r/ITProfessionals

Hey everyone

I'm currently working in a helpdesk role and my goal is to move into a System Administrator position. To build my skills, I've been learning networking basics and recently set up a home lab. Here's what I've done so far:

• Set up 1 server and 1 client machine
• Promoted the server to a Domain Controller
• Joined the client PC to the domain
• Created and managed user accounts in Active Directory
• Implemented Group Policies (GPOs)

apart from these what else am i missing and how i move further from here

Hi all, I need a little help from you guys, how we can transition from Customer support to devops engineer (not as fresher) I am already working in an IT company.

I have roadmap and everything I just need to know about resume and LinkedIn profile building.

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I’m starting a new role as a leader of a small ITSM team at a medium sized company that’s using ServiceNow. I’ve worked within ITSM processes at large companies for many years but this will be my first time being responsible for the ITSM function. Any suggestions on what can help me get up to speed for leading an ITSM team/function? Thank you!

In my previous role I managed a team of engineers tasked with legacy on prem to cloud migrations and server deployments and reported directly to our VP. I had done that for the last 5 years and was an Infrastructure & Systems Specialist for 5 years prior.
I was let go due to “Position Elimination” 03/25 and decided to take a year off due to health reasons but I’ve recently accepted a job offer as an IT SysAdmin for a small school system with only 1 other IT guy.

Oddly enough, I guess I’m a bit nervous. Not about the work but the change in work flow. I’m looking to see if anyone’s got some pointers or has had a similar transition?

So completed my first week, it’s a good company to work for . learning is on the fly not very structured but such is the nature of this hyperactively expanding industry. Management is good . colleagues are supportive. Got to see the COLOS and two sites that I’m hopping on ATM , changed a motherboard, few cables , reseated some with a fellow buddy , doesn’t have a dedicated buddy. Benefits are not bad , free snacks and soft drinks . Bit of a drive every day but I’m hopeful to learn and grow . Questions ??

Hey everyone,
I wanted to get some honest opinions on the Google IT Support Professional Certificate as a learning tool.

I landed my first Level 1 Help Desk role about a month ago, and if I’m being honest, it’s been a little overwhelming. Before this, I worked at Best Buy as a consumer electronics agent, so I’m comfortable working with customers and troubleshooting basic tech issues. But actually working in IT has been a bit of a roller coaster.

The company I’m with is fairly small, and the training hasn’t been very structured. So far, I’ve mostly handled Microsoft 365 admin tasks like creating user accounts, setting up email, and preparing new devices. Recently, my manager asked me to start taking every incoming ticket and at least try to resolve it before escalating it to Level 2.

I understand why they’re doing it, and I know it’s probably the best way to learn, but I’m finding it difficult because it feels like no two tickets are ever the same. Sometimes I don’t even know where to start.

I’ve been looking at the Google IT Support Professional Certificate, not necessarily for the credential, but as a way to build a stronger foundation and fill in the gaps in my knowledge. For anyone who’s been in a similar situation, did you find it helpful? Or are there other resources you’d recommend instead?

I’d really appreciate any advice. Thanks!

I've spent years focusing on improving my skills and qualifications. Lately, I've started wondering whether networking has a larger impact on career progression than many people want to admit. What's been your experience?

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Sometimes I feel that I made some bad decisions—or perhaps decisions that, in hindsight, were unnecessary at that stage of my life.

I have tried to live by strong ethical principles all my life. After engineering, I decided to prepare for the civil services because I wanted to do something meaningful for my people. However, things didn't go as planned. I remained unemployed for a long time, and four years after graduation, I finally got an extremely mediocre job just to sustain myself. I was hopeless, deeply negative, and pessimistic.

Then, a few months later, I met a girl who fell head over heels in love with me. She was beautiful, talented, incredibly loving, and caring. She had many admirers, and I had been single all my life. When I found someone so wonderful, I couldn't let her go. Despite having far better options and despite my average family background, she still chose me.

Later this year, I cleared three competitive examinations and eventually became a gazetted government officer. Good pay, good promotion prospects everything looked stable. I chose this path. I chose this life.

But then I look at two of my college friends from the IT industry. They were fairly average academically, yet they simply stayed loyal to one company. They've had exciting lives, dated many people(body count 25+), enjoyed themselves while I was buried in books preparing for exams, travelled extensively, and now, because of their loyalty to the company, they're being sent to Italy and France.

Sometimes I can't help but think... what if I had chosen that path instead?

For the last few years, many of my idealistic ideas about ethics and sacrifice have faded. I often wonder if I could have earned far more money, travelled the world, experienced different cultures, met new people, and perhaps even settled abroad.

Instead, here I am with a secure government job, a stable career, and a marriage coming up next year.

Hi

I currently work in a small IT team where I have a lot of responsibilities (largely first line but occasionally leading large projects and making system changes including complex troubleshooting) I have been there for 2 years. No pay rises and no training. I made the decision to leave and I received two offers one from an MSP and one from a much larger Internal team both supporting far more users. Both are entry level jobs but the indecision between these two roles sent me spiralling mentally out of control to the point I stopped eating and sleeping. I chose the Internal team role in the end largely due to slightly more pay and the supposed lack of stress (as I keep seeing MSPs are like drinking from a fire hose and I don’t cope well under pressure for long periods of time). It was mentioned in the interview with the internal team that I would be taking a step back so to speak I assume they meant admin rights because of the systems mentioned on my cv. The MSP never mentioned that i would have issues and assured me they could get me to second line quickly, gave me a clear path and would give me training however did mention it would be busy. They also mentioned they wouldn’t hold me back from progression something the Internal team couldn’t guarantee. The Internal team mentioned it incorporates some second line knowledge but this is not reflected in the job spec.

The internal team offered me the position extremely quickly (ie 5 mins after the interview) which makes me think that I am overqualified. Whereas the MSP did not and hired multiple people alongside me.
Has anyone else made this decision early in their career and if so what did you do and did it hold you back the way they said it would?

It is also worth noting that the MSP was a team of all men whereas the internal team is mixed so as a woman in IT, it feels slightly more comfortable.

I’m preparing for an early-career Linux Systems / Fleet Operations / infrastructure engineering interview and wanted some general guidance from people who work in SRE, Linux admin, fleet ops, platform, or infra roles.
The stated areas are live coding, Linux basics, storage/networking, and fitment. I’m not asking for exact company/interview questions — just trying to focus my prep responsibly.
Right now I’m preparing:
Linux troubleshooting: slow server, high load/low CPU, D-state processes, disk full, inode exhaustion, df vs du mismatch, service won’t start, service running but unreachable, SSH issues, OOM killer, systemd/journalctl
Networking: DNS, TCP/IP, DHCP, ARP, routing, firewalls, ping works but curl fails, IP works but hostname fails, MTU/jumbo frames
Storage basics: NFS hangs, iostat/iowait, LVM, fstab issues, block vs file storage, basic SAN/multipath concepts
Coding/scripting: Python/Bash log parsing, top-N counts, hash maps, arrays, strings, basic DSA
Resume discussion: home server, Linux troubleshooting, automation, project debugging
For a 0–18 month Linux/fleet/infrastructure role, does this prep split sound right?
A few specific questions:
Are these interviews usually more scenario-based or command/trivia-based?
How much pure DSA should I expect compared to practical scripting/log parsing?
Which Linux/networking/storage scenarios are highest ROI to practice?
For storage topics like NFS, SAN, multipath, and iostat, what depth is reasonable for early-career?
Any topics people commonly over-prepare or under-prepare for?
Would appreciate any general direction or mock scenario suggestions.

Soon I will be joining HCLTech as a Technical Lead but I couldn't find a single in-depth review about this post and also my location is GandhiNagar which is HCL's Fintech department if you have anything that could help me please share your experience. Also I am not aware of the privilege that HCL provides to its Tech Leads other that their salary if someone wants to share about that it would be nice too 😅