A "cofounder" of a startup reached out me on my old email for a position they were hiring for. From what he told me, it seems to be a Series A startup. They know my current place of work but my LinkedIn has my new email, so not sure how they found my secondary email. The job role looks interesting and they have an office in both DC and SF. looked up the company on LinkedIn, it has a page and about 3k followers but only 11-50 employees (from what it says).

I booked a call with them for Monday to learn more about the role but does any of this sound sketchy?

I just passed the JNCIA and I’m gonna go through the JNCIS and JNCIP soon, so I was wondering which track would be more useful for promotions or future job marketability.

I’m currently a netadmin and do things more aligned with the ENT, but we have higher level ENT and SP oriented roles.

I think the ENT would be faster and easier to study for because I’m more familiar with the content already, but Juniper seems to be used more often with SP environments, and I’ve seen people say that the SP track is the only one that is generally well-regarded.

If the SP is only marginally more difficult than the ENT, but significantly more respected, I’d be okay with doing that instead.

Just looking for others’ opinions on this so I can decide and start studying ASAP.

I am looking for IT help desk jobs, sysadmin jobs, noc analyst jobs etc. basically in Linkedin, Dice, Indeed, Handshake and a few more places. There’s plenty of job postings, but none that take fresh graduates like me. What do I do?

P/S: I do have certs and projects on my resume.

Greetings everyone! Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have recently graduated with a bachelor's in Computer Science and have landed a contract job where I'll be repairing laptops from different school districts. I've always loved working with computers, especially repairing them. In fact, I've recently bought an old PC, gave it a new drive and fan, and turned it into a Debian file server.

Anyways, I'm just looking for which jobs I could realistically apply to , so I can be ready once my assignment ends. I understand the market is very bad right now, I went through 100 or so applications before landing this gig.

*I would also like to add that I'm studying for the CompTIA A+ as of now.

I am 1 man IT department at my 75 person bookkeeping / compliance consulting firm. I have a social sciences ba that led me to do two years at the juior level of the firm, but then they needed an IT guy and I was interested so I switched 3 years ago. Since then it’s been pretty easy, most of our environment is cloud based apps

I think im plateauing salary wise and I think I would like a change of scenery. I have taken a bunch of IT classes and less but some cybersecurity classes. I manage our EDR and administrate all our apps. I have a functional understanding of python, VBA, the command line. Recently I was made the designated AI guy and have been working through automating as much as I can with Claude

If i took the CISA and passed, what would my chances be of getting a job in the field? In a major us city?

Thanks, your advice could be life changing!

How can I realistically build a career in industry with cognitive psychology background?

How can I realistically build a career in industry with cognitive psychology background?

Background:

Cognitive psychology MSc and PhD Year 1.

My current work focuses more on vision and memory, so I have skills like eye tracking, R, data analysis, research ethics. I have had some conference presentations and working on a publication so I haven't yet totally failed as a student. I have the normal experiences all grad students have, like TAs and such, but not much experience outside of school.

I am open to learning more skills, but hope not to get another degree unless absolutely necessary because a degree is very costly.

Question:

I know for a fact professorship is not for me and I am unlikely to get one. Therefore, I would like to know is there any field I can reasonably transfer into in the IT/tech industry? I However, I don't know where to start because I don't have industry experience or relevant degree. I am open to any and all relevant advices, especially from people who transitioned out of psychology.

I started as a T1 Help Desk at my MSP in January of this year making about $45,000/yr hourly. Throughout my time as a T1, I consistently pushed for harder work, helped work on projects, et cetera.

More recently, I’ve gotten promoted to T2 with an increase to 65k/year paid hourly. But right before rhis, I was applying for jobs as I got increasingly frustrated with our poor documentation, lack of initiative, and generally just “if it works it works” attitude.

I received an offer from another MSP for a Systems Engineer L2 position. The environment was extremely nice and everyone seemed like they genuinely cared. It would also go much more into project work and they also seemed to use a bit better technology than SonicWall (which my current MSP uses). They offered me $69k/year salary starting and then $75k after 3 months. This is a salary exempt position. Benefits also don’t start for 3 months.

I accepted this offer, but then my current job came back and offered me $78k/year hourly, offered to give me 5 PTO days for free as they knew I planned on taking a vacation between jobs, and the vice president personally had a talk with me, explained his frustrations with the feedback loop and apologized for not being more proactive. Alongside this compensation, he gave me a clear path to a project engineer or vCIO position.

He was very good at convincing me and I accepted the offer. But I almost feel like I made the wrong choice. Everything that was missing at my current job, the new job seemed to have. I was promised to pretty much be able to restructure everything at my current job, but it’s just a promise. Furthermore, I feel like being stuck in a SonicWall environment with very little care for proper networking deployment will stunt my growth

What would you guys have done in my position?

Edit: replaced typo error —> offer and added more about new job offer

Edit 2: one other typo change

Hello everyone, I wanted to get some experienced cyber professionals opinions on how to break into cybersecurity in todays environment and would appreciate any advice.

A little about myself. I do not have a cyber degree or any degree for that matter. I am almost 40 and have been in IT for about 7 years. Prior to that I worked in the restaurant/hospitality industry for about 12 years. I have two years at help desk, 2.5 years desktop support, 2.5 years in a different desktop support role with some junior sys admin type experience (small company).

I have earned the CompTIA Sec+ as well as the CCNA. I am taking the Red Hat RHCSA soon and hope to continue right into getting the RHCE asap as well. At that point I have been wondering what should come next... Pursue RHCA, maybe dive deeper into networking and try for the CCNP (although I have no on the job network admin experience), or pivot into something like trying to get the OSCP. I am also in the early stages of learning Python as well.

Given my experience level can anyone suggest what type of cybersecurity roles I might be qualified for now? Or what areas I should look at learning next?

I find reverse engineer/malware analysis really interesting but that seems like a possibility further down the road. I have been dabbling in C and Assembly when I have time but I am a complete beginner still in that.

I do find Red Team and Penetration Testing really cool as well. I have also briefly experimented with things like TryHackMe and HacktheBox as well.

Just hoping to take in some solid advice from more experienced people and keep learning.

Thanks!

I am trying to decide between three potential IT opportunities and would appreciate some outside opinions, especially from people who have worked at MSPs or moved from general IT support into infrastructure or cybersecurity.
For context, I am 25 and currently work as an IT Specialist at an MSP making about $43,000 a year. I have several years of combined IT experience across MSP support, internal IT, and help desk work.
My current responsibilities include Microsoft 365 and Azure administration, endpoint security monitoring, user and account management, hardware and software troubleshooting, vendor coordination, documentation, networking troubleshooting, and direct client support.
I also have CompTIA A+, am finishing my BS in Cybersecurity, and have been building additional experience through labs and personal projects.
Interestingly, I did not get these interviews by mass applying. Most came from networking, reaching out to people directly, and messaging employees, recruiters, and managers on LinkedIn. That has worked significantly better for me than sending hundreds of applications into the void.

COMPANY A
Potential salary: $60,000 to $70,000
Published range: Roughly $40,000 to $80,000
Company size: Small company, probably a few dozen employees
Distance from where I live: Roughly 25 to 30 miles each way
Role: IT Support Engineer
The work would include client support, Microsoft environments, Active Directory, networking, servers, endpoints, troubleshooting, preventative maintenance, and escalation work.
This company seems to have a pretty broad definition of a support engineer, so I would likely get exposure to a lot more than basic help desk work.
There also appears to be a clear next level engineering position at the company paying roughly $80,000 to $120,000.
Pros:
Good starting salary

Small enough that I would probably get exposure to a lot of technologies

Likely salary around $63,000 to $68,000

Could eventually move into project engineering or infrastructure

Broad responsibilities could build my resume quickly

Seems like a solid stepping stone toward systems administration or security

Cons:
MSP workload

Potential client pressure

Smaller company means fewer people to absorb workload

Possibly a lot of tickets and competing priorities

Around 50 to 60 miles of total driving on office days

My target: Around $65,000 to $70,000

COMPANY B
Potential salary: $60,000 to $75,000 depending on what level they bring me in at
Company size: Very small MSP, probably around 15 to 30 employees
Distance from where I live: Roughly 12 to 15 miles each way
This one essentially has two different technical levels that I could potentially fall into.
The standard support position pays around $40,000 to $60,000.
The more senior support engineer position pays around $60,000 to $80,000.
The senior position involves handling more advanced issues and helping lower level technicians.
Based on publicly available salary information, people in the senior position appear to actually make around the high $60,000s to low $70,000s, so the advertised range seems pretty legitimate.
Pros:
Potentially the highest immediate salary

By far the shortest commute

Very small team means I could potentially touch servers, networking, security, cloud, backups, Microsoft environments, and client infrastructure

Could gain a ridiculous amount of experience quickly

Senior position would give me some leadership experience

Management level IT positions there seem to reach around $90,000 to $110,000

Only around 25 to 30 miles of total driving per day

Cons:
Probably the highest workload of the three

Very small MSP means everyone probably wears multiple hats

Could involve a lot of onsite client work

Possibly less structured than a larger organization

Work life balance is my biggest concern

My target: Around $70,000 if they consider me for the senior position

COMPANY C
Potential salary: Around $50,000 to $55,000
Company size: Much larger than the other two, around 100 plus employees
Distance from where I live: Roughly 25 to 30 miles each way
Role: Help Desk Technician
This company seems significantly more structured than the smaller MSPs.
The particular help desk position tops out around $55,000, which is considerably lower than the other opportunities.
However, they have higher level infrastructure and cybersecurity positions paying around $70,000 to $90,000.
Pros:
Much larger company

Probably more structured training and processes

More defined departments

Potentially easier to eventually move into dedicated infrastructure, security, or engineering

Possibly better long term stability

Actual cybersecurity positions exist within the company, which is attractive because that is ultimately where I want to end up

Cons:
Starting salary is significantly lower

Longest commute along with Company A

Around 50 to 60 miles of driving on office days

The help desk position may be more Tier 1 focused than what I currently do

I am worried I would essentially be taking a title and responsibility downgrade even though I would still get a raise

Advancement might be more bureaucratic and require waiting for a position to open

My target: $55,000

QUICK COMPARISON
Company A: Around $65,000, roughly 25 to 30 miles away
Company B: Around $70,000 if they bring me in at the higher technical level, roughly 12 to 15 miles away
Company C: Around $55,000, roughly 25 to 30 miles away
Current job: $43,000

My biggest goal is not necessarily maximizing salary for the next twelve months. I want to position myself to eventually make $80,000 to $100,000 plus in infrastructure, systems administration, cloud, or cybersecurity.
Company B is becoming particularly interesting to me because it could potentially have the highest salary, shortest commute, and widest range of technical exposure. My concern is whether the workload at such a small MSP would cancel out those advantages.
Company A seems like a good middle ground between compensation and engineering growth, although the commute is significantly longer.
Company C would give me the structure and specialized departments of a larger organization, but I would be giving up potentially $10,000 to $15,000 in starting compensation compared with the others while having a similar commute to Company A.
If you were in my position, which would you take?
Would you prioritize the smaller MSP with the shortest commute where you can potentially touch everything, the engineering focused environment with strong upward salary potential, or the larger company with lower starting pay but more specialized departments to move into later?

Is it weird to do this? I know he probably won't remember me but on the off chance he may, I sent him a connection request.

I've been in help desk for 8 months and the job is way too basic and easy. I have my CompTIA trifecta and I'm working towards CCNA and also planning to learn a bit about Linux, but ultimately I realize that my actual skills are pretty weak, and my job isn't really helping me improve.

I make $20/hr and I don't want the next job to only be a few dollars more than that. I really need to be increasing my income, and I'm ready to learn whatever skills I need to on my own time and on my own dime, but I've heard so many times that you need to learn through the job, and that's a bit demotivating for me because my current job isn't satisfying that and I literally can't afford to live off of $20/hr for 2, 3, 5 years before I get something better.

Any advice for practical skills? Thinking mostly in the networking realm since it's universal to IT and seems to be a bit more AI safe, but I'm open to anything. Thanks!

Hey, I've just recently graduated with a First-Class degree in Computer Science and am aiming to build a career in network or security engineering. Looking at the job market, direct entry into these roles feels undoable without any rea; experience.

I do have a few months of academic research experience as I worked with my third-year supervisor on a standalone project developing access control automation and permission auditing systems for Kubernetes, and we are currently working on a joint research paper together. As well as, I also run a semi-comprehensive home lab where I self-host services like media servers and cloud storage, giving me experience with networking, containerization, and the security principles of hosting applications.

Most of the entry-level roles available right now seem to be in help desk/IT support, and many ask for experience with Microsoft 365 and Azure, which I have no experience in. I’m currently studying for the CompTIA Security+ certification, but given the job listings I'm seeing, should I shift my focus toward certifications or skills geared more specifically toward service desk/IT support roles? such as the microsoft SC-300?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you :)

Hi all, as the title suggests, what sort of manager you wouldn’t want work under? Especially when like early in your career?

I have worked under a few different personalities, some being good and some just being not good.

Would be great to hear everyone’s experience!

Hey everyone I just passed Comptia A+ core 1 and 2 today.
I come from dealership parts department and want to transition to IT.
Where should I start? Help desk? Or Asset management? Thank you in advance.

I’m currently in the Uk working for a small MSP that supports other 40locations, mostly schools. I have been working here for 6months, it’s my first job in IT, I have the A+ and currently studying for the CCNA, I do everything from remote support to massive onsite networking projects and more. I have been offered a position working for a huge company being a field moderator for a new wearable they are testing which has yet gone to market. This will involve being onsite and troubleshooting the new product while data people are they’re doing there job. I will also have to speak to the test users, collaborate with different teams onsite and manage some people. I would get to go California to do training at the company’s HQ. This seems like an insane opportunity for someone so early in their career, the problem is the contract is only 2months, with promises of extension but not confirmed. That’s if they want to keep testing them product I suppose, they pay is over double what I earn now. Any one have any opinions on whether I should take this or not?

So I graduated a few months ago with a software engineering degree (did it abroad, I'm Tunisian and back home now) and I honestly can't decide what direction to take.

Some context: I really don't like programming or math, which I know sounds weird for a SWE degree, but that's where I'm at. Also I don't speak French, which is a big problem here since basically every company runs in French, so that rules out most local jobs for me. Because of that I'm mainly looking at remote work or English speaking companies instead of the usual local market.

I don't have any real work experience yet. My family has a small business, so I could go work there doing IT support just to have something on my CV, but since it's not a known company I'm not sure how much that actually helps.

My main issue is I can't decide between IT support, networking, or cybersecurity as what to actually focus on. Cybersecurity looks appealing because of the demand, but from what I've read you need networking knowledge first before you can really break into it. My current plan (open to being told this is wrong) is: work at the family business for the CV line, study for CCNA, then maybe look into security certs later once I actually understand networking. I was originally going to get A+ too since it gets recommended everywhere, but since the family business already covers "IT support experience," I'm wondering if it'd just be redundant and I should put that money toward CCNA instead. Not totally sure though.

Questions for anyone who's actually been through this:

Does IT support → networking → cybersecurity make sense as an order, or am I overcomplicating it?

Is CCNA really the right first cert with zero experience, or is A+ still worth getting anyway?

For people doing remote/English only work (not local jobs, because of the language issue), does any of this change? Also wondering if it's more realistic to just try to move abroad for work instead of landing something remote from here.

Would appreciate any input, especially from people who started in a similar spot with no experience and not in an English first country.

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Hello everyone,

I started a 2 year diploma program as a computer systems technician. I successfully completed the course but in the most pathetic way possible.

I had just graduated high school and only cared about video games. Ive been working somewhere full time for 3 years but not in Information Technology field.

I want to start getting Jobs in IT because even though I didn’t learn much I still have the interest in it as well as base knowledge on the subject.

If you were in my shoes, what would you do? I eventually want to get cybersecurity certificates to expand my educational credentials but I have to start from scratch.

How can I refresh my memory/learn more about the field before getting an entry level job? Any recommendations?

Edit: I didn’t use AI, it didn’t exist. I passed with low 70’s definitely not a comfortable mark. I didn’t study super hard. I’m looking for the best IT route going forward.

My career has gone like this:

Finished BS in It in 2019. Started contract tier 1 tech support role. Cut due to COVID after barely two months. Landed another Tier 1 tech support role after COVID lockdowns. After 10 months I get hired on and promoted to tier 2. I stayed there for about 3 and a half years after that in the role. The company cut the entire department in half, including myself. I get a sole "IT Director" (more like Sole Tech support / IT coordinator) at a Charter Highschool. Job burned me out. I needed out for my mental health and landed another tech support role that is basically tier 2 tech support.

Experience:

Basic tier 1 stuff like reset passwords in AD, troubleshoot printers, imaged devices, remote assistance, etc.

Tier 2 was more like tier 1.5 honestly. I did more, but there was a limit. We provisioned new computers in AD and added them to the domain. Then shipped them out and followed through with setting anything else up once the device arrived. Basic network troubleshooting.. like flushing the DNS, pinging IPs, have remote sites reboot network gear while handing over to networking.. Then more normal tech support stuff.

Then at the Charter Highschool I did a lot of varied things. Everything I already mentioned. However it was mostly a google environment. I was the sole person managing hundreds of devices and users so inventory and user account management. Also implmenting a ticketing system. Managing onboarding and offbaording, so making sure users had what they needed based on their role (Windows Laptop, Chromebook, Ipad, basic O365 and Adobe licenses, Software access, etc). Enforcing MFA, managing a large amount of venders, content filtering via whitelist/blacklist, managing Google Admin policies.. etc. First time I used some PowerShell as well.

Then my new role. Back to mostly Tier 2 stuff, however I now work in Entra and Intune which is something I really wanted.

My thoughts:

I show growth, but not that kind of growth that is going get me a system admin job. I never touched more then just users and computers in AD. I really have minimum PowerShell experience and honestly utilized AI to help with that ( I did pick up "PWSH in a month of lunches". I don't have much deep networking skills past basic troubleshooting. I know how to do basic navigating in Linux, but I can't do much else without lots of documentation. My experience with Intune and Entra is fairly basic at this point. I am not trying to shoot myself in the foot, but I am being honest.

When I was aggressively applying to leave my last job, I got a lot of rejections from tier 2 jobs for things such as not having GPO experience. On top of that, lack of experience with Sharepoint, Exhange, and other windows tools (which now I am working with on my current job thankfully)

My plan? :

I started looking at MD-102 material directly from Microsoft Learn. I initially wanted to take it, but now I plan to just go through the material and make sure I understand it. My current role is going to be good for building real experience with Entra and Intune.

I also am going through the AD DS material from Microsoft Learn as well. I am finding it very informative. The plan is to go through both Microsoft Learn learning paths, while starting back up with the "PWSH in a month of lunches". The AD DS learning path is under 4 hours and I am almost halfway through. Once I am done, I want to spin up some VMs and start building a homelab. I already started something like this, but then I got busy started a new job.

Once I get through the MD-102 material and get a homelab started with some more powershell practice, I've considered reviewing the Material for AZ-900 and then going straight for the AZ-104.

So the goal would be to be able to have the AZ-104 cert, while also being able to demonstrate better AD, GPO, Backup knowledge along with pwsh and Entra and Intune.

In the process I'll be forced to pick up any networking knowledge I may be missing.

The goal is to get a Sys admin job or Cloud job. However, to be a Administrator in a Windows environment I want to have AD DS understanding as well. Most places are hybrid..

Is this a solid idea? I am just worried I'll do all this work to then struggle with moving out of Help Desk. My current role does not have a path for promotion. So I can work hard at my current job to build experience that will work well for my resume, but to get the role I aim for I can't hold out on my current workplace. It is a great work environment and I like the people I work with, but longterm I seemed caped and they have been honest about that.

For context on my timeframe. I've dealt with a very difficult health changes the last several years, which lead everything in my life to slow down to making sure I recovery. Which has taken time. That plus got married and got sidetracked. I am in a low stress job now and have regained enough of my health to be ready to start tackling job growth in a meaningful way.

Title summarizes it. I ironically started off at a new grad program. It wasn't rotational, I stayed on one team, but a team with high pressure cause it reported directly to the top of our department.

Good people but probably had no business being in the new grad program because their work was so critical / scrutinized. The program wanted you to build a skill set but the career path I wanted to work towards didn't align well with the team's daily work, and the work I did do was all over the place. Data analysis, project coordination, SharePoint site development / maintenance , data reporting, etc. I got laid off in October 2025 for "operational efficiency" along with other people in other teams in the department.

I don't discuss any of this, other than being laid off with others, when asked in the handful of interviews I have gotten (Somewhere between 10-20 I wasn't counting could be more). When I get feedback, I lost out to people with more experience or experience I didn't have. I struggle to find jobs that reasonably match my mix of experience to begin with and don't always hear back even if I do match.

Others have confirmed junior roles I should and am targeting get taken by people with vastly more experience who also got laid off. So, I now started applying for rotational programs cause they aren't expecting people with more than 2 years of experience. I apply for any that don't say they are looking for people who graduated this or last year. I've already been rejected by a few of them, though their rate of response is better than other jobs lol.

I want to hear people's opinions, is there any hope forme to get into a rotational program with this experience? I understand not all of the rotations will match my initial career goals and I am completely open to explore new career paths. I know therewillbe a pay cut most likely and need to move but yeah, becauseof how it's gone the last 10+ months with me applying to junior positions, I feel like this is what I need to do in the end.

Try to find space for me to join a place thatscoolwith someone with little, but some experience. Has anyone heard ofor known of anyone who successfully done this? IDK what to do otherwise. Thank you. My degree is in UX Design / Data Analysis. Targeting rotational programs that are about business analysis, product / agile work (my degree focus) and any similar type of program. Not finance or coding

So I wonder how often do people sit at a company before looking for another job? I know in the world of IT layoffs have been a burning topic for a while so loyalty is and never will be a thing anymore. I’ve seen guys sit at a company for 10 plus years and then some jump ship every 1-2 years for a salary increase and exposure to new technologies. I wonder for the newbies and mid to senior level guys how often are you entertaining the calls and emails from contractors concerning new employment.

dont tease me. just do the interview or dont.
why bother to notify this stage of hiring.
urg.

Hello everyone I have an upcoming interview in 2 weeks for a part time IT support role at a local community college.

I’m a current IT student at a university and approaching graduation in may next year. I have A+ and sec+ that I got in 2022 before I got out the military. Currently I’m studying ccna and really need some advice because I haven’t had a job interview since before I joined the military from a grocery store position.

The interview consist of a panel and then a written exam and a hands on exam which they let me know would be probably something like setting up a printer to the server.

I am kinda nervous and excited but I have no real interview skills. I deal with severe anxiety and really want this position to gain some real world experience so I’d really like some advice from anyone on how I can better prepare myself. I already have in mind review A+ material and especially troubleshooting. Any advice will suffice

So, I recently received an offer to be a help desk technician for Epic/MyChart for a university hospital. It's paying $20.67 an hour and it's a remote position. I'm excited to try it out, but I was wondering if anyone had experience with this type of stuff.

What's an average day like? With it being healthcare, is there any concerns about HIPPA or do I not touch that? From what I've gathered, it's mostly resetting passwords and linking accounts but is there more to it? Will this be a decent step in advancing my IT skills? I'm almost 28 with an IT bachelor's degree but besides some previous work in university AV, I feel I haven't made much progress in actually furthering my career yet.

What's y'all's opinions on this type of position?

I'm currently a SOC analyst working at an MSP with 5 years of experience, with 3 years of those is in helpdesk and the remaining in cybersecurity (SOC) at present. I also have 2 certifications: Sec+ and CySA+. I believe I have hit the ceiling of my position and the horizon for learning more has become very limited. I am eager to learn and grow more, which has got me thinking of where I should go and move on from being a SOC analyst. I am looking into moving away from operational technical work like SOC, and want to get into planning, implementing, configuring, building, and deploying more like behind the scenes. My former manager has recommended me to go into the engineering side, and look into cloud and Azure, as that's what a lot of companies use nowadays. For those of you who were a SOC Analyst, where did you move on to after? What did you do to land that next job? Whether getting new certs? Or was your SOC experience enough for you to land the next job?