
Ask HN: Career choice for a troubleshooter - throwaway2106
I have a mix of skills in system administration and development areas, but I&#x27;m more inclined to areas related to infrastructure components (servers, storage, networks, app servers, performance analysis, etc). I believe I have a good understanding of many areas that allow me to connect the dots quickly.<p>It seems I&#x27;m able to find the area that is likely to be the problem and then deep dive into it until I come out with a technical solution. In that regard, I&#x27;m neither satisfied with a shallow understanding of something nor the supreme authority in a single area. I don&#x27;t care about team boundaries, just want to find the solution.<p>With 15+ years of experience, I have identified a pattern. I will join a company that has big challenges, work very hard to get everything in other and after 2-3 years I will become so bored I can&#x27;t find any meaning. The challenges I like area gone, things are running smoothly, automation is doing its job, the unknowns are gone, I know the infrastructure pretty well and I&#x27;ve taught others how to operate it properly. Or we&#x27;ve reached the limits of technical solutions and now it&#x27;s a people issue and I hate to be involved in that (I was a team leader in some companies, did a good job but absolutely hated it).<p>The problem is this constant switching of companies is really taxing on my mind. I have to convince myself I&#x27;m not at the right place anymore, then I have to convince others, find a new company, convince them I am the right choice for their problems&#x2F;challenges, etc.<p>So I&#x27;ve been thinking being a consultant might be a good thing: I get a constant flow of challenges without getting bored by a single company. The biggest issue: I&#x27;m no salesman, I will often charge less than I should (hell, I&#x27;ll do this for free if my bills are paid).<p>How do people deal with boredom in this context? Is applying at Google&#x2F;Facebook&#x2F;Amazon&#x2F;Microsoft a solution? How to keep the challenges flowing when all you love to do is fix&#x2F;explain things?
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mooreds
Work for a consulting firm. They'd love to have you, would do the sales and
billing, and let you move from fire to fire without the agony of job
switching.

I have no idea what consulting company is a good fit, but Google around a bit.

