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Currently, work at a small-medium business as an internal IT jr system administrator. I started casually applying around as there is little room for position growth here.
I ended up getting a job offer at a small MSP, they are around 10 or so techs, and they specialize in servicing small businesses (<50 people). They pay offer ended up being the same as my current job, but there are eligible monthly bonuses and room for growth.
To give a quick summary of pros and cons of each job.
Current Job

Pros:

  • Established, comfortable position
  • Small teams allow me to work on a variety of projects in my spare time
  • Able to do projects that I want to do that will better the company and my career
  • One location of work

Cons:

  • At he position cap
  • Haven’t received a raise in my entire time here (1.5 years)
  • Work experience is limited to one environment, not much in terms of variety to learn different environments.
  • In Office

New Offer

Pros:

  • Hybrid remote
  • Room for growth in position and established salary adjustments
  • Bonus program
    • If you meet a certain amount of billable hours; you receive a bonus for every hour over said hour.
    • Not overtime, 50 billable hours a month is the threshold to cross
  • Variety of work environments for more experience

Cons:

  • Will have to travel to customer locations when required (in the ~20 mile area)
  • Unkown place of work, don’t know how the work culture will shape up
  • MSP, hear some horror stories from different people after working at them

My impression of the new job was similar to my current work culture. I don’t have a problem with my current job aside from the pay/position cap.

45 Spice ups
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I know how hard that decision can be, I was at one job for 13 out of 14 years (went to another job for a year, but ended up going back), and it was a hard decision to leave because of how comfortable I was in the job.

Going by your description it sounds like you have a pretty good idea of both of them. Sounds to me like the new job would probably be better in the long run, I know that then I switched from the small company I worked for to an MSP my skills had to increase quickly, and I ended up making more from the switch.

One thing I would ask them about is if they have a training program. I worked at one place that had a deal with a local school to offer training that was paid for, other places offered reimbursement for exams if I passed, and one even offered pay raises for passing certifications (the only way to get a raise there).

Ultimately the choice is yours, just giving my opinion.

7 Spice ups
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They actually do have this available. I’m definitely leaning toward taking it, but checking it over with family, friends, wife, and random internet strangers as its not as much of a clear upgrade from my current position as I would have hoped. The room for growth mikes it quite appealing though.

I do like hearing about positive experiences from working as MSPs, there are a lot of ugly stories out there.

4

Mostly my MSP experiences have been good, only have one bad one, and that was more down to the staff instead of clients.

3 Spice ups
5

It looks like it comes down to 3 things:

  1. Do you want to change?

  2. Do you like the occasional trip to a site?

  3. Do you want more money?

Does that simply it and make sense at the same time? Let me know what you think.

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uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ok so one thing I would like to point out as a previously contracted person, the language they use for billable hours is a little concerning. For one, 50 hours seems LOW for the month. I feel like you could benefit from it some months, and it could really suck otherwise. Unless you’re salary the new position seems like the hours could vary, and if your current gig needs you at the desk for 40 hours minimum it is the safer bet. Not entirely sure of the culture but I am honestly a little put off by the description you put in and honestly if it were me I’d prefer the job you have over the new one. If you have room to work on other projects at your current job buy some udemy courses and go after a cert that could back your knowledge and leverage your own growth. I’d stand pat, just my two cents though.

3 Spice ups
7

I will say the way I worded it was a little confusing, it’s not a contract position and is actually a 40 /hr week job with the same pay rate as my current one. The bonus program is in terms of billable hours you worked on behalf of the company to customers, not actual hours worked. I would still be working 40 hours a week, but let us say the tickets I’ve worked on only gave the company 15 billable hours. If by the third week, I have 50 hours, any hour over that I would get half of the billable hour income. So if by the end of the month, I worked 60 billable hours, that’s 10 billable hours to my bonus. On average let’s say it’s $100 /hr, I would receive $500 for those 10 hours over. Then it would reset at the end of the month.

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8

Unkown place of work, don’t know how the work culture will shape up

That’s true of any place, even where you currently are.

6 Spice ups
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If the horror stories come from credible sources why are you even considering a move? Better to wait for a better opportunity.

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Are there chances of raises? I was at a public library that didn’t do raises for years until a levy passed even then the raises sucked and was a reason to leave. You could always get an offer somewhere else and take that to management and perhaps get a concession for them to offer a couple of things you want.

I feel like the bottom line, is do like your current position or the opportunity to visit other businesses more.

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Still, 50 hours seems awfully low, but its been 30 years since I worked for an MSP. One thing I do remember is being uncomfortable with sales back then. Eg, customers with old equipment that should be replaced. I also remember dealing with quite a few penny pinchers that wanted everything for free, argued every charge, and accused me of being incompetent because I didn’t finish the job in half the time they expected. (Actually, that last one might have had some truth to it! XD )

On the flip side, I got to work with a lot of really interesting technology like magnetic-core memory, tractor feed bursters, and line printers (remember, this was 30 years ago and some customer had very old equipment). I often found myself skimming the manual on the way to the customer’s site. There was no Google back then.

You mention that you’re at the salary cap for your current position but that you’ve only been with the company for 1.5 years and have never gotten a raise. Seems like that salary cap is quite low if new start at the cap. It is unfortunate that you are in the position of needing to decide your career now because I would have pointed these details out to HR or my boss and asked about the potential for more money. Asking now with a new job offer in hand is essentially blackmailing them into giving you a raise or you’ll quit. When I’ve been put in their position I gave the raise, then immediately worked on replacing the employee. I don’t like blackmailers. Come to me if you’ve got a problem with money or benefits and we’ll try to come to an arrangement. If we can’t, I’ll help you look for something that meets your needs (seriously!).

4 Spice ups
12

Take the leap. It’s the only way you will grow and increase your experience -which in the end will increase your worth to any future business

2 Spice ups
13

Invest in yourself. The choice you are facing is between a job and a career.

2 Spice ups
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This would be my concern as well - what is the staff turnover rate, if people are only staying there for short periods then that should ring alarm bells!

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Unless you can get some inside info from a current employee, no way to know the culture for certain.

I recently left a MSP after 7+ years, it was great experience. The exposure to different industries and areas of technology is a huge knowledge builder. It sounds like you are early in your career, this is a great time to be building that knowledge base. The downside is they can be hectic, some people consider it the most difficult way to work in IT. The company’s success is your success and visa versa, most good MSPs know that and will compensate appropriately, as well as invest in your knowledge, with certs and training. Every employee in a MSP needs to keep at least a slight sales mindset too, looking for opportunities to pitch upgrades, projects, migrations, ect…

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I’ve worked for 3 MSPs, and I will say each experience was different, but they had similarities. You definitely will learn a lot working with different clients on different systems. For me personally, I prefer the single company with one set of systems and procedures. I found myself having to almost constantly relearn the processes for each specific client and that made me feel burnt out pretty quickly. Another thing to maybe consider is the amount of wear and tear on your vehicle, and gas. I find even though you’ll get mileage it can be a financial burden if you need gas and it’s in between pay days. One MSP did offer a Shell gas card so that was nice to not have to worry about. If this MSP does that it can help.

5 Spice ups
17

The Enterprise folks poke at the MSPs, the MSPs at the Enterprise, the in-house people laugh at both, the Citrix guys/gals are playing WoW, the Consultants are napping, the Tech Sales types are crying, the Management is blaming, the Clients are screaming. Everyone is drinking tonight.

:slight_smile:

7 Spice ups
18

How much does stress bother you? As an MSP, you’ll be dealing with customers who call when stuff breaks, business stops, and they’re freaking out. If you’re on site, they may stand there over your shoulder while you work, asking for updates, wanting to know when their staff will be able to work, what they should tell clients. You’ll need to be cool under pressure, but also be able to communicate verbally and with body language both confidence and that you understand the urgency.

2 Spice ups
19

If you are early in your career, the time to take any risks is now. Especially if you are apparently in a dead-end job, even if you are comfortable there. And that could be a problem- too many times I have seen posts where someone stayed too long where they were comfortable, and then when they are older the realities of how much they need for retirement, and how your career level affects your needs for self actualization, start weighing more and more on them.

The height of the average person’s earning potential is in their 40’s and 50’s, and then usually starts tapering downward from there. That means on average it doesn’t even level off, but starts going down.

So where do you want to be in your 40’s?

This may sound unrelated, though it’s actually a part of the bigger picture, but I suggest doing what so few people do… go find a retirement calculator on line. Calculate how much you need to save, with average expected investment returns, plus your estimated social security income (you can register on the U.S. Social Security website to get this info), and see how much you need at retirement to live the lifestyle you want on a fixed income.

Not saying your decisions should be totally mercenary, but you don’t want to be worrying about this later and wondering what might have been if you had made different decisions. The seeds for your future are planted today.

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You knowledge growth will be unmatch. I started out internal and did internal for five years. I’ve spend the last four years doing the MSP life. I will say, if I leave the MSP world, I will never return…but the learning is unreal. I went from your basic help desk guy when I started at an MSP to a systems engineer in a couple years.

A lot of MSPs also budget for training for employees. So you can take courses on things like CBT Nuggets, Udemy, and PluralSights for free.

If you want to learn a lot, MSP. If you want to not be stressed every second of every day, internal role.

@spicyricey

1 Spice up