 items.

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brightonbloke@reddit

You've been doing this 30 years and this is only just occuring to you?

I'm at 20 years this year and what you describe is how it's always been.

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guy1195@reddit

Always been for you* haha

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brightonbloke@reddit

Maybe. Half the job has always been communicating expectations upwards, managing constantly shifting priorities, and having to figure out new and emerging technology on the fly. I get that there are phases where it gets busier and quieter etc. but generally this is the baseline of the job.

These are essential skills in this industry, and if you don't have them you will be overwhelmed and burnt out pretty swiftly. You have to accept you cannot do and know everything.

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Break2FixIT@reddit

I feel like this is the forseen take over of our jobs coming to reality in our own minds. I remember when companies requested a couple of certs to be passed for a job, now it seems they want those certs as soon as they come out, yearly. Also, expect IT to run 24/7 no breaks, no vacation, no sick. Cyber attacks are now exploiting CVEs with broader reach due to using AI while also using AI to protect against the threats.

I am not saying we are going to lose our jobs in the next year but I think this overwhelming feeling is just the human psychi clcoming to terms that the expectations of what this new era of AI and rapid upgrades to IT is requiring and that we do not want to do it anymore.

I definitely feel it.

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Powerful_Attention_6@reddit

I agree. After 30 years in tech, the tempo really does feel overwhelming now.

Part of it is probably the usual things: profit margins, deadlines, understaffing, and the expectation that everything should be delivered faster. But I think there is also a bigger structural issue: there are simply far more developers now. That means far more tools, frameworks, libraries, platforms, and abstractions being created or improved all the time.

At the same time the security side has exploded too. More systems, more dependencies, more cloud services, more package ecosystems — all of that means a bigger attack surface. More people are looking for holes, both professionally and maliciously, so there is also more security news you are expected to keep up with.

Then add LLMs on top of that. In the last 6–12 months, they have become genuinely useful at generating code — careful wording there — and they also make it easier to find, explain, and possibly exploit vulnerabilities.

So yes, it is too much for one person. You try to take a break and read a tech blog or watch a video, and suddenly you are being force-fed “the latest AI breakthrough” or “the latest Linux security disaster.” It never really stops.

To end on a positive, is that system software cannot hide behind “security by obscurity” anymore. That was always convenient, but fundamentally broken. Now everything is being examined. Painful, but probably necessary.

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Steus_au@reddit

if you are not asked to make three ai prompts (at least) a day to meet your kpi your are lucky

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--Arete@reddit

I agree. I think the AI boom is to blame here. AI is causing a rapid expansion of software changes and new products and features and perhaps also businesses. For a sysadmin I think it is important to filter out all the crap and focus your time and attention to what really matters.

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