Career Progression - IT Support Help

[xdcx]

Hello,

I've spent the last few months wondering, thinking, imagining and being frustrated about what I want to do with my working life.

I worked in desktop support roles for years and have gradually "moved up" into bigger companies and now work for a very large company as a SysAdmin. AD, exchange, SQL support dealing with 3rd line+ escalation and working on projects suchs as Server 2012 rollout and SCCM2012 rollout etc.

Sounds dumb, but I literally don't know where I want to go from here. So looking for some opinion, inspiration and/or advice from anyone who is in a similar position or has been and moved beyond it Speaking to other people I hope can motivate me and get some wheels turning.

These options are as I see things for myself right now. However, doesnt mean more options or possibilities can be added, hence the thread!

#1 - Keep doing what I am doing for all of eternity and live with that. Grab some more years experience where I am and then move on with my aquired skills and aim for a bit more money.

#2 - Advance my PS scripting ability majorly and go looking for more money with bigger time role in this way. Seen a few roles looking for handy scripting as companies realise how powerful their IT monkeys can be with this. Just one area that really interests me along with virtualization, HyperV knowledge quite good but Citrix I am hopeless with as of just now.

#3 - Security. I don't even know where to begin with this. But network/server vulnerability prevention, pen testing etc etc is an area that REALLY interests me. I honestly feel clueless in this area even though I know enough to get me by I think vast majority of people couldn't scratch the surface in this field. I know I sound clueless, I'll admit it, would love to have a chat with someone who works in this field in general.

#4 - Contracting. Maybe look into some migration type contracts or support type contracts. Been working on SCCM and server 2012 rollouts so a bit more of this under my belt maybe have good CV to put toward working on rollouts. Maybe even longer term contract wise I could get back to some desktop level support if it's paying well and spend a few years contracting.

I'll just shutup at that. You can see it's all mish-mash all over the place so just looking for some input in any form as per above which may help me sort my head out and approach this better.

Thanks

 

[xdcx]

Similar to you myself, stayed too long in the one place. My advice, do what interests you.
The security lark is black box, you won't get handed much info it's just too niche. So probably best to try to land a job in that sector.

PS is here to stay also, even .vbs still gets used in places so that's a good talent to have and another option, sit in current job and learn a bit more as you say. Exchange 2013 is majorly driven by PS.

Not answering anything with this really, just adding comments to what you said. gl.

No your reply is much appreciated dude, thank you.

Regards security, yeah I did think this but was more so thinking people would be willing to at least share best way to move into this industry, where to start off development wise for progression into it etc.

 

[xdcx]

Security? There are many avenues you can walk in this career path. I do Digital Forensics which is a major avenue that can lead to many other specialisms.

The best security roles will require you to be a prodigy or have 2:1 or 1st class degree in maths or IT...

Sadly your sys admin experience won't help you in these roles due to their requirement for specific niche experience - you'd find yourself at a much lower salary and back-to-basics in order to start in a new field.

Can't you look to take up the mantle of Network Manager or even IT Manager instead?

To be honest with you part of this is fuelled by my desire to earn more money as despite the level of work and level of knowledge needed for my role, the location I am based in means the wages are literally £10-£12k per year less than a job with less responsibility and knowledge based elsewhere. Re-locating is in the plans so it might be my more cash at end of the day desire is filled purely by relocating. Even moving into a very similar or even "lesser" job than I do now. But this still doesn't fill my desire to develop myself and move onto other things.

I did fear this with security roles but as you say it is a huge area with many speciliast fields. Hence I was so vague above and looking for any input so that is much appreciated.

Never spend too much time in a support role if you don't enjoy it. Move to something you enjoy because if you stay it really will eat you alive.

It isn't that I don't enjoy it really as I majority of the time, do. I however hate the other 30% of the job which is tedious, repetitive nonsense that a chimp could do, pretty much. So I do like my job really, but do I want to be doing the EXACT same thing in 20 years time? Absolutely not! haha.

Catatonia & Hades - Thanks for the advice and info. I very much think along these lines, I think you'll gather that from my posts and above comment specifically it shows I am happy with what I do but my want for self development, learning new things, becoming a specialist in areas that interest me which all ultimately lead to the more money which is the only reason any of us do this please fully star swearing! anyway! Due to age and willing to relocate as well people are suggesting contracting to me left, right and centre and it does make sense from development point of view with the benefits of so much more experience to gain and constant interest refreshment.

As an addition, I have even been speaking with my other half and going down crazy thought routes of spending 5-10 years in Scandinavia! Mentioning this to people they seem to think I am mental, I hate that YOLO nonsense but it is TRUE. Why not learn a new language and see the world, do these things. There are some fantastic opportunities and jobs in Denmark/Sweden/Norway.

 

[xdcx]

xdcx, I've done pretty much most roles in IT and now specialise in running prod support teams. If you happen to be near London I'd happily have a beer and chat with you about pro's, con's and future direction.

That is very nice of you to offer this and is very much appreciated. Unfortunately though, I would struggle to actually be any further from London on the British Isles! haha, typical! But again thank you for all the advice you have given in here, I am very grateful.

That thanks goes to everyone else as well. Some very useful posting in here. I have read everything so far but haven't got time just now to do some replying so not ignoring people, it's all being taken in. Will get chance tonight to quote and do some replies.

 

[xdcx]

What do you enjoy? That's the main thing. Do you prefer hands on technical solving, or project roll outs, or operational management?

etc etc etc.

Technical, hands on. Definitely.

I like being faced with problems, challenges and the feeling you get when you beat something that's been put in front of you. Even the hardware side of things, I don't get to do that in my current job and I do actually miss getting my hands dirty. Some guys turn nose up at touching a physical box, but I am over the moon doing cable management, installing a new rack, replacing a PSU, etc etc.

That pretty much sums it up and each has pro's and con's:

Specialise - Great for short term highly paid work and in some industries (e.g. certain products used in investment banks) it can mean being highly sought after. But equally it's harder to get a job when there are few about. This is the route I htink I should have followed however (and didn't).

Generalise - More job opportunities but there is always someone who will do it cheaper than you so salaries will erode over time.

Design and Architecture - Quite a good route I think. Can't see too many downsides although a little prone to redundancies when companies start cut-backs as there is little development going on. Well paid though.

IT Sales - Very delivery driven so expect pay to vary a lot between very good and very poor. Requires a certain outgoing character.

IT Management - Depending on the specific management role it can either be very rewarding, mind numbingly boring, lots of pressure and hish risk of redundancy every few years.

Specialise - I hinted at this route above regards PS. Other areas of interest being virtualization (already got a chunk of HyperV knowledge but Citrix would be a massive advantage). SQL, SCCM2012 I am gaining more knowledge every day with this and also seeing a lot of contracts looking for SCCM specialists so this could be a route to take.

Design and Architecture seems to be dominated with 40+ year olds for the most part. This is obviously for a reason being they have the experience all round under their belts. This more a long terms aim to settle into once I have spent 15-20 building a knowledge base that will crush the young un's once I get to that age? haha.

Sales, really does not appeal to me at all unfortunately. I do not fit the bill of outgoing salesy type really I would doubt my ability first of all but the whole sales area annoys me quite a lot when it comes to products I have to support and see mis-sold all over the place. Not a nice field from my experience also in my last job I seen so many sales guys come and go like they were worthless pieces of junk getting praised, sacked, tormented on a daily basis haha.

Managment, yeah, I mean I see what you say it is either going to be a semi hands on managerial post or full on paperwork job. I certainly couldn't see myself leaving the tecnical hands on aspect of things any time soon. Again I see this as a settle into progression for a bit older age. But it would totally depend on opportunities that arise, this is a very company/manegement type role dependant generalisation. My experience of managers so far in life can be summed up by saying, get all the yes, that does count as disguised swearing, and don'[t argue with moderating decisions and the rules flung at them and get very little in return when they do actually do well. You're the fall guy.

 

[xdcx]

I'd say (despite your job title) that you are barely a "System Administrator" in terms of what that job actually means. I am reading high level support which is not what System Administration is, at least at the top end of the scale.

A typical route is to move more in System Architecture, many job roles are even called "SysArch". This is more around designing platforms and systems and moving more into a coding environment but pretty low level coding. You hang different systems together with your own code in order to achieve a business goal or create a product etc... This way then often collides with senior developers who's career paths take them in the same direction (moving from web dev, to proper development of applications to then development of platforms).

Once you get here you are commanding £50k+ salaries (at least in The City), you get your experience under your belt over a few years - start encountering modern techniques such as DevOps, automation, agile, kanban, scrum... *then* you move into contracting and ask for £500 a day.

My advice would be to now learn about Linux administration, having both high levels Microsoft and Linux administration experience will make you more appealing to hire.

If you want to specialise in the SysAdmin arena looking into Web Operations as a specific area. Really know your HTTP protocol and how to manipulate it. Then you can start looking at jobs at big high traffic dotcoms, the advantage of working at a dotcom is you get to choose two things that interest you. Both the technical side and whatever it is the dotcom does. I work at a Music dotcom, but I am realibility informed if you work at a place like ASOS you do the techie stuff while hoards of hot woman are 90% of the non-technical staff.

Thanks for the advice man.

I'd agree with you. My official job title is "techincal system specialist". Vague, and pointless. It's 3rd line+ but as I say, location wise means the wage I get for it is shocking. I've seen 1st line desktop support roles paying £5k per year more than I currently get. And it's a MASSIVE company as well, not a little local firm I work for. So it's frustrating to say the least.

I am actually touching up majorly on my Linux knowledge overall recently in my own time. But for business level support environments I have no experience at all. I do agree this would be beneficial due to half the jobs advertised now wanting guys to have knowledge of absolutely ALL aspects you could imagine. They can afford to be specific and look for a lot of skills from people due to current climate and availability of guys.

 

[xdcx]

I find to keep yourself on your toes, if your current position is at that stage where you are really not getting anymore out of it, look at moving, trust me its so easy to get in to too much of a comfort zone in some places, and some places once you have been there 3-4 or 5 years you tend to get to that point where you really are not getting much more out of it.

Unless they offer good opportunities and progression to adapt in the business, as believe me some places don't.

I am glad after 4 years in my previous job, I decided to move, I am in a new job now been here a month and already getting much more than I did in my last place, so many new things to learn, much better opportunities (and a big salary jump) which is good.

100% agree also. I have never been more than 5 years in a job, last one being just under 3. I have come to the progression thoughts so quickly in this role I think mostly based on lack of advancement oportunity again due to location. They do not offer good, or any progression options at all really, unless you relocate but even then it would be a struggle so I think relocate but to a new company/job is the only solution initially.

 

[xdcx]

+1

Yep, you can earn into six figures from just using Visio and chairing a few technical workshops.

I'm a seasoned pro with Visio. I remember importing all of the Dell and Cisco graphic sets to make super pretty rack diagrams to impress the magpie -type MD who thought graphs and flashy data presentation was awesome.

 

[xdcx]

Our presales architects earn big money just doing such diagrams and presentations, they then get professional services to do the low level design and implementation. The guys who are the technical specialists earn about half what the architects get and yet do the `real` work.

This all sounds AWFULLY familiar.... It's horrific isn't it?

 

[xdcx]

Thanks again for all of the input guys. Much appreciated.

I've also had some very useful info from a member on here via email which is very beneficial and has got the ball rolling a bit motivational wise in a certain area, long term.

My girlfriend also seems to be a job finding ninja. I am constantly looking and seeing nothing but she found 2 roles advertised LOCALLY which is stupidly rare in this area of the world. But from this I am taking it as a positive she has taken it upon herself to look and see what there is to help us get out of this little sticky patch we are in and wanting to move on from.

I'm actually thinking CCNA might be a good thing to do as a small booster in terms of taking in something new, working my brain a bit and having something very useful for the CV which is relevant in any field I would choose to look at or move into eventually. I can't see any negatives or reason not to do it so might contact some previous people I worked with and see how I could go about doing CCNA on the cheap as possible haha.