Dear Bob ... I don't know there is any advice that can help me, but I'm out of ideas. Worse, I'm out of gas and heading toward burnout. I'm a Windows systems administrator. The company I work for keeps asking for more: Longer days and more of them. I've gone from a 40 hour work week to 50, then to 60. I could understand the need for it, so I didn't complain. But I'm now at the point where it isn't just every wak Dear Bob …I don’t know there is any advice that can help me, but I’m out of ideas. Worse, I’m out of gas and heading toward burnout.I’m a Windows systems administrator. The company I work for keeps asking for more: Longer days and more of them. I’ve gone from a 40 hour work week to 50, then to 60. I could understand the need for it, so I didn’t complain. But I’m now at the point where it isn’t just every waking hour anymore. I get about five hours of sleep, then head back in. The obvious thing to do is to find another job, and I’d be happy to do it. Except, I live in a smallish city, and on those rare days when I’m completely honest with myself about it, I have to admit our whole city is on the decline. The one major employer is in financial trouble and shrinking, and just about the entire remainder of our economy consists of companies that service the big one, or service companies that service the big one, or sell to employees of the big one.Which is to say, the money well is drying up and there doesn’t seem to be any place to sink a new one. Nobody is hiring and most companies are laying people off, so realistically I have no place to look for another job.I’m not expecting miracles, but if you can give me any alternatives I haven’t thought of already, I’d love to hear about them. – Trapped and desperate in small town AmericaDear Trapped …Not knowing what alternatives you’ve already rejected it’s hard to know where to start. I take that back. It’s actually quite easy to know where to start: Your household budget. Squeeze it tight, then squeeze it some more, then squeeze it one more time. Why? Because you’re going to need some flexibility, and the only way to get it is to create enough of a financial safety net that you can afford to sit on the bench for six months or more.While you’re building your safety net, acclimate yourself and your family to the idea that your future city of residence is not your current city of residence. I don’t care how much you enjoy the lifestyle, how much you like your neighbors, and how much you want to live near the rest of your family, you have to be able to make a living, and you’ve already realized that in the long term this isn’t going to be possible where you’re living.It’s time to leave – there’s no nobility in being the last hold-out. When you’re ready … when you have the resources to last six months without a job (don’t forget to include unemployment benefits) … shrink your work week to something reasonable. Tell your manager you’re doing it, and make it clear, without being unpleasant, that it’s a matter of your health, and therefore non-negotiable.One of two things will happen. Either your manager will magically discover your long hours aren’t as important as they appear to be, or else the company will lay you off in favor of someone who is willing to work 80 hour weeks.Either way you win. In the first case you get your life back and have enough time to find a better job in a bigger city with a stronger economy. In the second case you get unemployment compensation and can look for a better job in a bigger city full time. (Even if the company contests your claim, it will have a hard time insisting that your refusal to continue to work 80 hour weeks constitutes legitimate grounds for termination.) Depending on the details, you might even decide, assuming you do get laid off, that you should move your family to the “right” city in advance of finding a position. The downside is that you’ll pay your own relocation expenses. The upside is that in this economy, very few companies are willing to pay relocation expenses for anyone other than very special new hires – key executives, usually, or recruits with very rare skills that are hard to find locally.I think you’ll find that being a Windows systems administrator isn’t one of the skills that qualifies.You’re in for a tough year. Brace yourself, and when you think it’s more than you can deal with, remind yourself that while it will be hard, it’s also for a limited, fixed period of time. That’s better than what you have right now.– Bob ——– Technology Industry