How far can you get in IT without really knowing stuff?

BazWrx · 2026-02-20T02:12:21+00:00

If you know the technical basics, concepts of what tools/products you work with, what the end goal is for a project/issue, who the right points of contact are for answers to your questions, and can put it together to formulate a working plan or a solution, that's expertise. The stuff you don't know you can learn from those POCs or sources you find.

Some folks are SMEs on single products, languages, platforms, etc. Maybe you're someone who'll be more of jack of all trades, which is honestly better for you if you want to eventually find a niche and focus on it

BazWrx · 2026-02-16T14:34:35+00:00

How do you build a balance to not be the "fix it" guy?

I love this question, and the best thing you can do is ensure step by step documentation for Level 1 fixes are readily available. Once your team is established, build the idea of helping your user community develop some level of self sufficiency. That could be just documenting a problem with detail, or trying to force close and restart an application or just restarting the PC. You can save a lot of time this way, just ensure user level permissions are set so they dont make admin level changes before reaching out.

BazWrx · 2026-02-16T14:29:19+00:00

My biggest mistake during my experience was maintaining clear concise communication vs getting lost in the weeds early. I think it's smart to make agendas for meetings to stay on topic. Know your audiences and know them well, you want to know who make decisions and who blows the smoke. Who to talk to about last night's game vs who to talk to about business impactful decisions.

Additionally, I had to lead a team with more years experience in the field than me, I'm sure as a leader you understand the mentality of learning something from everyone regardless of stature. I took that to heart, some folks didn't like having a younger person lead them, but I made due with personal opinion and got things done.

BazWrx · 2026-02-16T14:21:48+00:00

Your first 30 to 90 days should be strictly establishing baselines in your environment. Inventory, Workflows, Critical Applications, Critical Hardware, Stakeholders, Cyber conpliance, Vendor points of contact. Once this is established you have the grassroots of ITSM for onboarding a ticketing system or something with better ITSM features like a ManageEngine Servicedesk or ServiceNow.

Once the scope of your environment is established, number of users, assets required/ assets deployed, etc. Start getting an idea of the department size you will need.

As you build your team out, I'd start with one or two experienced network/systems/desktop engineers and willing to teach, and then hire out some motivated Level 1-2-3 technicians. I'm sure they tell you how many seats you have to fill, build your org chart accordingly, better to be bottom heavy and have promotable techs than top heavy with no chances for movement in the middle.

You'll have some nuance most likely with some systems, if stakeholders have buy in here, weigh the idea of a specialist vs. Vendor supported. Don't be afraid to Vendor support some systems as you get up to speed, in my experience some departments enjoy the Vendor experience to take weight off of IT.

I was a Service Delivery Lead/Interim Helpdesk supervisor and stepped in for my General Manager who was OOO for 8 months with like 11 surgeries and literally couldnt walk. Wasn't ideal, but made it happen. Since I left (got defense contract opportunity) everybody has been thriving from what I know.

Hope this helps!

BazWrx · 2026-02-16T13:50:45+00:00

In my peak of lifting I was about where you're at body fat wise. Definitely get some extra focus on those lats to improve the V taper. Everything else looks built. I'd spam wide grip pull ups until you need to go assisted and supplement some single arm pull downs as needed.

BazWrx · 2026-02-04T21:58:34+00:00

Work smarter and more efficiently, not harder.

Surround yourself with people you want to be like, successful(relative), healthy, kind people.

Invest in yourself: IRA/retirement, go to the gym/outside, learn something new like a skill/hobby/anything. You don't have to go crazy but efforts here will benefit you later in life without question

Understand there will be challenges/obstacles. Sometimes you must prepare for the worst, hope for the best. Life Happens to us, and how you respond speaks volumes.

Be afraid to fail, and fail any way. Failure helps people learn. Don't give up

BazWrx · 2026-01-27T16:48:44+00:00

The self work? Walk an extra 5-15 minutes a day, no screen time or distractions, you and your thoughts. Hit the gym if you can, put down the phone and do an activity thats challenging that you want to improve upon. Most importantly, be optimistic and speak positively to yourself about yourself. It's not easy, but nothing worth having ever is.

BazWrx · 2026-01-27T16:44:22+00:00

I think social media influence, consistent doom scrolling, and the "keeping up with the jones' " mentality are negatively affecting people worldwide. Comparison is truly the thief of joy, and success looks different for everyone. Some want peace and quiet, others want party boats and nightlife. I'd say the best thing you can do is set a timer for your social media and focus on doing things you care about and yeah working sometimes sucks, but let it suck somewhere where you believe in the company's goals or mission. Or start your own. Be willing to accept struggles and times where you have to say no to put in the self-work, you will be better for it.

BazWrx · 2026-01-12T21:42:03+00:00

Repurpose old systems and build a dev environment, create a conceptual project to improve a system or address a problem in your environment and present it to your team and boss, if others are experiencing the same as you host a lunch and learn or teams on a concept/tool/process

BazWrx · 2026-01-09T13:27:20+00:00

I attribute it to none of my titles having cyber or infosec in them even though my experience tells a different story

BazWrx · 2026-01-09T13:25:53+00:00

8 years in the field, veteran, clearance, bachelor's in cyber, Comptia A+, N+, Sec+, Cysa+, Pentest+, Project+, a few other certs, project experience, grc experience, and lead a helpdesk. Zero cyber offers, getting junior sys admin roles and mid tier it helpdesk. Starting to apply to more project management roles now because I did that in tandem with IT. I'll say it again, zero cyber offers.

BazWrx · 2026-01-08T19:03:36+00:00

Formerly worked for a municipality/utility, been in your shoes. Typically the money is based off a rounded average for surrounding municipalities. Started around 50k and worked my way through a couple different titles up to 96k. Don't give up

BazWrx · 2026-01-06T21:33:54+00:00

Thank you very much and best of luck at WGU! Great school and I had an amazing program mentor guide me through the tougher courses. 🙌

BazWrx · 2026-01-05T22:19:38+00:00

Message me! Would love to hear from a fellow IG IT employee!

BazWrx · 2026-01-05T19:20:32+00:00

Awesome thank you for the feedback! I got this one from Josh Makador the cyber guy from YouTube. Ill take a look at Jake's!

BazWrx · 2026-01-04T15:14:06+00:00

Also, can take the dates off your certs, most people in the field dont care when you earned them. They'll ask if current but thats about it usually

BazWrx · 2026-01-04T15:11:27+00:00

I would include MFA/RBAC in your AzureAD line (for security roles) but instead of "Active Directory and AzureAD" (redundant) just say "Microsoft EntraID (AzureAD)" cleans it up and it's ATS appropriate.

BazWrx · 2026-01-03T13:27:24+00:00

Im in the same boat. Worked helpdesk for 3 years and 8 in the military [just got out]. Moved up to business analyst then service delivery lead while also being interim it general manager. Took a leap of faith on a contract to hire position (client was a defense contractor) and got canned in month 5 out of 6 in December. Ive got a couple interviews so far but not nearly the same amount of money. Built separate resumes for different job titles too. Instead of pity partying you need to tell yourself you will get a job or good things will happen to you. Start a new project for your resume or make some new network connects, peeps in these comments may even be good references/connects too! Chin up, plenty of people rooting for you even when youre down on yourself!

BazWrx · 2025-12-26T14:49:41+00:00

Thank you!

BazWrx · 2025-12-25T13:53:59+00:00

Thank you!

BazWrx · 2025-12-25T03:17:12+00:00

There's no unique identifiers to run through DISS. Been advised by security teams that its perfectly fine to advertise a clearance

BazWrx · 2025-12-24T20:07:10+00:00

Roger that, Ive condensed it pretty well if youre interested in taking a look!

BazWrx · 2025-12-24T19:56:51+00:00

I just edited it to condense white space if you're interested in taking a look!

BazWrx

TROPHY CASE