full image - Repost: Teaching to Trifecta to tech job: one year later update (from Reddit.com, Teaching to Trifecta to tech job: one year later update)
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A little over a year ago, I completed my goal of obtaining the CompTIA trifecta, landing an entry job in IT, and quitting my teaching job within a few months. I made a post to thank this community and give an overview of my journey here: https://ift.tt/OobERki been a year since then and I wanted to share some insights for people who may benefit and also seek advice from people about further CompTIA certifications. I want to break this post down into some main chunks since not all of this may be relevant to you, that way you can jump to what you want to read.An overview of the trajectory of my first year in ITHow did my CompTIA trifecta experience align with my position's demands?Next steps (CySA+) and questions for security folks1. My first year in ITThe job I landed as I finished earning my certs was a Level 1 helpdesk position at a medium-sized company that owns and manages several automotive dealerships (I don't want to give any identifying specifics beyond that). Before I was hired, the company had a one-person IT department, and this IT manager (my boss) was managing the company's entire IT ecosystem and all connected services by himself. My boss said he hired me in large part because he was impressed at how quickly I earned the A+ and Net+ (I hadn't taken Security+ at that point) even though I had no formal IT experience. He thought that showed that I could learn things quickly and that I was motivated.I lucked out in finding this opening because although there was a helpdesk component, a majority of the job was in maintaining and optimizing the network, and the many services and systems that made our company function. I knew that the scope of the responsibilities of co-managing this IT ecosystem was more in line with the responsibilities of a System Administrator than a Helpdesk Agent.On the one hand, I was glad for the much larger scope of responsibilities and experience I was being trained in, on the other, I knew that these did not align with my role as defined or the salary I accepted, which was a considerable pay cut to what I was making in my old career. I didn't want to raise a stink about this discrepancy since I was still testing the waters and learning and I figured it had gotten me a foot in the door either way.I learned as much as I could, and every time I learned a new system or how to solve a problem, I could now add it to my toolbelt and handle more tickets and manage more systems. Soon enough I was taught how to manage sensitive systems such as Active Directory and was given access to the domain controllers and all administrative systems. I reckon that by my fifth month, my responsibilities and work were enough to justify arguing for a title change and (hopefully) an increase in salary. I knew my salary review wouldn't be until my 12-month milestone but I wanted to at least have my title changed to Jr. Systems Adminstrator so that at least my role would be solidified and I could argue for compensation to match my job duties.In a tech company, it's very likely that there are well-defined roles for II positions, steps for promotion, salaries, etc. But if you find yourself in a company that is not tech-aligned at all, you'll probably find that it's more like the wild west. The manager of your IT department may have clear expectations and desires for the department, but the company at large may not know how to manage its IT department as effectively. This could mean an increase of power and freedom for your IT department, or it may mean an IT department that has to fight company administrators at every step of the way. Our department's supervisor is thankfully very lax and understanding of our needs and gives us a wide berth. That said, even in tech companies, IT departments are unfortunately often viewed as a "cost center" and IT employees may find it harder to find and argue for more compensation compared to say, software engineers who are more easily seen as a profit-generating investment by companies.All this to say that because our department did not have a rigid structure and was not being micromanaged from the outside, I threw myself at every challenge I could in an effort to carve a better niche for myself in the company and collaborated with my boss to think about how to optimize our systems and how to deal with the growth of our company as it purchased new locations. In a role with less rigid expectations, it's possible to fly under the radar (which some people may actively look for) but it's also possible to take initiative and grow your role along with the department's role in the company, which is what I focused on.I was surprised by an unexpected early salary increase, as my boss explained that the company wanted to keep me and felt like the salary I was hired for wasn't adequate for the role I had worked my way into and didn't want me to wait for my official yearly review.One year later now I feel like I've come to familiarize myself so well with our ecosystem that I now spend more time coming up with projects to increase our security profile or optimize or automate our existing systems (some of which are a patchwork of the many years of previous managers who kept adding stuff to a pile rather than rebuilding the infrastructure effectively). I definitely felt imposter's syndrome hard when I started (more on that in part 2) but I was able to balance learning new things with using what I did know to perform daily tasks.Since being hired I've helped the company acquire and bring two new locations to our tech infrastructure and carried out a number of projects that I never dreamed I would be doing during my first year in IT. We have also hired another employee in our department who is starting in the role that I was given when I began, and I am training him in the systems that I was learning a year ago.There are times when things go wrong and I feel the stress and responsibility of having to find the solution or else cost the company valuable time and money. This job does include a lot of days of being on-call after hours, and the blurring of personal time and work time on these days can be stressful, but overall my quality of life has improved massively from my time as a teacher.2. Did earning the CompTIA trifecta prepare me for my first IT job?Yes and no, and honestly, this answer will vary from job to job.Without knowledge of the standards in A+ and Net+, I would not be remotely prepared for the position I had found myself in. Knowing the general ins and outs of computer and network systems, addressing, protocols, and admin tools within operating systems were invaluable. Another valuable area from CompTIA standards that aligned very well with my role were the sections about troubleshooting and the methodology for finding and solving problems within an ecosystem (although on-the-job experience here will very quickly overtake the knowledge from the exams).Having the foundational knowledge about IT systems covered in the trifecta allowed me to speak the "language" that my manager expected me to know on my first day on the job. He didn't expect me to be an IT expert or be able to recall obscure facts, but he expected me to be familiar enough with basic network topologies and protocols to have a general idea of how our systems worked, communicated, and operated in general terms. To him, the most important skill to have was the ability to gather information to identify a problem, and apply either inductive or deductive reasoning to chip away at the possibilities until arriving at a solution. In a company environment, anything and everything could go wrong without explanation, so being able to keep your cool, assess the situation, and methodically apply trial and error and other principles to find a solution applied in nearly every single situation where we encountered a new problem.So there was never a moment where I had to pull out my notes or try to recall specific ports or information, but it gave me what I needed to know to be able to learn on the job. A lot of what you will encounter in the IT field will probably be very specific to your role or company and no amount of CompTIA knowledge can replace the on-the-job training you will get in your time on the job.3. What's next?As I'm more familiar with my role as Jr. Sysadmin, I've been focusing more and more on security and trying to harden our systems. At the start of my IT journey, my goal had always been to aim for Pen-Testing as a final destination, and I just needed a first IT job to get my foot in the door and begin to prepare for a leap to a SOC Analyst or a comparable entry-level infosec job.Now, I see that I have the opportunity to grow my role in this company to include a larger focus on security and get higher-level hands-on experience before throwing myself into a SOC role.I don't want to become a permanent fixture in my company since I know there will be a point where my role will reach its natural limit. If my boss steps down and offers me the manager role in the future, I would probably take it, but only if I knew that I could train a replacement in a timely manner since I know I wouldn't want to be the IT manager here forever. I know I'm probably thinking too far into the future and shouldn't worry too much about this choice until it became inevitable, but I already see this as the next logical leap if I stay.I've also been 100% upfront with my boss (It manager) about these thoughts and he has been super supportive of any decision I make in the future to stay or look for other jobs. He definitely wants me to stay and always advocates for me to get more pay and benefits, but ultimately he does not control payroll. He is also unsure how long he will stay in this current role and he's stated that he can see me taking his role as early as next year.My boss has approved me to study and take the CySA+ exam since I told him I'd like to expand my security knowledge and take a larger role focusing on improving our company's security posture. He approves of this and is happy to help me get the training I need for this role but is unsure if our department's manager will agree to add a security component to our department and my official role and salary may not reflect the security role I'd like to push for. I know that security tends to be ignored and underfunded by companies until its too late, so I'm prepared to have my proposal to transform my role officially into one of security denied, but I'd still like to head in that direction.I'd like any and all advice from people who have been in my position and wondering what comes next after their first IT job. I've heard from some higher-ups in IT roles I know that a good rule of thumb is to serve about two years in a position before looking to jump to a higher position, that way you're not stagnant but also two years is enough time to show commitment to a role.Even with the unexpected increase in salary, I'm still making less than I was as a teacher, and I know that I can make more if I jump to a comparable IT role or jump into infosec which is where I'd like to end up. That said, the freedom and ability to learn and implement my own initiatives, as well as the quality of life in my current role is a big motivator to stay. Either way, I will look to push for a salary increase soon after I finish a few more projects so that I can have a better position to argue from.I hope this post was helpful to someone! Please don't hesitate to comment or message me with any questions you have.I also manage a website with some blog posts related to IT. I've also created a comprehensive series of articles, resources, and road maps for studying for and passing the CompTIA trifecta.I love this community and all the love and support people show here, thank you for making this last year possible and I hope I've been able to pass some of my own knowledge forward to whoever needs it.
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