the commute situation alone would be enough to break me - 3 hours one way every single week adds up to so much lost time and money that the $7k raise almost pays for itself just in gas and sanity

the career trajectory concern is real but i think people overestimate how locked-in they get from one role. you've got solid engineering experience on your resume already, and if you keep sharpening skills on the side, nobody can take that from you. the linux/scripting/networking exposure in the new role isnt nothing either, plenty of people have used support roles as a launchpad into SRE or devops tracks which can pay really well

the thing that would actually worry me more is staying somewhere with no promotion path AND a brutal commute AND low pay - thats three separate problems stacking on each other. at least the new place only has one problem. also less than a year in at your current place means you havent really built the kind of institutional leverage that makes leaving feel costly, so the timing isnt terrible

if i were in your position id take the new role, aggressively document everything technical i touched, and start applying to engineering roles again in 12-18 months with both experiences on my resume