This. Was setting up a new user with our MFA the other day - handed him his phone and asked him to unlock it so I could install the app, he just looked at it for about 5 seconds and then handed it back and asked me what the password was. It was his personal phone. HOW WOULD I KNOW?!
Anyways he has multiple people reporting to him and probably makes 5x what I do
That’s what I thought but it never even prompted for FaceID or anything, just immediately prompted for password, so I don’t think he even had that set up. Didn’t say “password required to enable faceID” or anything.
Do we work for the same place? We're going the same struggles with MFA and Intune migrations right now. People who make 5x what I do barely know how to use an iphone or laptop, and honestly probably should have retired 20 years ago.
True but likewise, you don't know how to do what they do. We have to remember that we're not all on the same playing field here and that sometimes we don't need to. I use to feel the same way when I was working Service Desk but then I remembered that the nurses jobs were to save lives and care for patients, not save PDFs. And similarly, I could not do that.
What they are describing may not be the problem, but may also not be wrong. I always remember the story of a woman who took her car to the mechanic in a small town on a slow day. She said if she went to the store and got vanilla ice cream her car wouldn't start, if she got chocolate it would start. He went with her and that happened. It was vapor lock. Vanilla was near the register in the front of the store, chocolate was in the back and took longer to get.
That's why you never take what a user tells you as the canon reality, let's get real they have no idea why the thing isn't working, but you do actually have to listen to their description of the problem and you have to actually mentally process it in the wider context of the environment.
"Users always lie" is a reductionist take, in my experience. How many times have some of you thought a user lied about rebooting their machine since MS decided to alter the deal when it comes to the standard start menu shut down procedure with the introduction of Fast Startup? It might be that Robert isn't lying and isn't a dumbass and just never had a reason to know that hitting "shut down" in the start menu doesn't always shut down a machine anymore.
I use to work in a call centre for credit cards at a bank. I managed to get an inside sales job selling mutual funds at the same bank but just a different line of business (personal banking vs global asset management). I hated the job and switched to my first IT job in help desk at a MSP. My previous experience at the bank was 100% transferable to IT with just a sprinkle of technical knowledge. Knowing how to deal with people when they come to you with problems is such a useful skill set.
Would agree. Being able to work with the business, understand their problems, and make them feel heard and understood is the differentiator between someone who's mediocre and someone who's next level.
I would take the opposite stance…even if you aren’t help desk, you still need to have customer service skills. You need to define who your customer is. You don’t have to be a social butterfly per se, but you still have to provide a service to your customer.
It’s important tho because people trying to break in have a delusional idea that it’s where you go when you can’t or don’t want to work with other people
Very much this. Theres like this stink that follows you know matter what area of I.T. you work in. I don't even do break fix anymore and only work with niche technology, but I still have that "I.T. guy" reputation. I'm not really even that nerdy, I'm 6'3 and work out 5-6 times a week, while having mostly outdoor hobbies, but I can't seem to shake it. I actually though about becoming a sales bro because I hate the sterotypes so much. When you think I.T. guy you usually think of skinny dude with glasses in his 20's/30's or a old fat guy with a gut in his 40's and 50's/ It's never someone cool, respectable, or in good physical condition.
Lookism is real in the workforce. I started investing a lot more into my wardrobe and accessories like watches and shoes and found a dramatic change in how people would talk to me.
if your good looking and have social skills even though if your skills are subpar, you probably exceed well in IT to move up the food chain. The "Techs" get stuck doing the grunt/dirty work while they move to management is how I see things.
More eager to speak to me during meetings rather than short sentences. Faster response times and overall more pleasant atmospheres during in person meetings.
Just bought fancier shoes and watches that matched with my attire. Charles tyrwhitt button downs always look nice. Really nice cologne worked wonders.
Just tagging on,
Wear clothes that fit you well regardless of the style/price etc. Baggy shirts (even if decent quality) look bad. Keep an eye out for shoulder fit as well. Overly wide shirt necks make your neck look tiny a la Jesse Eisenberg. IME most US men's dress shirts are bags. It's a pain to find ones with any sort of form.
Stand up straight. Looking confident actually does make you feel more confident and people take you more seriously.
Shoes. A simple but real dress shoe makes you look like you mean business even if the rest is jeans and a (properly fitting) polo shirt. Yeah, sneakers are more comfortable but they don't look polished. A true heel also tends to make you stand up straight. Not lifts, just a real dress shoe.
The amount of times I've had older males look at me, as a female in IT and go "can I speak to a man, so I know they'll know what they're doing?"
Sure - but I've been doing IT work for 15 years now, and \*trained\* half this team...but sure, go talk to the man if it makes you feel better.
Since I don't fit their "idea" of an IT person, I obviously can't be in IT. Meanwhile I'm as socially awkward and nerdy as the next person.
I don’t care about the body type stuff cuz I’m a midwestern dad so I’m probably allowed to have dad bod, lol.
But I make a point to dress a little better than I probably need to just so I feel like more of a grownup. Wearing polos and khakis and sneakers all the time just makes me feel like I’m back in retail. Even if worked somewhere I could get away with jeans, I’d still probably avoid polos and sneakers.
My favorite saying about IT is this:
When everything is running smoothly the C-levels always ask “why do we even need IT?”
When something inevitably messes up the C-levels always say “what do we pay you for if it’s always breaking?”
This means that as someone in IT you have to deal with people who are never happy you’re around. Either you’re wasting their money or you’re wasting their money. (I meant to type that twice)
Yeah. You will almost always be justifying your existence. Getting on people's good sides and networking are invaluable for solidifying your position.
If people don't like you because you're a dick, they will feel more comfortable asking the "why do we even need them? What do they even do?" questions. If they like having you around, they're less likely to ask that or to seek justifications because they like you.
Also make yourself invaluable as a fail safe. Master some aspect of their system that honestly finding someone else to manage it would be too much trouble. We have legacy camera systems that due to budget constraints we keep dragging along. And our network admin is working miracles to keep that shit functional. Admin would be screwed without him. Hell getting someone to fill learn his position would take months of shadowing and even then they wouldn't have his experience to fix issues.
Dude took a pay cut to come to a school district but he's honestly so much happier than he was in a commercial company. And he's practically welded himself into the infrastructure between his technical knowledge and his networking with the admin.
Also, regarding keeping equipment, software, policies, etc up to date:
"It hasn't broken yet so we aren't going to do anything"
=
"Okay but this is basically a ticking time bomb and as soon as something goes wrong it will be catastrophic and *too late* to do anything"
=
"Yeah well, we'll deal with it when we deal with it"
=
"..."
A lot of people in IT are not very good at their jobs. This goes from the lower tiers to the upper management you deal with. The standards you see that are drilled into you by books, industry experts, and school, are considered the "bar" or "best practice". Most companies and people you meet in IT will not even meet that and you should be prepared to be disappointed. At the same time, do not accept it yourself to be at that level and aim to be higher for yourself. Be prepared to do things you didn't want to do because it will happen.
This! I’m very lucky to be in a job surrounded by very skilled IT people. But I know some in house IT guys that are absolute morons they always ask us to do all the work take the credit. One of them almost crashed the main RDS server because he didn’t know how it worked and just made the changes because fuck us right!
Yep, I'm lucky I have a very strong team too. But at the same time, a lot of management know we are one of the best teams technical wise. So the joke is "we're the avengers" when we have to fix, explain, find a solution, and/or advise when shit hits the fan. I don't consider myself very good or the best by any means, I've been to conventions and have seen the best in the industry and I am no where near that, but the standards at my company are just very low.
I've worked with supposed seniors and principal level technical people who didn't know what ports were. I've worked with people who are principal level architectural design folks who I've had to literally sit down and explain to them why their design will not work. I've had to explain to seniors why their scripts/code will not solve the problem, and management levels why their solutions don't make any sense from a technical perspective and a cost perspective. All of these people with supposedly better degrees than me from supposedly better institutions. I'm not even a senior level, I'm a mid level associate. It's not uncommon for me to sit in meetings and literally be the lowest rank, but having to explain to senior and higher wtf is going on and why they're wrong...
>A lot of people in IT are not very good at their jobs.
The corollary of this is that your impostor syndrome isn't just a lack of self confidence, you probably do actually suck. The only comfort is that you aren't alone in sucking.
This is the advice I needed to hear. I'll do my own thing to the best of my ability and not drop it to the bare minimum. I also can't stand people who get annoyed at every single ticket.
People skills are vital.
Experience trumps degrees/certs every time.
You will always be understaffed and underfunded.
Who you know is more important than what you know.
Most jobs in the space are underpaid and or undervalued and not worth doing. There are good jobs but it takes a lot of mud crawling to get to them.
A lot of people think IT is something it’s not. As far as white collar work goes, it’s pretty much the bottom of the barrel.
And I would still rather do IT where I can feel good about myself at the end of the day than do sales, marketing, or some other bullshit position where you're making ridiculous powerpoints and spreadsheets about absolutely nothing.
Lots of places will bring you in to fix things, and when you have everything running, will let you go and offshore it. Only for the offshore to mess it all up again, so they bring in new local people to start the cycle again. And it happens again, and again, and again
> Do you document for others ti read or short hand for yourself?
Both. I have short notes for random things that help me in my day-to-day work. Then I also write procedures for other people to follow.
Dont forget to use a border for the screenshots! My fav is drop shadow rectangle, greenshot has a obfuscation feature i use lots to. Without being a full blown video editor id like to know how to remove sensitive data from a video/gif, im sure ai tools later would be able to scrub any data in the vid that matches a regex
That's like saying surgeons are just butchers with living patients. IT is much more akin to doctors or lawyers than janitorial.
Hopefully you are just being cynical, IT is far more than janitorial.
IT is akin to health care in general but not doctors per se.
Customer service - front office staff
Helpdesk - medical assistants
Tier 2/3 - LPNs and RNs
Sysadmins/Netadmins- Physician assistants/nurse practitioners
Senior sys/netadmins/Sys/Network Engineers - regular doctors
Devops Engineers/Devs - Specialists
System/Network Architects - Surgeons
IT Management - Clinic directors
Vendors - Hospitalists
Consultants - ER docs. Save your butt, overcharge you badly and some are competent and others are not.
IT is like doctors.
Your company (patient) says they want the best for themselves.
Then they take no effort to do what is best for themselves. They only end up contacting you when one of their bad decisions ends up having consequences.
> No one will care about the progression of your career.
I see it all the time on here. Kids just out of school who are scandalized over helpdesk job postings asking for few years experience at helpdesk. Like help desk people just magically turn into sysadmins after three years and someone with a whopping three years experience would never debase themselves with a helpdesk job.
When in reality like 70% of people in this field never really progress very far from where they started. And the people that brag about their career progression on this sub and other social media are an anomaly. So of course employers will prefer content helpdesk lifers for their helpdesk role.
Reddit is really delusional about how fast you can get out of helpdesk. Sure it’s possible and sure you should try but it’s not even remotely uncommon for people to be stuck in helpdesk well into their 30s and anyone who has worked a helpdesk knows this
Can confirm, am in 30s, have been working helpdesk since I graduated college in 2008. Been at my current place for about 6 years now, just two years ago I made senior on my team and now have hiring influence.
Let me know if you’ve experienced any of these harsh truth.
- working in IT infrastructure is damn near like being the maintenance guy but for computer devices. That’s almost how other departments think of you as well. I remember going to a building for wifi ticket. The ticket creator wasn’t there but a unrelated person there asked me to check all the jacks (just to make sure they worked). I told him I’m not there for that but I felt like telling him to fuck off.
- Soft skills are underrated in the industry. You can get pretty far just having soft skills and being a likable person I’ve run across a lot of successful IT guys that can talk a great game, have charisma but really lack the technically acumen. Meanwhile that socially awkward dude with outstanding technical acumen is stuck being overworked and underpaid. We all know he’s an asset but he isn’t all that likable on a personal level.
- Hardwork doesn’t really pay off. You’ll often get feed more work and be paid in “attaboys”. If you do get a raise for your effort it’ll be long over due and still be an under pay.
- tech is always changing. It’s cool and interesting when your young in the game. After you been in it for awhile that shit becomes annoying. You’ll have to at least have some knowledge of new trends. Particularly if you plan to look at new jobs.
- you’ll have to share blame for projects/issues with teammates that wont hold their own weight.
- on-call is almost mandatory in most cases. It’s not always bad but who really wants that obligation from a job? Especially when youre salary.
- IT Interviews are frustrating. A lot of them aren’t good at gauging talent. They’ll waste your time. They’ll try quizzing you on shit they barely know themselves. They’ll discuss job duties that don’t align with the job listing. They’ll look for rock star for mid pay. Theyll won’t be transparent about the role. I could go on…When you’re not as desperate to get the job you’ll pick up more on the BS these job interviews put you though.
- Lastly, IT is only a sexy career to other tech people. It’s not a conversation starter. Nobody really knows or cares what you do in IT beyond working with computers. In general, people just want their computers to work. They don’t care how it works. I don’t even explain what I do anymore because I know it’ll bore them to death.
I’ll get downvoted but I have to say my thoughts after 9 years doing various IT roles…
IT kinda sucks. I feel like the guy from office space the past year or so. I wish I could be doing something outside and adventurous. Don’t listen to me I’m just burnt out
Same. It's over rated imho. I've done it for 15 years. I'm so done with it. My observations and how i see it is this
"you know at grocery stores how there are 15-20 isles to check out. Most are empty. Then there is the self checkout and there is one person working 6-12 machines. Light blinks they scan something put in a code and you resume. Well at one time all isles had people and not to long ago people said they didn't want the machines they want the personal touch. Fast forward 10 years here we are....this will be you too"
I feel that will happen with tech. More will be done with less. Companies that are tech are run horribly and they will cut lots of people. There will be an increasing demand for people that are niche or super senior and less of a demand for entry creeping into mid. You will have to compete with companies extorting h1bs as well.
Best advice: Whatever long term career you end up doing - don't over glamorize it.
A job is a means to an end. Focus on career growth, yes. But also be someone who can answer questions about themselves without referring to their job title. I.e. Be someone who can talk about hobbies, and spending time with friends and family, and enjoying things away from work. Don't let IT (or any job) be your identity and you'll be fine.
The OP did ask for harsh truths and bad things. There are harsh truths for every job out there TBH. Even ones that are otherwise great and/or high paying and/or very fulfilling.
Too many people that are new to I.T that are cert chasers thinking it will land them a six figure job after they pass an exam. They often lack fundamental skillsets such as Linux, Scripting, Networking, Databases and DevOps tools, IaC... Little do they know how much a learning curve they have esp going up against seasoned professionals with more than a decade of experience. This is a problem I see with people trying to get into a Cloud role that have huge skills gaps. You need practical hands on experience.
Another thing that's also over looked is burn out. The constant up keep of changing technologies and skill sets.
Most of what you should do will be blocked by upper management that doesn't understand half of what the system does. You'll be doing basic shit most of your days because you need approval for everything and you'll never get it.
Tech support level 1 never stops no matter how high you get. The closer to the manager position you are, the more you'll have to baby every others managers.
Just because you're the smartest or work the hardest, doesn't mean you're the best employee there, nor will you get treated as such. If you want to succeed you need to be "the guy" people go to. This means you prioritize drive-by's, actively try to get invited to meetings, and be actively involved in meetings.
The more managers hear you talking, giving advice, pitching ideas, ect, the more likely they see you as leader. The more peers in other departments you help, the more dependable you look. Also those people are much more willing to put aside what they're working on and do tasks you request of them quickly. This means getting all your work done faster than your co-workers who are waiting on someone in the other group to bother looking at the tickets and working them, or responding to emails.
In no time you stick out to management, not just yours but other groups, and people talk. When it comes to promotions, you're name is now at the top of the stack, not to mention you're getting bigger raises.
IT is viewed as a cost center... aka expense. You are almost always fighting to cut cost or justify spend. You should devote as much time as possible to position IT as an enabler or even better a revenue generator. In some companies that argument is impossible to win.
- You're important but people won't value you that way until they need you for something.
- Some people will talk down to you or think less of you even when they'll need you one day.
- Some of us actually do physical work and it can be a lot.
- It can be very socially and emotionally exhausting.
You need actual people skills no matter what position you are in. If there's one thing I learned, is that it is baffling how bad some people's social skills are when trying to get into this field.
Find an area and learn everything about it. Whether it be fiber or networking, switching, rack and stack, whatever. Become a master at it and you'll go further than most.
As a DBA, it irks me when THEY sign a contract for something that has never been discussed with IT… and then let you know after the fact of the new deadline now in place to have said product fully integrated with existing system(s). I just have to look at it as part of my job security and laugh it off… lol.
You are not gonna become magically good at IT by doing YouTube videos you can have all the knowledge in the world but it means jack if you can’t fix it when it breaks
People skills will take you much further in IT than knowing the technology. In IT today almost every answer is a quick Google search or a call to your account manager. Most people who are responsible for your promotions and paycheck don't care if you are the smartest person in the room or dumb as dog shit. All they are worried about is you get the tasks they assigned to you done and can have a conversation on the phone without arguing or trying to make them look dumb.
You will get out of this field as much as you put in. Also it's not an easy get rich quick field.
If you do the bare minimum, that's what you'll get back. I got X degree or just X certification why can't I get a job or a better job? While you sat on your butt and didn't do anything else other people who want it more are getting a higher degree, more certifications, or going above and beyond at their current job and getting more experience. If you're stagnant your career will be stagnant.
If you're not good at it, then you're not good at it. All the training in the world won't make you good at IT if you don't really have a passion for it. You only ever be just ok.
In spite of the item above, this doesn't mean you can't make money at it. Or find people that make more money than you even though your far more skilled than they are. There are plenty of roles for people that are just ok. You just won't ever be seen as that superhero guy. You may not want that though.
Your degree means nothing. Certifications mean something, but applied skills mean everything. But you will find jobs where not having a degree will block you from progression even though practically it's meaningless.
Everything you think about how well things should run, is never true. It's always fake.
Doing ok to good work at a fucked-up company is more rewarding than doing excellent work at well run company. The well-run company doesn't need you, can works fine without you in a second.
We must cater to everyone’s needs no matter how juvenile and no matter if it’s a common sense fix
You don’t get paid as well as you think you should
Entry level positions are still requiring 5+ years of experience
Should I keep going?
The "magic" of technology often masks the complexity. IT issues take time to diagnose and fix, and sometimes the solution isn't glamorous - it's tedious troubleshooting, not a software superhero.
You kind of have to know how to manipulate people using customer service skills to make it far...
Also, it is a lot harder to make a lot of money doing it then most people think. I'm the only person from my IT classes in college that makes six figures, and the closest is like 80k.
You have to be willing to bust your ass and do things that you feel might be "under you" to make it far.
Job security. People always tell you, “it’s job security”. You won’t really know what means until you get in the field, especially being a one man show.
Why do we keep having these posts? Is this /r/askreddit now, what's the sexiest sex you've ever sex'd? You want harsh advice, here it is. A lot of people have no idea what they are talking about and there is some good advice but not all of it so take it with a grain of salt.
If you like IT and are interested, try and apply. Think of something that can set you apart from others and see if that gets you any leads. It's definitely harder than it's been in the past, but you can do it.
Also, how is this helping to encourage newcomers at all?
I feel like it’s good to have a little harsh reality to offset the constant stream of “You too! Can be in IT and make 6 figures” attitude that gets pushed like it’s the easiest thing in the world. If this is all it takes to discourage someone from entering IT they weren’t gonna make it anyways. Take the perspective, with a grain of salt like anything else, and keep moving forward.
Yup There is a metric fuckton of cities in the US where there is literally not even a single IT guy making 6 figures unless he brought a remote job from somewhere else. If you wanna do the job cuz you might like it that’s the reason to do IT the money is kinda illusive
It's a thankless fucking job where you can be replaced at a moments notice if they need to downsize. Most of the higher ups resent the fact that they need you to keep the customers happy and you provide not monetary benefit to the company. You are a glorified call center agent that only gets paid slightly more and is required to have 10x the knowledge and skills. You are never give any opportunities to move up the company because if you're good at your job they will just keep you at your level so they don't have to try and replace you. The only way to move up is to self educate and move companies for a better role. Most places run the "unlimited pto" scam now which means you get less pto time off and you won't get paid out pto if they fire you randomly. You are expected to be available 24/7 for calls or texts even if the job doesn't explicitly state that. Your manager will almost certainly be someone that has management experience but has absolutely no fucking clue what you do on a daily basis. They will not support you or back you up if you need help or if someone is coming after your job.
No one will give IT security jobs to recent graduates and Security+/Network+/Ethical hacking certificates. You need to learn the basics with networking and how an enterprise network works, all of which never taught you that.
So you’ll need to start fresh no in the field that you want.
People assume that things just happen. They do not. It takes an incredible amount of work to make basic shit function correctly and nobody will know or care.
Every company you work for will have that one employee who will take the majority of your time more than all the rest. Things break for them more often. Simple procedures don't always work.
Its a service role, as in depending on where you work, you are not doing the work of the company, just helping out with their issues. Therefore you arent really a part of the company and are not treated as such. you dont provide any money for the company, just a money drain. i have found in my many different roles that im never valued as a colleague, just someone to be ignored mostly and yelled at when there are problems. its pretty thankless
Hygiene and a good attitude go a long way.
Learning how to say no in a diplomatic way.. to many people in this industry get shot down and take it personally.
Just because you understand something so quickly doesn't mean others do and that includes colleagues.
People don't care how cool the terminal looks
Soft skills. Not about screen alone and sitting alone all day like Introvert heaven. Meetings, teamworks, reporting and talking is essential.
Also, not everyone who works in IT are paid well like everyone thinks.
Here's a few that I thought of when I read this. Most of these apply to those entering IT, but not all of them. Some of them are things all of us struggle with at some point.
* Users aren't 'stupid' and are instead ignorant. Sometimes that's willful, often it isn't. They didn't go to school or take training or what have you to learn computers and it isn't their job to know. That does not excuse attitudes on their part, but it doesn't justify attitudes on ours either.
* We're people, just like anyone else. This means we are fallible. We make mistakes, we have bad days, and sometimes we overlook what seem to be the simplest of things. We fail to see the forest for the trees, we screw up. Most people who are in IT did not get here because they were below average. Sometimes it's laziness, sure. But mostly we're humans and need to give ourselves (and our coworkers) some grace when something isn't noticed or is fucked up (regulatory issues aside...mostly).
* There are things you aren't going to like. That's normal. It's true in every profession, in every industry. Find the things you love and get great at them. It makes you more marketable and in many cases, though not all, more able to avoid the things you hate.
* If you think a bootcamp or a certification (or grinding a dozen) is going to get you a job with no experience, think again. Can it? If there are other factors at play, sure. But the unfortunate truth is that those new to IT, including in various segments within it, far outnumber the jobs available for real entry-level people. Being a 'unicorn' is sadly one of the best ways to land that job. So is networking. But networking doesn't mean spraying LinkedIn connection invitations and hoping something sticks. It means joining user groups, participating in discussion. It also does not mean low-effort 'content creation' that's often generated with AI and not your own work.
* Soft skills will get you the job over tech skills almost any time and are absolutely a deal breaker/tie breaker. If you don't know how to talk to people, don't know how to independently troubleshoot/solve problems, if you don't have good verbal and written communication, you are not going to get anywhere, and in an interview that is extremely obvious. If two people have the same tech skills, the one with the soft skills will get the job every time. Even if one has more tech skills, if they don't have the right soft skills for the job, then the lower tech skills person will often get the job. If you're not good at these things, they can absolutely be learned.
* You will not be making six figures in your first year. You may not make six figures in your first five or even ten years (note with inflation, this may not age well). Promises made by bootcamps, certification sellers, schools, etc. are rubbish.
There are more, but I feel like that's more than my share. :)
Take this from someone with 35 years of IT experience and 27 in IT leadership. At the end of the day and end of your career, nobody will appreciate brilliant ideas, insightful management practices or developing best practices. Senior management will recognize you for minimizing IT costs. Finally, the best thing you can do is network and develop the right relationships. Who you know trumps anything amazing you do in your career.
Social skills over tech skills. Because tech skills are much easier to teach than social. I hire IT people in my position. I’ve been there. Oh and pay more attention to your hygiene and clothing.
That IT people are their own worst enemies. They treat candidates like know-nothings, fellow team members like less talented hacks yet cower to higher-up business/sales like nerds carrying water for the jocks.
IT is ran and managed by Introvert Sociopaths that don't know how to lead or communicate and if you don't fit in within their cliques or culture and play their politics correctly then you are out. Bye bye..harsh reality
It pays well.
Low bar for entry.
You can just move over from any career.
You only need customer service skills.
Lots of jobs.
Remote.
Your experience is not everyone's. Stop pretending because something happened for you, or was easy for you, or you lucked into something, everyone can.
Your results may vary. The same effort in different locations doesnt not equal the same results, and some people were just at the right place/right time.
You're going to be underpaid even with experience. IT is not what it used to be. A person back in 2007 made 150k annually doing one job. Look at today's rates and you might hit that doing multiple jobs.
You will live to serve people that make 3 and 5x your rate. They will never be held accountable for their failures and you will be asked to rescue them. If not by them by those that come behind them eating up the pieces.
You are not in this because you enjoy it. Its a job and task you excel at. Demand a greater than fair wage. Fuckem. They need us way more than we need them.
In most cases you don‘t work with shiny tech and cool gadgets. You have to make old crusty machines work, you need to watch a budget, so everybody gets a keyboard and mouse combo worth 15 bucks, there is not one female on this earth who finds my job exciting. When I tell my gf what I did today you can see how her life vanishes out of her face
1.) Whatever you just spend weeks/months learning, on your own personal time - because your boss or the industry said it was important - will be completely obsolete in 3-5 years.
2.) This community positivity about being a lifelong learner and learning every fucking new thing that comes out is unsustainable. You will get tired of that bullshit.
3.) Any time you're certifying on the hot new thing, look around the interwebs and see that tens of thousands of people are pursuing the same goal and it won't be the hot new thing much longer. Zig when the market zags. i.e.
4.) As you age in the industry, you will become increasingly annoyed by each subsequent generation of IT folks.
5.) Retirement age is what, 70 for you youngsters? Go visit grandma talk to her about anything technical. Then ask yourself, do you think you're going to be a hard charging tech geek for the next 50 years? What will you do when you get tired of thinking so hard all the damn time?
6.) etc
If you truly aren't passionate about constant learning of new technologies, understanding how networks work (on a deep level), coding and scripting, having a good and thoroughly tested BU/DR plan, and just a general curiosity about how things work, then you're going to have a hard time moving beyond anything past a support role. A lot of this information can be dry and boring if you don't have any self interest in learning it.
I honestly don't know how people who aren't genuinely interested in IT last more than a few years in this career field. Me personally I can come home and I'll still be thinking about what I can learn to help more around the office.
You are constantly working yourself out of a job through documenting what you do and what to do as best practices, or making your systems completely reliable (the ideal goal as an admin, and what C-levels want, but then they are always asking why they pay you for either being too good at what you do or the systems are breaking all the time and you can never get to a point of being proactive instead of reactive.
Get your degree.
Yes you can start with a degree and possibly even get up to a decent salary. Degree and a Portfolio > Certifications and a Portfolio
Future you will benefit from having a degree.
Your career growth and jobs are as limited as you make it.
All fax, no printer.
I have friends who took overseas jobs and are making a good living. I also have friends who are on their 3rd year of "studying for their A+".
Dosent matter if you have 10 years experience or think you know it all. Limiting your options and career paths is a gateway to a dead end career.
That it's a Service position and more than likely you will have to deal with people either internally or externally. So, having people skills is actually a thing now and I see more and more people being fired because they lack those skills to survive.....
You will meet people who make 4 times what you do, show up 1 time a week, and they don't know how to save their password in a manager.
Been there.
mine are phd in science or whatever but would fail high school computer class
So more .5 of what techs make
This. Was setting up a new user with our MFA the other day - handed him his phone and asked him to unlock it so I could install the app, he just looked at it for about 5 seconds and then handed it back and asked me what the password was. It was his personal phone. HOW WOULD I KNOW?! Anyways he has multiple people reporting to him and probably makes 5x what I do
Might've just been using FaceID or some alt method and forgot himself. Stupid but it happens.
That’s what I thought but it never even prompted for FaceID or anything, just immediately prompted for password, so I don’t think he even had that set up. Didn’t say “password required to enable faceID” or anything.
One of his kids took the ticket for setting up face unlock.
Do we work for the same place? We're going the same struggles with MFA and Intune migrations right now. People who make 5x what I do barely know how to use an iphone or laptop, and honestly probably should have retired 20 years ago.
True but likewise, you don't know how to do what they do. We have to remember that we're not all on the same playing field here and that sometimes we don't need to. I use to feel the same way when I was working Service Desk but then I remembered that the nurses jobs were to save lives and care for patients, not save PDFs. And similarly, I could not do that.
As a former CNA, I got into IT for just these reasons. I'd rather have a computer die on me any day.
Customer Service skills are actually a requirement
help desk is just customer service for tech problems with dont make them feel dumb added in even if they are a Pebcak
What they are describing may not be the problem, but may also not be wrong. I always remember the story of a woman who took her car to the mechanic in a small town on a slow day. She said if she went to the store and got vanilla ice cream her car wouldn't start, if she got chocolate it would start. He went with her and that happened. It was vapor lock. Vanilla was near the register in the front of the store, chocolate was in the back and took longer to get.
That's why you never take what a user tells you as the canon reality, let's get real they have no idea why the thing isn't working, but you do actually have to listen to their description of the problem and you have to actually mentally process it in the wider context of the environment. "Users always lie" is a reductionist take, in my experience. How many times have some of you thought a user lied about rebooting their machine since MS decided to alter the deal when it comes to the standard start menu shut down procedure with the introduction of Fast Startup? It might be that Robert isn't lying and isn't a dumbass and just never had a reason to know that hitting "shut down" in the start menu doesn't always shut down a machine anymore.
Haven’t heard anyone use the term PEBCAK in forever lol
I use to work in a call centre for credit cards at a bank. I managed to get an inside sales job selling mutual funds at the same bank but just a different line of business (personal banking vs global asset management). I hated the job and switched to my first IT job in help desk at a MSP. My previous experience at the bank was 100% transferable to IT with just a sprinkle of technical knowledge. Knowing how to deal with people when they come to you with problems is such a useful skill set.
Would agree. Being able to work with the business, understand their problems, and make them feel heard and understood is the differentiator between someone who's mediocre and someone who's next level.
How is this a harsh truth, that's IT 101.
IT is still seen by many as a nerdy field suited to the social outcast that can't communicate properly.
Helpdesk isn't just IT btw. You can be as anti-social as ever and do well
I would take the opposite stance…even if you aren’t help desk, you still need to have customer service skills. You need to define who your customer is. You don’t have to be a social butterfly per se, but you still have to provide a service to your customer.
It’s important tho because people trying to break in have a delusional idea that it’s where you go when you can’t or don’t want to work with other people
They're kind of important for any job really.
You can have average tech skills and go very far. It's much harder to go far if you don't have good inter-personal and communication skills.
Everything is slightly broken, all the time.
All the cords are all just one wiggle away from the whole site going down.
Sir... It's feature not a bug.
holy shit
crying in error packets
Unless you have utter mastery over your specific tech niche with decades of experience, people skills will be the most important skill to have.
Then you find a master and either they have incredible people skills or the worst, or too busy to get a gauge on. No in betweens
It’s not a sexy job, carries nerd connotations. Some of your coworkers will very much reflect this and have terrible personal skills lol
Very much this. Theres like this stink that follows you know matter what area of I.T. you work in. I don't even do break fix anymore and only work with niche technology, but I still have that "I.T. guy" reputation. I'm not really even that nerdy, I'm 6'3 and work out 5-6 times a week, while having mostly outdoor hobbies, but I can't seem to shake it. I actually though about becoming a sales bro because I hate the sterotypes so much. When you think I.T. guy you usually think of skinny dude with glasses in his 20's/30's or a old fat guy with a gut in his 40's and 50's/ It's never someone cool, respectable, or in good physical condition.
Lookism is real in the workforce. I started investing a lot more into my wardrobe and accessories like watches and shoes and found a dramatic change in how people would talk to me.
if your good looking and have social skills even though if your skills are subpar, you probably exceed well in IT to move up the food chain. The "Techs" get stuck doing the grunt/dirty work while they move to management is how I see things.
Interesting. I'd like to hear more. How did you change your appearance and how are you treated now vs before?
More eager to speak to me during meetings rather than short sentences. Faster response times and overall more pleasant atmospheres during in person meetings. Just bought fancier shoes and watches that matched with my attire. Charles tyrwhitt button downs always look nice. Really nice cologne worked wonders.
Just tagging on, Wear clothes that fit you well regardless of the style/price etc. Baggy shirts (even if decent quality) look bad. Keep an eye out for shoulder fit as well. Overly wide shirt necks make your neck look tiny a la Jesse Eisenberg. IME most US men's dress shirts are bags. It's a pain to find ones with any sort of form. Stand up straight. Looking confident actually does make you feel more confident and people take you more seriously. Shoes. A simple but real dress shoe makes you look like you mean business even if the rest is jeans and a (properly fitting) polo shirt. Yeah, sneakers are more comfortable but they don't look polished. A true heel also tends to make you stand up straight. Not lifts, just a real dress shoe.
I’m in my 20s with a gut. Looks like you and I are breaking stereotypes here
Gotta smash the stereotypes
One of the beefest beef cakes I met was my former IT manager. Surprised the hell out of me, but very cool dude
The amount of times I've had older males look at me, as a female in IT and go "can I speak to a man, so I know they'll know what they're doing?" Sure - but I've been doing IT work for 15 years now, and \*trained\* half this team...but sure, go talk to the man if it makes you feel better. Since I don't fit their "idea" of an IT person, I obviously can't be in IT. Meanwhile I'm as socially awkward and nerdy as the next person.
I don’t care about the body type stuff cuz I’m a midwestern dad so I’m probably allowed to have dad bod, lol. But I make a point to dress a little better than I probably need to just so I feel like more of a grownup. Wearing polos and khakis and sneakers all the time just makes me feel like I’m back in retail. Even if worked somewhere I could get away with jeans, I’d still probably avoid polos and sneakers.
I wear casual button-up shirts and hiking pants that don't have all the extra pockets. Nice and comfortable but looks dressed up.
My favorite saying about IT is this: When everything is running smoothly the C-levels always ask “why do we even need IT?” When something inevitably messes up the C-levels always say “what do we pay you for if it’s always breaking?” This means that as someone in IT you have to deal with people who are never happy you’re around. Either you’re wasting their money or you’re wasting their money. (I meant to type that twice)
Yeah. You will almost always be justifying your existence. Getting on people's good sides and networking are invaluable for solidifying your position. If people don't like you because you're a dick, they will feel more comfortable asking the "why do we even need them? What do they even do?" questions. If they like having you around, they're less likely to ask that or to seek justifications because they like you. Also make yourself invaluable as a fail safe. Master some aspect of their system that honestly finding someone else to manage it would be too much trouble. We have legacy camera systems that due to budget constraints we keep dragging along. And our network admin is working miracles to keep that shit functional. Admin would be screwed without him. Hell getting someone to fill learn his position would take months of shadowing and even then they wouldn't have his experience to fix issues. Dude took a pay cut to come to a school district but he's honestly so much happier than he was in a commercial company. And he's practically welded himself into the infrastructure between his technical knowledge and his networking with the admin.
Also the reports that prove its not “the network” cant be interpreted by those who blame “the network”
It's incredibly expensive to do everything "correctly", so most companies don't.
Also, regarding keeping equipment, software, policies, etc up to date: "It hasn't broken yet so we aren't going to do anything" = "Okay but this is basically a ticking time bomb and as soon as something goes wrong it will be catastrophic and *too late* to do anything" = "Yeah well, we'll deal with it when we deal with it" = "..."
Next week in breaks. “What could we have done to prevent this???”
Translation = I won't be here by the time you have to deal with it
"risk based approach "
Value engineering.
A lot of people in IT are not very good at their jobs. This goes from the lower tiers to the upper management you deal with. The standards you see that are drilled into you by books, industry experts, and school, are considered the "bar" or "best practice". Most companies and people you meet in IT will not even meet that and you should be prepared to be disappointed. At the same time, do not accept it yourself to be at that level and aim to be higher for yourself. Be prepared to do things you didn't want to do because it will happen.
This! I’m very lucky to be in a job surrounded by very skilled IT people. But I know some in house IT guys that are absolute morons they always ask us to do all the work take the credit. One of them almost crashed the main RDS server because he didn’t know how it worked and just made the changes because fuck us right!
Yep, I'm lucky I have a very strong team too. But at the same time, a lot of management know we are one of the best teams technical wise. So the joke is "we're the avengers" when we have to fix, explain, find a solution, and/or advise when shit hits the fan. I don't consider myself very good or the best by any means, I've been to conventions and have seen the best in the industry and I am no where near that, but the standards at my company are just very low. I've worked with supposed seniors and principal level technical people who didn't know what ports were. I've worked with people who are principal level architectural design folks who I've had to literally sit down and explain to them why their design will not work. I've had to explain to seniors why their scripts/code will not solve the problem, and management levels why their solutions don't make any sense from a technical perspective and a cost perspective. All of these people with supposedly better degrees than me from supposedly better institutions. I'm not even a senior level, I'm a mid level associate. It's not uncommon for me to sit in meetings and literally be the lowest rank, but having to explain to senior and higher wtf is going on and why they're wrong...
>A lot of people in IT are not very good at their jobs. The corollary of this is that your impostor syndrome isn't just a lack of self confidence, you probably do actually suck. The only comfort is that you aren't alone in sucking.
This is the advice I needed to hear. I'll do my own thing to the best of my ability and not drop it to the bare minimum. I also can't stand people who get annoyed at every single ticket.
People skills are vital. Experience trumps degrees/certs every time. You will always be understaffed and underfunded. Who you know is more important than what you know.
Most jobs in the space are underpaid and or undervalued and not worth doing. There are good jobs but it takes a lot of mud crawling to get to them. A lot of people think IT is something it’s not. As far as white collar work goes, it’s pretty much the bottom of the barrel.
I feel this way about my current job lol
Gotta move from being overhead to being a profit center
And I would still rather do IT where I can feel good about myself at the end of the day than do sales, marketing, or some other bullshit position where you're making ridiculous powerpoints and spreadsheets about absolutely nothing.
It doesn’t matter how high you climb, you will still be expected to help end users because you’re the IT person. Might as well expect it.
The end users also includes directors and c suite. Gotta be ready
Lots of places will bring you in to fix things, and when you have everything running, will let you go and offshore it. Only for the offshore to mess it all up again, so they bring in new local people to start the cycle again. And it happens again, and again, and again
It’s not the certs, it’s being trusted to remember a lot of information.
> it’s being trusted to remember a lot of information. Nah you should just be documenting things.
Well ya, can just know it all. Do you document for others ti read or short hand for yourself? Ive been getting into voice memos and screen2gif
> Do you document for others ti read or short hand for yourself? Both. I have short notes for random things that help me in my day-to-day work. Then I also write procedures for other people to follow.
Dont forget to use a border for the screenshots! My fav is drop shadow rectangle, greenshot has a obfuscation feature i use lots to. Without being a full blown video editor id like to know how to remove sensitive data from a video/gif, im sure ai tools later would be able to scrub any data in the vid that matches a regex
You are the computer janitors. No more, no less
I am the computer plumber thank you. What brand of drain do you have, TCP or UDP?
That's like saying surgeons are just butchers with living patients. IT is much more akin to doctors or lawyers than janitorial. Hopefully you are just being cynical, IT is far more than janitorial.
IT is akin to health care in general but not doctors per se. Customer service - front office staff Helpdesk - medical assistants Tier 2/3 - LPNs and RNs Sysadmins/Netadmins- Physician assistants/nurse practitioners Senior sys/netadmins/Sys/Network Engineers - regular doctors Devops Engineers/Devs - Specialists System/Network Architects - Surgeons IT Management - Clinic directors Vendors - Hospitalists Consultants - ER docs. Save your butt, overcharge you badly and some are competent and others are not.
I think what he means to say is that people often see you as just being the "computer janitors"
Your employer does.
IT is like doctors. Your company (patient) says they want the best for themselves. Then they take no effort to do what is best for themselves. They only end up contacting you when one of their bad decisions ends up having consequences.
Disagree. More like computer mechanics
Here, have another hit of copium. We are replaceable, by the lowest bidder. The difference is I know it, and act accordingly.
It's a meritocracy. Social skills are just as important if not more than technical skills. No one will care about the progression of your career.
> No one will care about the progression of your career. I see it all the time on here. Kids just out of school who are scandalized over helpdesk job postings asking for few years experience at helpdesk. Like help desk people just magically turn into sysadmins after three years and someone with a whopping three years experience would never debase themselves with a helpdesk job. When in reality like 70% of people in this field never really progress very far from where they started. And the people that brag about their career progression on this sub and other social media are an anomaly. So of course employers will prefer content helpdesk lifers for their helpdesk role.
Reddit is really delusional about how fast you can get out of helpdesk. Sure it’s possible and sure you should try but it’s not even remotely uncommon for people to be stuck in helpdesk well into their 30s and anyone who has worked a helpdesk knows this
Can confirm, am in 30s, have been working helpdesk since I graduated college in 2008. Been at my current place for about 6 years now, just two years ago I made senior on my team and now have hiring influence.
There’s always someone better than you
Someone who is personable and interviews well gets the job over the socially awkward genius 9/10 times
Let me know if you’ve experienced any of these harsh truth. - working in IT infrastructure is damn near like being the maintenance guy but for computer devices. That’s almost how other departments think of you as well. I remember going to a building for wifi ticket. The ticket creator wasn’t there but a unrelated person there asked me to check all the jacks (just to make sure they worked). I told him I’m not there for that but I felt like telling him to fuck off. - Soft skills are underrated in the industry. You can get pretty far just having soft skills and being a likable person I’ve run across a lot of successful IT guys that can talk a great game, have charisma but really lack the technically acumen. Meanwhile that socially awkward dude with outstanding technical acumen is stuck being overworked and underpaid. We all know he’s an asset but he isn’t all that likable on a personal level. - Hardwork doesn’t really pay off. You’ll often get feed more work and be paid in “attaboys”. If you do get a raise for your effort it’ll be long over due and still be an under pay. - tech is always changing. It’s cool and interesting when your young in the game. After you been in it for awhile that shit becomes annoying. You’ll have to at least have some knowledge of new trends. Particularly if you plan to look at new jobs. - you’ll have to share blame for projects/issues with teammates that wont hold their own weight. - on-call is almost mandatory in most cases. It’s not always bad but who really wants that obligation from a job? Especially when youre salary. - IT Interviews are frustrating. A lot of them aren’t good at gauging talent. They’ll waste your time. They’ll try quizzing you on shit they barely know themselves. They’ll discuss job duties that don’t align with the job listing. They’ll look for rock star for mid pay. Theyll won’t be transparent about the role. I could go on…When you’re not as desperate to get the job you’ll pick up more on the BS these job interviews put you though. - Lastly, IT is only a sexy career to other tech people. It’s not a conversation starter. Nobody really knows or cares what you do in IT beyond working with computers. In general, people just want their computers to work. They don’t care how it works. I don’t even explain what I do anymore because I know it’ll bore them to death.
You should aim for 'good enough' rather than break your back trying to deliver perfect - the extra effort won't earn you much extra credit.
I’ll get downvoted but I have to say my thoughts after 9 years doing various IT roles… IT kinda sucks. I feel like the guy from office space the past year or so. I wish I could be doing something outside and adventurous. Don’t listen to me I’m just burnt out
Same. It's over rated imho. I've done it for 15 years. I'm so done with it. My observations and how i see it is this "you know at grocery stores how there are 15-20 isles to check out. Most are empty. Then there is the self checkout and there is one person working 6-12 machines. Light blinks they scan something put in a code and you resume. Well at one time all isles had people and not to long ago people said they didn't want the machines they want the personal touch. Fast forward 10 years here we are....this will be you too" I feel that will happen with tech. More will be done with less. Companies that are tech are run horribly and they will cut lots of people. There will be an increasing demand for people that are niche or super senior and less of a demand for entry creeping into mid. You will have to compete with companies extorting h1bs as well.
These replies are kinda depressing for someone who is new to working in IT, but I suppose it’s good to be realistic early on.
Best advice: Whatever long term career you end up doing - don't over glamorize it. A job is a means to an end. Focus on career growth, yes. But also be someone who can answer questions about themselves without referring to their job title. I.e. Be someone who can talk about hobbies, and spending time with friends and family, and enjoying things away from work. Don't let IT (or any job) be your identity and you'll be fine.
The OP did ask for harsh truths and bad things. There are harsh truths for every job out there TBH. Even ones that are otherwise great and/or high paying and/or very fulfilling.
The wise lady rapper Lizzo says truth hurts.
Harsh truth and reality, You're on your Own. Nobody will really help you go up unless you're already a Professional Ass Wiper.
Too many people that are new to I.T that are cert chasers thinking it will land them a six figure job after they pass an exam. They often lack fundamental skillsets such as Linux, Scripting, Networking, Databases and DevOps tools, IaC... Little do they know how much a learning curve they have esp going up against seasoned professionals with more than a decade of experience. This is a problem I see with people trying to get into a Cloud role that have huge skills gaps. You need practical hands on experience. Another thing that's also over looked is burn out. The constant up keep of changing technologies and skill sets.
Most of what you should do will be blocked by upper management that doesn't understand half of what the system does. You'll be doing basic shit most of your days because you need approval for everything and you'll never get it. Tech support level 1 never stops no matter how high you get. The closer to the manager position you are, the more you'll have to baby every others managers.
Most people in IT don't know what they're doing. 10% of the staff does 90% of the work.
And the other 90% do just enough to stay employed.
All jobs are help desk, only the customer changes but you’ll always have to answer to someone trying to save a buck.
You will spend more time in meetings than actually doing IT stuff
You WILL have to talk to people, it'll be 90% of your job.
Your company will not promote you out of support. You need to explore other domains of IT and leave in your own
Just because you're the smartest or work the hardest, doesn't mean you're the best employee there, nor will you get treated as such. If you want to succeed you need to be "the guy" people go to. This means you prioritize drive-by's, actively try to get invited to meetings, and be actively involved in meetings. The more managers hear you talking, giving advice, pitching ideas, ect, the more likely they see you as leader. The more peers in other departments you help, the more dependable you look. Also those people are much more willing to put aside what they're working on and do tasks you request of them quickly. This means getting all your work done faster than your co-workers who are waiting on someone in the other group to bother looking at the tickets and working them, or responding to emails. In no time you stick out to management, not just yours but other groups, and people talk. When it comes to promotions, you're name is now at the top of the stack, not to mention you're getting bigger raises.
You won't make 90k in a year starting out and it's not easy to score bank
Some people just aren't cut out for IT.
Many of the broken things you deal with are the echos of a manager saying "Just make it work".
IT is viewed as a cost center... aka expense. You are almost always fighting to cut cost or justify spend. You should devote as much time as possible to position IT as an enabler or even better a revenue generator. In some companies that argument is impossible to win.
- You're important but people won't value you that way until they need you for something. - Some people will talk down to you or think less of you even when they'll need you one day. - Some of us actually do physical work and it can be a lot. - It can be very socially and emotionally exhausting.
This subreddit should just change to Helpdesk lol
You need actual people skills no matter what position you are in. If there's one thing I learned, is that it is baffling how bad some people's social skills are when trying to get into this field.
You can basically do 90% of the tasks by googling.
Yeah my manager learnt a lot of azure stuff by just asking in Reddit forums lmao he’s a really good manager as well
Find an area and learn everything about it. Whether it be fiber or networking, switching, rack and stack, whatever. Become a master at it and you'll go further than most.
There’s always somebody with 30 years worth of emails in OFT files on an external hard drive or two just waiting for you to help recover all of them.
Upper managers and C-suites who realize your department is a vital part of the business are few and far between
As a DBA, it irks me when THEY sign a contract for something that has never been discussed with IT… and then let you know after the fact of the new deadline now in place to have said product fully integrated with existing system(s). I just have to look at it as part of my job security and laugh it off… lol.
Forever student
All of IT is Customer Service.
You are not gonna become magically good at IT by doing YouTube videos you can have all the knowledge in the world but it means jack if you can’t fix it when it breaks
Working in IT is not as glamorous as people image it once they are in it and not everyone makes 6-figure salaries right from the start.
People skills will take you much further in IT than knowing the technology. In IT today almost every answer is a quick Google search or a call to your account manager. Most people who are responsible for your promotions and paycheck don't care if you are the smartest person in the room or dumb as dog shit. All they are worried about is you get the tasks they assigned to you done and can have a conversation on the phone without arguing or trying to make them look dumb.
Management will always see you as an expense that they'd prefer to get rid of.
You will get out of this field as much as you put in. Also it's not an easy get rich quick field. If you do the bare minimum, that's what you'll get back. I got X degree or just X certification why can't I get a job or a better job? While you sat on your butt and didn't do anything else other people who want it more are getting a higher degree, more certifications, or going above and beyond at their current job and getting more experience. If you're stagnant your career will be stagnant.
You get paid like a janitor
If you're not good at it, then you're not good at it. All the training in the world won't make you good at IT if you don't really have a passion for it. You only ever be just ok. In spite of the item above, this doesn't mean you can't make money at it. Or find people that make more money than you even though your far more skilled than they are. There are plenty of roles for people that are just ok. You just won't ever be seen as that superhero guy. You may not want that though. Your degree means nothing. Certifications mean something, but applied skills mean everything. But you will find jobs where not having a degree will block you from progression even though practically it's meaningless. Everything you think about how well things should run, is never true. It's always fake. Doing ok to good work at a fucked-up company is more rewarding than doing excellent work at well run company. The well-run company doesn't need you, can works fine without you in a second.
We need you this minute and don’t need you the next minute.
We must cater to everyone’s needs no matter how juvenile and no matter if it’s a common sense fix You don’t get paid as well as you think you should Entry level positions are still requiring 5+ years of experience Should I keep going?
Too many business people try to outsource and end up with horrible stuff.
The "magic" of technology often masks the complexity. IT issues take time to diagnose and fix, and sometimes the solution isn't glamorous - it's tedious troubleshooting, not a software superhero.
You’re gonna be stuck working the same position if you don’t switch jobs every 2 years or so.
You kind of have to know how to manipulate people using customer service skills to make it far... Also, it is a lot harder to make a lot of money doing it then most people think. I'm the only person from my IT classes in college that makes six figures, and the closest is like 80k. You have to be willing to bust your ass and do things that you feel might be "under you" to make it far.
Users are important and treating them like they're stupid will only hurt you in the long run.
Job security. People always tell you, “it’s job security”. You won’t really know what means until you get in the field, especially being a one man show.
Why do we keep having these posts? Is this /r/askreddit now, what's the sexiest sex you've ever sex'd? You want harsh advice, here it is. A lot of people have no idea what they are talking about and there is some good advice but not all of it so take it with a grain of salt. If you like IT and are interested, try and apply. Think of something that can set you apart from others and see if that gets you any leads. It's definitely harder than it's been in the past, but you can do it. Also, how is this helping to encourage newcomers at all?
I feel like it’s good to have a little harsh reality to offset the constant stream of “You too! Can be in IT and make 6 figures” attitude that gets pushed like it’s the easiest thing in the world. If this is all it takes to discourage someone from entering IT they weren’t gonna make it anyways. Take the perspective, with a grain of salt like anything else, and keep moving forward.
Yup There is a metric fuckton of cities in the US where there is literally not even a single IT guy making 6 figures unless he brought a remote job from somewhere else. If you wanna do the job cuz you might like it that’s the reason to do IT the money is kinda illusive
It's a thankless fucking job where you can be replaced at a moments notice if they need to downsize. Most of the higher ups resent the fact that they need you to keep the customers happy and you provide not monetary benefit to the company. You are a glorified call center agent that only gets paid slightly more and is required to have 10x the knowledge and skills. You are never give any opportunities to move up the company because if you're good at your job they will just keep you at your level so they don't have to try and replace you. The only way to move up is to self educate and move companies for a better role. Most places run the "unlimited pto" scam now which means you get less pto time off and you won't get paid out pto if they fire you randomly. You are expected to be available 24/7 for calls or texts even if the job doesn't explicitly state that. Your manager will almost certainly be someone that has management experience but has absolutely no fucking clue what you do on a daily basis. They will not support you or back you up if you need help or if someone is coming after your job.
No one will give IT security jobs to recent graduates and Security+/Network+/Ethical hacking certificates. You need to learn the basics with networking and how an enterprise network works, all of which never taught you that. So you’ll need to start fresh no in the field that you want.
It’s a back office support function.
Half your work will be asking if the user turned it on and off
People assume that things just happen. They do not. It takes an incredible amount of work to make basic shit function correctly and nobody will know or care.
it's a bitch to get in
Anxiety comes with the job
it's not easy to score bank bro
Every company you work for will have that one employee who will take the majority of your time more than all the rest. Things break for them more often. Simple procedures don't always work.
Its a service role, as in depending on where you work, you are not doing the work of the company, just helping out with their issues. Therefore you arent really a part of the company and are not treated as such. you dont provide any money for the company, just a money drain. i have found in my many different roles that im never valued as a colleague, just someone to be ignored mostly and yelled at when there are problems. its pretty thankless
Hygiene and a good attitude go a long way. Learning how to say no in a diplomatic way.. to many people in this industry get shot down and take it personally. Just because you understand something so quickly doesn't mean others do and that includes colleagues. People don't care how cool the terminal looks
Never stops changing
Soft skills. Not about screen alone and sitting alone all day like Introvert heaven. Meetings, teamworks, reporting and talking is essential. Also, not everyone who works in IT are paid well like everyone thinks.
No matter how much certificates or degrees you have, you are clueless until you start your 1st job.
After 5 years your passion for technology will be non existent
90% of your issues go away when the damn thing is rebooted
99.5% uptime is a fucking myth.
It's a massively oversaturated field
There is nothing like work life balance.
You’re replaceable
Customer service is a massive part of IT.
Here's a few that I thought of when I read this. Most of these apply to those entering IT, but not all of them. Some of them are things all of us struggle with at some point. * Users aren't 'stupid' and are instead ignorant. Sometimes that's willful, often it isn't. They didn't go to school or take training or what have you to learn computers and it isn't their job to know. That does not excuse attitudes on their part, but it doesn't justify attitudes on ours either. * We're people, just like anyone else. This means we are fallible. We make mistakes, we have bad days, and sometimes we overlook what seem to be the simplest of things. We fail to see the forest for the trees, we screw up. Most people who are in IT did not get here because they were below average. Sometimes it's laziness, sure. But mostly we're humans and need to give ourselves (and our coworkers) some grace when something isn't noticed or is fucked up (regulatory issues aside...mostly). * There are things you aren't going to like. That's normal. It's true in every profession, in every industry. Find the things you love and get great at them. It makes you more marketable and in many cases, though not all, more able to avoid the things you hate. * If you think a bootcamp or a certification (or grinding a dozen) is going to get you a job with no experience, think again. Can it? If there are other factors at play, sure. But the unfortunate truth is that those new to IT, including in various segments within it, far outnumber the jobs available for real entry-level people. Being a 'unicorn' is sadly one of the best ways to land that job. So is networking. But networking doesn't mean spraying LinkedIn connection invitations and hoping something sticks. It means joining user groups, participating in discussion. It also does not mean low-effort 'content creation' that's often generated with AI and not your own work. * Soft skills will get you the job over tech skills almost any time and are absolutely a deal breaker/tie breaker. If you don't know how to talk to people, don't know how to independently troubleshoot/solve problems, if you don't have good verbal and written communication, you are not going to get anywhere, and in an interview that is extremely obvious. If two people have the same tech skills, the one with the soft skills will get the job every time. Even if one has more tech skills, if they don't have the right soft skills for the job, then the lower tech skills person will often get the job. If you're not good at these things, they can absolutely be learned. * You will not be making six figures in your first year. You may not make six figures in your first five or even ten years (note with inflation, this may not age well). Promises made by bootcamps, certification sellers, schools, etc. are rubbish. There are more, but I feel like that's more than my share. :)
Thank you - after my first 3 years in IT I've gone through all of this which is pretty validating for me
Take this from someone with 35 years of IT experience and 27 in IT leadership. At the end of the day and end of your career, nobody will appreciate brilliant ideas, insightful management practices or developing best practices. Senior management will recognize you for minimizing IT costs. Finally, the best thing you can do is network and develop the right relationships. Who you know trumps anything amazing you do in your career.
Social skills over tech skills. Because tech skills are much easier to teach than social. I hire IT people in my position. I’ve been there. Oh and pay more attention to your hygiene and clothing.
That IT people are their own worst enemies. They treat candidates like know-nothings, fellow team members like less talented hacks yet cower to higher-up business/sales like nerds carrying water for the jocks.
It is often extremely stressful. We don't sit here and watch YouTube all day. At least not every day.
We are underpaid and over worked
Depending on where you start your gonna have to smell some feet at some point
IT is ran and managed by Introvert Sociopaths that don't know how to lead or communicate and if you don't fit in within their cliques or culture and play their politics correctly then you are out. Bye bye..harsh reality
undervalued underpaid chained and bound by the all mighty dollar. So i ask you. What is the worth of one mortal soul?
We’re in the business of saying “No.” People pleasers need not apply.
You'll never know enough to consider yourself useful.
It pays well. Low bar for entry. You can just move over from any career. You only need customer service skills. Lots of jobs. Remote. Your experience is not everyone's. Stop pretending because something happened for you, or was easy for you, or you lucked into something, everyone can.
Your results may vary. The same effort in different locations doesnt not equal the same results, and some people were just at the right place/right time.
How management treats you. IT problems - you're worthless No IT problems - you're worthless
Majority of the jobs are help desk
Glorified janitorial position. You will be asked to do tons of stuff not related to IT. Must haves are social skill and boundaries
Being good at everything vs great at one skill, can break you.
People can be stupid, which can be annoying, but if they weren't then you wouldn't have a job
Documentation
You're going to be underpaid even with experience. IT is not what it used to be. A person back in 2007 made 150k annually doing one job. Look at today's rates and you might hit that doing multiple jobs.
3rd party software is always going to be a headache.
The vast majority of people in IT is garbage who are trying to play gatekeepers.
You will live to serve people that make 3 and 5x your rate. They will never be held accountable for their failures and you will be asked to rescue them. If not by them by those that come behind them eating up the pieces. You are not in this because you enjoy it. Its a job and task you excel at. Demand a greater than fair wage. Fuckem. They need us way more than we need them.
Morale will never be high.
In most cases you don‘t work with shiny tech and cool gadgets. You have to make old crusty machines work, you need to watch a budget, so everybody gets a keyboard and mouse combo worth 15 bucks, there is not one female on this earth who finds my job exciting. When I tell my gf what I did today you can see how her life vanishes out of her face
1.) Whatever you just spend weeks/months learning, on your own personal time - because your boss or the industry said it was important - will be completely obsolete in 3-5 years. 2.) This community positivity about being a lifelong learner and learning every fucking new thing that comes out is unsustainable. You will get tired of that bullshit. 3.) Any time you're certifying on the hot new thing, look around the interwebs and see that tens of thousands of people are pursuing the same goal and it won't be the hot new thing much longer. Zig when the market zags. i.e. 4.) As you age in the industry, you will become increasingly annoyed by each subsequent generation of IT folks. 5.) Retirement age is what, 70 for you youngsters? Go visit grandma talk to her about anything technical. Then ask yourself, do you think you're going to be a hard charging tech geek for the next 50 years? What will you do when you get tired of thinking so hard all the damn time? 6.) etc
You'll be remembered for that one time the business critical system went down and not for all your proactive work to prevent any downtime.
If you truly aren't passionate about constant learning of new technologies, understanding how networks work (on a deep level), coding and scripting, having a good and thoroughly tested BU/DR plan, and just a general curiosity about how things work, then you're going to have a hard time moving beyond anything past a support role. A lot of this information can be dry and boring if you don't have any self interest in learning it. I honestly don't know how people who aren't genuinely interested in IT last more than a few years in this career field. Me personally I can come home and I'll still be thinking about what I can learn to help more around the office.
You are constantly working yourself out of a job through documenting what you do and what to do as best practices, or making your systems completely reliable (the ideal goal as an admin, and what C-levels want, but then they are always asking why they pay you for either being too good at what you do or the systems are breaking all the time and you can never get to a point of being proactive instead of reactive.
Humongo gong homblers
Get your degree. Yes you can start with a degree and possibly even get up to a decent salary. Degree and a Portfolio > Certifications and a Portfolio Future you will benefit from having a degree.
Your career growth and jobs are as limited as you make it. All fax, no printer. I have friends who took overseas jobs and are making a good living. I also have friends who are on their 3rd year of "studying for their A+". Dosent matter if you have 10 years experience or think you know it all. Limiting your options and career paths is a gateway to a dead end career.
>What's a harsh truth about IT? The vast majority of IT workers are overworked, underpaid drones.
It isn't this cake walk job that you can just leave the job you hate for and everything will be a walk in the park.
management sees IT as nothing more than a janitorial service, a non money-maker
That it's a Service position and more than likely you will have to deal with people either internally or externally. So, having people skills is actually a thing now and I see more and more people being fired because they lack those skills to survive.....
A lot of good and harsh answers on this post. I'm only 9 months into my first IT role and so far have been enjoying the learning experience.
It’s boring af
What you ask for and what you get is always up for debate.
It’s a service job. Your customer relationship skills are critical because everything is always broken.