Think back to when you started your career: Are you where you thought you'd be?

In December, I will be working in IT for 4 years. Back then, I was a help desk technician at a decent sized company. It made me think of all the trials and tribulations over the past 4 years. I started thinking about where I'd been, and where I'd like to be.
I just accepted a job at a Network Administrator for a global manufacturing firm, I wouldn't say it's my dream job but as far as my career goes I personally feel I'm on target for what I want. However, I didn't think I'd be living in Southern CT!

So, are you where you thought you would be?

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Everyone

I'm still working in IT, so I guess yes, I am where I thought I would be.

12 years ago when I started, I didn't put any thought into where my career was going to be or go in the future. I just knew I liked working in IT. I think 2 years into my career, when I decided to join the Air Force, was the 1st time I really thought about where I would be. Back then I saw myself doing 20 years of Active Duty and retiring as at least a Master Sergeant at age 39. That didn't really work out.

cyberguypr

I also have 12 years experience under my belt. I always said I wanted to study architecture but since computers were my real passion that's the path I took. Started doing desk side support at a Fortune 500 and never looked back. Ended up trading the warmth of a Caribbean island for the harsh Chicago winters. Never thought I would end up here but it has been very rewarding. Always keep your options open. You never know what may cross paths with you.

it_consultant

I am still waiting for professional photographer to pan out for me.

Dakinggamer87

I've been in IT for over 5+ years and I feel I'm at the level I need to be at. I started out as a PC Technician and now I currently work in a Systems/Network Administrator engineer role.

MAC_Addy

I have about 7 years experience now. I started off, just like everyone else in help desk. I wanted to be a Systems Administrator/Network Administrator so bad! I had a couple of roles where I was still help desk, but I had the ability to do sys admin stuff, just didn't have the title.

Now I'm an IT Manager for a large oil & gas company. I kinda skipped out on the sys admin roles. I just got very lucky for being in the right place and the right time.

Turgon

yes. Im top dog. Working hard and enjoying it.

QHalo

12 years experience, not where I want to be yet but boy it's hard to move when they pay so well. I'm still making moves internally to set myself up with the right people to get where I want to go though.

wweboy

6 years in I'm still working as help desk but I have a good feeling for the company I work for. Unlike past jobs the company I work for promotes from within and encourages career advancement internally. I'm not where i want to be but I'm happy where I am.

Essendon

About 5 years in, went from ISP tech support to Systems Engineer, increased my salary 2.5 times. Honestly, I had no idea where I'd be in 5 years when I first started. But I think I havent done too bad these years.

Bl8ckr0uter

Not yet although I am very close. I am in my fifth year of IT work. I told myself by year 7 I want to be at the 100k mark. Not quite there but close. I still need to make a few moves to close in on it. Maybe a CCIE AND/OR start my own business...

As far as job title I guess I am. 3 years ago I wanted to be a network engineer. I now am one by title and by trade although I find out everyday that I don't know nearly as much about networking as I thought. So in some ways no but some ways yet. Hopefully in a few months with some intense study and some cert grabbing I will feel a little better.

unclerico

I'm in year 9. Started out doing PC builds and level 1 support at 3M corporate. I'm now Sr. Network Engineer at a great company. I think the only thing I do know even at this point is what I don't want to be doing. I'll do IT for as long as I can and then I'll open my own martial arts school and do what I truly love...

SteveLord

5 years here as well. Liking where I am at in terms of benefits, budget, technology and future growth. Started out in a place that was complete opposite.

Slowhand

I'm not quite as far as I thought I'd be in one respect, but much further along in another.

I left high school a year early back in 2000, hoping to get a leg-up on college and start on the path to getting a graduate degree. Unfortunately, circumstances in my private forced me to work full-time and had left me a little burnt out by late 2001, and I ended up drifting off the academic path and eventually came to work in IT in mid-2004. Now I'm back in school ten years later, getting ready to transfer in about a year or so. I'm going to be a decade older than I expected to be when I take that PhD. However, the other side of the coin is that I've had the chance to work in a field I discovered that I enjoy a great deal. I've made pretty good money and I'm in a good position to continue working my way through school part-time, and that's a much brighter prospect for me than serving coffee or flipping burgers full-time while trying to get through high-level engineering and physics courses.

IT's been good to me, and I while it would have been nice to get through school earlier, I couldn't have asked for a better "accidental career". I enjoy the work, and I feel pretty good about having a little bit of a safety-net in the career I've had so far as I plunge back into academia. At best, I'll end up doing research after college is done and fulfill a long-time desire of being a proper scientist/engineer. At worst, I'll find myself back in IT working with the likes of you lunatics. What more could I want out of life?

CiscoKidd

When I think back to when I was in college, I never thought I'd work in IT. My BS is in Engineering Physics and I wanted to design roller coasters. I realized when I finished school how hard it was to get into the roller coaster design field so I got a job working as a tech support rep for a software company.

Now 7 yrs later, I am a Network Engineer for a nice company, I make good money, went back and got my MS in Information Assurance and I haven't look at roller coasters since. I really enjoy what I do, I just never thought my hobby of building computers in college would have turned into a career for me.

My next step is I would like to get more into the security side of networking but for now, I am doing well and continuing to learn.

powerfool

I am just at 12 years... and trying to remember back... I don't think I really had any expectations of where I wanted to be. If I did, I would have busted my hump during the first year of my career going to school when I had unlimited tuition reimbursement until waiting for the last recession to kick me in the rear. I couldn't manage going to one class a semester then, for some reason... fast forward 3.5 years and I was going full-time in the evenings. That is when I realized my direction. I feel like I have made good progress towards my long-term goals... and whenever I have set a salary objective for myself, I have either hit it as expected or let my performance compel folks to give me out of cycle raises (I have had three in my career, thus far, totaling $17k).

I guess right now, I want to get my primary salary above my original moving goal... the social security cap. Then, I want to finish up this grad school crap for the time being and start adjunct teaching one class per semester. I also want to start making significant money on the side. I had been really bad about that aspect of my career as it has always been something that I wanted to do.... have a few decent long-term clients from which I get a decent side income. Actually, that has been one of my goals for the past six years and I just haven't made it happen.... I guess that is one of my greatest personal failures... I come up with tons of ideas to do side work and they just don't happen. That really needs to be my new primary goal. I would like to supplement my current income with side income of X%.... I am thinking minimum of 25% and a stretch goal of 50%.

instant000

No, I am not where I wanted to be at this time. However, with much joy I can report that with the new plan I have been ACTING UPON, I will be further ahead in a couple years than I ever imagined ... and this is through hard work and effort, not luck. “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." -- Thomas Jefferson

I think it was around this time last year I realized that I didn't have any sort of plan, and hadn't progressed to where I wanted to be. Around that time, I decided to get serious, and do something better for myself.

Since that time, I've increased my salary by 25% (Just by having a true plan AND acting upon that plan .... and to be honest, I've not even done everything I had planned for, but I'm working on it, and the effort is truly paying off.)

I'm not saying having these goals of where you want to be in 5 years, and not actually doing anything to achieve them, as I'd done that before. I told my boss that I wanted his job in 5 years, while doing not much of anything to go through on that plan ... what a poor sap I was.

Many of you have played video games before, and know that it takes increasing effort, to progress in levels.

This same concept works in your own life:

current level + effort = future level.

Usually, the current situation is facing some outside interference (which is totally realistic), you could be worse off down the line:

current level + effort - regression = future level

There's no way around that simple logic! How is your career balancing up against this equation?

I mean, seriously sitting down with yourself, and going over where you stand today, from the perspective of these things:
1 - experience
2 - skills
3 - education
4 - income
5 - fulfillment

Then, making plans to work on these areas.

Experience - Look at what experience you actually have. So, you want to progress to leading projects and running budgets, what are you doing today to prepare yourself for that role in the future? If all you're doing is imaging desktops, and not making suggestions and running with projects to get things done .... what is that good for? If you don't have a clear idea of what experience you need, then look at Linked In profiles or resumes of people who are in the position you want to be in. Sure, you can't cookie cutter them, but most show some type of progression in increasing responsibility. Make sure that you're looking for the same.

Skills - Take a skills inventory. Don't say you have troubleshooting skills, if you honestly only have troubleshooting experience. There is a difference -- if you haven't actually taken the care to have a particular troubleshooting method, and/or researched a method of troubleshooting (such as Kepner-Tregoe). This can have a profound influence on your success in just one skill. Do this for others. (Some people discredit ITIL, but I first heard of this method by looking through ITIL material ... it's a lot better, once you get past the foundation level. Not likely to certify in the stuff beyond foundation level, but it is helpful... especially when you're in an organization that wants to say it's using "best practice".)

Education - Some people think of it as an HR check-box. To some extent, it is. However, for your own personal good, look at how vastly people discount education, then consider this: In grade 8, you're doing Algebra. Four years later, you're doing Calculus. This is just high school -- do you seriously think you can't gain deeper insights in your field by continuing your education? You can gain a deeper appreciation for the fundamentals, and realize where you have so much more to learn, if you gain further education in your field. No matter how you slice it, there is a difference between googling a topic to get a "buzz" for it, versus studying it, and really knowing what it's about. Once you get to a certain level, you'll be self-teaching yourself more and more.

Income - You gotta eat. Also, some people choose this as a measure of success. If it's not rising, then you might feel that you're not improving. Or, you feel that you're more valuable than what you're currently paid. If that's the case, you have to make sure that you're working on the top 3, to push yourself to the level you need to be at. Honestly speaking, maybe you're not that valuable in your current role. Maybe you have skills, experience, and education fitting a higher role, and maybe you should be seeking that higher role. As an example, If I was working on helpdesk, I can't expect to get paid much there, and have to make a move to improve.

Fulfillment - This doesn't necessarily come from your job, it comes from the interactions you have with others, often outside your job, and in your daily living. In my case, I've found that I have been able to give more, which is really important to me, and brings personal fulfillment. It's not necessarily giving money, but it can also be time, advice, or help. This saying is true for me: "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also". -- Jesus

Hope this helps!

P.S.: I know that Phil Rosenberg gets derided to no end on the dice forums, and I can't help but feel this posting seems like something he'd write. Please keep your tomatoes and cream pies to yourself, thanks!

jmritenour

No, but that's only because I got into this straight out of high school, with the young, dumb, notion that I would be a millionaire in a matter of years. This was before the dot com bust, before paper techs flooded the industry and devalued all the big certs. I was actually working on my MCSE in NT4 at one point, but gave up on it when I realized I wasn't automatically get a six figure job from having it.

That said, I'm quite happy with where I am. I have a job with an awesome company that I truly feel values me and my contributions. That counts for a LOT - I'd much rather be respected than liked.

Turgon

jmritenour wrote: »

No, but that's only because I got into this straight out of high school, with the young, dumb, notion that I would be a millionaire in a matter of years. This was before the dot com bust, before paper techs flooded the industry and devalued all the big certs. I was actually working on my MCSE in NT4 at one point, but gave up on it when I realized I wasn't automatically get a six figure job from having it.

That said, I'm quite happy with where I am. I have a job with an awesome company that I truly feel values me and my contributions. That counts for a LOT - I'd much rather be respected than liked.

That's strange. I finished my MCSE in NT 4.0 and never expected a 6 figure salary by doing so at the time..1999. Did you get carried away with the hype?

jmritenour

Turgon wrote: »

That's strange. I finished my MCSE in NT 4.0 and never expected a 6 figure salary by doing so at the time..1999. Did you get carried away with the hype?

Not entirely. I live in the DC Metro area, and in the late 90s, a 6 figure salary was easily attainable for a MCSE through the mid-late 90s with all the government contractors around here.

powerfool

jmritenour wrote: »

Not entirely. I live in the DC Metro area, and in the late 90s, a 6 figure salary was easily attainable for a MCSE through the mid-late 90s with all the government contractors around here.

It's not far off from that today, either.

blargoe

I had no idea where I wanted to be when I started out, other than I thought I wanted to be in IT.

jayc71

When I started in IT as a 3C0x1 (computer comm operator) in the USAF in '97, I really had no idea where I wanted to be by 2011. I knew I liked electronics and computers more than dealing with people, that was about it. I took to it and did very well in tech training, was always one of the 'go-to' computer guys in my dorm whenever someone had a problem or couldn't get a 3DFX Voodoo driver to work for Quake (who remembers that??), which in USAF comm geek dorms is a coveted position... a geek among geeks... lol. I positioned myself to get a great sys admin role in a DC-area location with a very large budget in the early 2000's, so I had direct 'call me anytime' access to MS experts in any technology that we decided we were interested in. That was a HUGE learning experience, when we had a problem we could literally get the guy who wrote the code on the phone. We also beta tested ADFS before 2003 R2 came out, I still have a plaque with a gold 2003 R2 disk for that in a box somewhere. I left the USAF in '06, the company I joined was in the midst of a huge multi-national AD migration/consolidation and server consolidation to VMware. From there I took over as the VMware SME after the guy who was teaching me the ropes left, talk about trial by fire. It all worked out, I've been a Tier III VMware SME/AD Engineer/Integration Engineer every since.

So in short, I had no idea where I wanted to end up when I started. The technologies I specialize in had not been invented yet. I am sure that will hold true for the next 13 years, the IT field is constantly evolving and you have to be someone who can continually learn new things or you will be left behind. I'm making more now than I ever have, so I guess financially I am where I had hoped to be, but you can't use that as a measure of success in IT IMO.

jmritenour

powerfool wrote: »

It's not far off from that today, either.

Very true, but it's harder to hit that range without a security clearance, and that's harder to obtain now. It used to be the big players like LM, Boeing, etc were willing to sponsor & clear a strong job candidate. These days, there are so many candidates with existing clearances, they have no need/desire to throw the resources at sponsoring a new clearance.

powerfool

jmritenour wrote: »

Very true, but it's harder to hit that range without a security clearance, and that's harder to obtain now. It used to be the big players like LM, Boeing, etc were willing to sponsor & clear a strong job candidate. These days, there are so many candidates with existing clearances, they have no need/desire to throw the resources at sponsoring a new clearance.

We have been sponsoring folks for clearances, but we have very few in the area and no one wants to move here.

SteveO86

I suppose I am.. I've always had a few goals for myself career even when I started in IT and while I was still in school working on my degree.. I've been designing and designing networks for a few years now and I now I get to travel and work with people around the US and the rest of the world. Next thing I want to do/be is be in that expert/architect type roll with my CCIE but that is going to take more time and work.. All in time I suppose.

JDMurray

I am expecting to know what my optimal career path was five minutes after I am dead--or maybe just a few seconds before.

duckduckduck

JDMurray wrote: »

I am expecting to know what my optimal career path was five minutes after I am dead--or maybe just a few seconds before.

Haha, that sounds about right.

Considering my skill set of sitting on my ass all day and staring at a screen it was either this or truck driving.

thetrillionaire

I started mt IT Career in the navy in 2007 when I was promoted to IT3 (I did my first 1 1/2 year in deck). I got out in 2009 as an IT2(SW) with the goal of becoming a Systems Administrator pulling down 100K by the time I was 30 was 24 at the time, I first started out as a NOC/Helpdesk Technician at a Army intelligence agency. I got bit by the network bug an switched my focus to become a network engineer. I am currently a SR Network Engineer at a 3 letter agency pulling down 100k and I get to play with some of the coolest platforms vendors have to offer.

tearofs

Great, u guys are all old dogs...

2 years in IT here, working for a Cisco partner, getting my CCIE either next year or 2013, then prob quit IT and come here start trolling all non-CCIEer lol.

UnixGuy

powerfool wrote: »

...
I guess right now, I want to get my primary salary above my original moving goal... the social security cap. Then, I want to finish up this grad school crap for the time being and start adjunct teaching one class per semester. .....

How do you plan to start teaching while working full time ? teach evening classes?

I wanted to be an expert, and I'm still not that expert I wanted to be, so No, not yet.