career path... the future of IT... i want money! What should I do?

kevkevndkevin

Hi guys, wanted to get some input from everybody about what I should do.

Background: I currently work in cloud computing doing data protection and recovery as a service for a service provider. I've been here about 2 years and this is my first real IT job.. I was able to learn a ton, from systems administration to sql/databases to networking which I found to be great. As a Backup Admin, I dealt with different customers/environments each day which really allowed me to learn fast. Unfortunately, the cloud services part of the company isn't doing well and they are closing down and moving people out to different parts of the company.

My choices are to continue doing operations work in a production environment doing internal IT support for the company (primarily AD work.. i think learning here will be real slow) OR I can move to a Pre-Sales / Sales Engineer role for IaaS (AWS, Google, HP Cloud) or Data Protection/Security (Symantec, EMC, McAfee).

I'm not sure which path to take... ultimately I want to end up being an architect because I hear where that's the money is. Everyone that I have spoken to has said that doing operations/strictly technical work is not where you want to be. They say there's limited money in that field unless you are the absolute best at what you do. They say customer facing roles combined with technical exp is where you want to aim for.

The thing is, I have a very limited amount of technical / hands on experience in a production environment so I'm not sure if I should try and get more.... or move to a pre-sales engineering role right now. Either way, I am excited to learn but I want to make sure I have a solid foundation to build upon for the future.

Thoughts?

networker050184

There is money in all of these areas for sure so I guess it really depends on how much you want to make.

Anything working in sales organizations usually have the biggest potential for money out of the three due to commissions. Also usually more demand to deliver as well so it's a give and take.

The internal IT support is definitely the most limited in earnings of the bunch.

Tom Servo

The job I took now I took for the money. That was a mistake. I would be willing to take a fairly substantial pay cut to be doing hands on pen test and security work. Instead I'm doing pure IT audit. Light on the IT. Focus on finding what you enjoy. You'll kick ass at it because you are interested, and you'll get good enough to make good money.

datacomboss

Go for the money, save and start your own firm doing what you love.

Tom Servo

datacomboss wrote: »

Go for the money, save and start your own firm doing what you love.

Many people won't have the time/ability to learn what they love and become expert enough to start their own firm if they don't spend a few years doing the work for someone else.

N2IT

Specialize in one thing and hope for the best. More risk more reward just saying. With that said IMO and it's just that I would learn scripting in Powershell or some other language. Lots of potential if you can own that domain.

ILUVIT

Find your niche, something you love. You will be successful at anything you have your heart in, the money will follow. Following the money does not always lead to happiness in my experience.

ande0255

I'm a bit biased on my view, but experienced network engineers who are like go to guys garner a majority of respect, and I'd imagine money as well. Especially if you get into deployments / pre-sales engineering, that's a very well paying job.

mochaaddict

Data Protection/Security would be my suggestion if its something you find interesting. It is a growing market sector that has a shortage of qualified professionals.