It's been a while since I've been up in here
to everyone that' been in here dropping knowledge. This thread is a life changer for real.
Whoever said “the further you advance in IT, the less work you have to do” was not lying.
I’m a network admin and 90% of my time is spent surfing the web and studying for certs. I can’t believe I get paid for this
Right now I’m trying finish up the second half of the CCNA data center certification before I start going deeper into Python and working on my CCNP R&S. There’s always something new to learn brehs
I loved this job, I was making $62k at the time, but not long after this post I landed a cushy govt job. It started at the same pay, but by the end of the year I was making over $100k.
I thought I had made it. Great pay and benefits, great work life balance and the work isn't very difficult. I was dead set on riding this into retirement. Two issues though:
1. Skill degradation: All the networking skill I attained while studying for the CCNA, have slowly eroded. My position doesn't require that knowledge at all. I've needed to login to a switch maybe a dozen times in the last four years.
2. Workplace inflexibility:
This is my main gripe. COVID blessed us with the rise of remote work, but my employer has been very slow to adapt to this new reality. I keep on seeing people talk about how great teleworking is, meanwhile I'm over here like
, that should be me.
So this leaves me at a bit of a crossroads. Ideally, my investments will launch me into early retirement around 2026, but if that doesn't happen, I'll need to make a decision about my career. If my employer doesn't wake up and get workplace flexible by then, I'll be testing the contracting waters to look for cleared jobs with remote options. They're rarer, but I know they're out there. I just read a post on reddit about how AWS is paying annual bonuses of $45k just for you to maintain your TS clearance...
I need that
It's gonna take a huge chunk of money to offset my current compensation package. I would need at least $150k, and that's probably still a paycut. Now I need to decide how I want to prepare myself to potentially re-enter the job market. I'm definitely going to recertify my CCNA and get better with Python automation, outside of that I'm not sure. Do I leverage my experience and pivot into cybersecurity? Get into Linux or Devops? I know cloud has gotten very popular with the govt, so I'll likely opt to get certified in AWS or Azure. I've been seeing quite a few jobs asking for either of those two.
The next few years will be interesting indeed...
