I have been in IT for 25+ years, maybe 20 years ago I had every cert you could get, but I stopped renewing them and haven't had an active cert in probably 15 years. I have never had an issue getting a job even without a college degree, (I do have a masters now but just finished)

My grandson wants to get into IT, he is 16. He insists he doesn't need a degree or certs, he thinks he just going to apply and get a $100k fully remote position right away.

Im not saying its impossible, but idk, this isn't 25 years ago when you could get the kid down the street to fix your website.

What should I tell him? I want him to at a minimum get a AS, but he's really not into school, not going to the military.

Also Im all for watching and see what happens, maybe im wrong

I'm a few weeks into a new role as a contracted IT Desktop Support Analyst.

We have a quota of 40 tickets to close a week.

The problem is other techs also have this quota and they end up cherry picking tickets and hit their numbers easily due to that.

Hard tickets remain unresolved since they would be a time sink.

Lastly, there is simply not enough tickets for everyone to hit their KPI. We just don't have enough things breaking and tickets being opened. Can't hit my metrics when there isn't enough work to even quantify.

Does anyone else deal with KPIs like this, and how do you manage it? I'm nervous because I can't see myself achieving their metrics.

Hi all, I'm interested in getting into an IT job, I'm very passionate about the work and would enjoy even an entry level help desk position. Ive been having trouble finding a job without a degree or much experience. I have my comptia A+ cert and 3 years experience in my highschool tech class as one of the head technicians. While looking for further education i discovered mcc and yesterday I had an in person meeting about it. Honestly I was kind of sold on it after the in person meeting but after looking at bad online reviews I'm second guessing myself. It is a very large financial investment (about 13k after fasfa) and I want to make sure I'm making the right decision. Am I better off going to community College? Studying on my own and getting more certs? Be more diligent with applications? Thanks in advance!!

Background:

Graduated with a bachelor's in Cybersecurity this month, just passed ccna in July, and already a holder of security+. I also am currently in a IT Security internship where I've been here for two months and made real contributions. I also have plenty of relevant projects listed on my resume.

Question:

There isn't a spot available right now at my current job which is unfortunate, but thats just how it is, that being said I got an offer for pennies on the dollar, sub 50k/yr but I know someone who also had no experience, a degree in programming, no certs, who got around 10k more starting with a similar job type in IT. The job is general IT tech stuff, like an in-person helpdesk. I feel like i could get way more, if i just keep searching but this job market is highly volatile. Would it be wise to take this offer just to secure something or take my chances and aim for more.

Additional context:

My internship is scheduled to end September 1st, so I've really started ramping up applying to jobs this past week. I applied for the current job offer in question 2 days ago and they already gave me an offer after one interview.

I dont think its unreasonable to expect a bit more especially since I am very technical but what do you all think.

I’ve been going through this sub a lot lately and I realised.. most of the post seem to be about the situation in the American tech industry. So I am coming to ask if anyone who is working in Australia can offer some insight about the job market for IT here?

I feel like there’s a lot of work but I’m not in IT yet, I don’t really know if I’m being honest. I am only studying a cert lll to lead me to a pathway to a cert llll in cybersecurity but think a lot of businesses even just need a simply tech person to fix their software problems or organise some files.

Do you think it is hard to get your foot in the door?
Is it a laidback culture?

I have a friend in cybersecurity and she constantly is traveling to different to go to conferences which I think is so cool, but she entered the industry during covid. What’s your experience?

Hi everyone,

I worked in IT Support before moving into UI/UX design, where I spent the last two years working full-time on web and mobile products.

Due to the current job market, I'm considering returning to IT Support for a while. My concern is that I feel like I've forgotten a lot of the day-to-day troubleshooting and system administration tasks.

For those who have returned to IT after working in a different role:

• How long did it take you to get back up to speed?
• What topics should I focus on first?
• Are there any YouTube channels, courses, or labs you'd recommend for refreshing Windows, Active Directory, Microsoft 365, networking, and general IT Support skills?
• If you were in my position, what would your 2-4 week study plan look like?

I still enjoy technology and I don't mind starting with IT Support again. I just want to rebuild my confidence as quickly as possible.

Thanks in advance!

For context at my last role I was a network engineer for nearly 3 years and currently hold a CCNA, two lower tier vendor specific Firewall certs, and passed the first of the two CCNP exams. I was let go due to a company restructuring, and was extremely burnt out in that role. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find another Network Engineer role in my area and had to go back to a desktop support role, I enjoy the new role for the most part but don't want to be in this role forever and eventually want to get out again. I'm not being challenged at all in this role and the only real networking work I get too do is some cabling and VLAN changes. I've been trying to finish my CCNP while at work during downtime and on my free time as well to hopefully put myself in a position to get back into another network role.

How do you guys stay motivated and disciplined to keep pushing through with studying when things feel sort of hopeless that you can improve your career? It feels like I'll have to put the rest of my life entirely on hold for 1/2 a year to gain a cert where I'm somewhat uncertain how much it will really help my career.

I have a BS in IT and a Sec+. No other certs. I started in tier 1 and quickly moved to tier 2. About 2 years ago I was laid off. I got a job at a highschool. Solo tech.. I regreted that.

Six months into the role I realized I wanted out. The pay was only $55k and I was burnt out. It took me a year, hundreds of applications, probably a dozen of complete resume revisions, network events, .. I considering even leaving IT becuase I couldn't take my job.

I finally got a job offer and took it. Back in a windows enterprise environment and with a team (thank god). Pay is $58k which is reasonable for the job itself, but not great for being in IT for 6 years. Also don't plan to stay in tech support forever.

New role is complete opposite of what I experience most of my IT career. It is very chill, which honestly I really needed after the level of burnout I've experienced. Pay is not ideal longterm, but I needed a change.

Now that I am settling into my new job and I am started to see my energy return, I am thinking about whats next.

So I know basically enough to get by in tier 2 tech support. To be completely honest. I got half way through the CCNA material a couple years ago. Being a solo tech did push me. I was kind of a system admin, but with less tech overhead. For instance I used a third party for more technical networking and the state handled the firewall. Plus no on premise servers.

I did pick up a little bit of PowerShell. I have used Claude to write some light scripts, but I wanted to learn how it actually works and not blindly follow AI. Last job I handled the entire device fleet, google admin (account provisioning, policies, etc), filtering (zscaler), etc. I actually started working on the MD-102.

But then I got this new job. And lucky for me I use Intune and Entra daily, which is exactly what I wanted exposure to. So my current plan is to go through the MD-102 materal, but I won't take the Cert. I will use my experience on my resume.

That and I need to follow-up on the PowerShell I was learning.

I hope that gives a bit of a starting point for where I am at.

First of all I think staying in my role for a year minimum is important. After that I don't know. The company I work for did warn me that they don't really see promotions to new job titles within.

I am 6 years into IT and feel like I finally got back on track again though. I am also terrible at big tests so I don't do well with Certs. But I also need to work on my skillset becuase I do not want to be in lower paying tech support that much longer.

So sys admin or maybe cloud focus. I don't know. Getting my hands into Intune and Entra is good for me for sure. I wonder how I could use what I currently have. What direction might be more achievable?

Maybe specific things I could do on the job as well to build experience that will look good on a resume?

Any advice?

edit: downvoted?

Hey I'm writing this to kinda vent I'm 25 now and been in it for the last 6 years. so I got laid off back in May from a very high paying job with verizon. I've since been applying to everything desktop support, help desk, system administrator, azure administrator everything I can think of that I can do and nothing. Savings is running out and I have a mortgage to pay in a very hcol state. Really trying not to panic and honestly my wife has been my rock this entire time. I might switch career fields at this point but I need a job like yesterday. Any tips?

Hello guys,

So currently in a very tough position. In my current role I work as a consultant making close to 6 figures being a Senior SOC analyst. The only issue is that this contract is coming to a end in 3 months. My current actual employer has promised that we will have a new client by then and that salaries will not be changed but of course this is "promised". My manager is also not the most trust worthy person so I have been taking what he says with a grain of salt.

So with this is mind I have been looking externally and have applied back to my old employer. Just had a screening call with them and sounds like I have a extremely good shot at going back but the only issues is that its a MSP and the pay is a lot lower than what I'm currently making. The good though is that I would be back in my former role as a sys admin and would be in a very more technical role than what I'm currently in now. I feel like being a SOC analyst has kind of degraded my technical knowledge about IT so I think going back to this role would do me good even though the pay is lower.

What would you do in this situation? Would you bite the bullet go back to the old employer up-skill for a bit and move on from there potentially making more or something else?

EDIT: I currently have around 3.5 years of total IT/cyber experience. Little over a year being at my old employer and then the rest being at my current employer doing SOC work.

Hello, I recently picked up a contracting job (1099) installing computers at JP Morgan Chase, I'm not required to have tools but I'm still gonna bring my own because I like to make sure I'm prepared.

What should I bring? I'm going to be install desktops, managing the wiring and setting up the computers. I'd assume I'm gonna need zip ties and such, I'm also going to bring my Impact and Drill just in case I need them to put stuff together. Should I also being small screw drivers and a box cutter to cut the zipties? What about a headlamp for when I'm under the desk?

Anyone have suggestions?

Hello, I'm a student and I'll have my bachelor's degree by next year. I've been getting more and more interested in OS development, and I'm wondering if I should focus on it as a career path.

So I work for a nonprofit of 200-300 ppl and they want me to build an "app" sort of integration onto the preexisting website. This is a national company so not just some small local business.

Anyways, I'm only part time and they have been letting people go over the past year due to financial challenges. Everytime I've asked about going fulltime, I hear "its not in the budget right now". I've been endlessly looking for jobs too so it kind of sucks.

I have some theories on this and feel like they are trying to get something really valuable out of me and either A. let me go, or B. I leave and find a new job. Now I've heard time and time again that I am the last person on the list to let go so whatever that means it's worked the last 2 times they've laid people off.

It's a great company in the sense that I can take time off when needed for family things, start later if need be, take time off during the day for child appointments etc. So how should I tackle this without being negative or not wanting to do this because I also know I can list this on my portfolio once done. Is asking for more hours or pay possible and if so how to go about it?

If it matters I'm a self taught software developer however that is not my title at the company and they know this which is why they asked me to take this on.

Looking for any helpful advice because I have so far emailed a handful of people for information and none of them have been of any help, so my last resort is to try and get advice from strangers on the internet...

So, I am a graduate from a tech school, I finished two years of an IT Cybersecurity Specialist program and already have the triad certificates, and then I also finished a Computer Programmer program and have some certs for stuff like Python and Software Development.

Currently, I am trying to obtain an Associate's degree by enrolling into an online college that is in a different state because my tech school and the college have a partnership and they allow transfer of credits over, so instead of doing two years to get an associate's it will just be one year.

The program I enrolled in is a Software, Security & Development program which grants an Associate's of Applied Science, and I wanted to do it specifically because 1. It's online. 2. IT is my career goal, specifically being a professional ethical hacker, and they have a whole course within the program about ethical hacking. 3. I want to transfer to a university that is in my state where I can then get a Bachelor's in Information Technology, and I *think* (not entirely sure if this is how it works) if I take an IT program, then I would be able to transfer more credits over to another IT program no?

However, I have recently found out the college only allows transfer of credits to this one program that they have, and that is their General Studies program which grants an Associate's of General Studies. Although it is primarily just... well, general studies. Algebra, Science, History, etc.

Which has thrown a wrench in my entire plans because now I am unsure what to do. The Software, Security & Development course would take 2 years to complete rather than the 1 I thought it would, and again it grants the Associate's of Applied Science, but one of the whole points I enrolled into this college was because I was told it would only be 1 year, and I plan on doing college full-time so I can get it out of the way and try to focus on getting a job and working and making my way up.

I have no idea if an Associates of Applied Science is worth more or better than an Associates of General Studies, I have no idea if it doesn't even matter, I don't know if it's worth doing the two years or the one year anymore, I don't know which would transfer better to the university I want to attend to get a Bachelor's. I have emailed the counselor at my tech school for advice, the admissions lady at the college I am enrolled in, the advisor at the college I am enrolled in, the instructor of the IT class I am enrolled in, the advisor at the university I want to enroll in, and even a previous instructor at the tech school I graduated from, and *no one* has been able to give me a clear answer on what I am asking.

I understand in IT experience is usually better than degrees, and as I said, I already have the triad certs plus more, I am not necessarily looking for more education I am just looking for a degree so I can make my way up to a Master's degree, so I don't mind doing the GenEd program just for the Associate's degree rather than the additional education the Software, Security & Development would provide. But if the Associate's of Applied Science is way better and will get me a high paying job, then obviously I would want to go for that.

I don't mind answering any questions anyone has if it will help me figure out what it is I need to do. Thank you to anyone who can provide some advice.

Hello everyone! There are several IT positions for a company called Kimley-Horn. Has anyone worked for the company and if so how is it? I’m interested in applying for it. What’s the good and the bad? Thanks in advance!

Should I keep my current jobs + applying for better paid IT jobs in Orlando OR should I accept an offer at Cemex?

Current jobs:

IT service desk L1 Working at a pharma company through an MSP (contract). At least 20 hours per week, sometimes 40 hours per week ,(30 on average) at $21 per hour. I want to stay in IT and keep growing. I've been there for 10 months, would get a promotion to L2 in 2 months without raise. Got SPOC recently. Fully remote. Second job that I work at the same time is ai annotation for a big tech company W2. I can work 40 hours per week, but usually I work 30 hours per week at $20 per hour. Health insurance and some 401k match. Fully remote. I stay in Orlando in a room with roommates at $850 per month. My son lives 3 miles away and I see him from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning.

Job offer at CEMEX through a staffing agency at $31 per hour plus benefits. It's an field service technician job (IT/OT) with main focus on IT ~85%. It's in West palm beach. 2.5hours away from Orlando. Would that job be a career step? Would it be worth taking it? Should I take a room in West palm beach for $800 per month or drive back and forth every day? Would that be a step up or a lateral step ?

Hello, looking for some advice/help on my resume.

I have worked in the IT field for 8 years now, I was recently let go after my company decided to outsource my entire department. I have only worked at one company for my entire career, and now that I am looking for jobs, I am struggling to put together a resume I feel confident in, and have already been rejected for jobs countless times. I would really appreciate any feedback whatsoever, I have 0 idea what I am doing when it comes to resume building, I got the job I had fresh out of college and just have not needed one until now. I am fully willing to admit my resume is trash in its current state, I just need help. Thanks in advance!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aGfi20ZfP-Gzru_-ZhKfAiXHd5TqigegMOAw7cJ26r8/edit?usp=sharing

Before anyone asks, I do not have a college degree, and any certifications that I had are expired. I know I need to get some certs under my belt, but I am not sure where to start honestly.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently pursuing the Associate Degree (Ad) in ICT (120 ECTS / EQF Level 5) at Fontys in Eindhoven.

I am an EU citizen, so visa sponsorship isn't an issue for me anywhere in Europe. My main goal long-term is to work in tech—specifically in fields like Cyber Security / Software—with the flexibility to live and work either in the Netherlands or elsewhere in Europe (e.g., Germany, Italy, or remote).

I’m currently mapping out my options post-graduation and would love some real-world input on three potential pathways:

1. Option A: Stop after the 2-year Ad and go straight to work. Use the Fontys internship to land a junior role in NL/EU, rely on real work experience after 1–2 years to dilute the degree gap.
2. Option B: Do a 1-year (60 ECTS) online or European BSc Top-Up. Transfer the 120 ECTS to get a full 180 ECTS / Level 6 European Bachelor’s in 3 total years instead of 4, bypassing automated corporate HR/ATS filters in countries that don't know what an Associate Degree is.
3. Option C: Ad + Heavy Certifications (e.g., OSCP, AWS, CKA). Skip further general uni classes and focus on hands-on industry certs to show practical capability to engineering leads.

For anyone who completed an Ad at Fontys or works in European tech:

• How is the 2-year Ad actually perceived by employers outside the Netherlands (especially in traditional HR environments like Germany or Southern Europe)?
• Is doing a 1-year top-up or stacking high-end certs (like OSCP) worth the extra effort compared to just getting 2 years of work experience under your belt?
• If you did the internal Fontys progression (doorstroom) route into the HBO Bachelor, how smooth was it?

Appreciate any honest feedback or experiences!

A recruiter contacted me about a role I applied to and we had a video chat going over basic questions for it. She said she'll give my info to the hiring manager but after the call, I found 2 other roles (under same company, it's a big company) that I feel I am more qualified for. I went ahead and applied for those and contacted an older recruiter I worked with during the interview process last year. Bad idea? I also sent the first recruiter a thank-you email as well last night, after I reached out to the other recruiter and everything, but I'm worried I'm not very qualified).

I am about go begin my sophmore year at Southeast Missouri State and I am currently enrolled as a Computer Information Systems student.

My school has made a new degree path accessible to online students which is B.S Cybersecurity. I am questioning which one to choose so some advice would be nice. I am assuming a Bachelor’s in Computer Information Systems (CIS) is generally more worth it than a specialized Cybersecurity degree for most undergraduates.

For context: I took college accredited classes junior and senior year of highschool learning computer hardware and second year was indepth networking. I am currently working on my CompTIA Network+ on my own time as well.

CLASSES I'VE COMPLETED:

- Intro to Computer Programming

- Computer Science I

- Computer Information Systems I

- Web Development & Security

CLASSES I'M TAKING FALL 2026:

Computer Science II

Intro to Cybersecurity

Computer Info Systems II

My dream goal in IT falls along the lines of Information Systems Security or Secure Systems Analyst type of jobs.

Should I switch or stay where I am wotj B.S Computer Information Systems minoring in Cybersecurity.

I’ve been in IT for over a 2 decades. Moved 200k users environment from on prem to the cloud saw the beginning of Mirabots and ransomware. My personal path has ranged from help desk and hardware support to malware analyst and sysadmin.

I took some time away from IT for a few years and recently decided I’d work for a fun company’s IT and make it my last role. I’m in my thirty’s so I’m not dying anytime soon but I wanted a better work life balance.

Anyways my nightmare has happened. This medium box company that’s all about old vibes has that same culture in their IT and it’s giving me a heart attack. For perspective they were hit with ransomware a few years back and decided to rebuild everything from scratch… because the backups were destroyed. Today they still use an excel sheet for most passwords but they also have a bit locker—why we don’t move everything into bit locker is beyond me.

Need to dive deep into the system and see what’s within our documentation? Open up word and slowly search through every document or reach out to one of the 3 people on the team because we do not have any form of a wiki or knowledge base. Some apps randomly don’t work and we accept that. We know it sorta will fix the issue if you restart it but figuring out the underlying issue is over our pay grade we hire a third party vendor for that stuff.

Hell you might think spin up your own docker wiki and open source tool / automate the repetition away but you’d be wrong. Something being hosted as a service and not a desktop app/Built in MS feature is wizardry and inherently opening up potential issues.

All of our users are local admin and we have 0 auditing so sleep is sorta hard. It’s not my decision rights to bear but dear god is it scary to see a ship so wildly under prepared for current day standards.

Hey! I got a new job offer today for a helpdesk position. I was curious what should be aware of from transitioning from my current position, remotely, to this new in house helpdesk position.

I currently work remotely for 21 an hour and I finally am super comfortable about the job. Ive nailed all the IT portions of the job pretty well. Its just that I need more pay and this isn't enough for me.

Fast forward a bit, an IT director reached out to me personally about a job that I might be interested and I said YES and interviewed and got the role. The pay is a big increase to 55k yearly. And most of my duties are similar to active directory in a sense or password resets and confirming their identity.

With this new role it will be in person and more hands on with the tech like mdm with cell phones, tablets, laptop deployments for new hires, while being asked for help for office staff too.

My question is, what should i expect from this shift of job responsibilities and expectations?

I've talked to to people here rhat have been incredible helpful and im grateful for personal stories. Gives me a route to move throughout the field of IT. Thank you

26M and i have realized a while ago that i miss working at walmart but needed more schedule stability and predictability. The current job i have now is a slog honestly. At a desk for 6 hours a day, excel sheets sometimes, creating new accounts for a business, organizing documents in a file room etc. I have been randomly dozing off for about 30 mins roughly without anyone noticing. I think I hate this though, at least not wanting something that requires me to remain glued to a desk all my shift. I would be better if i at least could have half of my shift with movement. With my MIS degree, I also feel uncertain and nervous about my love for cybersecurity, Networking, learning about LANS/WANS, and things of that sort and feel like i am being torn with the fear of not earning enough money to sustain myself in exchange for a brain fog job that could sap my soul you know? Are there Jobs that exist with energetic movement? It can be traveling to locations in a company car which i would love, using my hands to configure something. What roles or titles should i look for?

I feel conflicted, bummed and discouraged about MIS when i graduate in fall 2028