How To Move Up The It Ladder: From Help Desk Support To Systems Engineers

Information technology is one of the most rewarding and challenging professional areas in the world today. It is one of the only career areas that changes almost every day, and you must keep up with the latest trends to stay current and relevant. It's been 20 years in the IT racing field and at least it has been a great experience. What I'm experiencing at work now is not just the technology I was using when I started 20 years ago. Everyone must start somewhere. I've experienced the ups and downs of climbing an IT ladder, so I'd like to share some tips with you. My hope is that I can feel good about starting my IT career, or understand what I need to keep climbing and succeed.

You Have To Start Somewhere

The old sage once told me that the 10,000-mile journey begins in one step ... Well, nobody really told me, but it's good to think about approaching an IT career. It is a saying How do you take the first step? Let's focus on some different tasks you can do to get your IT career off to a good start.

Bottom Of The Ladder: Help Desk Technician

The help desk service technicians are the first place for almost anyone having trouble with IT assets, printers, laptops, desktops, desktops, email, passwords, printers, and printers. Most organizations open a help desk ticket from the web interface or call the help desk when they have an IT problem. As a help desk technician, he is on the other side of the ticket and answers the phone. Just like the first responder in an emergency (hey, the email is urgent!), The help desk technician is in charge of solving the problem. In the event of a password reset, a technician can do it. If the problem requires the user to have a copy of the Exchange .pst file, submit a ticket to the Exchange management queue. You are a traffic cop, keep things moving and fix the smallest things possible.

Disclaimer, this job generally doesn't work very well. But if you are just starting out, this is the job you want. If you pay attention to what is happening around you and ask many questions, you will learn. This is also a job that can cause downtime. When used productively, it's a great opportunity to learn about certifications or read things you don't understand. This was exactly what I did 20 years ago and it helped me take the next step. Don't think of it as a dead end. It is like a springboard.

Middle Of The Ladder: System Administrator / Network Administrator

After spending time as a help desk technician and earning good entry-level grades, you can expect to continue working as a network or system administrator. System administrators are not as likely to answer the phone as help desk technicians. System administrators must know how to install, configure, and manage operating systems from the server level to the desktop level. You can start to gain data center experience with virtualization technology and various storage technologies. From here, you can create a niche for a particular software or technology, and then grow the rest of your career. For me, this is where I learned VMware and it took me only to the beginning. It can be your intriguing network or storage. If you find something, take it and learn everything you can.

Understand what technology your organization uses and find mentors who can attend architecture and design meetings. We will take lots of notes and do our best to gain a professional understanding of how and why an organization built its infrastructure. The time you spend as a systems or network administrator is where you get most of your IT knowledge and experience, helping you move into more technically challenging roles later in your career. Expect to spend an important part of your career in system administration, start as a junior system administrator, and reach out to senior management before continuing.

Top Of The Ladder: Systems Architect, Design Expert

     

That is all. You have reached the top To reach the top of the ladder, you must be a top executive, board member, independent consultant, analyst, or vice president. Some people have worked for 30 years and have not reached the figurative "top of the ladder". It is not a reflection of the quality of your work or career. I firmly believe that you can become a senior systems engineer until you are ready to retire and be completely happy. Becoming a systems architect or design expert is not for everyone. You must fully understand all aspects of your business infrastructure (network, storage, virtualization, operating system, security) to design or design a solution that meets your needs. This is not an easy process, but with many years of experience and a lot of knowledge, you can get there.

Getting here requires a lot of hands-on experience with successful and unsuccessful implementations. No architect has dealt with professional mistakes or errors. At this level, you are an influencer, a trusted advisor, and a liaison between the decision maker and the manager / engineer who delivers the design. At some point in your career, you are an administrator and help the team understand how to implement the design.