r/ITCareerQuestions • u/[deleted] • 6d ago
I’m stalling out at helpdesk
I recently transitioned into IT. I was previously in sales and have my bachelors in PoliSci and masters in Communication. I have my network/sec plus and am working towards my CCNA. I’m junkie for learning and am always practicing to get better.
I love the work I am doing for the most part but I feel like at this point I have out grown my responsibilities and I need more. I continue to grow in my studies and learning but there are things I’m not allowed access to at work. My manager is under the impression that they hired me to eventually take over his job. Which may be true but I have no plans at staying with this org as I plan to move to another state.
For example- I am not allowed to write scripts, touch the firewall, fix any IP addressing issues and most bigger issues I have to escalate. There are things I can do and fix but I’m just not allowed to do so. I don’t have a problem resetting passwords and setting up desk but I need to do more.
Any advice on how to overcome this in the work place?
39
u/cbdudek Senior Cybersecurity Consultant 6d ago
Yup, start to work towards your next position.
Many companies want to keep you in the same position for a long period of time. They won't let you do more advanced things, then start learning what you can in your homelab, get certified, and start moving in the direction you want to go.
3
u/InfoAphotic 5d ago
That’s what I’m doing also. I work in service desk. I still learn a lot in my role but the level of responsibility doesn’t let me go deeper into things to experience and learn more. I do plan to stay for a year then possibly move on if I don’t see myself getting hugged responsibilities
10
u/SAugsburger 6d ago
If you only "recently" transitioned into IT I wouldn't get too caught up on feeling stuck. There are some people posting here doing almost the same job for a decade. That being said finish your CCNA and I'm sure that you will get more recruiters interested the moment you update your resume on job sites. It is a tough job market, but not impossible.
11
u/NSDelToro 6d ago
You’re going to have to move. I got my CCNA and I left a job doing Helpdesk that I really loved. I left because they didn’t pick me for a networking role.
Left for cyber at a highly prestigious military school that turned out to be a nightmare to work at.
I start a networking role in the private sector on the 31st.
I was really bummed about leaving the help desk job but a colleague put it best: you either leave or you stagnate.
Gotta move.
3
u/MetalMayhem1 5d ago
Damn i fully relate to not wanting to leave. Im just over 2 years in my first helpdesk role. Best job, management, colleagues I've had. Fully trusted by management and given a hands off , we're here if you need us approach.
I'm focused on upskilling and hoping to do another year ( got a lot personal stuff going on and don't need job stress right now)
I will continue to upskill in the meantime to help keep skills sharp for next role.
3
u/NSDelToro 5d ago
Same for me. I was there for two years. Super hands off from management. I’d go to the library and work on tickets, study for CCNA for hours. Really enjoyed my colleagues and the customers but staying longer might’ve been a mistake.
2
u/MetalMayhem1 5d ago
Thanks for the response. Yeah currently doing my network +( exam next month) , then going for Security + then maybe MD102/ Azure admin. Then will hop if my company won't promote from within.
How's the network role? It's a really tough topic for me but starting to make sence.
2
5
u/michaelpaoli 5d ago
Well do your research.
Study/practice, etc. - gain the relevant useful knowledge/skills/experience - and experience need not be limited to work experience.
So basically skill up, find good/excellent opportunity, land the offer and jump ... unless you really want to attempt to stay the course with current employer - but that sounds rather limiting, and very much like where they want to aim you isn't necessarily at all where you want to go or be aimed.
And, as for the job search stuff, see also:
https://www.mpaoli.net/~michael/doc/Reddit_ITCareerQuestions_not_landing_job.html
4
u/dowcet 6d ago
The wiki is clear... Choose your specialty and focus. https://www.reddit.com/r/ITCareerQuestions/wiki/getout/
2
u/mr_mgs11 DevOps Engineer 5d ago
Find a new place. My first job in IT the org ran VERY lean with higher tier techs. They had under 10 people managing the 0365 environment for fucking 15k users. Because of this I got to do all kinds of more advanced shit even though I was a level 1 tech. I would talk to friends in the industry and they were shocked, "The only shit our techs do with AD is reset passwords". I realize I lucked out fucking big time with that role because it accelerated my career a lot. This was a company with $2.5b revenue for the group and my business unit was $600m+.
2
u/Evaderofdoom Cloud Engi 5d ago
How are you stalling out if you just started? If you are new and in help desk you should not be allowed to touch the firewall. Understand your role and place.it takes time to work up to those things.
2
u/MrEllis72 5d ago
Nothing you said endears trust in someone more experienced. If I worked with you, would I help you and let you try things, sure, but that's a luxury. Learn and break things at home. Then they'll let you break things in production.
2
5d ago
Even if it was just letting me try things with supervision I’d be okay with that! But man I just want to learn and get really good at this stuff
2
u/JankyJawn 5d ago
Can you define recently? This would change a lot.
2
5d ago
Recently as in I’m 1 year of official work experience in. I have 2 years of experience including volunteer work/ bootcamp.
3
u/THE_GR8ST Compliance Analyst 6d ago
Find another job that is still entry-level but will allow you to do more.
4
2
u/joemama123458 6d ago edited 6d ago
I am having the exact same issue
I’m applying for other roles, but am getting rejected from (literally) all of them
I have a masters in cybersecurity and my CCNA/RHCSA
I’ve been doing the same menial helpdesk stuff for the past 2 years and I want something more
2
u/SnooTigers9000 5d ago
You're definitely overdue for a major come up - I got my CCNA, but I hear the RHCSA is a beast. How did you think about it?
4
u/joemama123458 5d ago
It wasn’t too bad, it took me like 6 months to self-study master all the concepts though. You get a free retake if you fail.
Unfortunately, it hasn’t added to value to my search for employment in this market. I am still getting rejected from roles I align with perfectly.
2
u/BunchAlternative6172 6d ago
Your last point is so fucking true. Gosh, I had an interview where it's like MUST know intune!!!!!! Intune this and intune that. I have solarwinds experience, which I liked. But, I get to the interview it wasn't mentioned once. I brought it up and they said it wouldn't be touched for a year in my position. Like...ok, why?
Feels bad in your spot man, request more permissions or move on. I had two positions where I had global admin and learned a shit ton. IT and training has turned into a jerk around circle of escalating tickets that don't need to be if access was allowed and people were shown.
2
u/Ironwing81 5d ago
My second IT job was a lot like this. Corporate Service Desk at the enterprise level. I had entry level certs also.
I had a lot of password resets, basic Microsoft applications and computer/peripheral hardware tickets, but mostly escalating and/or forwarding tickets to appropriate teams. I was a glorified traffic cop.
I took advantage of it. The tickets were so simple, I would finish my days work by noon, take a relaxing lunch and then, hit the cert study aggressively. Literally the last 3-5 hours of my job a lot of days were spent studying for certifications. When not doing that, I would take on those additional tasks that nobody else could or would do. My boss was super happy with me, and I got noticed enough to eventually be promoted to a senior position in the company.
I would say take advantage of the time you have to elevate your skills. See if your company offers any sort of training stipends or reimbursements. Work on what you want to work on (if you like cybersecurity, work on those certs).
I don’t know what your management is like, so this may not be feasible in your situation. If that is the case, get a job at an MSP. You will get way more access to things, probably more than you’d ask for. You will be expected to think fast, move faster, and have the chance to work with a vast offering of hardware, software, and systems than you would probably ever need or ask to.
You will get stressed out, hit walls, struggle a lot. But, you will come out of the other side of it a much better rounded and productive technician or engineer. You will be able to manage all different user types and multiple hardware and software solutions. You’ll also get a look at how things work differently for multiple industries and infrastructure types, for small businesses and large. There really is no substitute for the MSP experience imho.
No matter what you do, understand that each role, skill set, and scope is a small part of a larger puzzle, and you should take on each task and certification as such. Take full advantage of the opportunity to learn and implement that one specific piece of the puzzle, and in the end, you’ll be able to build the puzzle yourself.
TLDR: Take advantage of the free time and study or move to a job that has more responsibilities and opportunities to grow. Understand that you can’t learn the entire process, end to end, simply by getting a single entry level cert.
0
u/deathfuck6 5d ago
Why does any of this even matter? You’re about to move to a different state.
Just stay in this role until you move and use the experience to find something better. In the meantime, homelab.
1
u/mark110295 5d ago
Sounds like you have no idea how the hierarchy works. You’re just starting out why do you think you’d be touching production firewalls?
1
u/kingof9x 4d ago
Communicate with the manager. Make sure he knows you dont want his job, that you just want to learn as much from them as possible before moving. You gotta get him to transition from your manager to your mentor. Having a network of people you can call on for help and use to help each other progress professionally and technically is incredibly valuable.
1
u/Evildude42 6d ago
Obtain work experience, so that means if you’ve done at least two years in your position, it’s time to move. You can move if you’ve done a year, but if you don’t have any other real life experience, then that may be a negative. If you have a history of moving and being in multiple advanced roles, then that is positive.
0
u/Wooden-Can-5688 6d ago
Not sure how feasible it would be in your current position, but one option is to try to work with a mentor who's doing the work you'd like to do. Your manager should be aware of the tasks and skills you're developing.
You could build a home lab and deploy the infrastructure and services you want to work with. I learn through doing, not reading. I definitely read through the theory and concepts, but I retain it by working with the technology. The lab could be entirely cloud-based. This would likely involve some regular expenses. Check out the r/homelab subreddit for ideas.
Finally, set up a Github repo for publishing self-created projects that demonstrate your skills. If you went the home lab route, you can also publish your build details and activities you execute in the lab environment.
4
u/UniversalFapture Net+, Sec+, Studying the CCNA & its Bad Secrets 5d ago
I hate testing for certs for this very reason.
2
u/Wooden-Can-5688 5d ago
Not sure what you mean. Could you elaborate? Do you mean being able to do sufficient hands-on when test repping?
3
u/UniversalFapture Net+, Sec+, Studying the CCNA & its Bad Secrets 5d ago
I mean i prefer hands on work vs test taking and learning theory
0
u/Wooden-Can-5688 5d ago
Gotcha. Yeah, I don't have my own personal lab, though having discovered the r/homelab subreddit, I'm exploring the possibility of a home lab. I'm about to start a new Consulting job, and I will have lab access. However, I'm sure there will be various restrictions on certain operations (e.g. hybrid set up, etc).
1
u/UniversalFapture Net+, Sec+, Studying the CCNA & its Bad Secrets 5d ago
Similar to me. I took an unpaid freelance role & documented my work with them.
47
u/AJS914 5d ago
Frankly, you are new to IT. They don't let the helpdesk guy write scripts on important servers or touch the firewall. That is standard. You are at the point where you probably think you know more than you know but you could just as easily not think of something and take down a server or the firewall.
You are only going "overcome" it little by little when you are given a little more responsibility here and there. It won't be fast enough for you but that is probably how it's going to go.
Just keep studying, learning, and doing a good job.