IT Career From $15/hr helpdesk in 2018 to $112k/yr security engineer in 2021 |
- From $15/hr helpdesk in 2018 to $112k/yr security engineer in 2021
- what Separates a 100k employee vs a 150k employee or a 200k/yr employee?
- Appearance & Hygiene for I.T. careers? Tattoos, Beards, etc.
- Any sources or podcast you guys listen to, to keep up to date with the tech world?
- so i Just sorta accidentally got hired as a sysAdmin
- How do older folks and those who have already graduated skip support?
- “A client calls in, saying they need access to something, but you realize that doing so would cause a security issue. What do you do?” How would you answer?
- What are the dos and do nots when asking for pay raise?
- My employer will pay for $1300 in training of my choosing, any suggestions?
- Laid off 2 weeks in cause client wants "more experience"... WHAT? PLEASE HELP
- [Cloud]Certs vs projects for engineering job prospects
- Can all these certifications be easily done by December 1st?
- Hi, i have some questions about career and different roles within IT
- IT Job Interview / Preparation Advice / Help with real life IT situations / Noob
- Critique my plan to learn cloud computing with the ultimate goal of working as a cloud security engineer
- Should I take this MSP position or wait for something better?
- I'm being asked to sign a non compete, I would have no choice but to sign.
- Jack of all Trades vs Specializing - Career Question
- Advice on my Linux system admin Internship situation.. What should i do?
- Feeling Lost , should I stay or leave at new company.
- What should be my first step in the IT sector or finding a role/company I can grow in?
- What IT path is a good start after being a software support specialist?
- Advice on new job, should I stick it out or leave and look for something else?
| From $15/hr helpdesk in 2018 to $112k/yr security engineer in 2021 Posted: 30 Sep 2021 07:43 AM PDT I got a ton of recent feedback on my last post and one of the top comments was asking me to share my detailed breakdown how I was able to work my way up from a 15/hr help desk job to a six figure security engineer position. Here's the breakdown, May 2018 - I just finished my second year of college in Management Information Systems with no grade higher then a C. I finished that semester with a 1.8 GPA, on academic probation and working a dead-end job for $12.50 an hour. I was $15k in student loan debt, could barley pay make my car payments and realized college may not be right for me. June 2018 - I took my first full-time IT job working in the NOC of an MSP for $15/hr. Working with some of the other network engineers, and system engineers I realized how completely incompetent I was in this field. I didn't know what the ping command did, I had never logged into a server, and I barley grasped what an IP address was. The only catch? I need to stay in college part-time and work towards my degree. August 2018 - I found my footing in the NOC, setting up BDRs, spending 20-30 hours a week outside of work studying networking, Windows subnetting. I kept a list, if a problem stumped me at work, I spent the night at home researching as much as I could about the issue. ECMP? Never heard of it, but let me see what it does. BGP? Interesting, I'll go home tonight and researching more about it. September 2018 - First Raise to $15.50 an hour. Company is very happy with how quickly I progressed and how fast I picked up on things. I was moved to remote support, and now officially on the service desk. February 2019 - September 2019 - I start to take on networking roles/responsibilities. I'm traveling across the country setting up firewalls, switches, configuring VPNs. The whole time spending 25-30 hours a week outside of work trying to learn as much as I can as quick as I can. June 2019 - I picked up my first cert, my Network+! While this didn't help me directly get a raise at the time, it showed my company I was serious about learning and advancing. September 2019 - First big promotion! I went from $15.50 an hour here to $44k/yr. February 2020 - I start to get more interested in the security side of things here. PenTesting, Vulnerability Scanning, threat hunting and start to research and learn as much as I can in my free time. March 2020 - COVID hits, upper management comes to me directly letting me know I'm a valued member of the team and they want to do what they can to ensure I'm comfortable, and taken care of. They also want me to take on more security work. Raise from 44k/yr to 52k/yr April 2020 - I get my Security+. Starting to work under our lead security engineer and security work along with my regular help desk load July 2020 - I pass the CYsa+. Still just grinding, learning as much as I can, spendng 20-30 hours a week outside of work on whatever interests me. September 2020 - Officially promoted to a Security Analyst, pay bump from $52k to $60k a year. I made the choice to start studying for the CISSP here. I wanted to achieve it by April of 2021, one year after first passing my Security+. January 2021 - Our lead security engineer leaves. I'm now responsible for all things security related. SOCII certification, audits, technical rollout of security applications to clients, writing vulnerability reports, etc. Pay bump from 60k to 75 here. April 2021 - I DID IT! After 180 hours of studying, I was able to pass the CISSP exam on the first try. June 2021 - I received an offer to work at a F500 bank for 87k a year. I took it as a change of pace and to expand my skillset. August 2021 - My former company was bought out, new owners reach out to asking me to name my price to come back. I asked for $100k base + $12k a year for college expenses. I had a job offer in my inbox the next day. September 2021 - ISC2 accredits my CISSP and I become one of the youngest CISSPs I know at 23! I am still in college working towards my bachelors degree, and it hasn't been easy juggling school, outside learning, and certs but the journey so far has been so exciting and I can't wait to keep going! Pay Bump breakdown May 2018 - 15/hr September 2018 - 15.50/hr September 2019 - 44k a year March 2020 - 52k a year September 2020 - 60k a year January 2021 - 75k a year June 2021 - 87k a year August 2021 - 112k a year (100k base, 12k college expenses) [link] [comments]  |
| what Separates a 100k employee vs a 150k employee or a 200k/yr employee? Posted: 29 Sep 2021 05:12 PM PDT I'm 23, so fairly fresh into the IT world. I've worked my way up from 15/hr helpdesk to a 112k/yr security engineer. So far in my career, I've always turned to certs to get a quick bump in title/pay. Network+, Sec+, CySA+ and just recently I worked through the accreditation process to get my CISSP. Where do you go from here? How do you continue to grow your career? I've worked in the MSP world and F500 banking so far, currently at an MSP now as I find those more exciting and not as political. Is it more skillset? Should I go for another cert? CISM? Finish my bachelors in MIS? I seem to be stuck how to continue to 'grow' my career, and I don't think I've even come close to peaking at 23. EDIT: I've gotten some skeptics, and comments thinking this is a bs post. Others asking what my path looked like, I did a quick write up here. [link] [comments]  |
| Appearance & Hygiene for I.T. careers? Tattoos, Beards, etc. Posted: 30 Sep 2021 05:57 AM PDT Do neck/arm tattoos, or long hair/beards affect being hired or respected? I have a clean cut haircut, a medium beard, wrist band tattoo, a ear neck simple tat.. but my hairs shaved and slicker; and I wear a colored dress shirt for interviews. What is the communities opinion? Thank you [link] [comments]  |
| Any sources or podcast you guys listen to, to keep up to date with the tech world? Posted: 30 Sep 2021 04:35 AM PDT Not entirely career related but I wanted to learn more and be more up to date with the tech world. Is there any podcast you guys listen to that normally cover the tech industry? Thanks in advance [link] [comments]  |
| so i Just sorta accidentally got hired as a sysAdmin Posted: 29 Sep 2021 07:47 PM PDT Hey there folks, So I interviewed at a software developer for a low-mid level tech support position. They said that they wanted someone who could grow into the role, and migrate towards AWS. All good with me. I've done a couple techy jobs before, but I was completely honest about how I would be doing a lot of learning. They liked me a lot, loved my attitude and humble honesty and my willingness to learn. During the last interview with the president and COO of the company, I was informed that the previous IT guy had up and bailed, and left them with nothing in regards to a plan, or documentation, or anything whatsoever regarding how he actually did his job. I told them that I document everything because I have a bad memory generally and don't trust it. Long story short they sent a very generous offer letter, and today was my first day. During my onboarding meeting, the COO gave me the rundown- the previous employee was lazy, just coasted at every opportunity. Him leaving them without a shred of any documentation was completely par for the course. While giving me a tour of the facilities, he basically explained that the goal with me was to rebuild the IT department from the ground up, scrap everything and do it right with me in charge. I realized I was in deep shit when we popped into the server room and he suggested that I make a little project out of cleaning up and labeling all the cabling. I've never touched a damn network switch before. It's just spaghetti to me. He wants me to implement a formal security policy and institute anti-phishing training. He wants a detailed topographic map of all the wiring in the building. He wants me to suggest a software solution for managing OS and third-party software updates for their 50 workstations, and another for checking in and out laptops and other WFH hardware. And he wants me to take a look at their IT budget and consult on where money is being wasted. I feel like my head is spinning. Some part of my knows that this could be a great opportunity, but I'm just worried I'm going to blow it and cause a catastrophe. As someone who's learned mostly on-the-job, where do I even begin to educate myself when I'm the head honcho? I just got home from my first day, having filled pages and pages of notes. The boss doesn't seem at all concerned with my reluctance, but my head is spinning. Where can I get a crash course on running the tech behind a medium sized company? [link] [comments]  |
| How do older folks and those who have already graduated skip support? Posted: 30 Sep 2021 07:57 AM PDT So it seems that the consensus here is that you need to have done internships in college to skip the peskiest roles in the industry. What about those who are changing careers and aren't in school? Those with families to support? They often cannot afford to take paycuts to start at some job that pays less than gas stations. What about the ones who had to work full-time all the way through school and couldn't do internships? Are they doomed to start at the bottom even though they made the investment in a degree? It's kind of horrifying that so many fresh grads have little choice other than to start at help desk. What are the solutions/workarounds to this? Edit: If you're thinking about saying something like "I couldn't skip those myself, what makes you think you can?" then feel free to not answer and take your gatekeeping elsewhere. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 30 Sep 2021 06:21 AM PDT My hiring manager for help desk position for less than 100 clients asked me this. Here was my answer: "I would work with them to see if there was an alternatives we could try that won't pose a security issue, and if not, escalate to the network administration/system administration to see if a specific group policy could grant the limited Acess they need. (I then went on about fobs and physical Acess but I can't remember) The hiring manager didn't show any dislike toward my answer; but something isn't sitting right with me on my answer. I'm going in for a second meeting today, and I would like to have a better response that I could give him. I really like the idea of the job, and I want them to see how seriously I am taking this. Im planning on explaining how I first perceived the question as "a VERIFIED client, with a verifiable need of this Acess." To show that I am aware of social engineering and how to look out and prevent it. Thanks in advance [link] [comments]  |
| What are the dos and do nots when asking for pay raise? Posted: 30 Sep 2021 06:39 AM PDT Been working on projects and duties outside of my scope for about 20 months now. Slowly getting more advanced tasks on my plate. This is well outside the scope of 6 colleagues with same title. I often work closely with people in higher titled roles. Very much enjoy the array of things and touch on projects I'm less familiar with. I don't want to have manager pull back duties in fear I may leave if raise isn't happening. [link] [comments]  |
| My employer will pay for $1300 in training of my choosing, any suggestions? Posted: 30 Sep 2021 09:41 AM PDT My employers covers $1300 worth of training, I need suggestions on what courses/boot camps/certs I should look into. I'll give brief information: -My job is entry level IT project development, involving doing support jobs like creating graphs, tightening up power points, documentation development, basically I am a glorified secretary that is knowledgeable in the project area and can be used for a multitude of grunt work that is important for the project to prolong. Thanks for any suggestions. [link] [comments]  |
| Laid off 2 weeks in cause client wants "more experience"... WHAT? PLEASE HELP Posted: 30 Sep 2021 09:36 AM PDT Job: Developer Company: a federal contractor So I got hired for this federal position as a developer.. I started exactly 2 weeks ago and pretty much its a new project so we DONT DO ANYTHING YET except attend a few meetings every few days regarding the project and updates. This is the norm for any new software project as people are being boarded and all (but we get paid still). The VP of the consulting company calls me and says their laying me off cause the end client wants someone with "more experience". Which makes no sense considering NO WORK HAS STARTED so I know I definitely didn't do anything wrong. I know I should get 2 weeks of pay since I have been "working" for 2 weeks… but do I get any severance or something? I mean I had tons of other offers and i rejected them all to take this job and now their saying I'm let go cause they want more experience?? Did they not think of that when hiring me? So confused… any advice or help would be greatly appreciated!! country: USA State: VA [link] [comments]  |
| [Cloud]Certs vs projects for engineering job prospects Posted: 30 Sep 2021 09:33 AM PDT I've been in the cloud industry for a few years, about 5 years out of college. What are people's opinion on doing certs vs making your own projects for your GitHub in terms of job prospects? Certs are probably the way to go when you're right out of college or just 1 year in, but personally I hate studying because it's so repetitive, and would much rather build cloud architecture using IaC then post on my github. Curious to see other people's opinions on the matter. I gotta renew my AWS cert but studying it is so mind-numbingly boring because I already know 70% of it, so it's hard as hell to sit through shit you already know. I find myself building simple python scripts instead as I get so bored. [link] [comments]  |
| Can all these certifications be easily done by December 1st? Posted: 30 Sep 2021 09:32 AM PDT CompTIA - ITF+, ITIL, Security+, A+ Starts next week and they go back to back last exam will be on December 1st. 4-5 exams total. The program is paying for me to take these certification courses. Any advice? [link] [comments]  |
| Hi, i have some questions about career and different roles within IT Posted: 30 Sep 2021 03:26 AM PDT Hello everyone, I have already asked this question in other subreddit but I still want to hear everything from people working in DevOps, QA/Testing, management and IT administrator, security specialist roles. Other ones are still helpfull, so feel free to answer this, i will really appreciate it! So, I am doing a school project about career in IT overall, all the different roles and stuff. Ofcourse, I could get the info from a random google search but i believe it will be way more interesting to hear things from real people. So please, any kind of IT world specialist, if you can, describe your role, what kind of skills are needed for that exact role (soft and tech), what kind of software is used, why did you choose that exact role and what helped you become a good specialist in your field? Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| IT Job Interview / Preparation Advice / Help with real life IT situations / Noob Posted: 30 Sep 2021 08:17 AM PDT Greetings.. I'm reaching my last year for a bachelor's degree and I'm frightened cause I don't feel like I've learned anything. I mean I have and a lot of what I've done has stuck, but not much hands on experience other than VM Lab environments. For the last year I've been employed doing contract work repairing products from Dell, HP, and Lenovo. Motherboard swaps, lcd panels, configuring the bios, etc... all this I've developed a comfortable feel for. I have a job interview for an IT position at a Board of County Comissioners. It's a small town and the county is mostly rural so I don't expect to encounter a large infrastructure that will be super thrown to the wolves. Now I know the basics of troubleshooting stuff even narrowing down what layer is affected in a network issue. But again no real world experience except for graphic design, coding sites for friends, building PCs for friends and family, and now the past year this Repair gig.. What should I do to prepare? Are there any platforms that can emulate a common issue I may see? How do I prepare for this interview? .. I'm just scared I'm gonna blow it being nervous and not confident.. also I can't contact my father for advice for reasons I won't get into other than he is no longer with us and I've had to pretty much figure out a lot of stuff on my own research or education. Anyways hope for some good advice or content to read / watch to prepare. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Sep 2021 05:40 PM PDT Hello everyone, I am 23 and starting an entry level IT role (part of a team resetting whole infastructure for a company that was the victim of a recent cyber attack) as a contract position for 3 months. Before this, I have been a freelance IT technition for 5 years. My goal is to land a sysadmin/network engineer role by the end of my contract and the end goal is to work as a cloud security engineer. Currently do not know how to code, or program. My plan in order:
I would appreciate any advice on how much time i should spend learning 1. and 2. And when I should move on to step 3. Additionally, any other certs I should do? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Should I take this MSP position or wait for something better? Posted: 30 Sep 2021 06:25 AM PDT To explain, I (28M with a business degree) recently completed my A+ and Network+ in the hopes of switching careers and moving into IT. I've been applying for jobs for about 2 months now with little success (This didn't surprise me because finding work in my country is generally difficult) and recently got offered an interview with a small local MSP (about 20-30 employees) that works primarily with SMEs and NGOs. From what I've gathered, MSPs (especially those that deal with SMEs) are just about the worst places to work as an IT tech. I see constant horror stories online about MSP work, burn-out, sh*tty clients, etc. As someone without practical experience in the field, I feel that I shouldn't be too picky about my first IT job. However, I'm worried that if I take an MSP job I might find myself hating my new career. In your collective knowledge and infinite wisdom, do y'all think its worth it to take the job if its offered to me just to get the experience or am I better off looking for something better, like an internal IT role even if it means spending another month or two without a job? [link] [comments]  |
| I'm being asked to sign a non compete, I would have no choice but to sign. Posted: 29 Sep 2021 10:49 AM PDT It's my first job in IT and the location I'm in is relatively small. AGREEMENT Covenant not to Compete: FOR A PERIOD OF ONE-YEAR (1) YEAR FOLLOWING THE TERMINATION OF EMPLOYEE'S EMPLOYMENT WITH EMPLOYER, EMPLOYEE SHALL NOT BE HIRED BY, WORK FOR, CONSULT WITH, ADVISE, OR OTHERWISE WORK FOR ANY OTHER INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER OR COMPUTER CONSULTANT OR COMPUTER HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE SALES BUSINESS OR AUDIO/VIDEO SALES OR AUDIO/VIDEO SERVICE OR ANY OTHER BUSINESS IN COMPETITION WITH EMPLOYER, WHETHER AS AN OWNER, CONSULTANT, TECHNICIAN, MANAGER OR EMPLOYEE, IN THE WIRELESS, CABLE OR ANY OTHER TYPE OF INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE OR COMPUTER REPAIR OR CONSULTING OR COMPUTER OR SOFTWARE SALES AND SERVICE OR AUDIO/VIDEO SALES OR AUDIO/VIDEO OR ANY OTHER PRODUCTS OR SERVICES COMPETITIVE WITH THOSE OFFERED BY EMPLOYER Within Multiple counties of my location. Is this legit, would it hurt my chances of getting a local IT job in the future if things don't work out at this place. It seems like they lumped a lot of different jobs together that aren't my offered position. [link] [comments]  |
| Jack of all Trades vs Specializing - Career Question Posted: 30 Sep 2021 05:40 AM PDT I'm looking for different opinions because I'm at a crossroads in my career and want to try to understand if I should continue down the path I've been on for several years or to change direction. I've worked for mid-sized organization for my whole career (10 years) managing anywhere between 300-800 users. My primary job function and trade is desktop/sccm engineering. I think I'm well versed in this and can certainly get anything going within this realm but sometimes need to google stuff, but I don't claim to be an expert on the level that someone who might only have this one job responsibility. With that said, in the orgs that I've worked for I've also done the following: Cisco CUCM Admin, Faxing (POTS lines and server based), Sysadmin (managing server updates on monthly schedules), managing and troubleshooting file server responsibilities, standing up and maintaining VPN solutions, Azure admin responsibilities including building infrastructure and managing AAD, managing print servers, managing DNS content filtering solution policies(Umbrella), and a whole host of other responsibilities. I certainly don't claim to be an expert in anything listed above that's outside of my primary job responsibilities but I know that I'm confident enough in myself and my abilities that I can figure out how to get almost anything done with enough research. My question is this: Is this a good thing or a bad thing when interviewing? Would employers look at my resume and say "this guy is spread too thin, no way he can manage all of this himself" or would it be looked as "i think this guy can handle anything I might throw his way, look at the broad knowledge he has within desktop engineering/sysadmin? [link] [comments]  |
| Advice on my Linux system admin Internship situation.. What should i do? Posted: 30 Sep 2021 05:03 AM PDT Hey there guys please hold with me this might be long. So 3 months ago i got the opportunity to start a 6 months Linux sysadmin internship in a small-sized tech solutions company. I had little knowledge about linux at that time and in that duration The DevOps engineer who's responsible about mentoring me gave me free access to udemy courses on learning System administration,Bash and i studied the Linux foundation certified engineer cert as well and these topics covers 80% of the RHCSA as well.. NOW with 3 months remaining my mentor shocked me with saying that he has nothing more to add in the teaching process .. i asked him to do any tasks regarding the servers we are managing or anything .. i want to work!.. PS.( I never worked on anything it was all learning from courses and listening to explanations from him).. he told me that i'm still not ready and its better to go find a job at a web hosting companies to increase my experience .. Isn't that part of the internship process or what?? Idk what to do in the next 3 months as he told me to learn what i want in these topics (Docker,Kubernetes,AWS) and he will advice me. What should i do?? [link] [comments]  |
| Feeling Lost , should I stay or leave at new company. Posted: 30 Sep 2021 05:02 AM PDT Been in multiple service desks roles for 2.5 years .About 4 months ago joined a new company as a desktop engineer. Hoping to gain 2nd line experience.But from the first day it has felt like a deployment position with only some imaging of desktop and laptops. On top of that i have a 90mile daily commute. Should I stick with it or move closer to home and most like get another service desk due to lack of experience. I am from the UK . [link] [comments]  |
| What should be my first step in the IT sector or finding a role/company I can grow in? Posted: 29 Sep 2021 08:25 PM PDT I'm 24m, Army Vet, no IT background…… I'm currently in NPower Tech Fundamentals program (Dallas,tx) to gain my A+, ITF, google IT certs. They plan on helping us with internships/career placement but not sure of career placement since I do not have degree. In college for AAS Information Technology. Any advice on how to set my self up for success in this field ? [link] [comments]  |
| What IT path is a good start after being a software support specialist? Posted: 29 Sep 2021 09:39 PM PDT Currently, I am pursuing into Development as I am currently a Software Support Specialist who uses basic SQL and would like to get out of Support some day. I have been jumping around as there are so many choices in the Development role such as Web Development, Mobile Development, and Application Development. I understand that Web Development may be the way to go as a start, but what about Mobile Development using Kotlin for Android or Application Development using C#? Also, I would like, to have some advice if the Networking field would be harder to learn and get into than Development. Whether it is or isn`t and if I want to get I to the development field, is learning Networking or even cloud computing useful to learn? Sometimes, I get confused in regards to IT and Software Engineers as if I want to get into Development, IT could be harder for me since I have an IT degree and not a Computer Science degree. [link] [comments]  |
| Advice on new job, should I stick it out or leave and look for something else? Posted: 29 Sep 2021 11:07 PM PDT Looking for advice on a new job I started. Prior to this job I was working for an MSP largely looking after customer infrastructure, servers, antivirus, patching etc. I was still quite junior but was getting exposed to interesting stuff and was working on certs in my personal time. Largely hated it tho, company wasn't great, constant time monitoring, poor decisions by management, the overall grind, little room for advancement, I wasn't getting pulled into or trained in the more advanced stuff and was largely doing the same thing everyday for months. Although I did enjoy the technology stack I was working with. I interviewed for and got a job as a Service Desk Manager in a private school, probably one of the best schools in my country and started it not that long ago but I'm really unsure about it, had a feeling almost straight away that I might have made a mistake. Seems like a great place to work in that everyone is lovely and there's a large amount of trust, no stupid rules or monitoring, they seem open to eventually discussing salary and stuff, but in terms of the role I'm not sure. So far it's been largely non-technical, they've mainly been getting me to look after their new MIS they're rolling out, some account creation but that just involves dropping a file into a folder and some enrolling people in courses on Moodle. The entire IT department is new in the school, longest person has been there for a year, there's only four of us, me, Head of IT and two SysAdmins. From what I understand they didn't really have much IT but covid has kicked them into gear that they need to invest heavily in IT. I report directly to the Head of IT. Had a talk with my boss and the Commercial Director today, told them I think I'd misunderstood the technical level of the role and I wasn't sure if it was for me. They told me there's scope for me to get more involved in the technical side of things but they're not sure yet how it's going to work, the CD wants me involved in business process automation as well, he said he understands how tough it is to change jobs, thinks I should give it more of a chance than I have and said that my job and the entire business is changing and going to be completely different in a few months a year or two, etc from what it is now and he at least asked me to agree to give it some time and then come and talk to him about where I want to be in a years time and he'd tell me then if it lines up with what they want and help me get there or he'd tell me straight up that's it's not something they can help me with and I can leave then if I want. They both said that they completely understand if it's not for me, there won't be any hard feelings and they appreciated me coming to them and that they know it's a hard thing to come and have that kind of conversation. To sum up really just need some advice on it, had honestly fully intended to tell them it wasn't for me but was still unsure, now even more confused. I lost a job I really liked mid-covid and have been in a few jobs since that I wasn't crazy about, know I'm never going to love my job realistically unless I get lucky but still want something at least semi decent with some opportunities and not sure whether I want to stick out a job I don't really like. [link] [comments]  |
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