Dear Bob ... I read Advice Line all the time and I've come to think of you as the "Dr. Phil" for IT folks. I could really use some insight and HELP. I'm closing in on 10 years here where I work, and am the only "original" IT member left (there were only two of us to begin with). For the most part, it's a comfortable pace of frenzy, although I'm feeling that the piano wire Dear Bob …I read Advice Line all the time and I’ve come to think of you as the “Dr. Phil” for IT folks. I could really use some insight and HELP. I’m closing in on 10 years here where I work, and am the only “original” IT member left (there were only two of us to begin with). For the most part, it’s a comfortable pace of frenzy, although I’m feeling that the piano wire is getting dangerously tight. Between my stint in the Army and this organization, the largest company I’ve worked for had about 35 people.My formal education is in Bus. Admin. and I’m self taught in database. Ask several people and you’ll get several opinions on my database skills (I’ll credit myself with at least average). I bend Excel to my will and am better in GIS than the analysts who use it to do their work. While I have my rough spots, my name usually comes up when someone needs something done right away or a different way of looking at things is needed (as I tell those who will listen, I don’t need a box, I just think outside.). For the most part, I think I should be on high-level type projects, but I get more “trench” work (moving PC’s, imaging PC’s, un-jamming printers, etc) than I should because of the four of us, the other guy and I are picking up 80% of the work and the other two (women) aren’t carrying their load – and the bosses let them get away with it! When you factor in that the other guy and I have two small kids and the women don’t, it really makes it a tough sell to work late or flex when the guys have family responsibilities (and the other guy’s youngest has a major medical issue).Lastly, while the other three have taken major sick time, I’ve used just 13 hours in almost 10 years.Bottom line – how do I elevate myself out of the “trench” work that I really shouldn’t be getting without pissing off the Boss(es) and co-workers? I don’t consider myself a prima dona, but I can do everyone elses job – they cannot do mine. – Frustrated – who me?Dear Frustrated …I’m not sure being compared to Dr. Phil is a compliment, but what the heck – whether or not, he’s made a pile of money at it. It gives me something to hope for. As for how you should handle your current situation, the key question is how much risk you’re willing to take to try to improve it.But first, before you try to do anything, a suggestion: You have three co-workers. You and one other carry 80% of the load; the other two accomplish relatively little. Stop thinking about gender; stop thinking about family situations. If they’re ethnically different from you, or have three eyes and emigrated from a planet circling Arcturus, don’t think about that either. (Okay, that would be hard to avoid thinking about …)None of this is relevant to you. It shouldn’t be relevant to your boss. If you think in those categories, eventually you’ll express in those categories and that will make you a problem employee, giving your unproductive co-workers an excuse and your manager a reason to ignore anything you say. Your problem is simple: You’ve been typecast. That gives you incredible job security and very little career opportunity. This is pretty much a one-or-the-other trade-off. So before you go any further, ask yourself if you’re willing to lose the security you currently enjoy.If the answer is yes, the next step is simple: Talk to your boss.Ask for a half-hour of his or her time. In that time, raise your first issue. The second will keep, and raising both at once will just confuse things. The first issue is that it appears to you that you’re taking on a disproportionate share of the workload – especially the “trench work” – and it’s translating to longer workdays for you than for any of your co-workers.Be prepared for the question that’s sure to follow – some variation of “What is it you want?” This is a negotiation, and in a negotiation you’d better know in advance what you want or there’s no way either party will leave the room anything other than frustrated.What you want is that the trenchwork be shared more equitably. Once you state this, be ready with an old salesman’s trick: Listen to the objections and say, “If I can resolve this, do we have a deal?” In this case, the major barrier will be that you know how to do the trenchwork and your co-workers don’t. Your resolution: You’ll take the time to cross-train them; you’ll prepare checklists; you’ll develop an accountability process so your boss can easily determine how well everyone is doing at each of the key trenchwork tasks. If your boss just doesn’t want to deal with the problem and won’t deal with the problem, you can raise the stakes, but it’s risky. At the end of a full workday, leave when everyone else leaves, unless you’re dealing with a true crisis. If something didn’t get done, it doesn’t get done until the next day. If your boss challenges you, explain that there’s a limit to how much you can personally handle – if there’s more work to be done than there is staff to do it, you’ll do your share, but you aren’t willing to be the only one to work after hours.I doubt you’ll get fired for this, but you won’t get good performance reviews either, nor will you be considered for better opportunities.Oh, wait – you aren’t being considered for them now! If you don’t get this issue taken care of you’ll never get the second one resolved – so if nothing changes, be prepared to either decide to live with it, or to find another opportunity someplace else.If it does get fixed, take on issue #2: Tell your boss you’re getting bored with the same old trench-level assignments, over and over again, and that the next time there’s an opportunity to work on a higher-level effort, you’d like to be considered for it. Your co-workers can handle the trench stuff just as well as you can (Risk! You’re no longer irreplaceable!) so you’re confident there’s a way to free up some of your time for a bigger challenge than you’ve been handling thus far.When do you raise this? Keep your ear to the ground. Raise it when you hear of a new, suitable project that’s in the process of getting approved and organized. Timing is everything: Ask when there’s a chance for your manager to say yes. – Bob ——– Technology Industry