You're smarter than your boss in those jobs. If someone higher notices, then THEY will be out of a job, and you'll be the manager.

That's their fear, at least. The trick is to convince them that you can help them win and play at another level. (At least until you find your next IT job.)

My dad was a bank president from about 1980 to 1988. After that, he consulted for a few years, but now he works at Staples, mainly for healthcare benefits. He's very analytical and can get every price in the store correct in about an hour (unless it's a large price change), where the kids that were doing it were taking all day to do it. He's friendly with customers, and he's non-threatening to the boss, so he's been doing it about 3 years now. He just turned 73 last week.

Glen Austin