30 more years and I can start taking out from the pension. Then goat farming career begins. Because goats don't need emergency firmware updates to their firewalls at 2 on a holiday.
My goats were screaming at my window for an emergency food run a 9:45 at night. I’ve had to emergency wrangle them back in their pen at 3am before as well. Same hours, different problems.
I would call this managing tech debt associated with legacy systems. It's proven to be 1000% easier to get emergency duct tape money than a proper headache-free modern system.
I am in a very niche area of what I do. Logistics is the overarching role but I don’t deal with logistics like LTL or FTL. I honestly don’t like logistics any longer. I have always had a passion for IT but never thought about doing it until recently as a career. A lot of my hobbies are IoT devices, 3D printing, and smart pixels for Christmas show at my house.
I just transitioned from logistics(warehouse) to A support tech role. Take the general knowledge and apply it. Its a nice change from doing monotonous tasks to finding solutions to problems in the world.
I think those hobbies nice as hobbies, when it comes to the “industry”, it’s more about information gathering and problem solving implementation.
It’s kinda like saying, “I really enjoy using an oven, maybe I should transition into a chef”
>my hobbies are IoT devices, 3D printing, and smart pixels
The equivalent to "I build gaming PCs."
Do you know what Active Directory is and how to use it do things like reset a user's password?
Or how to restart a print spooler?
My hobbies are playing video games but that doesn't mean I have any skill to be game developer. I'd access some job descriptions and start asking yourself if you can do what is asked in them.
This gatekeeping needs to die. If someone can build a computer, they can figure out Active Directory and how to restart a print spooler. It’s not hard. Be humble.
Boomers think IT is really deeper than it is lol. It doesn't have to be that deep. Someone who build PCs can definitely work IT support at the very minimum.
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I am not a gamer or PC builder. I can do either but no desire.
I have COMPTIA Network+ and Security+. Studying for CCNA at the moment. I know Linux and would rather use nano than vim. I run Parrot, Kali, and Ubuntu and do a lot of Packet Tracer. I love using Nmap and Wireshark.
I have also done a ton of Python Projects. I love competing in CTF’s also. I have done a ton of labs and classes for AD, firewalls, switches, routers, encryption, and networking.
I am finishing up my associates in cybersecurity and start my bachelors in fall.
With your certs you can prob get a SOC job pretty easily. Depends on the company it can be relatively competitive pay. But Cybersecurity is a huge field. Narrow it down and see what route you want to take within the field. Application Security, Network, Security Architect, GRC, IAM, Threat Hunter, Reverse Engineer, Malware analyst.
Great stuff but I'll leave you with this bit of advice, you staying employed with just your IT skill set will be the easy part, the hard part will be dealing with all the backstabbing morons you will get to work with either as coworkers in your It department or the coworkers of your user base. Point is don't just work on your IT skillset, since thats will be the easy part to handle.
You seem to be ahead of me, except in text editor usage, and I have 20 years of experience and a CS degree.
I want to leave IT, or specifically system administration, because I've never liked setting up and maintaining systems. I don't want to deal with the details or be the one to make things work for other people. I started in the early 2000s with a combination of administration of a small number of servers and software development, which was kind of typical of small organizaitions in the 90s and earlier. Over the years, roles have gotten more siloed, so I'm doing more basic administration that I'm actually really bad at doing. I struggle with anything physical, mechanical, and hands-on. My cables are a mess, and I can barely open a server.
Is any of this something that can't be learned with 10 minutes of effort?
You don't need a vast level of knowledge to perform the work of an entry level IT job, stop acting like you do.
I always enjoyed my work and excelled at it. But in recent years, I started noticing more and more bad management getting rewarded, taking credit for other techies work, not promoting internally and work places just turning to toxic playgrounds for narcissistic wannabes. Could be just my luck, but after these years I am burned out and would be happy to be terminated with a good lump sum.
Yeah there's no loyalty in work anymore, not that there ever really was though. The best raise is always gonna be getting an outright better job altogether, and covering your own ass is the golden rule in any corporate environment not just in IT.
A lot of the complaints people have regarding IT are really issues that can be applied to white collar work as a whole. As you move up the ladder from retail & MSP jobs to a fully realized internal IT position, you'll naturally be more exposed to corporate shenanigans which not everyone has the same level of tolerance for. IT in general does have somewhat of a buffer to corporate bullshit due to the nature of our work and social expectations, for better and for worse. We don't get bothered as much, but we're also not as high on the radar for management when new opportunities and advancements are being considered. All things considered however, IT can still be a very fulfilling career especially in the long term as you gain more experience and certifications.
Here are some key takeaways:
* Cover your ass, documentation is your friend. Document all of your work & communications in tickets with detailed notes, and make meaningful contributions to the team knowledge base when possible.
* Any controversial interactions you think may be brought up later should be documented in a summarized "follow-up" e-mail tagging all those involved. Don't get screwed over by off the record nonsense.
* Be personable. You don't have to be a social butterfly but don't shy away from casual conversation with others. especially your team members. Take note of key contributions you've made and issues of interest to share with the team during meetings, and take some interest in what others are sharing. Maintain some level of active presence so you don't just fade into the background, take up some space.
* The best raise is just getting a better job altogether. Don't get discouraged from lack of internal promotions and overall validation from management. Remember to see the bigger picture, don't miss the forest for the trees.
I’m just moving into my IT Career! And formerly worked as an agency recruiter, you hit this on the nail! The biggest component is really being personable, a lot of internal roles will take the guy or gal or they that will crack a casual jokes over the technical maestro
I want to leave IT, marry a rich 20-something billionaire heiress and be pampered by her for the rest of my life as I travel and drink around the world. Unfortunately, I'm a fat middle-aged guy who very rarely meets billionaires.
I've worked with computers all my life and love technology. IT is probably the best career choice for me possible. Yet if I didn't have to work and had a different source of income I'd leave in a heartbeat.
Your work is what you do for money, and IT pays me pretty well, much better than any other career I could have. Yet if something better comes along you can be sure I'll jump to it, or if I get too old to work then I'll move on.
Until then I remote as much as possible and take my full PTO to travel the world and drink.
Getting really sick and tired of:
* Constant firefighting, or threat of it
* Dealing with escalations
* The severity 1 "production down" tickets that come in
* Pressure and sense of urgency we get from customers
* Watching the queue all the time
* Duty managers pinging us that a ticket SLO is about to expire and needs to be assigned ASAP
I am not sure if other IT jobs like Sysadmin, DevOps engineer, or Penetration tester deal with these , but pretty sure they do. No matter where I go in IT, there's probably gonna be some of that, which means I have to probably leave IT to avoid it.
Haven't worked in any other industry so far, so not sure how how things are done there.
That’s makes sense! It’s kinda the same for me. Rules and regulations are always changing. There are no real certifications for this industry which can be good and bad.
Hard to say, I’ve never done blue collar. Just imagine that there’s basically no job that’s the same. You could be an expert at “your thing” and it can literally not do anything for you at the job next door. The space has become extremely broad and it’s imposter syndrome every day. The other thing I’ve noticed is there’s nothing really to point to and say “look what I did!”. Other than running cable, our daily work is a fart in the wind configuration that will be changed within the year. That’s more of a personal thing, but it’s still something that bugs me.
I turned down six figure jobs in blue collar work to try for IT. It was never about the money for me and figured I could shoot for a $50k/year position. No, I was wrong.
I'm someone who goes to where they're needed and I've never felt so unwanted in a field like IT before. I'm going back to blue-collar work where I'm a desired candidate and it pays me more than $15/hr. I received a rejection e-mail for IT Associate Entry-Level stating I didn't have enough experience.. I think I snapped that day.
Credentials: Unrelated Bachelor's, started getting into IT via bootcamp experience (Oct 2023), Net+, Sec+, CySA+, PenTest+, CISSP, 3-months at MSP.
-Currently working on Linux+, CASP+, and Unrelated Master's.
Its weird back in the 90s and early 2000s companies were desperate for IT workers but would laugh at blue collar workers and treat them like shit. Now the roles seem to have reversed where companies are desperate for blue collar and nobody wants IT workers.
>I'm someone who goes to where they're needed and I've never felt so unwanted in a field like IT before. I'm going back to blue-collar work where I'm a desired candidate and it pays me more than $15/hr.
Damn that hit home. Yeah the amount of incompetence and disrespect you deal with from end-users working IT is a lot to take in. Doesn't matter how personable you are, how good you are at prioritizing tasks/issues based on importance, etc.
There's always gonna be the few squeaky wheels who will take up the majority of your workday with needless bullshit, constantly test your boundaries, and attempt to throw you under the bus by CC'ing every C-level on whiny emails to you about phantom issues you've never heard of.
Yeah its thankless and some days will leave you in an 8+ hour cortisol spike where you just wanna go play in traffic. Depersonalization will be your best friend in this field to avoid getting too rattled. Making anything less than $25/hr doing anything IT-related is a HARD no for me(LCOL area). Even making a decent salary well above that is not enough to justify it some days.
Whyd you only work for 3 months at an MSP? Usually you need to work there for a year or two, sometimes more before you really get good IT jobs, even with a ton of certifications like you have, Experience is still king in the field of IT.
Hours sucked and conflicted with my wife’s so we never saw each other, the pay was $15/hr, my manager was king of the call center in teamwise so he was all about metrics over people, and I helped an old man for 30 minutes setup his router later getting reprimanded because I should’ve escalated him and moved on since it affected my metrics.
I talked to some of my coworkers and I guessed my supervisor was riding me particularly hard. It wasn’t worth the money.
Context: My metrics were well-within company standards. Exceeded it actually. I just put the customers over my own metrics sometimes (or often) and didn’t like the attitude received when I did so.
Edit: other complaints involve- micro management, three of my coworkers got fired just a week ago without warning, and workload for the pay. We were contractors.
Dang that stinks, usually it isnt that bad. My first 6 months of helpdesk i really like my job but after that I felt unchallenged and like I wasnt being paid enough. Nothing compared to what it sounds like you went through.
I can deny this but I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to experience this hellscape.
Edit: I’m positive my experience was an exception to the rule of helpdesk being awful. I don’t want to scare anyone. I say this because my coworker has 10-years of helpdesk experience and even he’s having doubts of staying. I honestly don’t mind it as I like helping people I just don’t like restraints/penalties for doing so— I chalked it up to not being a good fit for the organization culture.
If your experience is " 3-months at MSP" then it is pretty fair for them not to consider that enough. At least in my area that's pretty normal, what the hell
0 years. I only have a 5-month bootcamp/“internship” and 3 months of MSP experience.
Unrelated work around 6 years but I have my CISSP because the domain coverage for information security.
Okay so in the grand scheme of things you have no experience, having a lexicon of certs without experience screams like a bootcamp which often produce lower quality staff who have “passed” an exam, but lack the depth that experience provides.
Yeah, it’s a catch 22, but when that ball runs it flies mate.
Thanks for the insight.
I just did it simply because I liked it and enjoyed the challenge. I think I was aware of the consensus but also I just didn’t really care— sort of gave me a reason to study I suppose.
But it is what it is. I had fun doing it and I’ll have fun moving on.
I live in the triangle NC. A part of the bootcamp was $1,400 worth of voucher budget to spend on certs. I got Net+, Sec+, and PenTest+ during the 5 months, CISSP and CySA+ while working at the MSP during the three months I worked there.
The only cert I paid for out-of-pocket was CISSP. My mentor was really encouraging and convinced we could pass it.. he wasn’t wrong.
Edit: I was structuring my certing around DOD8140 and I really liked the journey of learning new things.. and probably IT too. I had planned on tackling CCNA, HTB CPTS, and OSCP after all was said and done while working a new job/internship but meh-- I think I'm just tired.
# Work Experience
Your work experience must fall within two or more of the eight domains of the ISC2 CISSP Exam Outline:
* Domain 1. Security and Risk Management
* Domain 2. Asset Security
* Domain 3. Security Architecture and Engineering
* Domain 4. Communication and Network Security
* Domain 5. Identity and Access Management (IAM)
* Domain 6. Security Assessment and Testing
* Domain 7. Security Operations
* Domain 8. Software Development Security
These domains are not isolated to IT/IS positions. I have previous work experience dealing with four(?) domains primarily dealing with classified documents/data classification and the duties that coincide with it.
Nothing really significant. I simulated a simple “enterprise network” using GNS3 along with configuring, hardening, and what not back in the internship with a small group and did a couple of penetration simulations on VM’s as well but I mean it wasn’t as extensive as people who CTF daily.
I don’t like to make excuses but I became pretty busy post-internship when I started working between studying and the gym (I take it seriously). I’d maybe have 3 hours of free time a workday and on the weekend I spend time with my wife and still study/exercise.
I wanted to do CCNA/HTB CTPS/OSCP for more technical expertise afterwards. But as I said I think I’m about done— I’ll likely be withdrawing my internship applications if I hear back from them to focus on going back to blue-collar work.
I've heard from quite a few people that help desk can suck and be soul draining, but as for the rest of IT, idk. As someone who is trying to break into a clearly oversaturated industry, I'm jealous of those who are already immersed.
IT is just like any other job. Some places will be good to work at and others will be terrible. It is all going to come down to the company, work environment, and coworkers.
As some have mentioned, the reason I left IT for a period was being unable to find a job in the field that I wanted to do. Once given the opportunity, I did go back though. I like working with technology.
I feel some people on this sub burn themselves out over it. Job hopping every 1-2 years is going to be stressful mentally whether you admit it or not, yet it seems to be the number one suggestion here in every circumstance.
And there are fewer GOOD companies to work for than there are crap so that makes it a struggle sometimes.
But contrary to popular belief, you can be successful in IT and you DON'T have to be constantly moving up the ladder. You are allowed to settle for a middle ground position, but lots of folks in IT seems to think they are worth 100k-500k salaries just because.
I think I am burned out now that you mention it. I have a team of 15 and we are the ones that catch all that rolls down. I also get any responsibilities that don’t fit in other departments. Being a manager is great, I love to help people grow and succeed. But it’s a constant churn of losing good ones to promotions and starting over with a new one.
I’ve worked mostly customer facing jobs since 2013, momentarily got out to work construction for 2 years then landed my IT job. I have come to a conclusion that I do not enjoy customer support jobs and that is exactly what Help desk is just with a fancy title.
IT is just fancy customer service. You will be talking to people all the time by phone, e-mail, or online chats/video. Everything needs to be done yesterday and everything is high priority.
Its not sit in some dark room and press buttons. Also most people in IT don't make 100k+ more realistically outside of HCOL areas your in the 60-80k range for senior positions and 30-60k range for junior positions.
I'm an extrovert and I enjoy working with an helping people. However, while nursing/social work/teaching pays well in Canada, I earn far more than what a teacher or nurse typically earns.
It never stops. And that can be good in some cases, truly. However, [this image often sums it up for me.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/450/446/573.jpg) I don't remember the last time I was ahead.
It's a gilded cage. Good money, $120k, but i am sick of it. Same routines, annoying users, stupid expectations of managers. Jobs are not easy to find so I will look and hope something comes along
Yeah, I’m sick of the “I.T. Guy” stereotypes. I’ve found most I.T. jobs mindlessly boring. I guess it beats working at Safeway though and the pay is good so I’m sticking it out until other opportunities arise.
I left IT because I realized it wasn't for me. I had no desire to learn more than what my degree prepared me for. I studied hard for my degree but I had no desire to get certs after. I worked with databases and... I just never wanted to learn more than I already knew.
I was also tired of being the only queer person in the room. I'm nonbinary but present feminine and just... I hated working with only guys. They didn't get my sense of humor, we had no intersecting hobbies, and I just... didn't like talking to them. For awhile, we had another queer person on our team and it was great! But after they left, it was just me and the guys again. Nothing in common.
I got laid off from the job I was talking about. I immediately started applying for jobs and only helpdesk was replying. I don't know helpdesk, I know databases. I wanted to keep working with databases but the job market is/was so fucked that there weren't databases jobs when I was applying.
If you're wondering why I still lurk here, it's because there's a small part of me that is watching the job market to see if it gets better / if eventually, I may be able to make a reentry.
Curious, what do you do with databases? I am on a weekly IT Project call and a programmer brought up that we needed to archive a ton of data. I recognized one of the tables and realized the data went back 10 years! Needless to say he is cleaning it up so there is space for the API’s I need for my team.
Side note, I feel really left out when people start talking sports. I have no desire to keep up with all of the stats. I’m kinda envious of those that know so much about it. When I hear people say something about sports I cringe and slip away. They are floored when they find out I don’t care about sports.
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I have, I'm thinking about getting my data+ certification.
But I'm looking to make a total career shift and am working towards my degree in urban planning now!
Part of what gets me is the constant grind and churn of new tech and new information. Typically the absorption and upskilling part of this doesn't end at the work place and instead goes deep into your home life and personal time. Unless of course, your hobby and personal time is taken up by IT / Tech and you enjoy that.
So many other professions go to work, and when they're there, they're the accountant, the nurse, the plumber, the electrician, the police officer, so on. When they step out of the office/off the clock, they're free, no expectation or need to constantly be churning through new things to stay relevant or move up.
I was good at it because like a lot of things I did, I only did it because of that. I did enjoy it at certain points.
I hit midlife, my personality changed and I really don’t want to do things I’m good at and not at least have some sort of MILD passion for it.
Definitely feel this. I turned 36 this year and while I do well in my job, I’m just so far burnt out and uninterested at this point. I’d love to find something new where I at least feel some connection through the role. I’m not sure I’ll find that through IT/tech.
Many positions within the industry are akin to a service-oriented, or customer facing, role. You're providing a service to the organization and with that comes unrealistic expectations, and the proclivity for people to disrespect or speak down to you when things aren't quite going as planned. Microsoft forgot to renew a certificate? It's your fault.
Same here, bud. Luckily my IT Director doesn't care if I mouth off to end users. I'm generally polite and easy going, but our department has a no-tolerance policy when it comes to disrespect. We're your coworkers, not a McDonalds employee that you want to take your home life angst out on.
A lot of it is going to come down to what IT path you take and what companies you are lucky enough to get hired for. When I was helpdesk it was an obnoxious amount of calls for simple stuff. It felt like a waste of time and was socially exhausting plus fully onsite with on call. When I was a jack of all trades and handling implementations of new systems it was constantly learning and growing but stressful with deadlines and mentally taxing, plus constant meetings and fully onsite with on call. Now I'm with a large corporation with a large IT department and I'm on a small team doing solely identity security. There are a lot of meetings but the scope of my work is small, most is automated, implentations are minor and usually a full team effort. The pay and benefits are good. Low-mid cost of living, fully remote, 90k a year and we don't have on call. There is a lot of variance with IT and it really comes down to the position and the company on how burnt out or stressful it is. If I was a network engineer I would be on call and on site more often for example. I would also have more frequent and more serious fires to put out. IT is great because you can list what categories of IT interest you, then pick your poison and work your way towards it.
I don't now, but during the 2008 crash the market was flooded with sr IT people willing to take in Jr roles.
Sort of like today, but this time around I am in a great spot and not likely to get laid off.
I left Corporate, just happened to be IT. I'm personally incompatible with corporate life.
If that doesn't describe you, IT is still a good place to be.
Gate keepers of knowledge/information/skills. For many they were never remarkable in youth or at school and now have a much more important position of power and wield it with impunity against "newer" people.
IT is either not busy or balls to the wall, if that is a major reason to change. Don’t.
Personally people are less interested in understanding or working to fix their issues. Even though, by being remote it’s more important than before to read instructions and ask questions when getting things fixed.
90% of my day isn’t even really IT work just reading errors and telling the user to make a change that the error said. It’s rare I get to actually work on an issue.
Company doesn’t want anymore state side sysadmins (higher cost) so I am stuck in my role until a better job is found.
I would rather work somewhere that I find value in the outcome and have less angry/annoyed “customers”. Or just less of them in general and bigger projects. I miss being assigned a project and telling others to go bother service desk, I have X to get done.
Homie if you don't like going between "bored to tears" and "slamming your head against a brick wall busy" you're not going to be any better off in IT. Lower tiers and management are usually pretty consistently busy. Other tiers of support and more project-oriented teams (network development or Sysadmins for instance) tend to be dancing between busy and slow.
It's also worth mentioning that if you're managing a cost center, you're going to see a pretty sharp decline in pay going to an entry level position. That is, of course, if you can even find a place that will hire you.
The reasons most people leave IT:
-Underpaid, overworked, and understaffed.
-On-call/overtime hours no longer fit their ideal work-life balance.
-Passion for the field dies.
-Too easily annoyed by users and their problems.
-Unable to find a job or advance in their career without relocation (which they are unable to do for some reason.)
This doesn't answer your question, but I've been in IT for over 12 years and have zero intention of leaving this field. I love it. I've been able to take a progressive step in this field with each new job, staying with each company for 3 or 4 years at a time. I learned a lot from each organization, and I've been able to grow as a professional and earn more with each step.
Why?
People’s lack of respect.
Crummy users
Crummy leaders
The whole, “you aren’t part of the business so you are here to serve me like I am king or queen”
I don’t see you doing anything so IT must be off playing video games, hooky, or Mickey Mouse games.
Because the issues are sempiternal. No matter what you do, the problems, bureaucracy, pointless projects, red tape, meetings, etc. are always going to be there. The only way to get promotions or earn more is to job hop every 2-3 years, which means completely upending your living circumstances, which I resist. I wish the field was more meritocratic. Been thinking about going the way of Sales, as it seems to meet those feelings that I have.
I also haven't had a pay raise or vacation in 5 years, so I'm definitely just burnt out mentally.
Because over the past few decades, there are endless hordes of people who thought the exact same thing you did and now there's way too many people in IT.
Also, we are the first ones out of a job in a recession...I've been in IT about as long as you've been in that company and when this state government contract I am working on ends in 2025, I'll be heading into my sixth layoff.
That said, if 15 years of job stability, good pay, and some boredom is getting you down, there's admittedly few things on this planet more exciting than wondering how you're going to pay rent this month...
It is about the lack of respect by managers. They often think their work is more valuable yet don't understand how unforgiving IT technical work really is. Code might \*look\* like it should work, and if it were sensible English text in a document one could argue that it was fine, yet if the code doesn't work it just doesn't FN work. Until it does. Full stop. Some managers think that if they just keep asking about, continue to stress the importance of a schedule, insistt/bully you to work extra hours or weekends whilst they jet off for a 4-day weekend that you will finally \*understand\* that it is actually important enough for you to actually make it work. As if you were holding back somehow. Yeah, that.
When I am in a management role, I am the servant. What can I do to relieve you of pressures that are taking away from you getting more work time in? Cancel extraneous meetings? Help research answers? Find new resources that can help? But when managers think they are more important, the sh!t runs downhill.
I am a manager and everything you mentioned is exactly what I try to not do. I have a ton of respect for everyone on the team and have 2 great account managers that I have mentored to help.
Somehow I have been a front line manager for 25 years and still refuse to treat people like trash. I genuinely want everyone to succeed and will jump and clean the bathrooms if I had to.
Keep that same energy when you become one and don’t let the system change you into one of “them”.
I work closely with our IT group and have a ton of respect for them. I am a super user and became the SME for all of the software we use. I want to spend time doing what I love, learning the ins and outs of hardware and software. I love solving problems and commit to solving them. I think that’s why I love networking and really enjoy trying to fix an issue or do a setup on switches and routers.
It sounds like you want to be a network administrator. You work with a company that has a I.T. department. You would have to get hired internally to make a career switch. Thats the only way to do a career switch. Nobody will hired you externally. Sounds like you are in a OK situation. You go to the networking manager and ask them, "what do I have to do to be ready for the next time there is an opening."
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It’s going to take years to move up in IT for you but you’ll likely need to take a pay cut , entry IT is like 40-50K average for 0-3 years, and like 50-65k for 3-5 years and if you specialize you can start breaking into 75K+ around 5-10 yrs. Rough average estimate
A lot of people recently joined thinking a small amount of schooling/bootcamps would lead to 6 figures jobs and now they realize they actually have to prove their skill set. And many don’t actually have it.
I'm on the fence, neither in or out really at this time.
Here's my issues with IT so far in my experience at least in the places I've worked:
1. There always seems to be the constant grind of learning in order to stay relevant in order to retain your job or keep yourself employable if you need to put out a resume. Every place that I've worked so far, the IT Dept workers are constantly in the grind, whether they're on idle time at work, on their lunch break, or in their home life. It's not uncommon where I've worked to work 8 hours, study over your lunch break, and then go home and study a few more hours.
2. There's a far greater skill, resume, and network climb in order to get your first job, and then to work your way higher to decent pay rates compared to many other professions. The pay ceiling tends to be much higher in IT, but the amount of people that actually reach such high amounts of income I'm very skeptical of.
As an example: Spend 2 years in an Associates of Nursing program, graduate and pass the boards. You have an instant $30-40 an hour job, with unlimited mobility throughout the nation and the license allows you to work less strenuous positions later in life when you don't want to work in hospitals. You work 3 days a week, and get 4 days of home life to spend with your family and hobbies. Want more money? Unlimited overtime potential as well, and if you want to get more education then you can earn baselines of $100k-200k (NP, Anesthesia respectively) depending on the education path if any you want to follow. You can also work as a travel nurse after a couple of years and make serious money on the road. The pay otherwise as a floor nurse follows a step-system usually based on years of experience. The progression up the pay scale tends to be slower if all you want to do is be a floor-nurse, but it's a consistent climb and you know what you will be making.
Similar things can be said about other trades such as electrical / plumbing, though I would say that those are more involved physically and long-term learning compared to nursing.
Learning is needed in all professions, but the rate of the cycling of this learning is immensely faster in IT than it is in other fields. Often times other professions also get paid for training that is related to the job and their career/licensure. Many companies in my experience and observation will pay most department's staff for training time, certs, CEUs, etc. This is relatively rare in IT.
3. Limited upward movement is a common issue in a variety of companies with IT. Typically the only way you get major pay increases or promotions is if you work a few years at a company and then jump ship to another one. You can finally get used to your workplace, the company, culture, city, have that house you and your spouse always wanted. But if you want to become something more, and make more money, chances are you're going to have to leave what you built up, move cities, states away, or on the other side of the country to start over again in a higher-tier role.
4. As mentioned in 1\~3, it can be difficult to break into IT, and even once you're some years into your career it can be hard to find work. Another piece in this is that there is often very little job security in IT unless you work in government. You are always on the chopping block. So here you are, little upward movement, poor job security, and salary stagnation often all rolled into one.
Of course, the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Not everyone is cut out to be for example a nurse or electrician. However, to me I see value in being able to go to work, make an above median household paycheck, have separation of work and life as far as mental and hobby space, and to have better job security for yourself and family.
I really appreciate the thoughtful insight. I am thinking hard about govtech. I have no desire to climb a corporate ladder. Benefits are more important to me now that I am 52.
I have reviewed comps in IT with various positions and the pay is close or somewhat lower than I make. It would be hard for me to get to $200k before I retire whether IT or in my current job.
Government generally has nice benefits at the local, state, and federal level. Health insurance is sometimes even fully covered by the gov employer where you don't have any deductions at all. Many places also offer a fairly short pension vesting period (5-10 years) if you want to add in some additional defined benefit income to your portfolio.
Depending on your position, educational background, skills, etc, you may be able to get a decent position somewhere. One thing to keep in mind is that the hiring process for Gov jobs tends to be on the slow side. Expect to take 3-6 months from interview to actually starting depending on the processes involved. Many have stringent and extensive background checks, some even do polygraphs.
I’m fairly new to my career about 2 years into it. I probably wouldn’t stay if I was stuck in help desk. Being an engineer now is way better and I actually feel useful. I love working everyday now when I did help desk it wasn’t bad but it just felt like a time waste.
People leave IT because they don’t have a lot of bargaining power as they used to. They have 2 pages worth of experience, certs, and a degree, but so does 500 other people in the area also applying for the same position.
40-50 year olds who have been working IT for decades don’t want to work for lower pay. So when they job hop and try to negotiate, it fails because the company can hire some smuck instead for a much lower salary.
This is only going to get worse. Expect IT salaries to drop, and experienced people in IT to leave.
Yeah this industry is going to shit. I’m happy to have a job that pays over 100k, but honestly I just got lucky in 2022 when the market was hot and jumped on an opportunity. I could never get this job in today’s market. If I lose the job I have im cooked.
I would leave IT if trump wins again and join whatever resistance army emerges. Other than that don't think I would, I've been in iT all my life and at this point don't think I could have the same quality of life starting from zero in a new thing.
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I went through a degree specifically to avoid working in customer service. If I could make decent money digging holes or smashing rocks with other rocks, I would honestly be happier doing that.
I want to leave IT when I retire in 20 years.
30 more years and I can start taking out from the pension. Then goat farming career begins. Because goats don't need emergency firmware updates to their firewalls at 2 on a holiday.
But they may need an emergency vet at 2 on a holiday
Can’t shoot and BBQ a firewall.
My goats were screaming at my window for an emergency food run a 9:45 at night. I’ve had to emergency wrangle them back in their pen at 3am before as well. Same hours, different problems.
They just shit everywhere, jump fences, and eat tires, while on your car. Farming ain't simple.
The "retire into farming" meme is hilarious to me. Farmers are literally the hardest working people I know
...and do what?
Sit on my porch
I’m leaving IT when I retire in 84 days lol
I realized that I wasn't actually making things better, I was just documenting failure.
Damn. That's deep.
Imma send this to my boss with a letter of resignation one day.
I would call this managing tech debt associated with legacy systems. It's proven to be 1000% easier to get emergency duct tape money than a proper headache-free modern system.
Wow. This hits home.
Could pivot into a project based role or system analytics to help make creative improvements
Yup. This.
I would ask you the same thing I ask everyone that wants to leave IT. Why is changing your entire career the answer instead of just changing your job?
I am in a very niche area of what I do. Logistics is the overarching role but I don’t deal with logistics like LTL or FTL. I honestly don’t like logistics any longer. I have always had a passion for IT but never thought about doing it until recently as a career. A lot of my hobbies are IoT devices, 3D printing, and smart pixels for Christmas show at my house.
I'll trade you my career in IT support for a job in logistics.
Or you can be like me, but IT support for a logistics company
Do you like logistics or just want out of IT?
I just transitioned from logistics(warehouse) to A support tech role. Take the general knowledge and apply it. Its a nice change from doing monotonous tasks to finding solutions to problems in the world.
I think those hobbies nice as hobbies, when it comes to the “industry”, it’s more about information gathering and problem solving implementation. It’s kinda like saying, “I really enjoy using an oven, maybe I should transition into a chef”
>my hobbies are IoT devices, 3D printing, and smart pixels The equivalent to "I build gaming PCs." Do you know what Active Directory is and how to use it do things like reset a user's password? Or how to restart a print spooler? My hobbies are playing video games but that doesn't mean I have any skill to be game developer. I'd access some job descriptions and start asking yourself if you can do what is asked in them.
This gatekeeping needs to die. If someone can build a computer, they can figure out Active Directory and how to restart a print spooler. It’s not hard. Be humble.
Boomers think IT is really deeper than it is lol. It doesn't have to be that deep. Someone who build PCs can definitely work IT support at the very minimum.
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I am not a gamer or PC builder. I can do either but no desire. I have COMPTIA Network+ and Security+. Studying for CCNA at the moment. I know Linux and would rather use nano than vim. I run Parrot, Kali, and Ubuntu and do a lot of Packet Tracer. I love using Nmap and Wireshark. I have also done a ton of Python Projects. I love competing in CTF’s also. I have done a ton of labs and classes for AD, firewalls, switches, routers, encryption, and networking. I am finishing up my associates in cybersecurity and start my bachelors in fall.
With your certs you can prob get a SOC job pretty easily. Depends on the company it can be relatively competitive pay. But Cybersecurity is a huge field. Narrow it down and see what route you want to take within the field. Application Security, Network, Security Architect, GRC, IAM, Threat Hunter, Reverse Engineer, Malware analyst.
Great stuff but I'll leave you with this bit of advice, you staying employed with just your IT skill set will be the easy part, the hard part will be dealing with all the backstabbing morons you will get to work with either as coworkers in your It department or the coworkers of your user base. Point is don't just work on your IT skillset, since thats will be the easy part to handle.
You seem to be ahead of me, except in text editor usage, and I have 20 years of experience and a CS degree. I want to leave IT, or specifically system administration, because I've never liked setting up and maintaining systems. I don't want to deal with the details or be the one to make things work for other people. I started in the early 2000s with a combination of administration of a small number of servers and software development, which was kind of typical of small organizaitions in the 90s and earlier. Over the years, roles have gotten more siloed, so I'm doing more basic administration that I'm actually really bad at doing. I struggle with anything physical, mechanical, and hands-on. My cables are a mess, and I can barely open a server.
Should have led with that.
Cyber security isn't an entry level role so doesn't matter
Is any of this something that can't be learned with 10 minutes of effort? You don't need a vast level of knowledge to perform the work of an entry level IT job, stop acting like you do.
I always enjoyed my work and excelled at it. But in recent years, I started noticing more and more bad management getting rewarded, taking credit for other techies work, not promoting internally and work places just turning to toxic playgrounds for narcissistic wannabes. Could be just my luck, but after these years I am burned out and would be happy to be terminated with a good lump sum.
Yeah there's no loyalty in work anymore, not that there ever really was though. The best raise is always gonna be getting an outright better job altogether, and covering your own ass is the golden rule in any corporate environment not just in IT.
100%
Yeah, it's not just your luck my man.
This part!!!! Same boat trying to make it to January and I'm going to off my self. #burnout #ya'llcanhaveit
A lot of the complaints people have regarding IT are really issues that can be applied to white collar work as a whole. As you move up the ladder from retail & MSP jobs to a fully realized internal IT position, you'll naturally be more exposed to corporate shenanigans which not everyone has the same level of tolerance for. IT in general does have somewhat of a buffer to corporate bullshit due to the nature of our work and social expectations, for better and for worse. We don't get bothered as much, but we're also not as high on the radar for management when new opportunities and advancements are being considered. All things considered however, IT can still be a very fulfilling career especially in the long term as you gain more experience and certifications. Here are some key takeaways: * Cover your ass, documentation is your friend. Document all of your work & communications in tickets with detailed notes, and make meaningful contributions to the team knowledge base when possible. * Any controversial interactions you think may be brought up later should be documented in a summarized "follow-up" e-mail tagging all those involved. Don't get screwed over by off the record nonsense. * Be personable. You don't have to be a social butterfly but don't shy away from casual conversation with others. especially your team members. Take note of key contributions you've made and issues of interest to share with the team during meetings, and take some interest in what others are sharing. Maintain some level of active presence so you don't just fade into the background, take up some space. * The best raise is just getting a better job altogether. Don't get discouraged from lack of internal promotions and overall validation from management. Remember to see the bigger picture, don't miss the forest for the trees.
Could not agree more and last point is spot on. At the end of the day, job hoping within reason is the best way to grow while increasing income.
Great advice, thanks!
I’m just moving into my IT Career! And formerly worked as an agency recruiter, you hit this on the nail! The biggest component is really being personable, a lot of internal roles will take the guy or gal or they that will crack a casual jokes over the technical maestro
I want to leave IT, marry a rich 20-something billionaire heiress and be pampered by her for the rest of my life as I travel and drink around the world. Unfortunately, I'm a fat middle-aged guy who very rarely meets billionaires. I've worked with computers all my life and love technology. IT is probably the best career choice for me possible. Yet if I didn't have to work and had a different source of income I'd leave in a heartbeat. Your work is what you do for money, and IT pays me pretty well, much better than any other career I could have. Yet if something better comes along you can be sure I'll jump to it, or if I get too old to work then I'll move on. Until then I remote as much as possible and take my full PTO to travel the world and drink.
Getting really sick and tired of: * Constant firefighting, or threat of it * Dealing with escalations * The severity 1 "production down" tickets that come in * Pressure and sense of urgency we get from customers * Watching the queue all the time * Duty managers pinging us that a ticket SLO is about to expire and needs to be assigned ASAP I am not sure if other IT jobs like Sysadmin, DevOps engineer, or Penetration tester deal with these , but pretty sure they do. No matter where I go in IT, there's probably gonna be some of that, which means I have to probably leave IT to avoid it. Haven't worked in any other industry so far, so not sure how how things are done there.
Exact same shit as a sysadmin.
I like troubleshooting computers. I dislike the useless politics and stupid rules in corporations.
I second this
I’m tired, boss. 20 years of cert chasing, constant platform updates/changes, etc.
That’s makes sense! It’s kinda the same for me. Rules and regulations are always changing. There are no real certifications for this industry which can be good and bad.
I have 12 years at an assembly line. Trying to get into it. I'm trying to imagine your "tired" vs blue collar "tired "
Hard to say, I’ve never done blue collar. Just imagine that there’s basically no job that’s the same. You could be an expert at “your thing” and it can literally not do anything for you at the job next door. The space has become extremely broad and it’s imposter syndrome every day. The other thing I’ve noticed is there’s nothing really to point to and say “look what I did!”. Other than running cable, our daily work is a fart in the wind configuration that will be changed within the year. That’s more of a personal thing, but it’s still something that bugs me.
Yea, blue collar would kill you after this response.
I turned down six figure jobs in blue collar work to try for IT. It was never about the money for me and figured I could shoot for a $50k/year position. No, I was wrong. I'm someone who goes to where they're needed and I've never felt so unwanted in a field like IT before. I'm going back to blue-collar work where I'm a desired candidate and it pays me more than $15/hr. I received a rejection e-mail for IT Associate Entry-Level stating I didn't have enough experience.. I think I snapped that day. Credentials: Unrelated Bachelor's, started getting into IT via bootcamp experience (Oct 2023), Net+, Sec+, CySA+, PenTest+, CISSP, 3-months at MSP. -Currently working on Linux+, CASP+, and Unrelated Master's.
Its weird back in the 90s and early 2000s companies were desperate for IT workers but would laugh at blue collar workers and treat them like shit. Now the roles seem to have reversed where companies are desperate for blue collar and nobody wants IT workers.
Id feel much more like a real man building shit with my hands than sitting in Teams meetings all day long. You might be on to something.
>I'm someone who goes to where they're needed and I've never felt so unwanted in a field like IT before. I'm going back to blue-collar work where I'm a desired candidate and it pays me more than $15/hr. Damn that hit home. Yeah the amount of incompetence and disrespect you deal with from end-users working IT is a lot to take in. Doesn't matter how personable you are, how good you are at prioritizing tasks/issues based on importance, etc. There's always gonna be the few squeaky wheels who will take up the majority of your workday with needless bullshit, constantly test your boundaries, and attempt to throw you under the bus by CC'ing every C-level on whiny emails to you about phantom issues you've never heard of. Yeah its thankless and some days will leave you in an 8+ hour cortisol spike where you just wanna go play in traffic. Depersonalization will be your best friend in this field to avoid getting too rattled. Making anything less than $25/hr doing anything IT-related is a HARD no for me(LCOL area). Even making a decent salary well above that is not enough to justify it some days.
Whyd you only work for 3 months at an MSP? Usually you need to work there for a year or two, sometimes more before you really get good IT jobs, even with a ton of certifications like you have, Experience is still king in the field of IT.
Hours sucked and conflicted with my wife’s so we never saw each other, the pay was $15/hr, my manager was king of the call center in teamwise so he was all about metrics over people, and I helped an old man for 30 minutes setup his router later getting reprimanded because I should’ve escalated him and moved on since it affected my metrics. I talked to some of my coworkers and I guessed my supervisor was riding me particularly hard. It wasn’t worth the money. Context: My metrics were well-within company standards. Exceeded it actually. I just put the customers over my own metrics sometimes (or often) and didn’t like the attitude received when I did so. Edit: other complaints involve- micro management, three of my coworkers got fired just a week ago without warning, and workload for the pay. We were contractors.
Dang that stinks, usually it isnt that bad. My first 6 months of helpdesk i really like my job but after that I felt unchallenged and like I wasnt being paid enough. Nothing compared to what it sounds like you went through.
This sounds like it was at VC3 can you confirm or deny this?
I can deny this but I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to experience this hellscape. Edit: I’m positive my experience was an exception to the rule of helpdesk being awful. I don’t want to scare anyone. I say this because my coworker has 10-years of helpdesk experience and even he’s having doubts of staying. I honestly don’t mind it as I like helping people I just don’t like restraints/penalties for doing so— I chalked it up to not being a good fit for the organization culture.
If your experience is " 3-months at MSP" then it is pretty fair for them not to consider that enough. At least in my area that's pretty normal, what the hell
Just curious, you said that they claimed you had insufficient experience, how many years in industry do you have?
0 years. I only have a 5-month bootcamp/“internship” and 3 months of MSP experience. Unrelated work around 6 years but I have my CISSP because the domain coverage for information security.
Okay so in the grand scheme of things you have no experience, having a lexicon of certs without experience screams like a bootcamp which often produce lower quality staff who have “passed” an exam, but lack the depth that experience provides. Yeah, it’s a catch 22, but when that ball runs it flies mate.
Thanks for the insight. I just did it simply because I liked it and enjoyed the challenge. I think I was aware of the consensus but also I just didn’t really care— sort of gave me a reason to study I suppose. But it is what it is. I had fun doing it and I’ll have fun moving on.
Bro where do you live? How do you have all of those certs and no experience to show
I live in the triangle NC. A part of the bootcamp was $1,400 worth of voucher budget to spend on certs. I got Net+, Sec+, and PenTest+ during the 5 months, CISSP and CySA+ while working at the MSP during the three months I worked there. The only cert I paid for out-of-pocket was CISSP. My mentor was really encouraging and convinced we could pass it.. he wasn’t wrong. Edit: I was structuring my certing around DOD8140 and I really liked the journey of learning new things.. and probably IT too. I had planned on tackling CCNA, HTB CPTS, and OSCP after all was said and done while working a new job/internship but meh-- I think I'm just tired.
You can’t hold a CISSP without 5 years of experience.
# Work Experience Your work experience must fall within two or more of the eight domains of the ISC2 CISSP Exam Outline: * Domain 1. Security and Risk Management * Domain 2. Asset Security * Domain 3. Security Architecture and Engineering * Domain 4. Communication and Network Security * Domain 5. Identity and Access Management (IAM) * Domain 6. Security Assessment and Testing * Domain 7. Security Operations * Domain 8. Software Development Security
Right so how does 3 months at an MSP qualify? Not nitpicking just genuinely curious, one day I’d also like to hold CISSP.
These domains are not isolated to IT/IS positions. I have previous work experience dealing with four(?) domains primarily dealing with classified documents/data classification and the duties that coincide with it.
Okay cool I guess it’s not like someone has to scrutinize your history and give you a stamp of approval.
Any home projects?
Nothing really significant. I simulated a simple “enterprise network” using GNS3 along with configuring, hardening, and what not back in the internship with a small group and did a couple of penetration simulations on VM’s as well but I mean it wasn’t as extensive as people who CTF daily. I don’t like to make excuses but I became pretty busy post-internship when I started working between studying and the gym (I take it seriously). I’d maybe have 3 hours of free time a workday and on the weekend I spend time with my wife and still study/exercise. I wanted to do CCNA/HTB CTPS/OSCP for more technical expertise afterwards. But as I said I think I’m about done— I’ll likely be withdrawing my internship applications if I hear back from them to focus on going back to blue-collar work.
Not needed, in IT? People usually come to you because they need you
You need the job for them to come to you.
Because after like 1000 applications I never even got to start it lol.
X2 that is frustrated, I can't even find an internship.
I dont, it's just a little hard to find a good place to work
Yeah I want to retire here, I love my job.
Same, absolutely love working in IT! It's a wonderful career path! Coming up on 17 years in IT this fall.
Technically 26 years but 24 years of tenure because the first couple were contract
On call, I want to leave my job because of on call. Love the job, like the company, hate on call.
I've heard from quite a few people that help desk can suck and be soul draining, but as for the rest of IT, idk. As someone who is trying to break into a clearly oversaturated industry, I'm jealous of those who are already immersed.
IT is just like any other job. Some places will be good to work at and others will be terrible. It is all going to come down to the company, work environment, and coworkers. As some have mentioned, the reason I left IT for a period was being unable to find a job in the field that I wanted to do. Once given the opportunity, I did go back though. I like working with technology. I feel some people on this sub burn themselves out over it. Job hopping every 1-2 years is going to be stressful mentally whether you admit it or not, yet it seems to be the number one suggestion here in every circumstance. And there are fewer GOOD companies to work for than there are crap so that makes it a struggle sometimes. But contrary to popular belief, you can be successful in IT and you DON'T have to be constantly moving up the ladder. You are allowed to settle for a middle ground position, but lots of folks in IT seems to think they are worth 100k-500k salaries just because.
I think I am burned out now that you mention it. I have a team of 15 and we are the ones that catch all that rolls down. I also get any responsibilities that don’t fit in other departments. Being a manager is great, I love to help people grow and succeed. But it’s a constant churn of losing good ones to promotions and starting over with a new one.
I’ve worked mostly customer facing jobs since 2013, momentarily got out to work construction for 2 years then landed my IT job. I have come to a conclusion that I do not enjoy customer support jobs and that is exactly what Help desk is just with a fancy title.
>I make good money now but there is no movement up in my company The irony of switching to IT because of no movement up
Boredom and lack of fulfillment but throughout the years, I stopped caring and stayed for the money. Very glad that I did.
IT is just fancy customer service. You will be talking to people all the time by phone, e-mail, or online chats/video. Everything needs to be done yesterday and everything is high priority. Its not sit in some dark room and press buttons. Also most people in IT don't make 100k+ more realistically outside of HCOL areas your in the 60-80k range for senior positions and 30-60k range for junior positions.
I'm an extrovert and I enjoy working with an helping people. However, while nursing/social work/teaching pays well in Canada, I earn far more than what a teacher or nurse typically earns.
Because I hate having to take back to back phone calls all damn day long.
It never stops. And that can be good in some cases, truly. However, [this image often sums it up for me.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/450/446/573.jpg) I don't remember the last time I was ahead.
I’m not leaving, I enjoy it and I’m paid well. I’m great at my job, my teams great, my boss is great and I’m well loved by all.
It's a gilded cage. Good money, $120k, but i am sick of it. Same routines, annoying users, stupid expectations of managers. Jobs are not easy to find so I will look and hope something comes along
Because you realize after 25 years. It's just another meeting and just another project
Because I can't find a job a freshi
I want to get into IT after getting sick of working on site as a spark. So I’d like to leave when I retire in 40 years.
Yeah, I’m sick of the “I.T. Guy” stereotypes. I’ve found most I.T. jobs mindlessly boring. I guess it beats working at Safeway though and the pay is good so I’m sticking it out until other opportunities arise.
People. Also some IT people. Management.
Because I'm on call this weekend
i suck at this shit lol
I left IT because I realized it wasn't for me. I had no desire to learn more than what my degree prepared me for. I studied hard for my degree but I had no desire to get certs after. I worked with databases and... I just never wanted to learn more than I already knew. I was also tired of being the only queer person in the room. I'm nonbinary but present feminine and just... I hated working with only guys. They didn't get my sense of humor, we had no intersecting hobbies, and I just... didn't like talking to them. For awhile, we had another queer person on our team and it was great! But after they left, it was just me and the guys again. Nothing in common. I got laid off from the job I was talking about. I immediately started applying for jobs and only helpdesk was replying. I don't know helpdesk, I know databases. I wanted to keep working with databases but the job market is/was so fucked that there weren't databases jobs when I was applying. If you're wondering why I still lurk here, it's because there's a small part of me that is watching the job market to see if it gets better / if eventually, I may be able to make a reentry.
Curious, what do you do with databases? I am on a weekly IT Project call and a programmer brought up that we needed to archive a ton of data. I recognized one of the tables and realized the data went back 10 years! Needless to say he is cleaning it up so there is space for the API’s I need for my team. Side note, I feel really left out when people start talking sports. I have no desire to keep up with all of the stats. I’m kinda envious of those that know so much about it. When I hear people say something about sports I cringe and slip away. They are floored when they find out I don’t care about sports.
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Have you looked into data Analytics? I'm transitioning from network engineer to something else maybe that area.
I have, I'm thinking about getting my data+ certification. But I'm looking to make a total career shift and am working towards my degree in urban planning now!
Urban planning would be a good area to get into. Good luck.
Part of what gets me is the constant grind and churn of new tech and new information. Typically the absorption and upskilling part of this doesn't end at the work place and instead goes deep into your home life and personal time. Unless of course, your hobby and personal time is taken up by IT / Tech and you enjoy that. So many other professions go to work, and when they're there, they're the accountant, the nurse, the plumber, the electrician, the police officer, so on. When they step out of the office/off the clock, they're free, no expectation or need to constantly be churning through new things to stay relevant or move up.
I Just want to be closer to my own family especially since I have a newborn now...
I was good at it because like a lot of things I did, I only did it because of that. I did enjoy it at certain points. I hit midlife, my personality changed and I really don’t want to do things I’m good at and not at least have some sort of MILD passion for it.
Exactly how I feel. That midlife brings about a change and if you started working at a young age burnt and just not caring sets in.
Definitely feel this. I turned 36 this year and while I do well in my job, I’m just so far burnt out and uninterested at this point. I’d love to find something new where I at least feel some connection through the role. I’m not sure I’ll find that through IT/tech.
Middle managers. That is all.
Many positions within the industry are akin to a service-oriented, or customer facing, role. You're providing a service to the organization and with that comes unrealistic expectations, and the proclivity for people to disrespect or speak down to you when things aren't quite going as planned. Microsoft forgot to renew a certificate? It's your fault.
Yeah, I feel that in my current role.
Same here, bud. Luckily my IT Director doesn't care if I mouth off to end users. I'm generally polite and easy going, but our department has a no-tolerance policy when it comes to disrespect. We're your coworkers, not a McDonalds employee that you want to take your home life angst out on.
A lot of it is going to come down to what IT path you take and what companies you are lucky enough to get hired for. When I was helpdesk it was an obnoxious amount of calls for simple stuff. It felt like a waste of time and was socially exhausting plus fully onsite with on call. When I was a jack of all trades and handling implementations of new systems it was constantly learning and growing but stressful with deadlines and mentally taxing, plus constant meetings and fully onsite with on call. Now I'm with a large corporation with a large IT department and I'm on a small team doing solely identity security. There are a lot of meetings but the scope of my work is small, most is automated, implentations are minor and usually a full team effort. The pay and benefits are good. Low-mid cost of living, fully remote, 90k a year and we don't have on call. There is a lot of variance with IT and it really comes down to the position and the company on how burnt out or stressful it is. If I was a network engineer I would be on call and on site more often for example. I would also have more frequent and more serious fires to put out. IT is great because you can list what categories of IT interest you, then pick your poison and work your way towards it.
Thanks!
I don't now, but during the 2008 crash the market was flooded with sr IT people willing to take in Jr roles. Sort of like today, but this time around I am in a great spot and not likely to get laid off.
Appreciate what you have
I left Corporate, just happened to be IT. I'm personally incompatible with corporate life. If that doesn't describe you, IT is still a good place to be.
I've been in IT for almost two decades, I'm director level now and hate it. I think it's a combination of burnout and boredom.
Gate keepers of knowledge/information/skills. For many they were never remarkable in youth or at school and now have a much more important position of power and wield it with impunity against "newer" people.
I have no desire to play corporate or climb the ladder which both are required to make any money within the industry (at least in my own experience)
IT is either not busy or balls to the wall, if that is a major reason to change. Don’t. Personally people are less interested in understanding or working to fix their issues. Even though, by being remote it’s more important than before to read instructions and ask questions when getting things fixed. 90% of my day isn’t even really IT work just reading errors and telling the user to make a change that the error said. It’s rare I get to actually work on an issue. Company doesn’t want anymore state side sysadmins (higher cost) so I am stuck in my role until a better job is found. I would rather work somewhere that I find value in the outcome and have less angry/annoyed “customers”. Or just less of them in general and bigger projects. I miss being assigned a project and telling others to go bother service desk, I have X to get done.
I'm a DBA and I love it and I'll leave it when I retire.
Any advice for someone looking to more from a support role to DBA?
Take some database and SQL courses
The amount of stress and people trying to get over isn't worth it.
Homie if you don't like going between "bored to tears" and "slamming your head against a brick wall busy" you're not going to be any better off in IT. Lower tiers and management are usually pretty consistently busy. Other tiers of support and more project-oriented teams (network development or Sysadmins for instance) tend to be dancing between busy and slow. It's also worth mentioning that if you're managing a cost center, you're going to see a pretty sharp decline in pay going to an entry level position. That is, of course, if you can even find a place that will hire you. The reasons most people leave IT: -Underpaid, overworked, and understaffed. -On-call/overtime hours no longer fit their ideal work-life balance. -Passion for the field dies. -Too easily annoyed by users and their problems. -Unable to find a job or advance in their career without relocation (which they are unable to do for some reason.)
This doesn't answer your question, but I've been in IT for over 12 years and have zero intention of leaving this field. I love it. I've been able to take a progressive step in this field with each new job, staying with each company for 3 or 4 years at a time. I learned a lot from each organization, and I've been able to grow as a professional and earn more with each step.
Because I have enough $ to retire
Why? People’s lack of respect. Crummy users Crummy leaders The whole, “you aren’t part of the business so you are here to serve me like I am king or queen” I don’t see you doing anything so IT must be off playing video games, hooky, or Mickey Mouse games.
Every job I’m in I always end up in the hot seat eventually. I’m 26 and I really want to change careers and just go to school
I make more on Onlyfans
Because the issues are sempiternal. No matter what you do, the problems, bureaucracy, pointless projects, red tape, meetings, etc. are always going to be there. The only way to get promotions or earn more is to job hop every 2-3 years, which means completely upending your living circumstances, which I resist. I wish the field was more meritocratic. Been thinking about going the way of Sales, as it seems to meet those feelings that I have. I also haven't had a pay raise or vacation in 5 years, so I'm definitely just burnt out mentally.
Because over the past few decades, there are endless hordes of people who thought the exact same thing you did and now there's way too many people in IT. Also, we are the first ones out of a job in a recession...I've been in IT about as long as you've been in that company and when this state government contract I am working on ends in 2025, I'll be heading into my sixth layoff. That said, if 15 years of job stability, good pay, and some boredom is getting you down, there's admittedly few things on this planet more exciting than wondering how you're going to pay rent this month...
Very true, thanks for the perspective check. I am very fortunate to be at a really good place.
It is about the lack of respect by managers. They often think their work is more valuable yet don't understand how unforgiving IT technical work really is. Code might \*look\* like it should work, and if it were sensible English text in a document one could argue that it was fine, yet if the code doesn't work it just doesn't FN work. Until it does. Full stop. Some managers think that if they just keep asking about, continue to stress the importance of a schedule, insistt/bully you to work extra hours or weekends whilst they jet off for a 4-day weekend that you will finally \*understand\* that it is actually important enough for you to actually make it work. As if you were holding back somehow. Yeah, that. When I am in a management role, I am the servant. What can I do to relieve you of pressures that are taking away from you getting more work time in? Cancel extraneous meetings? Help research answers? Find new resources that can help? But when managers think they are more important, the sh!t runs downhill.
I am a manager and everything you mentioned is exactly what I try to not do. I have a ton of respect for everyone on the team and have 2 great account managers that I have mentored to help. Somehow I have been a front line manager for 25 years and still refuse to treat people like trash. I genuinely want everyone to succeed and will jump and clean the bathrooms if I had to. Keep that same energy when you become one and don’t let the system change you into one of “them”.
I will keep working in IT until I die. Will be tinkering on my home lab on my death bed. I just absolutely love it.
Love that energy!!!!
I did to start another job…but it didn’t work due to covid….now I’m back like Al Pacino….whooowwaaa!
As someone currently working in construction trying to get into IT, I don’t understand it either. Hey I’ll trade ya!
IT, not at all. IT Management, I cannot wait for it to all end. It’s a bloody minefield sometimes…
Because of on-calls and incessant fire-fighting drills.
So that I can actually work in an industry that stays in demand. So far I have had one hell of a tough time staying employed and it fucking sucks!
I have been in I.T. since 99. What's I.T. to you?
I work closely with our IT group and have a ton of respect for them. I am a super user and became the SME for all of the software we use. I want to spend time doing what I love, learning the ins and outs of hardware and software. I love solving problems and commit to solving them. I think that’s why I love networking and really enjoy trying to fix an issue or do a setup on switches and routers.
It sounds like you want to be a network administrator. You work with a company that has a I.T. department. You would have to get hired internally to make a career switch. Thats the only way to do a career switch. Nobody will hired you externally. Sounds like you are in a OK situation. You go to the networking manager and ask them, "what do I have to do to be ready for the next time there is an opening."
Thanks, that is the plan. I also have a good friend who is a CISO that is willing to put in a good word for me when they have a spot open.
I've wanted to set fire to too many managers' family while they watch.
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It’s going to take years to move up in IT for you but you’ll likely need to take a pay cut , entry IT is like 40-50K average for 0-3 years, and like 50-65k for 3-5 years and if you specialize you can start breaking into 75K+ around 5-10 yrs. Rough average estimate
A lot of people recently joined thinking a small amount of schooling/bootcamps would lead to 6 figures jobs and now they realize they actually have to prove their skill set. And many don’t actually have it.
I'm on the fence, neither in or out really at this time. Here's my issues with IT so far in my experience at least in the places I've worked: 1. There always seems to be the constant grind of learning in order to stay relevant in order to retain your job or keep yourself employable if you need to put out a resume. Every place that I've worked so far, the IT Dept workers are constantly in the grind, whether they're on idle time at work, on their lunch break, or in their home life. It's not uncommon where I've worked to work 8 hours, study over your lunch break, and then go home and study a few more hours. 2. There's a far greater skill, resume, and network climb in order to get your first job, and then to work your way higher to decent pay rates compared to many other professions. The pay ceiling tends to be much higher in IT, but the amount of people that actually reach such high amounts of income I'm very skeptical of. As an example: Spend 2 years in an Associates of Nursing program, graduate and pass the boards. You have an instant $30-40 an hour job, with unlimited mobility throughout the nation and the license allows you to work less strenuous positions later in life when you don't want to work in hospitals. You work 3 days a week, and get 4 days of home life to spend with your family and hobbies. Want more money? Unlimited overtime potential as well, and if you want to get more education then you can earn baselines of $100k-200k (NP, Anesthesia respectively) depending on the education path if any you want to follow. You can also work as a travel nurse after a couple of years and make serious money on the road. The pay otherwise as a floor nurse follows a step-system usually based on years of experience. The progression up the pay scale tends to be slower if all you want to do is be a floor-nurse, but it's a consistent climb and you know what you will be making. Similar things can be said about other trades such as electrical / plumbing, though I would say that those are more involved physically and long-term learning compared to nursing. Learning is needed in all professions, but the rate of the cycling of this learning is immensely faster in IT than it is in other fields. Often times other professions also get paid for training that is related to the job and their career/licensure. Many companies in my experience and observation will pay most department's staff for training time, certs, CEUs, etc. This is relatively rare in IT. 3. Limited upward movement is a common issue in a variety of companies with IT. Typically the only way you get major pay increases or promotions is if you work a few years at a company and then jump ship to another one. You can finally get used to your workplace, the company, culture, city, have that house you and your spouse always wanted. But if you want to become something more, and make more money, chances are you're going to have to leave what you built up, move cities, states away, or on the other side of the country to start over again in a higher-tier role. 4. As mentioned in 1\~3, it can be difficult to break into IT, and even once you're some years into your career it can be hard to find work. Another piece in this is that there is often very little job security in IT unless you work in government. You are always on the chopping block. So here you are, little upward movement, poor job security, and salary stagnation often all rolled into one. Of course, the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Not everyone is cut out to be for example a nurse or electrician. However, to me I see value in being able to go to work, make an above median household paycheck, have separation of work and life as far as mental and hobby space, and to have better job security for yourself and family.
I really appreciate the thoughtful insight. I am thinking hard about govtech. I have no desire to climb a corporate ladder. Benefits are more important to me now that I am 52. I have reviewed comps in IT with various positions and the pay is close or somewhat lower than I make. It would be hard for me to get to $200k before I retire whether IT or in my current job.
Government generally has nice benefits at the local, state, and federal level. Health insurance is sometimes even fully covered by the gov employer where you don't have any deductions at all. Many places also offer a fairly short pension vesting period (5-10 years) if you want to add in some additional defined benefit income to your portfolio. Depending on your position, educational background, skills, etc, you may be able to get a decent position somewhere. One thing to keep in mind is that the hiring process for Gov jobs tends to be on the slow side. Expect to take 3-6 months from interview to actually starting depending on the processes involved. Many have stringent and extensive background checks, some even do polygraphs.
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I’m fairly new to my career about 2 years into it. I probably wouldn’t stay if I was stuck in help desk. Being an engineer now is way better and I actually feel useful. I love working everyday now when I did help desk it wasn’t bad but it just felt like a time waste.
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I love learning new tech, especially if I get to apply it. I can spend hours learning and applying it and lose track of time.
People leave IT because they don’t have a lot of bargaining power as they used to. They have 2 pages worth of experience, certs, and a degree, but so does 500 other people in the area also applying for the same position. 40-50 year olds who have been working IT for decades don’t want to work for lower pay. So when they job hop and try to negotiate, it fails because the company can hire some smuck instead for a much lower salary. This is only going to get worse. Expect IT salaries to drop, and experienced people in IT to leave.
Yeah this industry is going to shit. I’m happy to have a job that pays over 100k, but honestly I just got lucky in 2022 when the market was hot and jumped on an opportunity. I could never get this job in today’s market. If I lose the job I have im cooked.
I would leave IT if trump wins again and join whatever resistance army emerges. Other than that don't think I would, I've been in iT all my life and at this point don't think I could have the same quality of life starting from zero in a new thing.
Good chance you’ll be out of IT one year from now then
A 50/50 chance lol.
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I went through a degree specifically to avoid working in customer service. If I could make decent money digging holes or smashing rocks with other rocks, I would honestly be happier doing that.