Being stuck in a dead-end career is never any fun - and IT is laden with ample opportunity for stagnation. Here are a few situations that your career could be at a standstill - if any of these are familiar then you might like to consider a change!
Pittance-Grade General Purpose IT Dogsbody
You work for a small company; the IT team comprises of you, and maybe a couple of others. You are expected to do everything from desktop support through designing the company's website to administering the servers. Despite this responsibility you aren't given much respect - just an endless string of inane IT-related odd jobs.
You are paid less than most of the other staff at the company - but this is one of your first jobs, you're young and it's a good chance to hone your general-purpose IT skills before you finally hand in your notice and go for a job that values your technical ability (in theory, at least).
Inept Corporate Developer
Inept is probably a little cruel, but the corporate development environment can certain conceal a certain degree of incompetence. In a world where performance is dictated by sheer volume of code, rather than quality, the subpar programmer can survive - even thrive if they possess the sufficient skills in the blaggard department.
There is the danger for any developer caught up in the corporate world to get complacent - but it's only really dangerous when you don't realise it. If you keep yourself aware of the outside world (at least as far as IT is concerned), keep your skills keen and keep innovating, you might just be alright.
Technical Middle Management
You're in charge of a small team, tucked away in an office somewhere, churning out an endless string of meaningless projects to keep the higher-ups happy: The life of such a middle manager is about as mundane as it gets. Once upon a time you were a developer, but now you spend most of your time in meetings and conference calls in a boring and repetitive cycle ad infinitum.
The endless string of work you'll be mired in will eventually wear you down, and if you don't make a break for it you might be stuck in middle-management limbo forever. Just remember: it's never too late to make a break for the next rung up the ladder - perhaps in your next position you won't just be another cog in the machine?
Serial Freelancer
Always busy, the serial freelancer takes on a never ending cascade of minor tasks in order to pay the bills. Never seeming to mind that they're missing out on more lucrative jobs, they're happy to keep on churning through site after site for small businesses and individuals alike.
Unfortunately such small jobs may mean such a freelancer becomes firmly lodged in the same position, always busy but never bringing in sufficient profit to grow. For all the effort in the world, barely paying the mortgage doesn't seem worth it. Perhaps joining an agency or forming a partnership with another like-minded freelancer might enable you to tackle more interesting projects?
Legacy Architecture Dinosaur
So you've stuck around in the same position for a few years, and you know how things work. In fact, you're the only person who does. The company depends on your intimate knowledge of legacy code and systems in order to keep things ticking over. Never mind the fact that your skills are outdated, you've a comfortable position (which is potentially well paid, for fear that you'll leave and take your irreplaceable knowledge with you).
Being the dinosaur in a company is a dead end, perhaps - but it can pay well. If you can put up with incessant maintenance on all sorts of insignificant systems, and cope with being perpetually burnt out, then legacy maintenance could be well suited to you.
On the other hand, perhaps it's time to dig yourself out of that rut? A new challenge is a great way to reinvigorate a career, and to stave off burnout. We might all feel like we're in a dead end from time to time - it's unavoidable for all but the most fortunate - but if your working life is a perpetual drag, a shift in your career could put you on the right track again.
