Hello nerds of IT, recently I've taken it upon myself to make off the helldesk. Few months in and still not a single call back.

A little about my experience. I have 3 years as a helpdesk technician, as well as 4 years as a 25b (it specialist) in the army reserves. Given that I'm a 25b I also have a secret clearance

As far as my education and certs go, I have a BS in computer science with a cyber specialization. My certs include; a+, net+, sec+, Cysa+, pentest+, Linux essentials, and ccsp. There's a few more that aren't worth mentioning and all of these were included in my degree.

I've mainly been applying to sys admin and Soc anaylist roles, DoD and civilian. As I mentioned before after a few months I still haven't gotten a call back. Basically my question is, am I really not qualified for these positions, or is it me and my resume that needs fixed? Or perhaps the job market is really that bad.

Companies asking 24/7 support towards their IT support personnel. Requiring ITIL, MSFT certs, comptia certs, cisco certs. All for a meager hourly pay.

What is the driving force behind this audacious demands?

Hi there everyone,

I'm a south-EU guy, I'm in my mid 30s, and I am in need for a career switch. I've given my soul and my health to learn what I do, but it doesn't pay back and I'm strongly at risk for my future.

I'm willing to try to invest my time and my hard earned money to try and get IT certifications. While I haven't worked in IT, I still have some small experience and it's relatively easy for me to learn it (beside studying it at high school back in the days and still using some small skills every day), but I'm not very interested in programming.

I was hoping to do some very basic job and then, hopefully, move to IT admin roles. I found the whole Microsoft Azure stuff interesting too, but I don't really know what to do.

An academy offered to give almost 70 hours of course - 3 hours/day, but I doubt I can use the laboratory since I'll follow the course at home - to prepare me for the CompTIA A+ (1000€, exam excluded).

I'm wondering if it's worth to pay for a course (this is it, but unfortunately in Italian) and, most of all, if the CompTIA A+ is a decent start.

Thanks in advance 🙏

Its been a year since I graduated. I have a job but not in the IT field but its decent for now. I know the IT field is difficult and I live in Phoenix I feel like the job market here sucks bad. What else could I go into with my degree? I have no certs yet, not sure if I want to spend the money on it or go back to school for maybe accounting. I have a AAS and BS in computer science specializing in cybersecurity.

These are the topics my recruiter sent me to prepare:

Meeting set ups what you worked.

Scenario based question on how would you react on Priority 1 and 2 incident.

Network and server management

Printers knowledge

Can anyone offer insight as to what it's like to do IT on a cruise ship? I currently work as a data center tech and was an IT support tech for a library before that. I just love being on boats so was curious about it as a career path.

I nail every helpdesk interview I get and recently took on a new basic helpdesk role making 80k. It’s low stress, great old company values, reason why I switched other than the pay increase from 65k. I’ve been help desk for 3 years. I have many soft skills that makes my work with end users very easy. I specialize in executive assistants in my previous role. Though when I was looking for a job as a system admin nothing could get my foot in the door. I have 2 certs with comptia in network and security+ and an AWS cloud practitioner cert. Also a bachelor in IT. I only got one call back which I sorta screwed up because I told them I was already starting the hiring process with my current job (they only come knocking me when I am not looking) they asked what my salary expectations where and I just said 80k you know because this help desk was giving me 80k. They basically said their range was 65-70k and ghosted me even though I said I was happy with 65-70 so I can get work experience for my goal to be a sys admin. I am pretty sure I have capped out my salary potential in the helpdesk unless I get into management. I am in a hcol state where I need to make 100k to not be in poverty or qualify to buy a 1000sqft house. Is there anything that makes a recruiter pick your resume for a system admin position over others.

Without traffic it's about an hour, but with traffic it's about 1.5hrs. pay is meh, but if it's to get your foot in the door it's worth it, right? Ive made up my mind, but I just want some validation haha 😅. Hopefully I'll stay here for a year or two and then move on.

Retired from the military and have been running my own business, ISSO(m) training for money for the last 5 years.

Really wanting to get back into GRC, but after reading a lot of posts I'm worried how difficult it will be...

Here is my exp:

Education:

• Masters (cybersec)
• Bachelor (aeronautics)
• Associate (avionics systems)
• Associate (info sys)
• CISSP, CYSA+, Pentest+

Experience (prior):

• 10 years DoD (ISSO/M)
• Enterprise system admin (JWICS)
• NIST RMF, ISO, JSIG and CNSSI
• Few ATOs under my belt
• Splunk, Nessus, SCAP/STIG

Current experience:

• Own my company
• Train ISSO and GRC for DoD roles
• Train NIST RMF/JSIG/CNSSI
• Train Splunk, Nessus and SCAP/STIG

Really just looking at getting back into any GRC role (preferably remote) and making at least 80k...

So, with this experience how difficult will it be to get back into a GRC role?

I'm feeling very discouraged by the IT community. Everyone speaks doom and gloom about the job market in IT right now, and everyone says even with a degree and certs there's no chance to land a job in this market, but what would be the exception? Considering I'm not getting a degree and I'm going straight to certs, (A+, Sec+, and Net+) what would it take to convince them to give me a job?

My goal is to get a job in cybersecurity eventually, but I know that it's not entry level, so I'm looking for an entry level job to get my foot in the door.

I'm looking for the best path to take forward and actually get hired. I know it must be possible. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Just as the post says. I am seeing some managers where I work shocked that some college grads are expecting 100k for roles right out of college, yet others seem happy to take any job even if it pays 50k. I'm guessing realism is somewhere in the middle, but looking to see what everyone here says

Hello redditors, appreciate you read this post. I am seeking for an advise related to tech jobs. I am currently working as an AI engineer, but I am not interested in tech anymore. I don't have that passion I used to have to create new things, atleast in this field. What other jobs I can get where I don't have to code at all and still earn a great salary. Need help asap.

I literally don’t care about making money at this MSP side gig, the only purpose would be to gain hands on exposure with the tech so i can speak more knowledgeably in my main job, the sales role.

Is this a dumb idea? Would anyone hire me?

I (24) have been in the Air Force for 6 years and I just swapped career fields to become a system admin. I have Sec+ along with my TS clearance and I'm wondering what the best COA would be going forward. Prioritize education and finish my bachelor's (I have all gen eds and IT intro credits) or try and obtain more certifications. Obviously both would be the answer especially with a school like WGU, but I'm also curious which certs specifically I should target next. Curious which degree program from WGU would be best as well. TIA

I’ve worked in mostly F500 companies during my career and I’m currently in a well compensated IC role. I did this without a degree. It has always been fairly easy for me to find jobs. I may eventually want to become a manager at an F500, but curious about the feasibility of this without a degree. Trying to decide if I want to give up the next 8 years of my life for a bachelors degree part time or not.

heya, iv worked at a school before as IT under someone else, but never as the sole person onsite. any tips?

just got the job. i feel like im about to be cooked.

Hello i recently got hired at a position to become IT support specialist though i have little IT experience though i have a security plus cert and am currently studying for my network plus.Is there anyway i can prepare for the difficulties of the job or should i focus more on learning on the job when i can?

I really enjoy NetworkChuck because he actually teaches while walking you through the process instead of just talking at the camera. I was wondering if there are other creators who do something similar.

I’m especially interested in channels that make IT, networking, or tech concepts easier to understand with real walkthroughs and hands-on demos. Who are your go-to YouTubers for learning this way?

Im wary of posting and feel out of my depth, I tend to ramble, sorry, but I’m just looking for basic insight. I’m 45f and switching careers. Well it sounds weird saying that bc I’ve never really had much of a career or long term development in one. I’ve been a shut-in my entire adult life. I’m autistic, and am only just in the last few years really believing and accepting things about myself, like I like the idea of working, but the reality is a different story.

I dropped out of school for the first time in middle school. I did not know why. I just felt sick and hated being there. Now 30 years later, I’m fully aware of why, but not until I finally finished my degree at 43 and taught for a year. Worst experience of my life. Worse than being on the student side. Horrible. School is the absolute worst. I’m crying just thinking about it. I hated teaching and I’ve tried being a substitute for a minute but that’s just as bad somehow.

Anyway enough about my personal background. I got my entire bachelors degree only to not be able to use it. I have got to have a job. I’ve explored so many things. I realllllly want to be a nurse, but I know now that that’s no more in my wheelhouse than teaching for similar reasons. I thought about medical coding. Maybe. Haven’t ruled it out.

My brother is has been encouraging me for a couple years now to go into IT. He is wrapping up a CompTIA A+ (I don’t know specifics) program at a community college. I was hesitant bc I don’t feel like my brain is wired right or if a career in that would be any better for me. I did basic html back in the blogging days (just for my own personal enjoyment) and I actually enjoyed that but I don’t know if that is any insight into anything else.

Idk I’m sure no one can really tell me what I am or am not capable of in 4 or 5 paragraphs. I’m just hoping for insight. Is it a relatively quiet or peaceful or minimal crises/people type of thing?

EDIT: I forgot the most important question I had. He told me to start doing projects etc, but it just feels too abstract and felt like maybe I should go to school for it, like a 6 month certification type thing to get started. Anyway that’s all.

I just got my foot in the door as a L1 helpdesk tech remote. About 2 months in

What would you say is the best way to navigate this path? I want to go into a network position with the same company, what is the best way to either get noticed, any certs I should have, etc. I of course know I’ll need to continue to just gain experience through my current position, but want to set myself up for success.

I'm a legal immigrant that just landed a month ago and a half ago in the bay area and I've been trying to get into the IT space here - which is hard to say the least.

I used to work as a reference data analyst back in my home country for a financial services company, my role touched on QA (data and software), data Ops/database management, and helpdesk. I did all of those decently but never outstandingly. I learned a lot in that company though in terms of technical skills like Python, Power BI, and to a lesser extent job scheduling tools like CRON, Autosys.

I have some small projects that I've made in my past work to and another personal project that uses LLM's to impress recruiters but it seems it isn't enough to impress recruiters in the bay area for even entry level roles.

My relatives here work hospital jobs and some have told me to go take a short course to get into sterile tech processing - the people who wash surgical equipment - as they say the pay is decent but I've invested a lot of my twenties into being an IT dude that it feels like a major sunk cost that I feel like I shouldn't let go of.

So my question is how do I get into entry-level helpdesk here in the bay or even outside of it? and is it even worth it to keep pursuing it in the age of all these Tech lay offs?

I was having a conversation with one of my aunts who works in finance, and she shared some of her challenges and how things are in the finance industry. One key thing she mentioned was that her manager told her, “The higher you go, the lonelier it gets,” as she often gets promoted. How does that relate to the IT field? We spend so much time upskilling whether through gaining certifications, working after hours, homelabbing, and things of that sort. Is it worth it in the end?

Another key phrase: it's lonely at the top.

I have join one of the big four company 3 months back but the thing is the project I am allocated it is really happy and they have really tight schedules of deliberables, working 12 to 13 hours daily, stills feels like work is not getting completed ,its not just me it's happening with other developers as well.

And the level of development that is required I am pretty new to those area so had to do research and implement it , they are giving end to end development task even though I am having only 2 years of experience just same as senior devs, i really love to work on these tasks but the timeline is exhausting and they are asking to work on weekends as well saying we can't increase the date, do anyhow.

Seeing the market situation I can't drop the paper if anyone knows how things are in KPMG can you tell I am in probation what maximum they can do if I miss my deadlines. I got this job after so much of struggle. Having continuous anxiety related to work

This post isn't meant to discourage people from moving jobs or trying to get into IT, but to tell people that if you are having a hard time getting hired, it honestly might not be your fault and if you can weather the storm that is the current market, things will turn out okay.

My story:

I was working in a completely different industry before covid. When covid hit like many others I saw a lot of posts, videos, and people online talking about a career switch to IT, etc. I knew literally 0 about IT and went and got the Comptia ITF+. Yes, that is right, an even more useless certification than A+. I got it because it was easy, didn't expire, and I was just following the Comptia flowchart.

This is where timing is honestly more important than knowledge and skills. During 2020 it felt like a lot of places would hire a warm body just to keep the seat warm. I got hired as IT support field specialist with literally just 1 cert and no experience in 2020. From there I took advantage of the job market as many posts recommended here and job hopped every year. I went from IT support field specialist (2020), to IT administrator (2021), then to IT Engineer (2022), and finally Systems Administrator (2024). During my career I picked up a few more certifications (most of them have expired) such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, Security+, and Azure Administrator Associate.

I have no degree in CS or IT and only basic certifications. I just got in at a really good time and was able to get a lot of experience when the job market was strong. This allowed me to move up pretty quickly to a mid-level role. I have now had the chance to be on the other side of the interview process for the past few years being part of the interview panel. The difficulty spike in resume requirements has increased significantly since I started. At my current job we're getting anywhere from 200 - 400+ applications and HR is the first filter. There would be zero chance I’d get my first job in IT the way I did back in 2020.

I don't know how long this slump is going to last, but if you can wait it out I would imagine the job market will rebound eventually.

I want to transition into IT. I was working for a boutique consulting firm that was a partner with a SaaS based product Qualtrics. I acted as a tech consultant and have over 2 years of experience with it.

My question is, how difficult would it be be to transition into IT. I am in the process of studying for my CompTia certs.

I have transferrable skills such as customer service, tech support, and managing ticketing systems.