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6 years ago I changed careers and began working in IT. In the last 6 years I have gained a 4 year degree in Information Technology, multiple certs CompTIA trifecta, ITIL, Linux and Cloud essentials, Project+, and CCENT (expired and retired). My experience has been mainly T1 / T2 Service desk for the State and a University. I have about a year and half of networking experience mainly just putting configs on devices for the techs to deploy, and desktop support tech. I have run into two main problems. 1. I have too many interests and not sure which direction I want to follow. I find it hard to focus in on what I want to do. 2. I have education but not enough experience to really make it out of desktop support. I have found that even basic SA, Networking, Desktop Engineering roles I do not have enough experience. I am always studying something in my off time whether it is for a cert like CCNA , a scripting language like Powershell or Python, Cloud environments,virtualization, Microsoft 365. I look for jobs mainly where I work at to progress into, try to network with people in those departments. But as of yet I have been unsuccessful in progressing. As I reflect I find that I can not progress because I have no clear direction on where I want to go. I understand I am the only one that can figure that out ultimately but maybe some one has some fresh ideas that I am overlooking. With my education and experience and the fact that I want to learn everything where or what path should I concentrate my efforts? Thank you in advance.

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Jack of all trades is a good thing for a lot of companies and there’s nothing wrong with that. If you want to do it all then do it all. If you want to try exploring different options within the same company, I’d look at a medium to large managed services company like Marco, Inc. They offer remote techs on the helpdesk and you could work as a Tier 2 or possibly Tier 3 if you have enough experience and can do everything you are mentioning and would be a pretty good asset with all of those skills as a helpdesk engineer. I did that for a few years and it was pretty slick. Worked 730-4 and got to forget about work after I was off the clock. I never took direct calls from customers and was an escalation point to a team of tier 2 techs and mentored them as well. It was a good time and made pretty decent money.

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@danautomate ​ thank you for the reply. I will look into Marco and that role, that does sound like a slick deal.

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If you truly want to do it all you could look for a different company to go to. There are small businesses out there that only have like 1 or 2 IT people for the whole company and that is where you can do a lot and perhaps figure out what interests you better and move in that direction.

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This is the exact advice given to me by one of by best mentors. One of his first jobs in IT was under an owner who classified anything with a wire or plug as an IT problem. He said he learned most of his day-to-day skills there.

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You have enough breadth of knowledge with networking, systems, M365, Python, etc that you probably have somewhat of an idea now what functions you like to perform even if you don’t know what job you want.

If you were to rank those job functions in order of the top 5, 1 being the thing you like doing the most during the day, what does that list look like? When you start peeling back the things you don’t like quite as much, it helps you get a clearer vision of what technologies you prefer to work on so you can begin to develop a better picture of the job track you want to take.

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To me it seems like you have plenty of experience in IT, just not in the specific field you hope to be in. I’d suggest potentially taking a job at an MSP to see what is out there in terms of technology. You’ll likely be able to work on all kinds of projects to see what interests you most. Find what you find fascinating and go after that. Don’t settle for a position that you know will eventually bore you. Find something that will help you stretch in terms of your knowledge and that is somewhat uncomfortable. You’ve gained quite a few certifications, which of those did you enjoy learning? Perhaps one of those will help point you in the direction you seek. Good luck!

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@tb33t ​ Thank you for you response.

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@eric7615 ​, @jessevas ​, @bbigford ​ thank you all for your responses. You have given me some things to think about. I appreciate the feedback from everyone

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I am exactly where you are now but a little further down the road from what I gathered from your post. I am put in a horrible position at work and basically told that I no longer have my job and I have to do a job I hate or I’m fired. Currently, I am working on getting DevOps experience and certs so I can try to snag a good job at a Fab since they have a few built around me and more coming within the next 2-3 years. For me it seems a lot more viable to go the specialization route. At work they are holding me down and are constantly giving me work that is far below my paygrade which is affecting my growth. The other option I was given involves me doing insane levels of work with a crappy work schedule and lots of underpaid weekends of work. Back to DevOps, I have always tinkered with Raspberry Pi’s/Dev boards and have always loved scripting and automation. Took my boss showing my that he is not willing to offer a position I will be happy with to get me going down this road. You can be a jack of all trades but if that doesn’t make you happy, try to find the one/few things you always go back to or enjoy the most. With regards to MSP’s, I would say this is good if you want experience but proceed with caution and try not to overextend your time with them. I currently work for one and things are not so pretty now. Most MSP’s in my area are bad places to work with really high turnover and small profit margins which turns into a smaller paycheck. Obviously if you find an awesome MSP to work for, that is great and you should stay as long as you think it will help you. Make sure you aren’t beating yourself down though and underselling your experience/knowledge. Obviously with time comes knowledge but I would advise trying to figure out what you want as soon as possible. You are entirely right with saying only you will know what you truly want. Hope this helps and keep your head up high.

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I don’t have a good answer for where you should go, but perhaps I can provide a tangential piece of advice. You’re used to large institutions like a state or university, try going small or medium business. You’re less of a small piece in a big machine. Unfortunately the benefits might be less as well. Something to consider.

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@claynicholson5321 ​ thank you for your response. Everyone’s advice has been great and has given me some things to think about. After some self reflection, I find that out of all of the areas I have enjoyed O365 Administration and training the most. Going to small or mid size business may be the route to go with less users and maybe an IT team of less than 10 might be more ideal.

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don’t take this the wrong way but you will become your own worst enemy if you let the thought of not knowing which way to to go as its always good to have knowledge of different areas even if you may only help in those areas once in a while.

that been said as other have stated your a Jack of all trades you will not master them all but a few should be your goal, until you in yourself know where you want to focus more on and that can take time trust me in my youth always wanting to serve and I did but that just the beginning of my journey as time has passed and now in the Infrastructure team as a CEH for a finance company.

Your Journey has just started and you have the technical knowledge to back you up and you know the overall field you want to be in so take your time step back and see the breath and width of IT as a whole can be a lot to take in. also never think you cannot progress from what i have read your determined and willing to learn new skills that in itself is a good trait a good employer will spot and will take you on board that ,I would say follow your gut but that generally just takes me to food.

(Quote from Galen Babylon 5 Crusade - " When you have reached the end of the road, then you can decide, whether to go to the left or to the right, to fire or to water. If you make those decisions before you have even set foot upon the road, it will take you no where… except to a bad end")

Hopefully my mad ramblings helps even in the slightest

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@russbrustky ​ thank you for you response. Your situation does not sound very ideal. I hope you are able to maneuver to where you want to be soon. As I have said I am interested in too many things and to me that is a problem, I want to learn everything just not work in all things. A couple of responses had me thinking what areas I enjoyed most and as you say specialize in, O365 administration and training are things that I have enjoyed the most and I believe I will start focusing more of my efforts in that vein. Becoming more of an expert in all things 365. Thank you for sharing a little of your story.

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If I were there again, I’d be looking for a junior admin job. I’m a one man shop, so I am both Head Cook and chief bottle washer. It’s the kind of job you’d be great at. Find you a smaller company where your varied interests can shine. The larger the organization the less generalization you typically will see. Sometimes you need to slide sideways before you move up.

Find a place that wants to grow you into an Systems Admin. I recommend thinking of it as game, and you’re there to collect all of the skills necessary. Scripting and Certs are only a couple of the aspects that go into a good SA. If you have all the skills a job requires you’re going to be bored and not grow. Be honest in the interviews.

However, it appears the only thing you’re missing is patience. You’ve used your determination and skill to achieve your educational goals, now continue to put these skills to work find the right job, not a job. You didn’t get a degree in a few days, and you won’t find the right “next place” quickly either. You’ve found the place you’re in is now wrong, but take your time and don’t rush to the next lily pad, it might not work out.

I think you have the right approach, the only thing I would tweak is your expectations. I’m reminded of Lincoln who was given books and encouragement to become a lawyer. I seem to remember him saying something to the effect of "I am going to be a lawyer, but until I become one, I’ll just study these law books. " You’re doing that. Build a list of skills, see which ones you feel you’re missing and fill in the blanks.

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@alphariusomegon ​ thank you for your response and I did not take it the wrong way, constructive criticism if open to it is always helpful. I have updated a few responses recently on here based on some of the responses that I have received and feeling really good and excited about a clearer way forward in all things 365 based. I think there I will still be able to use my knowledge of networking, cloud services, collaboration, and administration of 365 services. Like your quotes and my gut usually leads me to food or beer.

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Have you looked into what it might take to become an MSP of your own? Working for a small business is never a path to corporate life. But it does teach you the skills to do the job. What you might need now is the skills to run the business end of things. Owning a business and working for a business are two very different things. You might make much more money for what could end up being the same amount of work plus a bookkeeper.

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@spiceuser-5m4u0 ​ thank you for your response. Always a good quote from honest Abe.

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You already touched on what you need to do. All of the other pieces of advice are good, but they’re going to only be useful for lateral moves. Whether you stay in a large org or move to small or medium ones, if you don’t focus on your specific interests rather than trying to cast such a large net to do everything everywhere all at once (phenomenal movie, by the way), you’re going to find yourself sitting in the same rut. Just with a different look to your business card.

And those reviewing your applications or having conversations with you about your career path already see this. I can see it just based on what you’ve posted here. If my organization needed a help desk tech or field support tech, then certainly, you’d be a strong candidate. That might get you a couple of extra bucks an hour, but would that be enough for you? Would that challenge or stimulate you down the road? Or, as I suspect would happen, would you get bored and frustrated because you meet that same dead end you’re at now?

If I needed an expert in managing M365 because I lack the expertise or capacity to do so, I might skip past your application because I may not see you as that expert. Just a button pusher who can follow directions in updating accounts or resetting passwords but not that engineer-level person to review my config and tell me where things are wrong, inefficient, or insensible. Or suggest solutions or options I hadn’t considered because I wasn’t aware of them.

If your ultimate career goal, though, is to progress beyond a JOAT, then you do indeed need to determine that path as you said. Nobody here can do that or even suggest anything else for you. I might say “go into data analytics!” or “become a Linux admin!” because they happened to be areas that personally appeal to me (just an illustration; I’m not a Linux guy). But what thrills me may be beyond boring for you.

Can’t provide a “fresh idea” if we don’t know what your definition of “fresh” even is.

Do you want to be mediocre at everything or great at one thing?

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@weirdfish ​ thank you for your response. I have an idea now of what direction I am headed and what I need to focus on to get there.

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