Path your career has taken?

kbowen0188kbowen0188 Member Posts: 87 ■■□□□□□□□□
I know most people consider Help Desk to be the entry point, but where do most people go after that? I thought it might be interesting to ask where people started and what career path they took from there. I was also curious if people were satisfied with their career path.

For instance, mine is:

Support Technician
Field Technician
Help Desk Specialist (current)

The first two jobs were at a mom and pop shop that were paying minimum wage, but they served as a place for me to get my feet wet and to start off my IT career. I currently work at Help Desk, which has enough down-time to allow me to study for my certs. The company also has me assisting as a IS Tech whenever the other techs need some back-up.

I am satisfied with my path. I somewhat dislike how I am labeled as a Help Desk Specialist but also do tech work alongside of that (without the title), but that is me being petty more than anything else.

Comments

  • JoJoCal19JoJoCal19 Mod Posts: 2,835 Mod
    My career path has been:

    1. JOAT (Small manufacturing shop) 1.5 years
    2. Second Level Desktop Support (One of nations largest financial firm/bank) 1.5 years
    3. Identity & Access Management (Same company) 6 years
    4. Information Security Risk Management (Another of the nations largest financial firms/banks) 6 mos

    I'd love to move to the technical side of security but as more time goes on, I don't think that's going to happen, not as my primary job anyways. I'm on a steady path to my ultimate goal which is management, and information security management roles are becoming more in reach everyday, so that's primarily why I'll stick to my current path.
    Have: CISSP, CISM, CISA, CRISC, eJPT, GCIA, GSEC, CCSP, CCSK, AWS CSAA, AWS CCP, OCI Foundations Associate, ITIL-F, MS Cyber Security - USF, BSBA - UF, MSISA - WGU
    Currently Working On: Python, OSCP Prep
    Next Up:​ OSCP
    Studying:​ Code Academy (Python), Bash Scripting, Virtual Hacking Lab Coursework
  • jvrlopezjvrlopez Member Posts: 913 ■■■■□□□□□□
    My job path over the last 6 years has been:

    Military
    Help Desk
    IT Security

    Loved the first but not enough to do it long term, saw the second as a way to make ends meet while I job hunted, and the third has been a great opportunity filed with a lot of learning experiences and meeting of new people.
    And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high. ~Ayrton Senna
  • diggitlediggitle Member Posts: 118 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Military IT Specialist (E-4)
    Entry Level SysAdmin
    Deployment Technician
    Sr Deployment Technician/Project Manager
    Information Security Engineer (Current)
    c colon i net pub dubdubdub root
  • 65026502 Member Posts: 41 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Tech->Sysadmin
    Tester
    Windows Sysadmin/Networking
    Linux Sysadmin/Networking
    JOAT
    Burn Out! six years of parenting full time
    JOAT (current)

    I wanted to do networking instead of JOAT again, but I needed the money and the employment gap was hard to deal with. I took what I could. My next job I'd like to have more networking than sys admin and 0% user desktop support.
  • E Double UE Double U Member Posts: 2,233 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Started in '03:

    Contractor building pc's (2+ years): IBM/Lenovo
    Contractor pc/printer refresh (2-3 months): Dell, HP
    Customer Support Analyst - Telecommunications (4+ years): Cisco routers
    Complex Configuration Engineer - Telecommunications (1+ years): Cisco routers/switches
    Security Systems Specialist - Telecommunications (less than a year): Cisco ASA, Check Point/Nokia, Bluecoat
    Information Security Analyst (Current) - Banking (1+ years): Cisco ASA, Symantec DLP, and more

    Went from A+ to CISSP (hopefully lol).
    Alphabet soup from (ISC)2, ISACA, GIAC, EC-Council, Microsoft, ITIL, Cisco, Scrum, CompTIA, AWS
  • gbdavidxgbdavidx Member Posts: 840
    E Double U wrote: »
    Started in '03:

    Contractor building pc's (2+ years): IBM/Lenovo
    Contractor pc/printer refresh (2-3 months): Dell, HP
    Customer Support Analyst - Telecommunications (4+ years): Cisco routers
    Complex Configuration Engineer - Telecommunications (1+ years): Cisco routers/switches
    Security Systems Specialist - Telecommunications (less than a year): Cisco ASA, Check Point/Nokia, Bluecoat
    Information Security Analyst (Current) - Banking (1+ years): Cisco ASA, Symantec DLP, and more

    Went from A+ to CISSP (hopefully lol).

    I need to go from help desk to network engineer support - hopefully it's possible once i get my ccna
  • bradtechonlinebradtechonline Member Posts: 63 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Spent five years doing both Network & Systems Administration. Took a higher paying job just doing sys admin work. Vmware, Windows, Linux, and AIX administration. Also a lot of SAN work with FC dealing with Brocade Switches/IBM SANs like XIV/V7000/DS4300. When I was head a leg in the networking world was basic switching, routing, and PIX/ASA firewalls along managing call manager/unity.
    Working On:
    CIW Database Specialist 1D0-541 90%
    CIW Server Administrator 5%
    CIW Inter-Networking Professional 5%
    MCITP Pathway
    c|EH
  • UniqueAgEnTUniqueAgEnT Member Posts: 102
    Help Desk intern
    Database intern
    Database developer
    Business Intelligence developer
    Database Admin
    Sr DBA
  • shodownshodown Member Posts: 2,271
    Information systems Technician first class(E-6)
    Support Engineer 1
    Network administrator 4
    Network Engineer
    Senior UC support Engineer
    Senior Voice Engineer
    Currently Reading

    CUCM SRND 9x/10, UCCX SRND 10x, QOS SRND, SIP Trunking Guide, anything contact center related
  • d4nz1gd4nz1g Member Posts: 464
    Mine was:
    Tech Internship (about 6 months)
    Trainee Analyst (9 months)
    Support Analyst (1 year)
    Network Admin (6 months)
    Network Analyst (1.2 years)
    Connectivity Specialist (current)
  • philz1982philz1982 Member Posts: 978
    Military weapons specialist (5)
    Building Automation System programmer (6 mth)
    BAS controls installer (1.5)
    BAS controls lead service tech (2)
    Operations manager (2)
    NA Saas analytics sales engineer (2)
    Manager of integrations and alliances for north america. (Current 6mth)
  • broli720broli720 Member Posts: 394 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Local Consultant in my area (Networking) - 1 year
    Undergraduate research (Mechanical Engineering) - 1 year
    IT internship (first taste of governance work) - 10 months
    IT Associate (Server/Network Admin) - 1 year
    Cybersecurity Lead (Mix of networking and IA) - 2 years (Current)

    I'm still relatively new (25 years old) and the last three jobs have all been with the same company. I'm hoping for a new role this year to keep things fresh.
  • pevangelpevangel Member Posts: 342
    JOAT (1.5 years)
    NOC (8 months)
    Network Engineer (1 year)

    My supervisor has started talking to me about working on SECaaS so Network Security Engineer might be coming soon. :D
  • UnixGuyUnixGuy Mod Posts: 4,570 Mod
    JoJoCal19 wrote: »
    My career path has been:

    ....

    .

    I like your career path, and I think it's a smart choice. I think InfoSec management and staying AWAY from the technical side of things might be the smart thing to do. I might do the same soon-ish :)
    Certs: GSTRT, GPEN, GCFA, CISM, CRISC, RHCE

    Learn GRC! GRC Mastery : https://grcmastery.com 

  • UnixGuyUnixGuy Mod Posts: 4,570 Mod
    Unix/Servers/Storage support/implementation =~ 3 .8 yrs
    Unix Admin = 2.7 yrs
    Linux Admin = 1 yr.
    Certs: GSTRT, GPEN, GCFA, CISM, CRISC, RHCE

    Learn GRC! GRC Mastery : https://grcmastery.com 

  • martell1000martell1000 Member Posts: 389
    network technician
    community management
    real estate
    network engineer
    And then, I started a blog ...
  • the_Grinchthe_Grinch Member Posts: 4,165 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Law Enforcement
    IT Analyst
    NOC/Helpdesk Technician
    Support Tech
    Network Administrator <----Current and here I work investigations, do system administration, IT security audits, and pretty much 9000 other things

    I'm overall pretty happy with my path thus far. I was hoping to me a little more specialized and I do miss some aspects of law enforcement. But my current position has me doing the investigation side I was missing with the IT side of things which I wanted so overall I am pretty happy. I suspect I'll be moving to an Investigator spot at some point where I am currently working.
    WIP:
    PHP
    Kotlin
    Intro to Discrete Math
    Programming Languages
    Work stuff
  • BaroneBarone Member Posts: 36 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Hardware Technician (2 years)
    Information Technology Assistant (4 years)
    Network/Systems Administrator (3 years) ---> Effectively a 2IC role; passed over for promotion.
    ICT Communications Officer (1 year) ----> Further reduction in responsibility, removed from project opportunities cause I'm too good at Tier 2.
    Service Desk Operator (2.5 years)
    > Entire department outsourced due to bad management.
    ICT Consultant (3 months and counting)
    > Glorified Service Desk Operator.

    With hindsight I should not stayed with the company so long (14.5 years), I got passed over for promotion three times, had lateral department moves blocked on several occasions, got removed from any project opportunities because I didn't get on with the Systems Administrator who got my "supposed" promotion. Got outsourced, got picked up by new mob, the tier 1 guy got promoted over me in our initial interviews....icon_sad.gif

    So you know, six months in I'll be sorting my stuff out and looking for another job. Long term, I'll study until I've got a degree in Human Resources or something to do with Business management. I love working in ICT but the complete lack of promotions, development opportunities and any form of appreciation has really demorilized me with the whole "IT career path".
  • jibbajabbajibbajabba Member Posts: 4,317 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Degree in Electronics Engineering
    Electronics Engineer for Public Transport in Germany
    Driving Bus / Lorry (Electric stuff got outsourced)
    Sys Admin (doing computer stuff)
    >>Moved to Ireland
    Tech Support in some big tech companies (Xerox / Symantec / HP)
    >>Moved to Gibraltar
    Infrastructure Guy in 888.com
    >>Moved to England
    Senior IT monkey in several MSPs and large finance companies ..

    LinkedIn
    My own knowledge base made public: http://open902.com :p
  • KragsterKragster Member Posts: 44 ■■□□□□□□□□
    desktop tech
    3rd shift help desk
    help desk team lead
    help desk
    sys admin 1 (desktop support/server admin, tiny bit of networking)
    sys admin 2 (server/network admin)
    network admin (network/server admin, some joat)
    Current - Network Analyst 3 (network/some high level server)
    next - ??? I have no idea, debating towards security or moving into management, or saying to heck with it and working at a bar on a beach somewhere
  • nathandrakenathandrake Member Posts: 69 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Help Desk level 1
    Help Desk level 2
    Associate Desktop Tech
    Desktop Tech
    Senior Desktop Tech

    All at the same company. Really looking to get into the security field, but probably going to have to change companies for that to happen. I've been here 13 years, so kind of scared to leave since I've been here so long.
  • 65026502 Member Posts: 41 ■■□□□□□□□□
    nathandrake,

    Take a chance and find something new. 13 years is a looong time to be at the same place.
  • Master Of PuppetsMaster Of Puppets Member Posts: 1,210
    Network security + administration(5 months)
    Network security(1 year)

    Next will probably be something more on the offensive side.
    Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for.
  • NinjaBoyNinjaBoy Member Posts: 968
    For me it has been:

    IT Tech (rolling rota of helpdesk, workshop & field service) -> Senior IT Tech -> IT Manager

    Not sure which direction to go to next on my next position... Upper management or more technical...

    -Ken
  • JackaceJackace Member Posts: 335
    My 6+ year career outline is below:

    Network Technician: Basically a standard windows domain admin. Lots of desktop support and AD management.
    Operations Technician: Inch deep and a mile wide. Touched Mainframe, AS400, Data Center Network, Compellent Storage Arrays, VMware, UNIX servers, Linux servers and Windows servers. Basically anything that you could find in a Data Center I was allowed to touch and work with, but only in a limited fashion for most of it.
    Provisioning Analyst: Basically a net admin for a service provider.
    Network Engineer: Building and Designing Networks.
  • puertorico1985puertorico1985 Member Posts: 205
    I've been in IT for about 6 years, and below is the different roles I have had:

    Helpdesk: 9 months
    Instructor: 10 months
    JOAT for a small company: 3 months
    Back to my original Helpdesk job: 2 years
    Network/Sys Admin: 2 years
    NetSec: 1 month

    I received my net/sys admin job right before obtaining my BS degree, and recently started a new job and I am 5 months away from my MS degree. I believe that having my degrees (or being close to the finish line) is what has helped me achieve these new positions.
  • VikingWarlordVikingWarlord Member Posts: 27 ■■■□□□□□□□
    I screwed mine up and had to start pretty much completely over to get back to general IT.

    IT intern (1 semester)
    ISP support (1 year)
    Telecom engineering (3 years, job sucked, got laid off)
    On-site repair (1.5 years)
    Medical software support (4+ years, quit to move to another state for my wife's job)

    Now I'm trying to go back to a general helpdesk and it's a ***** getting back in. The up side is that I'm in the DC area, which is ripe with openings.
  • kohr-ahkohr-ah Member Posts: 1,277
    Helpdesk (1 yr)- JOAT (1.5 yrs) - Network Engineer/NOC Supervisor (1 yr) - Systems Support Engineer Engineer (0.5 yrs) (All same MSP)
    Network Engineer (3 months - Company relocated and was doing layoffs told me to go find work. That sucked)
    Network Engineer (7 months now)


    I really enjoy networking and would to get into security or virtualization. Some reason though I seem to keep ending up working at places where my team mates are great but some body gets promoted to management and then shortly after all my teammates start to quit because the new manager is terrible and I am stuck there for a while so it wont hurt my resume
  • RomBUSRomBUS Member Posts: 699 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Field Technician/Jr. Network Admin/JOAT (1 year and a half)---> Helpdesk for MSP(8 mos.) --> Network Admin (bit of a glorified title...its like a JOAT Sys Admin gig) (past 2.5 yrs)

    Skipped over a few positions because they were temporary but mostly end user support positions/desktop specialist

    I am curious to those that posted they went from desktop side of things to getting into the security side
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