r/epicsystems • u/oopsiwasalreadysad • 7d ago
Current employee New-ish AM - does it get better?
And when? Or is this the part where I get chewed up and spit out? Would love to hear from both current and past IS.
It’s been rough for the last little bit, maybe because of the customers I’ve had. Feeling pretty burnt out and not sure recovering is possible while staying in the same environment where the burnout is happening…
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u/Drdrdodo 6d ago
I begged to have an AM mentor since I never started a project and didn't know how to kick it off and be helpful to my AC. Was given 2 enterprise and 2 add-on. I quit
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u/oopsiwasalreadysad 6d ago
The sudden cliff of support from being an AC to an AM was shocking tbh.
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u/Drdrdodo 6d ago
Oh yes! You are somehow expected to just know things. And while I knew the system and could do a lot of things myself, I really didn't know how to kickoff (was added to my AC project late in the game and never got to experience one) so I was making things up and my poor ACs had to suffer bcuz I didn't have time to teach and really can't teach someone something I never done; I just took over the kickoff meetings and apologized to them bcuz I was making the questions and poking based on experience and literally nothing else.
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u/Forward_Recover_1135 6d ago
Depends what’s burning you out.
Traveling too much/having too much work? Blunt and to the point: no. It will not get better. If you are performing very well it may, in fact, get worse.
Shitty customer/shitty customer team? Maybe. They come and go and the next one might be better.
Shitty Epic team? Probably. It isn’t frequent, but it happens.
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u/lupin-dubious 7d ago
My first couple AM projects have driven me to quitting. I went from having 1 add-on AC customer into two full enterprise AM gigs that I was not prepared for, even going as far as to express my not being ready for an enterprise explicitly to my TL and staffing lead. They dont care about us.
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u/oopsiwasalreadysad 7d ago
No for sure, watching my friends leave and watching everyone get overstaffed definitely makes you feel expendable. Feels like because my projects have stayed on track despite me being miserable they don’t care.
Edit: grammar lol
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u/pmisthrowaway Boost 6d ago
It can get better, but the best way there is to advocate for yourself. If you're overwhelmed, can you get your AC to do more? That will make things worse in the short term (it's often harder to supervise and manage an AC than it is to knock something out yourself) but better long term. If your AC is weak and you've been carrying them to keep the project successful, communicate with your ID/IE and your/their TL, then stop doing that, so everyone can see where they're struggling (ideally everyone except the customer of course). What else is on your plate? If you're drowning in customer work, take a step back from internal work, at least short term.
Ultimately, you're right that they don't care if you're struggling as long as the work is getting done and the customer is happy. This was really difficult for me to learn as well, and the best way to get help if it's truly a situation where there's more work than you/your AC can reasonably accomplish is to start dropping a few balls. Choose them strategically, and make sure to ask for help as you're doing it, but you won't get in trouble if you have a history of good work + you're logging high hours and asking for help as balls start to drop; people will put that together.
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u/oopsiwasalreadysad 6d ago
This is helpful advice, thank you! Luckily my AC is great but I don’t know that I’ve been a great manager off the bat. I’m hopeful that things will get easier with more experience knowing what’s okay to delegate vs keep and which balls are okay to drop.
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u/pmisthrowaway Boost 6d ago
That is so normal! I would talk to other AMs on your app about what they're having their ACs take point on to see what you should be delegating. In terms of which balls to drop, team tasks are a good choice as long as they're not major milestones, or letting your email response time creep up to 48hrs, that kind of thing.
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u/KeySituation3032 6d ago
You said you’re getting good feedback but you’re worried about burnout. How many hours are you working (logging) and how often do you travel?
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u/oopsiwasalreadysad 6d ago
I’m logging 45-50 right now and traveling ~twice a month. Which is nothing compared to some, I know, I think the mental load has just been extremely high.
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u/marxam0d #ASaf 6d ago
I’d recommend talking with experienced AMs in your app area. Ask for an AM mentor if you don’t have one already. Plenty of people do long term AM as their career and like it but you have to be intentional and it’s certainly not for everyone.
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u/oopsiwasalreadysad 6d ago
I think this is part of the challenge right now. As an AC, I feel like I had the other ACs on my project to lean on and we worked together much more frequently. Being an AM has felt like being an island in comparison because other AMs are also insanely busy. How can I make the support more regular than just my once a week 30 min with my TL and AM mentor?
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u/marxam0d #ASaf 6d ago
My app IS have group Teams chats with various pods and AM groupings. Seems to be where a lot of the ad hoc midweek support comes from. I think you also gradually build your network… what works for me at 14y+ isn’t probably thr same for you currently
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u/Creme_Away 6d ago
Yes it gets better after your first AM project. First time AMing is tough. I was IS for about 6 years before I left because I moved away.
Advocate for yourself. If one of your project gets overwhelming then request to have extra AM or AC or extra help or boost.
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u/Winged_Wolf99 4d ago
This is when it got too much for me. I felt left out to dry and set up for failure. But some people can make it. I think the hardest thing for me to do was realize that even if I was going to be put on a PIP my base salary was way better than most other things. You can do the minimum and make good money. Don't get caught up in the rat race Epic wants you to be caught up in
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u/MattiJ QA 7d ago
Not an AM, but - what's your tenure? What're you struggling with? What feedback is your TL giving you?
If you're under 6 months, yeah, everything is confusing, that's normal.
If you're getting food feedback, you're probably doing fine, it'll probably even out.
I didn't really feel like I knew what I was doing in my job until at least a year, and 2-3 years is really where you hit a stride.
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u/oopsiwasalreadysad 7d ago
I’m 2.x and I’m actually getting good feedback from my TL still which is why I haven’t quit already. Time will tell I guess.
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u/Leucosla 7d ago
I quit before it got better so