r/ITCareerQuestions

I'mgetring into college next year and I'm planning on getting into Computer Engineering (5 year bachelor's career), I've been around computers my whole life and I want to get into the IT world as the main thing in my life, but everytime I check the news about the IT job market it keeps getting worse and at this point i don't know what to do or if I should totally rearrange my life plans.

I'm not interested in this field becouse of the money or working in my house, it's purely becouse I'm truly passionate about this.

(I'm not from the US and I can't afford to study a second degree sadly)

I’m currently working as an IT Specialist making about $43k a year, and I’m starting to feel completely stuck.
I actually really like my job and the people I work with, which makes this harder. I have a few years of IT experience and I’m about to finish my bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity, but I cannot seem to land anything that pays significantly more. I’ve been applying to higher level IT, sysadmin, and entry level cybersecurity positions and it feels like I’m getting nowhere.
What scares me is that I’m already in a better financial situation than a lot of people. I have no debt and I inherited a paid off house, so I don’t even have a mortgage or rent payment. Somehow, after utilities, food, car expenses, insurance, taxes, and normal living expenses, I’m still ending up almost negative some months.
I genuinely do not understand how people making $40k to $50k are surviving right now while also paying $1,500+ a month in rent or a mortgage.
I know finishing my degree will help somewhat, but the cybersecurity job market seems brutal, especially for people trying to break into their first security role. I keep seeing jobs asking for degrees, certifications, and several years of experience while offering salaries that barely seem higher than help desk pay.
Has anyone else been stuck around this income level in IT and managed to break out of it? What actually helped you move into the $60k to $80k range? Sysadmin experience? Cloud? Security certs? Just applying constantly?
I don’t expect to make six figures immediately. I just want to feel like working in IT and finishing a cybersecurity degree is actually moving me forward financially.

I've had the luck to meet some incredible people in this field and I notice that most of the higher skilled people do not really bother with certs. The only guy ive met that I classify as "wizard" level had a level 2 BTEC in IT and a fuck load of hands on experience

First off, thank you to anyone who reads all of this and responds with helpful advice and tips. I want to preface this by saying that i am relatively new to IT but I have always tinkered with computers and solving hardware/software issues since I was young. I've built at least 15+ PC's for myself, friends and family and have had them come to me for all issues they were having and I've yet to fail to solve their problems. I've also been in college and actively studying for CompTIA A+ and Network+ though I am new to that too. I understand a job in IT is more complicated than that but this is just to give an idea.

This job is listed as "Some experience" and after applying and giving my resume they looked it over and seemed to think it was good enough for an interview so please also keep that in mind. I'm mostly looking for advice and tips for the things I'm less familiar with such as KBA's, RMM, tech audits, setting up user accounts and monitoring them for red flags, and VoIP systems. I completely understand the definition and idea behind all of these things as well as what they should require and don't think that any of it is beyond my scope of understanding or ability to do. I just want to have an idea of what that could mean from those who have jobs in IT and what a day to day could look like in these categories. The official job title is "IT help desk tech" and it's for a local company in my area. Seems to be relatively entry level.

Any advice concerning that and what I should bring/say or mention during the interview would also be helpful. I really hope everyone understands that this means a lot and is the way to get my foot in the door of my career as well as my passion for technology. So thank you again to anyone who can help.

These are the listed responsibilities according to the post:

Monitor technology/support requests and respond promptly. As well as triage and assign tickets to appropriate teams or departments.

Diagnose and resolve basic to moderately complex hardware, software, and equipment issues

Guide users through step-by-step solutions in a clear, professional manner to ensure a positive experience

Escalate unresolved issues to internal IT or development teams, and monitor progress to resolution

Document issues, troubleshooting steps, and final resolutions in appropriate systems

Set up and configure user accounts, hardware, software, and equipment and also assist with onboarding and offboarding processes for users accounts, hardware, software, and equipment

Maintain accurate inventory of technology equipment and software licenses and support periodic audits of staff technology and supplies.

Provide support for system installations, upgrades, replacements, and software configurations

Monitor and maintain the office phone system

Assist with submitting technical or feature requests to internal development teams

Perform (RMM), compliance audits, and account/device health checks. Create and maintain (KBAs) and end-user training documentation

Conduct in-person and virtual training sessions for individual staff, departments, or the broader organization

Ensure technology needs for events are allocated, supported, and dispersed appropriately. Contribute to IT initiatives, audits, events, and system/process improvements

Stay up to date on system updates, product changes, and emerging technologies relevant to the organization

I just wanted to give everyone here an update from the last post I made regarding a call back I got for an interview.

Today I got a job offer starting at 55k plus benefits (unfortunately it’s a bit lower than the original listing at 65k I thought it was gonna be around 70k)

This is my first ever tech job. Junior cyber security analyst for a local outpatient healthcare clinic.

Junior in college.

Hello everyone. I am currently a second year PhD student of Machine Learning. My research focuses mostly on developing novel AI solutions for corporations.

To put it mildly I really dislike it. I dislike the fast pace of the industry. Every half a year there is a new framework that you have to learn. Every project I get is about sth new so I gotta learn a brand new field ASAP. I dislike the creative part of it as I'm really not into developing new software/products.

Given my bachelor's and master's were mostly focused on networking with a few cybersec classes. I was considering of pivoting to a networking job. I have a solid understanding of the basic networking concepts and protocols. I have passed 3 courses related to CCNA and I should be knowledgeable enough for attempting to get the CCNA certification. I can use Wireshark. I understand TCP/IP and ISO/OSI models, VLANs, MAC and switching, IP and routing, OSPF and RIP, TCP, UDP, QUIC, NAT and ACL, redundancy protocols, BGP, etc. I do not have any practical experience with any of these tho as I have always tried to focus on SWE and ML/AI.

I would like to know if this is sufficient to immediately start looking for a job or if I should first try to get the aforementioned CCNA cert and/or other certifications.

I am also interested in the day-to-day nature of networking jobs. I think for me to not end up hating it as much as I hate my current PhD it has to have these criteria:

1. No fast-paced work environment
2. The 'topic' of your job doesn't change much (you don't have to learn a completely new field once a year)
3. The "used tools" don't change frequently
4. You don't produce a new product. I don't want to "be creative and invent sth out of thin air". I'd prefer something like an analytic role.

I'd appreciate if you could suggest some roles/jobs within networking that would fit me well. Be blunt with me, if my demands are ridiculous. I really don't want to end up in another career I will hate guts so please tell me if, from what I wrote, networking isn't a career for me.

Thank you all!

Edit: Appreciate your answers, you helped me to realize networking isn't a job for me at all.

Hello everyone, I started this job last December so I have not been here long but I have done a lot beyond my title of IT support specialist. I'm making 73k in socal but want to move up. I really like the company I work at and want to say for a while (2-3 years). I feel like I have done a lot of projects in my free time while at work that justify a sys admin role. I'm also getting my security plus soon. Is it worth bringing this up now or should I just hold on for my one year review? What have been your experiences with this?

Good morning all,

I have been selected by my company to attend a conference later next week. It will be the first conference I have attended and I am curious to hear from those of you who have been to them before how it is. It’s your standard four theater/vendor hall/talks all day long conference.

How should I dress? I usually wear slacks and dress shoes to work - is that over dressing?

How do I talk to vendors? Just walk up and say hello? I am in a “recommends solutions” role for purchasing.

Do I take notes at the lectures?

I am attending by myself - will I look weird? Does anyone have networking tips?

Thanks everyone!

I’ve been applying to jobs everywhere (because if I do get the job I have intentions on moving there). Also the job market for IT where I am is non existent. I got laid off last year. When I started the job I got laid off at I made 65k, and when I got promoted I made 70k (this was in a no state income tax state). The job that wants to interview me, doesn’t want to do a virtual interview because people been using ai and he believes this is the best way to combat that. So he wants me to drive 10 hours (20 there and back home) for a job that the highest pay is 57k and the lowest is 41k. The job doesn’t even offer relocation (my previous employer did). I feel like the job title or responsibilities would help me in the future for jobs… but idk if it’s worth almost a $300 road trip and I only have 3k left in my bank account. That’s like over 1k in mileage on my car as well. And this job is not in a big city either, it’s a college town, so I would have to leave once I get my experience because the college is the huge employer in that area. I have money for relocation, not relocation and job interview roadtrips (the money I have for relocation I can’t access immediately, so it can’t be used for the road trip). Is it worth it to go?

Update: I forgot to add that interviewer moved from out of state for his job and I asked how long would I have if I received the job and relocate. He said that he would be willing and flexible to work with the right candidate. So idk if that will change y’all’s opinion

Am I cooked chat? Am I cooked chat? Am I cooked chat?

How are you feeling overall in terms of job security and overall outlook for the next 10-20 years? I’m in manufacturing and it’s pretty clear the writing is on the wall even for senior engineers mostly due to offshoring.

I have been really passionate about IT, and i have been going to a lot of courses, most of them were not for me because they were teaching stuff that i already know. I understand that it might be a bit too early for me to choose a path but sometimes it feels like i am going the wrong way, becuase what you mean you are going to IT and you dont know anything about linux? like seriously i only have seen 2 ppl know/use linux from the courses.

However i still use linux to this day and i already finished learning html.css.js, ok maybe not css becuase i quite literally hate anything related to design, but i still know a thing or two. I am already familiar with coding as i have been making some sites, or just making mods for minecraft. Although i cant stop but ask, how do you stop the urge to use ai knowing that it can do the job for you and even better? A lot off people say just use it as a helping tool but like everytime i get 1 error i just give it to ai.

Back to the chase, i am planning to go to university and getting a degree (depends on which path i choose) and i am stuck between backend, cyberseucity and devops, problem is i dont know which one is for me, cybersecurity seems fun but i have seen a lot of people not even knowing whats html and still going to cyberseucirty courses and that feels weird, is cybersecurity high in demand or what?

I just want to know how can i choose the right career path for me, i want to make sure that i get motivated doing that, that i dont feel like its a chore/ or only for money. Maybe i finish learning python and then think or start watching videos maybe?

[sorry for my english, its not my first language]

So I made this post earlier, dreading the 24/7 nature of the role.

However, after going through the comments I had a change of mind and went through with the interview.

It went well, and I got the network engineering job, expected to start by end of the month. Pay isn't the greatest, but there is an out-of-hours bonus + a 5% increase every 6 months if conditions are met.

The rota doesn't look too bad. It's once every 4 weeks and I'm not expected to start immediately as there's training for new starters.

This is exactly what I need as a young person; having that experience really helps. Just wanted to give my thanks to everyone, and I'm super excited to get started!

My Current job pays $115k and the company was just acquired. All of the VP’s and above are leaving and there have already been a round of layoffs. I just found out there’s two more rounds of layoffs coming next month. My co workers and I think we’re safe for at least the next 6 months but we don’t know that for sure.

401k match is 6% and I have unlimited PTO which is actually unlimited. Seriously.

The terms of the acquisition state that the new company can’t change any benefits until the end of the year but my VP said in a recent all hands (before he quit) that “the culture we have come to know is no longer”

I got an offer today for a 12-month W2 contract role through a staffing agency for $135k.

401k match is only 3 percent and doesn’t kick in until after a year, so realistically I’d never see it on the initial contract. I Don’t need health insurance since my spouse covers us there, so that’s not really a factor for me. Recruiter’s pitching the whole “we like to keep long-term people” line about possibly extending it. I don’t trust the recruiter at all though.

I’m located in Illinois and according to AI I would get unemployment if my contract ends since it’s W2.

Would I be an idiot for even considering the contract in this job market?

I made this post because the same questions keep coming up.

There is no degree, certification, or combination of credentials that guarantees an IT job.

The IT market is crowded, especially at the entry level. Every year, new graduates, career changers, bootcamp students, and certification holders enter the job market, creating more competition than available positions in many areas.

That doesn't mean degrees or certifications are useless. They can absolutely help and may be the reason you get an interview or get chosen over another candidate. The reality is that no one knows exactly what a hiring manager values most. Sometimes it's a degree, sometimes certifications, sometimes experience, projects, communication skills, networking, or a referral.

That's why one person can get hired with minimal credentials while another with a degree and multiple certifications struggles to find work.

Will a degree help? Probably.

Will certifications help? Probably.

Will either guarantee a job? No.

The best approach is to improve your odds from every angle: earn relevant certifications, get a degree if it makes sense for your goals, build projects, create a home lab, volunteer, network, and gain experience wherever you can. All of these can help, but none guarantee results.

Too many people view degrees and certifications as a ticket to a job. They're not. They're tools that can increase your chances in a competitive market.

Instead of chasing credentials blindly, study your local job market. Look at the jobs you want and identify the common requirements. If employers are asking for degrees, certifications, specific technologies, or experience, focus on building those qualifications.

The same principle applies to networking, projects, home labs, volunteering, and every other piece of career advice. They can all improve your odds, but none can promise an outcome.

At the end of the day, all you can do is stack the odds in your favor. Degrees help. Certifications help. Experience helps. Networking helps. Projects help. But there is no secret formula for getting hired in IT. Everything helps, but nothing guarantees.

I have been a network engineer for 5 years, senior for 2, and I have yet to have a formal senior engineer interview, and this has Me

Kinda nervous. I did work at an MSP for most of my career if that changes anything. (I get most of what is being said, but I would have to think it out loud, type it, draw it, and even then not sound like that. I may be really out of my realm here..

Senior enterprise network interview questions focus on high-level architecture, complex troubleshooting, automation, and security. Below are the original questions accompanied by the key engineering concepts and frameworks that constitute an ideal, senior-level response.

Network Architecture and Design

How do you design a multi-region data center interconnect with active-active redundancy and low latency?

Answer: Use EVPN-VXLAN over a dark fiber or DWDM underlay to stretch Layer 2/3 domains across regions. Deploy Anycast Gateway to allow local default routing in both locations. Use BGP Local Preference to control outbound traffic and AS-Path Prepending to influence inbound paths. Implement Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) to ensure sub-second failover.

Walk through designing a secure, segmented enterprise SD-WAN layout across fifty global branch offices.

Answer: Implement a hub-and-spoke or regional mesh topology using separate Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) instances for traffic segmentation (e.g., Corporate, Guest, IoT). Secure all control and data planes using IPsec with automated IKEv2 key rotation. Enforce Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) for deployments and deploy localized Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW) or SASE integration at each branch edge for secure internet breakout.

How do you scale BGP routing policies in a network with multiple redundant internet service providers?

Answer: Utilize BGP Communities to systematically flag routes and control upstream traffic policies. Implement Route Reflectors or a BGP Confederation to reduce the full-mesh iBGP requirement (n(n-1)/2). Apply strict route filtering using Prefix Lists and Route Maps on both ingress and egress to prevent accidental transit provider leakage.

What steps do you take to migrate a legacy enterprise core network to EVPN-VXLAN without downtime?

Answer: Establish a Layer 2 border leaf bridge between the legacy core (Spanning Tree/MLAG) and the new EVPN-VXLAN fabric. Map existing VLANs to Virtual Network Identifiers (VNIs). Use an incremental, rack-by-rack approach to migrate workloads, maintaining a temporary loop-free connection using Spanning Tree toolkit protections (like root guard) until all workloads exist on the VXLAN fabric.

Troubleshooting and Operations

How do you isolate an intermittent, hard-to-find packet drop issue on a core data center switch?

Answer: Leverage advanced hardware features like ASIC-level microburst monitoring and hardware telemetry (e.g., Cisco Nexus Streaming Telemetry or Arista DANZ). Set up ERSPAN to replicate traffic at wire speed to a network analyzer. Review dropping counters (e.g., CRC errors, giants, buffer overruns) on specific interfaces to trace the physical path.

Describe how you find and fix an asymmetric routing problem causing stateful firewall drops.

Answer: Analyze firewall connection logs and run concurrent packet captures (tcpdump/Wireshark) on the ingress and egress interfaces of the suspected routing paths. Fix the path by adjusting BGP Local Preference, OSPF interface costs, or implementing Policy-Based Routing (PBR). If infrastructure constraints force asymmetry, group firewalls into an active-active cluster that supports session synchronization across cluster members.

How do you handle a major routing loop that brings down an enterprise MPLS backbone?

Answer: Instantly check device control planes for high CPU and review syslog servers for BGP or OSPF neighbor flapping. Isolate the loop by temporarily shutting down the specific link or routing protocol adjacency where route redistribution is occurring. Fix the underlying root cause by implementing strict route tagging (using OSPF route tags or BGP communities) and prefix filtering to prevent mutually recursive redistribution.

What tools and methods do you use to monitor and fix high CPU usage on a critical edge router?

Answer: Use SNMP, gNMI telemetry, or CLI commands (e.g., show processes cpu) to identify if the issue is in the control plane (routing table calculation, BGP churn) or the data plane (process-switching uncacheable traffic). Apply Control Plane Policing (CoPP) to rate-limit malicious or excessive management traffic, and ensure hardware forwarding (CEF/ASIC switching) is globally enabled.

Security and Compliance

How do you enforce strict zero-trust network access inside an existing enterprise data center?

Answer: Implement micro-segmentation using software-defined networking (SDN) overlays like Cisco ACI or VMware NSX, or through hypervisor-level distributed firewalls. Enforce Identity-Based Access Control policies that bind network permissions directly to user identities verified via 802.1X, SAML, or OAuth, rather than trusting static IP addresses.

What strategy do you use to secure BGP peering sessions against route hijacking and spoofing?

Answer: Implement Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) to perform Route Origin Validation (ROV) and drop invalid prefixes. Enforce BGP MD5 or SHA authentication strings between all peers. Apply the Generalized TTL Security Mechanism (GTSM) to drop BGP packets originating outside the local link, and use strict prefix validation lists based on Internet Routing Registry (IRR) data.

How do you audit and restrict lateral movement after a security breach on the user LAN?

Answer: Use NetFlow or IPFIX telemetry data collected by a central SIEM to trace historical traffic flows from the compromised endpoint. Isolate the device immediately by sending a RADIUS Change of Authorization (CoA) command via Network Access Control (NAC, such as Cisco ISE) to move the switchport into a quarantine VLAN. Ensure strict Private VLANs (PVLANs) or port isolation are configured on the access layer to prevent endpoint-to-endpoint communication.

I’m attending a technical school part time and started my CompTIA class two weeks ago and already feel very overwhelmed. Right now we’re covering hardware and identifying parts and components has been very overwhelming.

My CompTIA course is split into two semesters and this semester is about 10 weeks long and I’m already stressing the part 1 exam for my first cert.

There’s two classes a week, one day is text book reading and watching videos then the second day is hands on lab stuff. I did my first lab today and it felt like my instructor basically didn’t walk us through anything. Just gave us a tower and said; “identify these parts and write them down and turn em into me. Have fun.”

Idk, I’m reading my text book and reviewing my notes a few hours of every day but it still just seems like I’m struggling hard to retain some of these things.

Any tips?

Maybe a bit random but I wanted to hear what people in the industry think about this. 125,759 tech workers laid off so far this year. That’s already more than all of 2025, and August isn’t over…

Zillow, TikTok, Etsy, and Google all announced cuts within days of each other. Almost every one of them used something along the lines of “cost discipline” or “reorg.” But more importantly nobody mentioned AI!

Then Oracle. Reportedly planning another round this month, some teams facing double-digit percentage cuts, right after a fiscal year where its AI infrastructure capex hit $55.7 billion (more than double the year before).

Oracle’s own filings already tied part of last fiscal year’s 21,000-person headcount drop to AI adoption. So one company will say it out loud and basically no one else will.

Makes sense from a comms standpoint. “We automated the role” sounds worse to investors and press than “organizational realignment,” even if the severance math and internal headcount planning tell a more consistent story.

If you’re evaluating offers or thinking about a move right now, I’d weight the roles being cut more heavily than the stated reason. Support, ops, content moderation, anything adjacent to what a model handles decently well this year.

The job seems heavily software focused, which I would enjoy. It also mentions I would assist in the configuration and setup of computers, phones, network equipment, and other devices. It is just an obvious tier 1 role like it says, but I am just curious as to what to actually expect in the environment.

Specifically relating to IT, I have only done an internship for an ISP's MSP department. It was fun, but definitely had a routine of being absolutely slammed one day and then you are twiddling your thumbs the next. It was also an internship as well, so on the slow days the full time staff were doing stuff but there was not a lot for me to do. I'm just curios if a larger university would have stuff to do at least every day, or at a minimum have opportunities for you to find stuff to do yourself.

Edit: I found a similar post before I asked, from a while ago. However, they were basically saying professors and upper management staff are gods while everyone else are peasants. Also, a lot of middle aged and probably divorced women may hit on you if you are younger. So, it was not particularly helpful.