Getting unstuck

Dear Bob ...

I've come to ask for some career advice, I've been a windows network admin at a small university for nearly 7 years. At the place I'm currently employed I could stay forever and work until I could retire at 65, I'm 27 now. They haven't laid off but 4 people in 90 years and those were people ready to retire anyhow. I know that I really shouldn't be complaining about having a secure IT job but here's the issue.

As I have grown in this position over the last 7 years I have come to realize that while I'm a good network admin my heart isn't in it anymore and don't really share a whole lot of values with the place or people that I work with, I'm progressive they are mostly conservative. Also I am bored out of my mind by the day to day implementation and maintenance details of running a network.

I'm much more a process, big picture, and above all people person. The more I do in my current job the more I realize how much me and it don't go together and I get that sinking feeling whenever I look at other IT job ads because I can see in reading them that it would be more of the same. But the thing about working as a network admin for 7 years is that I feel trapped by my credentials and experience. There doesn't seem to be a way to stop being one and to start being something else.

I have managed to pick up a Masters degree in Educational Psychology and Counselor education along the way which be done this coming May, my Bachelors is in Management Information Systems. So I'm not completely pigeon holed, I don't think.

I for one would love to be out in the IT field helping people communicate better, helping them have better processes, and motiviating them to do their best at what they do. How can I turn that into a career that I can change over into so I can leave the dreary world of network administration. I know that no field or career is without its bad days but running a network is just one long bad day for me.

- One stuck and looking for change network admin

Dear Stuck ...