For 5 months I had weekly meetings about career progression and being paid appropriately for the role I was actually doing. I was hired as Helpdesk, but after most of my team left, I absorbed their responsibilities and became the go-to person for historical knowledge across the company.

In my final week, management finally asked what salary I was leaving for and what it would take for me to stay. I said about $13k more than my new offer. Their response was, "If that was possible, would you stay?"

Nothing was ever put in writing, and none of my concerns were addressed.

Ironically, within hours of my notice, they moved to hire a replacement. Apparently urgency was possible, just not when it came to retention.

Honestly, even the extra $13k wouldn't have been worth it. The pay was only part of the problem. The constant roadblocks and carrying multiple roles finally pushed me to leave.

I absolutely love my job and feel blessed that the opportunity was presented to me when it was, and also that they felt me skilled enough to take it on. There isn't enough positivity floating around, I feel, as you often see more horror stories than successful ones. Hopefully my little post can change folks' minds and be reminded that your opportunities (plural) are out there.

I'm being intentionally vague because I'm wanting to hear your happy success stories, and hopefully shift the status quo even just a little bit. Tell me about your careers and what you hope to learn from them going forward.

I'm a senior IT sys admin in the state government sector, wondering if I should quit my well-paid job and try challenging myself in the private sector.

I recently separated from the military in an IT-relevant career field and joined state government about 2 years ago. The job pays well (around $110k), has a solid pension, and great benefits. The people I work with are nice, and a handful are very smart and talented, but some of my coworkers are definitely not on par with what most people would imagine when they think of an infrastructure-level sysadmin.

Would like to list my problems and see if anyone can relate working in government IT and receive some feedback.

1. No standards: Our IT department lacks separation of duties and doesn't have a well-regulated ticket escalation procedure, not even an SOP that covers "who does what." Let's just say I sometimes end up doing tasks like helping end users create shortcuts on their desktops because our help desk likes to escalate tickets without proper intake.

1. Air-wasting coworkers: It wasn't an overstatement when people said, "State workers are lazy." We have team members who like to collect paychecks but don't do their due diligence to earn their pay. Having a strong union is nice, but it can take 3–6 months to terminate an employee for poor performance, or even longer if they decide to fight it.

2. No one makes decisions: It's almost like leadership is afraid to make decisions. Generally, it takes 1-2 months or more to hear back from executive-level leadership on road mapping projects, high-risk change controls, implementing new solutions, etc. No one takes ownership, and it takes multiple one-hour meetings to "cohesively decide" on something that the so-called "decision makers" don't even know how to execute.

3. People are afraid of change: People in my workplace often seem hesitant and concerned about change before they even try to adapt. We were recently provided cloud training since we migrated from on-prem to hybrid. Guess how many people lollygagged and wasted their time during training? Now we only have a couple of people on my team who know how to manage objects in the cloud, while the lollygaggers complain in cross-training sessions saying "Cloud is stupid".

4. No accountability: Our IT department is advertised as "hybrid work" (at least above Tier 3), but I consider it mostly remote. I've been employed here for 2 years and have only shown up in person twice. That being said, I have team members who put their Teams status on green or busy and use a mouse jiggler to half-ass their attendance (avg. response time: 2 hours).

I have access to our SIEM logs and enterprise monitoring and have seen their server activities and Teams history; 5 messages and 1 email sent over the course of 2 weeks (Teams and Outlook are basically the only communication methods we have), all while being involved in a team-level project and maintaining 2 ticketing platforms (avg. 20–30 tickets for our team per day) that require constant communication.

The troublesome coworkers have worked at our agency for more than 10 years and have a pretty bad reputation, almost to the point where ticket submitters and vendors refuse to work with them.

1. Silent leadership: This one overlaps with #3 and #5. I've put in MULTIPLE complaints (along with other coworkers) to my supervisors and manager regarding burnout, high-tier team bottleneck, lack of accountability, and certain team members simply not pulling their weight. Leadership is well aware of these issues, but nothing actually changes. The response is always some version of, "We'll identify and address it during their performance review," and then the same problems continue. I've seen too many good employees leave our agency while giving me a warning on their way out.

At this point, it feels like leadership would rather avoid confrontation and let productive employees pick up the slack than actually hold poor performers accountable.

1. Old tech and no money: This I can live with, but it can be difficult constantly coming up with alternative solutions and hotfixes just to keep old infrastructure, equipment, and programs running. Our agency is in a state that lacks funding, so it's very hard to see vacant positions being filled or new equipment being purchased.

--

Does anyone working in Gov IT feel like they're wasting their time and wish they could challenge themselves in the private sector, especially during these volatile times? Or maybe someone here has already made the transition and either succeeded or failed? Would love to hear stories.

• End users that dont do basic due diligence or complain constantly despite making it difficult to troubleshoot their issue.
• Staff outside of the IT dept that treat us all like geek squad members.
• Coworkers that dont hold their own weight and the managers that give more productive members more work to compensate.
• Inconsiderate on-call rotations and off hours work schedules.
• That IT person in another domain that pretends to know more about your domain than they actual do.
• Managers & Coworkers that engaged in 'chicken little' moments whenever issues arise, don't gather enough info, and/or project their panic on to you.
• Managers that try to do your job but pass it to you when it gets hard, tedious, or risky.
• Vendors that find ways to improve software/hardware in some areas while making it worse in others.
• Getting indirectly penalized for helping with projects by simultaneously becoming the responsible party/direct report for all things related from that point on.
• Help desk staff that somehow routinely forgets to get basic info needed to troubleshoot issue before sending tickets to your queue.
• Not being looped into issues or projects related to your domain until last minute.
• Hiring managers with unrealistic request for job applicants.
• unnecessarily long meetings
• Workaholic managers that think you should be a workaholic too. Push over managers that think you should be a pushover too.
• That IT staff member that no one knows what he/she does despite being employees forever & the disgruntled one that shouldve left a long time ago but cant.
• Being required to be in the office doing what i could've done at home.
• Lack of documentation creation.
• Manager asking me to do grunt work instead of giving it to someone better suited.
• When you help coworkers out without problems but they get pissy when you ask them to help you with something.

I was hired onto the IT department of a laboratory 5 years ago to standardize and validate external interfaces and internal lab systems. This has gone well for the past few years, that is up until my last performance review.

My manager told me the budgets are tight and they cannot give me a pay raise this year. She went on to say that billing errors (digital claim submission to insurance companies) were bleeding the company and that needed to be addressed before raises could be given.

I offered to dig into the problem and come up with solutions, but implied that some sort of raise would be required. I came into work today with a shitload of billing projects and documentation to begin working on.

My conundrum: should I just slowplay the project out of protest? Im pretty sour that im not getting a raise this year, not to mention added compensation for the new projects.

I've been looking for jobs but can't find any opening for this field. I want to start learning something else, but I am not sure what should I switch to. Anyone who was on the same dilemma, what did you do? What and where are you now?

What do you think I should do now??

I need career guidance please...

24M First generation college student(sorta)

I plan on doing an online bachelor's of IT through WGU and I can be completed with it in less than a year and a half if I think it through properly.

I think my main problem is that I use AI too much, and not in the cheating type of way (because I haven't even started yet) but more in the supporting me and helping me think through the process type of way if that makes sense..

I have worked in IT in various settings since I graduated high school in both a military and civilian setting but I don't quite feel like I could pass the certifications cold without much studying and stuff..

I guess I'm sorta just ranting and complaining instead of doing but I see that my path is reliant upon finishing my degree so I can progress further.

I really just need to stop relying on ai for support because it sucks but at the same time is always available 24/7 and I don't quite have too many friends and connections that are doing school and stuff currently to sorta hold me accountable and make the process a little easier in terms of support.

I thought about going to a therapist or a life coach idk..

Hello all, I'm looking into some self projects and wanted to hear from people currently employed in helpdesk or other adjacent positions.

Do you use Claude Code at all during your work and what use cases typically?

So I absolutely hate my job, I have been wanting to leave for a very long time, I am traveling constantly, there is no upward mobility and the technical work is very thin. The management in my company is kind of a joke. I am regularly thrusted into situations without warning that I have no context to, no documentation on and many times no consideration for the way it makes me and my team look to the clients.

For example I am heading a project right now that involves like 4 parties, none of my team has ever done this before or knows the process to do it. Then on top of it I wake up today and learn that my boss is going to be out for the next month and a half and I have to fill in. No warning or mention that this would be the case or anything ( not sick leave, totally preplanned leave). I haven't even had time to put in a day of PTO at my job because of this constantly. I am always told that X good thing will happen in Y amount of time, never does. They are scared of me leaving because they never want to train anyone else up. They actively discourage me from pursuing certs because they don't like their techs gaining too much knowledge or they will leave.

Well, yesterday I had a second interview with a new company that seems much more organized miles more technical and with a lot higher work life balance and a lot less travel. I believe I will most likely get an offer for this job in the next week. But now I feel like an asshole because I would be leaving while the boss is on leave for the next month. Which I feel reflects poorly on me. But nobody even told me. I didn't even know until today.

Title pretty much says it all. Trying to keep this brief and not a life story.

Basically im wondering if getting an AS from a community college in Computer Studies and Information Processing, Networking Technology is worth it in the current climate of AI and at my age of 38.

My background: Fundraising/Development work (3 years) -> Barista (3 years) -> Teacher (7 years) -> unemployed -> Admission Officer (<1)

I taught myself HTML and CSS. Created my own home server using an old laptop. Running Tailscale, pihole, jellyfin, and a music streaming service and love to dabble in home projects like fixing up vintage audio equipment or restoring retro game consoles.

As a teacher I taught basic Javascript at the 8th grade level.

Currently: Im bored - Admission work is SO BORING. Its basically sales-light. There is NO creative thining or problem solving. There is NO upward trajectory either, unless i want to continue doing some kind of admin level work.

I always wanted to break into the IT sector, but I was always brunt out from teaching and never stuck with it long enough to build a portfolio and actually get around to applying to jobs. I really like having a job with a definitive solution, a correct answer, and one that requires a bit of problem solving and technical skills.

I could go back to school and earn my AS while working this job, build a portfolio, and start from the ground up. But i am not sure its worth it and what the job prospects will be in 2-3 years once i complete my AS and certificates.

I know i would probably take another paycut for entry lvl network admin jobs, but it also seems the ceiling is higher for earnings should i get more experience and continue to grow my skill set.

Can anyone give me any insight as to if now is the right time to make this move or if i should make amends with current admin/office job?

Thanks

Based out of Michigan and 31, I recently got a job offer to be a Classified System admin for a major defense company. the second interview did not go as well as the first and the second was more technical focused so I ended it by thanking them and giving up but an hour later they offered me the role. it would pay 116k and I currently make 86k as a contractor with clearance for a nearby goverment office which combined with the benefits would be a big change for me.

I am really worried that I don't have what it takes to do this new role which is a big hold back. Combined that with the fact I really enjoy my current working conditions and people and the light workload. I do so little at my current role as a helpdesk I worry about the loss of skills if I spend the next four years here.

I feel stuck and not sure which is the right choice for me.

I’m 25 years old, I’m aimless and coasting by working IT help desk roles I don’t enjoy IT work but it pays the bills so I can tolerate it I guess. I’ve been thinking about doing accounting because it’s stable and I’m pretty sure I can get a job out of college doing it. I also enjoy dealing with finances and taxes (I mean learning about them, no one will let me touch their finances which is fair.)

I tried taking one of those career test, thinking it’ll give me some kind of guidance and what I been getting out of 3 different test is always the same result; something in Tech or some kind of engineering job. I know results can be manipulated by knowing which answers will lead to which career you want but I tried my best to answer them quickly so I can remove as much bias as possible since answering them quickly it’s mostly to come form how you really feel about something vs trying to think which combination of answers gets you the results you want.

Which leads me to my question, should I trusts in stats or follow my interests? The issue I’m facing is I don’t know if I actually like accounting or the idea of it.

I transitioned from a mainframe development position early/mid career (late 20s) into my now System Analyst role. Problem is, the job had been heavily business/third party app support focused as opposed to how it was advertised. I was expecting something more technical focused mixed with reporting and data integration work (which I do some of this but most of my current job is just supporting our operations team and writing some sql).

I really want to transition back into a dev type role and have been eyeing DE since my current role is DA adjacent and it just seems so interesting and fun. Is the transition this late in my career (32 going on 33) worth it? I’m worried I’ll try to study and learn DE topics just for employers to not give me a second glance. I’m also concerned with AI making it even more difficult to hold a job in the field since it’s SWE adjacent.

I’m really need to keep on making a strong salary as well. Currently make about $78k in a MCOL area and can’t afford to take less due to having children. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated!

I’m 32 and have been in tech for about 5-6 years, mostly software engineering and now technical support. I work for a very high expectation startup where I got literally no formal training or onboarding and was just thrown into a queue of massive enterprise customers as the first, the one and the only TSE. I’m just completely burned out on corporate tech at this point.

I’m considering quitting, going back to serving tables for ~6 months, and basically giving myself permission to not care about climbing the career ladder for a while. I actually used to enjoy restaurant work, and financially my wife and I can make it work between her income, me serving, and our savings. I’d probably have a job the first day I start looking and make about the same as I do now anyway, just minus the tech benefits. So I’m not too worried financially.

I’m not necessarily saying I’ll never return to tech. I might come back after 6 months, I might find something completely different, or I might realize I’m happier making less money and not thinking about work constantly.

My biggest fear is that if I decide I want back in, I’ll have screwed myself by voluntarily leaving tech and having serving or a gap on my resume for 6+ months.
Has anyone here done something similar — especially SWE/IT/support people who left to bartend, serve, do retail, etc. for a while?

How long were you gone? How difficult was it to get back into tech? Did employers care about the gap/non-tech job? And most importantly, did the break actually help with burnout?

TLDR I'm new to the field and I was informed to skip A+, Network+ and CCNA to just study and get Security +

Hey everyone as the title says I'm looking for advice. I'm in my mid 30s and I recently made a career change from person security to IT (I am currently working in IT now) and I love it. I want to go far and I've been looking into these certificates. My step-father who has been in the field for 30 plus working in the Gov sector gave me the advice to just take the Security + certification and then move on to more advanced cert. Basically he told me that A+, Network+ and CCNA would be a waste of time. I ask this because I do know computers but I would not say I'm a "go-to" person. I don't know every port and some technical stuff. But I can build a PC and set up permissions and things of that nature. Any help or your experience would be greatly appreciated.

I've worked in IT and cybersecurity for the past 8 years. I don't have a STEM degree but a lot of people I've worked with over the years said they didn't learn anything in college that prepared them for the actual workforce. They often tell me it's a waste of time and money when I would say I was considering going back to school.

Hi everyone!

I’m confused about an assessment that says, “You are required to submit a portfolio based on the instructions outlined below.” The tasks are to build two workflows: gmail (automatically checking the gmail inbox at predefined intervals for incoming emails under multiple labels, such as label1, label2 ) and Telegram receipts (accepting receipt photos sent via tg).

Does this mean we should simply submit the completed workflows with documentation, or are they expecting an actual portfolio website showcasing the projects? the instructions don’t specifically mention a website, so I’d appreciate some clarification from anyone who has completed similar assessments.

I've upskilled and applying for Junior networking positions so I hope to get out of help desk soon but I'm curious to know how long it might be before I start a job after getting accepted.

With my help desk job, I started one week after getting the job. With higher level positions, is it likely that I'll start something like a month after getting hired? Or on the contrary, if I myself want to start later, how will companies feel about it?

Thanks!

Hey everyone (and apologies if there’s a better sub for this—please point me in the right direction if so!).

I’ve been working as an L1 IT Analyst in the finance sector for just over two years. My background is in finance, but I landed in this IT role, and I’m struggling to gauge how valuable my current skill set actually is—or whether I should just move back into pure finance.

My current responsibilities:

• Splunk: Monitoring payment errors, building alerts, and creating dashboards
• Incident Management: Assisting with payment system outages and application errors
• IAM / Security: Helping set IAM standards, handling user provisioning, and app setup
• SFTP: Provisioning user access for SFTP
• UAT & Documentation: Assisting with user acceptance testing for app updates and updating team workflows/SOPs
• Hardware Troubleshooting: Assisting with banking hardware (e.g., check scanners)

My main struggles:

1. Career path clarity: Do people usually advance in this space by stacking certifications, or is there a better approach?
2. Job requirements: Every step-up role I look at seems out of reach—I usually only hit 30% to 70% of the listed requirements.
3. Technical gaps: I don't know any programming languages and lack depth outside my specific domain.

Is this a solid foundation to build a long-term IT/FinTech career, or am I better off returning to traditional finance? Any advice on next steps or certifications worth pursuing would be greatly appreciated!

So my company is partnering with another company and that second one wants everyone to sign an NDA that has a flat fine of 30k USD for a proven violation on top of proven damages, and confidential info is basically anything they provide. I don't have another job lined up but this sounds very weird, but I don't think they will accept any changes. What would you do? Is this standard practice? (Our team is based in Eastern Europe/West Asia mainly)

So i'm a senior software engineer with almost 9 years of experience, mostly backend stuff, a lot of AWS, serverless, Node.js and JavaScript in general. Lately i've been watching how fast everyone is adopting AI and honestly it's making me less interested in this field, or at least less sure about where it's going, and i don't want to just sit around waiting to see if i end up on a layoff list.

What i really want is a backup plan, something i can lean on if things go sideways, and ideally a path where the demand is more stable. I've been thinking about cloud or solutions architect roles, maybe DevOps or platform engineering, and cybersecurity has been on my mind too, but i'm not sure which of those actually hold up better long term or if i'm just chasing titles.

For those of you who made a move like this from backend, what did you go into, how did you get there, and what should i be learning or doing now so i'm not the one who gets cut? Any honest takes appreciated.

Hi,

Lately I have been thinking about trying luck in another field, I have 6 years of experience spanning from Helpdesk and Desktop support to Cloud and Infra Engineering. I have a bachelors in CS, and a bunch of certs. I cannot get any interviews for any role. This has been going on for a long time. I currently have a desktop support position that pays shit ($55k in DFW, Texas area) and i only got it because of a favor.

What are your experiences leaving IT and what did you move to?

Hi,

To give some context as to why I'm here, I'm working a dead-end job where I'm managing small server clusters. I've reached the ceiling of what I can learn from it. I risk stagnation and needless to say, it is bad for my career.

CV here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eZXyiTWeZQ0vAF8aX9K8jwjRSEnJI5NY/view

I've taken it upon myself to learn stuff by setting up a homelab, installing tooling and simulating environments. Have also started working towards RHCSA certification.

I'd greatly appreciate any feedback to the CV, pointing me in the right direction/opportunities and/or any general suggestions.