I'm sorry to hear that you're feeling so stressed at work @Joseph Boston! It sounds like it's time to engage with someone in upper management who you trust the most. If you're considering leaving the company to take lower wages anyway, what do you have to lose when it comes to standing up for your needs at your current job? Could you talk to someone there about the issues that are affecting your work the most? Could you ask them directly how you should handle the tasks that feel tricky?? It's possible you could find more support there, and maybe when some of your queries are clarified you'll feel more comfortable with the job. Keep us up to date on what happens! Good Luck! 🧡🧡

First - stop stressing. If you are doing what your bosses say then you’re OK. A couple of things I’d recommend; keep track of questions you didn’t understand; date/time you asked your boss; and whether they said Google it or gave you useful response. This is ‘defensive’ measure.
——— From a positive POV - your boss may see you as someone capable of solving problems & is just encouraging you to be more self reliant.

———- From an improvement perspective: ask yourself if you’re the only one being told to Google things? If all of the support people are doing the same thing then it’s likely each of you is looking up something someone else has already looked up. Is this really a problem? Only if the questions are repetitive and result in significantly wasted time. What is a better way to handle this? Create an internal blog? Maintain an FAQ list?

Or is there just a lack of training material available?

It’s possible that the company tried other solutions like FAQs but found maintaining them less useful or more costly.

From a training material POV - I always like to think about the person/people coming behind me. What could I do to make their onboarding/learning easier? Put some effort into organizing the topics you found most useful. Even a list of links by topic could make their job easier than having to find the best site via Google.

One thing to takeaway when you get an unsatisfactory answer is to think about why your boss gave that answer. It could be that there are factors you didn’t consider; maybe a question of relative importance of the problems your company has; or your boss may just be repeating his/her experience (I.e. not knowing any better); it may also indicate that continuous improvement isn’t particularly valued by the company.

Wow, that's a tough situation. If you're not getting any support, (other than Google) you have two options: stay or go. One thing to consider, however, is that quitting after only four months may give an unfavorable impression to future employers. On the other hand, your mental and physical health deserve high regard. Only you can make that decision.

Assuming you decide to stick with it a little longer, I agree with the previous suggestions. Be proactive in troubleshooting the problem and documenting everything you've already done before asking a supervisor for help. This shows initiative and let's your supervisor zero in on how to help you. The only other suggestion I would give is to build a network of others who can help you. As a former teacher, I can tell you that we beg, borrow, and steal ideas and advice from each other all the time! Perhaps you can find a group on Facebook, LinkedIn, or some other social media platform that you can ask for advice specific to your industry. At the very least, the suggestions of others can give you a starting point and generate ideas you wouldn't have thought of on your own.

Hang in there and good luck!

@Joseph Boston as someone who has done support I would say first that even if you feel uncomfortable with the issues your getting always do your do diligence on every issue you receive, and document that clearly, always google it and put the results in the notes, then they won't be able to tell you do that. You are going find this in almost every IT job, companies that provide tons of training or hand holding are few and far between. The more you look for your own solutions the more you will learn and the better you will get at it, and you won't feel so uncomfortable, I know 4 months is a really short time in IT and they should understand you are new and don't have a lot of experience and work with you, but it's on you to show them you have the brain power to do the work.

Now after four months honestly if it were me I would not complain, or go to management, I would suck it up and look to improve myself. Basically you would be complaining about your peers and mentors and they are probably overburdened as well, in the IT business they always want to pile on more than you can handle, so it's not like your going to find another job where they don't. I have found personally I have more bandwidth then a lot of other people so I can handle that.

Good luck, I know I may not be giving the advice you are looking for but I do wish you all the success in the world.

Frankly, I don't think that you've been there long enough to have a vested interest. If your salary was high, you relocated to take the job, you've invested in work-related items, or anything like that, then I would start documenting, keep my eyes peeled and learn who you can trust before airing your concerns. You never know who you're truly dealing with until you have more details. I don't feel that you've been with the company long enough to make a fuss. Just being honest. Good luck.

Sorry to hear that. A lot of jobs out there don't offer any training on the job. You are expected to figure it out. Sometimes that can fun and challeging but other time very stressful and frustrating like in your case. You should at least talk to a manager about what you are experiencing. Maybe they can give you some advice. However, they way you have described them, you may not get any support. It's okay to get another lower paying job. Its a small price to pay for not being so stressed out all the time. Besides you can build up experience and then go for better jobs. In other words, you won't always be stuck at the lower paying job. Good luck!

Hey Joseph,

I'm sorry to you all going through this stress. If you are working with a manager, you should be able to express yourself and ask got help. The best way to learn be in the situation, and you should ask your manager for getting help.