I should reiterate before I go into this topic that I am not a doctor. I also did not spend last night in a Holiday Inn Express. The next few paragraphs are not an informed medical opinion. Instead, they are my views on loving your work and being a workaholic. There is a difference between these two attitudes. It is one you need to understand in case you need some help.
The Workaholic
First, there is a distinct difference between doing something through addiction (you cannot live without it) as opposed to because you enjoy it. This distinction is vital for your health and also for our goal of a dominating career. In our case, if you work because you feel a need to be productive and not because you like to code or enjoy technology, then your focus will be off. The good news is that IT is a perfect fit for someone that always want a reason to work. The bad news is that choosing this career path as a workaholic will help you to an early grave.
The Time Requirements and Attitude
We have seen all sorts of ways that an IT career requires more hours on average than other options. Lawyers and Doctors come to mind as needing more than an average number of hours to stay current due to advances and changes in those lines of business. This is changing as more small businesses are being launched with the typical overtime requirements to get a new enterprise off the ground. Thus, it is easy to see your time spent on your career as an addiction of some sort.
The difference in IT and “work” careers is that some of us do not see IT as a form of work. IT is an energizing effort rather than a draining one in this case. This same sort of impact and variance is easily seen in how introverts view time spent in a crowd as compared to extroverts. Extroverts are energized by being in a group; introverts are drained. Similarly, IT workers that love the work are fulfilled by it while many others are exhausted by IT work.
A good test is to spend an hour working on an IT problem. This test may be writing code, configuring a system, or designing a system. If the time flies by and you are ready for more then you are well-suited for IT. If that is not the case, then you should look for another career.
