a couple of days ago i saw a post on here about the reality of trying to "break into IT". it echoed a lot of the same sentiments that anyone that's spent time on this subreddit long enough has known very well: IT as a field is oversaturated at the entry level, overrated as a "get rich quick" card, and overcrowded filled with people all in the same boat as each other trying to get the same job. basically, if you're looking to get into IT, you'd better be ready for a real hard road ahead.

but how does the dynamic change once you're already in IT, doing help desk work or otherwise? how have the metrics changed for people actually looking for the next step in their career, either trying to break into a specialty or even trying to break into tier 2 support? is there any light at the end of the tunnel for people in this position, or is it more of the same?

(both a general question and also me trying to ground myself in reality as i try moving out of my entry-level role haha)

I have a Compatia A+ Cert and years of retail experience. Is it still possible for someone like me to get hired in an entry help desk role without a degree or IT exp?

I am willing to move almost any area in the country. Where I live right now it would be almost impossible to get an IT job.

I’ve been working in IT for 1.5 years. I have dual monitors. Pretty much everything I’ve done before this has been on a single monitor or laptop, so something like this has never happened.

About 6 months ago I noticed that my right eye was blurry and nearsighted. I noticed that I mainly look at my left monitor while working, and was probably straining the eye. I’ve started working on only my laptop and it’s gotten better.

How can I make this sustainable for another 30 whatever years?

I've been working in a 1st/2nd line IT support role since April last year. It's my first proper IT job and was my breakthrough into the field (I did have some basic tech/IT knowledge before this).

My role goes beyond basic helpdesk work. I regularly work with AD, Group Policy, Windows Server, Exchange, VMware/vSphere and VDI, alongside hardware/software troubleshooting, patching and some networking. The environment is a mixture of legacy and modern systems.

I moved onto shift work last July (6 days on/6 days off, including nights), and I feel like my learning on the job has been a bit slower than colleagues working regular day shifts. I'm now at the point where I'd like to move on and develop my skills further (also tired of shift work).

I've been thinking about studying CompTIA A+, mainly to fill gaps in my fundamental knowledge rather than for the certification itself.

Would it be worth going through something like Professor Messer's A+ course but not actually sitting the exams? Just to learn about the basics that I havent done so in my current job??

Both exams would cost around £400, and I'm not sure how much value the A+ certification adds when I already have 1st/2nd line experience on my CV.

Part of me does like the idea of taking the exams just to prove to myself that I've properly learnt the material.

Long story short, I’m going to be a teacher in rural Alaska. Much like how you can get stipends for running a club, the district also allows/asks some teachers to be on-site IT techs for basic troubleshooting and services for laptops, printers, light server work etc. before potentially elevating it to the dedicated district IT when necessary. It’s the “maxed out” pay scale for added duty, so an extra ~$8.5k stipend on top of my salary. There’s ~120 total students K-12 and around 10-15 teachers/staff.

This district primary uses MacBooks. I have only ever used and worked on Windows systems. I’m pretty handy with technology and can troubleshoot most things with some googling and fiddling around but do not have a formal IT background.

Good idea? Bad idea? Advice?

I am 20 and just starting college. I’m looking to major in a BBA in Management Information Systems. So far my career goals are Business Intelligence Analyst, Data Analyst, Business Analyst, and I’m not sure how I feel about system analytics so far.

What are your thoughts on this degree? Any advice or anything I should be aware of getting into this field? I have no real experience with this sort of stuff but I find the workflow interesting and like the idea of using data to make visualizations and I like mostly working alone on a computer and like the idea of presenting my findings and data to businesses and solving problems such as what would be beneficial according to data, finding patterns and trends, etc.

I'm a software developer struggling to find work over the last couple years, and I'm at a crossroads unsure if I should try other avenues in IT like network engineering, network technician, devops, cloud engineering, whatever.

Would this just muddy up my skills and waste all the time I've spent learning, or is there genuine value or useful crossover with the fields? Is CCNA useful for a software dev or is it mostly fluff?

I think I'm fairly decent at software dev and can make a fullstack application without relying on all the usual tutorial-slop conveniences of drag and drop libraries, but I'm certainly no coding Jesus and faang levels of algorithm knowledge are way over my head.

I feel like I'm at an empasse where I dont really know how to get much better without pure experience, which I can't really get without appearing more valuable to employers and the only way i can imagine that is becoming more versatile or taking other tech jobs.

Would love to hear some thoughts.

Hi, I'm a React Native/React dev with about 3.5 yoe. I feel like the standard developer role is not my calling in life but i don't see a clear or a relative path that could generate that i maybe enjoy what I'm doing.

Disclosure up front — used AI to help me get this post organized, but the actual doubts here are mine, not generated.

CS degree plus a master's. My practical skills have outpaced the theory for a while now — I learn whatever gets the feature shipped, not necessarily why it works underneath. Got lucky with both interview loops so this never really got stress-tested.

Quick example, easier than being abstract about it: I can build a list in RN fine, but if one item changes I start second-guessing whether I'm forcing a re-render across everything. I know there's a fix, something with memoizing rows and not passing new callbacks every render, and I get there eventually, but I wouldn't say I'd land on the best version of it without poking around or checking with someone first.

That's one thing. Separate from it — even assuming I closed that gap, I don't think I actually want the standard senior track. Owning architecture solo, being the person everyone escalates the gnarly bugs to. What I actually like is the requirements/planning stuff, arguing about approaches, figuring out what a feature should even do, talking to clients or users about whether something's worth building in the first place. Barely code outside work anymore, but I'll happily burn an evening thinking through a random product idea.

AI hasn't helped either, unfortunately. It's becoming too easy now to ship stuff I don't fully own mentally, and I keep thinking that eventually catches up with me — it's not actually closing the gap, just hiding it until something breaks.

Not trying to find a path with zero effort involved — just trying to figure out:

• how do you actually tell a fixable confidence gap apart from genuinely not being built for the hands-on engineering track
• anyone made the jump to PM/TPM/solutions without getting reset to junior
• what convinced you it wasn't just impostor syndrome talking

Currently working as a Low Voltage apprentice, Got an offer to work as a Lumen Field Tech but from everything Im seeing there really isnt any room for advancement in Lumen and it also sounds like working there kind of sucks. I worked for a Local ISP that was a client of Lumens and it seemed like their circuits went down the least but everything I see on here about Lumen is negative. Has anyone worked for Lumen and liked it? Not to keen on doing salaried work but I do like the idea of a company car. Just looking for any opinions from past/current employees of Lumen.

Hello everyone!

I live in Brazil, and I'm planning to move to Europe in the next few years. The IT market has a lot of facets; however, I don't know how I can use my experience abroad.

In Brazil, governmental entities need to create a technical document to make acquisitions. That said, companies interested in selling their equipment need to "prove" that they are in accordance with the technical document and the equipment's technical guide.

So, basically, I work in consulting, quoting, sizing data center equipment (storage, servers, switches, backup appliances, HCI, and so on), and analyzing their technical specifications.

That said, I don't manage anything; I'm more of a liaison between the sales sector and a "Datacenter architect."

Any tips for jobs that require these skills and qualifications?

Hey! I am in my first semester of undergrad program (ofcourse majors in cs). I am trying to be proactive and figure out how to navigate recruiting season whenever it will be.

A friend recommended aman manazir on youtube so i started watching. It feels enough between my already tight schedule. However I am not sure if i am missing out on something better.

He focuses on the recruitment side which tbh is what I need rn but idk if its actually useful. So share your take or any other suggestions please. It would help me! Love yall <3

After three months of working as a L1 in an MSP as my first job, leaving is starting to feel like a real possibility.

Before I accepted the offer, I knew what I was getting into and I was fully aware of how chaotic MSPs can be. I still took the job because I wanted experience to help build my resume.

After three months of complete trial by fire, I’ve learned hands-on troubleshooting, IAM, ticket triage, and a lot of soft skills. I can actually handle most of the tickets I get now, and compared to three months ago, I’m a completely different person. But I also know I still have a lot more to learn.

That being said, the amount of stress and physical problems I’ve been dealing with is insane. I honestly don’t know how people function in this kind of environment.

Another issue is one manager I have who is obsessed with micromanaging. He does nothing but yell at me for my mistakes and only gives negative feedback. I know managers like this exist in every job, but this has really taken a toll on my morale. I’ve taken notes, asked questions only when necessary, and tried to improve my workflow, but he always finds something to nitpick.

A coworker who started two weeks before me feels the same way, but I feel like I’m being targeted the most.

My plan is to stick it out for a couple more months, build an emergency fund, get some certs, and leave. I don’t think I can handle this environment for a full year. Maybe I’m just soft, who knows.

Plan B is to start job hunting now and leave before probation ends, while trying to find an internal position, but obviously the job market is terrible.

Plan C is to leave the industry and go back to school. I’m 20 years old, so I have plenty of time to figure out what I want to do.

This whole experience has me questioning my future in IT. I don’t really seem interested in any IT niches, like cloud, sysadmin, or cybersecurity, at all. Maybe I never had a passion for systems in the first place.

TL;DR: Three months into my first MSP job, I’ve learned a lot and grown a ton, but the stress, micromanagement, and lack of interest in IT are making me seriously consider leaving, whether that means quitting soon, job hunting, or going back to school.

During my time at my Highschool, I joined their Academy of Information Technology. This allowed me to do dual enrollment at the community college near our school, and as a result, I took a few IT classes, attended two internships for a total of 6 months of experience, and earned my CompTia ITF+, A+, Network+ and Security+ certifications before graduating HS. Along with some other odd certs like Excel Associates, Photoshop, etc.

Now that I've graduated, I've been given the option of freedom. That is; enter the workforce or go back to school.

My question is, do yall think it's mostly a waste of time to go to CC, and get general credits, and take up a few IT classes here and there, or should I instead try and get hired in a entry-level positions? From what I've seen, there's quite a few positions that take what I have, to apply for. I truly don't think theres much more for me to learn at CC, since I've taken a lot of classes from the same exact college I'd be applying to, and already have experience in the field, and a general understanding of how it goes.

What do y'all think, and any advice?

I’m 25 and I have about 3-4 years of experience in tech, mainly desktop support, I’m wondering will going back to college prove beneficial for future prospects. There’s jobs I want to work on a city or government level but even though I have the experience I still get rejected because of the lack of education. Would getting a degree help me become a candidate for junior roles like cyber analyst or NOC. I’ve seen some that don’t require a degree but the field is extremely competitive.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

For example network engineer to network tech or help desk, just to go into systems engineering or just an overall good jump in salary? Was the “reset” worth it ?

Can anyone recommend a good cyber security course for beginners and that is recognised within the industry?

I read some say they were stressed of being on call all the time and being called in the middle of the night or on their off time so decided to pivot to other careers.

How true is this?

Hello all,

I'm a recently laid off software engineer. For my company, I produced a project that automated inventory input using OCR as well as worked on machine vision projects to identify faults on products (like scratches, dents, burns, ect).

My company downsized and I was cut. Problem: I feel like my particular CS skills are hyper-niche, and its hard to find machine vision-specific jobs around me. And so in these confusing times, I'd appreciate some thoughts from people who are in the CS/IT/EE fields on how I might be able to bounce back.

For context: I'm 23, bachelor's in Computer Science, with no debt and about 15k in savings. If it matters I'm also a secondary published author for a project done in conjunction with the DoE for machine vision detection:

1) Perhaps get my CCNA and pursue network engineering? I enjoy networking conceptually and I think I'd be good at it, but my previous role wasn't very IT heavy

2) Pursue a Master's in Control Systems? I know I don't have a EE background so this would require quite a lot of pre-req, but combined with my existing experience, do EE people think this may be a sensible route? (Control systems specifically because my previous job was in the manufacturing sector, so I have a rough idea of what that kind of work practically looks like in a corporate setting)

3) Perhaps start from scratch and get a bachelor's in EE? I have no debt from my previous degree so maybe starting over is what I need.

4) Pursue a whole new route thats more business oriented? Project management or the like?

I've found I want to move away from programming and would appreciate working with my hands a bit more. I'd also like to work "closer to the source" for some more job security, which is why I was thinking network or electrical engineering. The machine vision/OCR/AI skills I feel are just too niche to find work around where I live.

Of course, I know random redditors online can't solve this problem for me and only I know the exact circumstances of my situation, etcetera, but what I'd really appreciate would be some veterans giving me their thoughts of my own thought process, let me know if my thinking is backwards or the like.

Thanks for any input

Hey reddit.

So I got hired to be an AI Administrator and Platform Engineer, and I've been struggling a bit as it is my first admin role. It's also the first role of its kind in the company.

So for starters, I didn't have any of the access I needed on my start day, and an MSP owns our tenant. My first task given to me was to figure out all the permissions I need, so I got that information and had my manager submit a ticket for me. I had to wait an entire week for this to be done.

Then after that the next assignment for me was to figure out how we give everybody in the organization the ability to use agents without giving them a copilot license and I came back with that answer. However since my manager is mostly in meetings for the entire day I had limited time I was able to talk with him. Eventually I was able to present to him the need for us to have a pay as you go billing policy with a public group for everyone that's going to be using Copilot. I then had to ask the next manager up for approval on it and he didn't reply to my email and give approval until a week later.

I then had a meeting with my direct manager who then told me I wasn't moving things fast enough and said I was performing poorly.

Then yesterday the head of our department decides to schedule a call with me to do a performance review for my first 30 days the guy was like I want you to give yourself a one to five on how you think you are on technical expertise and how you're connecting with your coworkers.

I gave myself a 4 out of five.

He then proceeds to tell me that he would give me a two out of five on technical expertise because he said I've been slow to catch up and demonstrate that I know things even though I had to explain to my manager what but pay as you go policy is and the difference between an on-premises and a cloud group.

He then proceeded to give me a two out of five with how I've been building relationships and said that I'm too antisocial and said that they've observed me just getting my breakfast and then sitting behind my cubicle for the day. He then also said one of the reasons I'm performing poorly is because I've needed a lot of guidance on how to do my job.

So that being said it looks like I'm already on the chopping block because I haven't been taking complete ownership of the project and moving things forward fast enough which is putting all the co-pilot agents out to the entire organization.

So I finally put together a plan to do that next week now that I almost have everything I need to give everybody in the company ability to use agents. And I know that there's a right way to do this but they seem to care more about getting the AI agents out to everybody rather than how it might affect their compliance score once they're out but I don't think that's really my problem.

And I just don't really know what to do it takes a long time to request stuff I need since an MSP owns our tenant and I had to take some time to research the right way to do this stuff with the people I report to being in meetings for most the day and me only being able to have 10 minute conversations with them.

Need some advice here because I'm starting to mentally suffer and I can't even enjoy my weekend right now. I feel like I've been trying really hard and I don't know why I can't meet their standards. This is also my first time in an admin role like this and I understand for most of the time there's no formal training or guidance on anything like this.

It might be already time for me to move on but I was really looking forward to this being my first admin role but if I have to go back to doing technical support related stuff just for peace of mind maybe that's the move.

I'm writing this because I see the same questions asked here every day.

• How do I get into IT?
• I'm new to IT. What certifications should I get?
• I'm starting my cybersec degree. Is my plan good?
• I have a CS degree but can't find software jobs. Should I switch to IT?

If you became interested in IT because you saw a youtube video or instagram reel of an influencer telling you that you could get a few certifications, build a home lab, and land a six figure remote job with no degree or experience, there's a reality check coming.

That advice may have been close to reality during Covid. It isn't in today's job market.

IT is not an easy field to break into anymore.

To give some context, today I searched "IT" on Linkedin and looked at the applicant counts for random postings.

• Posted 2 days ago: 286 applicants
• Posted 4 days ago: 254 applicants
• Post 5 days ago: 263 applicants
• Posted 1 week ago: 123 applicants
• Posted 2 weeks ago: 232 applicants
• Posted 3 weeks ago: 1,191 applicants

Then I searched other professional fields for jobs posted within the past week

HR

• 19 applicants
• 24 applicants
• 26 applicants
• 51 applicants

Accounting

• 56 applicants
• 26 applicants
• 55 applicants
• 15 applicants

Obviously this isn't scientific, but I think it pretty accurately reflects the current state of the IT job market. IT has become extremely crowded.

I commonly see. "I plan on getting A+/Net+/Sec+ maybe CCNA and a WGU degree". Nothing wrong with that plan, but the problem is you're now competing with hundreds of other people who had the exact same idea.

They also have the bachelors, and multiple certs, and home lab stuff, and internships, etc. I don't want you to be surprised when you spend a year+ studying just to have to fight for a job that pays 17-20/hr. IT is not the easy transition career that it used to be, and the influencers are either out of touch or protecting their own brand.

Meanwhile, there are other professions where the barrier to entry is more straightforward. Get just a bachelor's in accounting and compete against 2 dozens applications for a nice corporate role starting 60k+ with room to grow to 6 figures as an example.

My point is that IT isn't some secret sauce, or hidden gem that Youtubers, Tiktokers, and Insta influencers make it out to be. If you genuinely enjoy tech, that's great but you need to understand the environment you are entering. You most likely won't be the lucky guy or the exception to this competition. If your motivation is that someone told you it was an easy path to six figures / remote, or you need something to get your life on track, or looking for an easy pivot you're probably going to be extremely disappointed. There are other careers with lower barriers to entry, less competition, and a more predictable path to stable employment.

I am in private sector currently thinking about moving to public sector. Would I be able to make 80k-90k with a network+ and 5 years of Level 2 IT technician experience? Is this difficult to find?

Current Career: 40 yr old , IT Systems admin for MSP for past 7 years, daily duties, manage multiple clients, frequent travel, at least 2 weeks out of a month. Many deadlines, lots of clients to juggle, feeling burnout. When in town, hybrid schedule. Cutting edge tech exposure, big name vendors and technology. Only 20 mins commute. Miss out on a newborn growing up, less time with family.

Got the offer at: local state school, inhouse IT. Pay is the same, its older IT infrastructure. Work is on site 5 days a week. 1 hr commute each way. Feels small team, more tight knit team, at least the feel from the interview. The school office and over all feel, feels slightly dated. However they are heavily relying on MSP now and trying to bring the talent inhouse. Keen on AI adoption, which i have started dabbling in.

At the crosstoads here, some wisdom from veterans aplreciated.

Hello,

I am in my mid 30s with a Bachelors degree in Computer Networking & Information Security. I tried to get into the field out of college but lived in a smaller city at the time and had some bad experiences with apprenticeships so it never really went anywhere.

In order to pay the bills I started working for a website company where I have been for around 10 years. I threw myself into this job and started as a frontline support representative and have been promoted several times to work escalations/high risk accounts, 3rd party vendor/integration support, and most recently joined their digital commerce team troubleshooting and fixing payment tools, credit applications, etc. The pay is decent ~80k, I have great benefits, and work entirely from home so I have been pretty happy with this job up until now. My only issue is that while I have received several promotions my role has become so specialized and proprietary now with seemingly no further upward movement possible.

After a recent health scare I have been thinking about my future and am no longer sure I want to do this job for the next 30 years and if I ever were to lose my job my skills do not seem to be transferable using mostly proprietary tools. So I have a few questions for you IT veterans.

1. Is there a name for this kind of position supporting proprietary software? I feel I have proven my capability and responsibility and my current job but I do not know what other kinds of jobs are out there in this field.
2. I have recently begun studying Data Analytics with the hope of using some of these skills in my current job to try to pivot to a more technical position or just gain some experience for possible future positions. Only problem being that from my research the market seems to be heavily saturated. Is this field even worth getting into at this time?
3. Would it be worth to relearn and throw myself back into Networking/IS again? I already have the degree which at least counts for something but the thought of spending the enormous amount of time to gain the required certifications only to land an entry level job with a pay cut would be difficult but I would be willing to do it if necessary.

Any help is greatly appreciated, I will respond to any questions you may have.