As IT pro’s, we find ourselves searching for many things. We search for solutions. We search for truth (both regular and capital-T truth). Most of those things we either have a good chance of locating, as long as we’re persistent and intelligent about it.

But one of the searches that many (if not all) IT pro’s undertake is the search for the right fit in their job.

Forums, job boards, and advice columns – not to mention innumerable after-work-over-beer discussions – are filled with tales of horrific bosses, harrowing workplaces, and hideous jobs.

If there were easy answers, they’d be out there already. After 30 years, the only wisdom I can give is this: it’s the same as any other problem. You have to be persistent. You have to be smart. You have to be willing to abandon your pre-conceived notions and start over – again and again if necessary. You have to accept that the solution which worked for another person in another place may not be your solution.

And sometimes the search has to be given up for now, with the trust that you’ll take it up again another day when you are fresh and ready to try again.