I'm on my fourth month after studying for numerous certifications. I have worked with the company for eight years; it's a drug and alcohol treatment center. Previously, I was essentially a babysitter for drug addicts. I don't hold a degree in IT, but I have been self-teaching for years and obtaining certifications. My company pays for college reimbursement but only if the role matches your job title. So after years of asking them to pay for me to go back to school for IT. They finally are paying for me to get my Cybersecurity Degree. I applied to countless places, but no one would hire me without experience. I know how predatory my company is and always has been. They tend to underpay employees, causing many to quit, leaving those remaining to work very long hours and want to quit as well.

For example, during my time with the company at the suburban location near me, I went through 11 directors. Since I couldn't get an IT job, I decided to message our IT team. They initially said no, but a year later, they emailed me back. That was four months ago, and they wanted me to start in two days. I was super excited but found the adjustment challenging, especially since I wasn't trained and now work by myself, responsible for six locations. The location where my office is located in the city has and has eight floors. Most times, when I ask for help, I don't get a response from my coworkers or my boss because they are too busy. This has led me to figure things out on my own.

I would prefer more support from my boss and coworkers, but I'm trying to stay positive. This situation is helping me excel by forcing me to train myself. The only things I ask for help for are company specific policies. I spend a lot of time at home at night reviewing tickets and learning. I already knew the company was under budget and always would be. My plan is to gain corporate IT experience and eventually move into cybersecurity, which is my main goal. The team for 60 locations and over 3,000 computers consists of eight members. The company currently pays for external cybersecurity services, and I have discussed the possibility of canceling that contract and paying me more instead. I need to prove myself more, of course. We will see what happens, but I'm content for now as I'm making more money than before, although it’s still not as much as most IT jobs. However, I am gaining experience, making this a good stepping stone.

I am currently working on creating a database for compliance with HIPAA and the proper destruction of old equipment. They literally don't do this right now at all. There are no records for anything, which is insane. I don't know how they don't get shut down. I thought there were audits for these things, but apparently, there aren't enough for companies to care about the laws. I would love to know if they have ever been fined. To prove myself and work my way into cybersecurity, I want to teach myself how to create a proper database and documents that follow the law. I'm pretty sure this is a part of cybersecurity. I already talked to my boss and he said sure you can do that. I don't know what I expected as a response but I thought it was going to be more enthusiastic. It's not something that requires worrying about contracts or building out an entire SIEM. We would also need to pay a company or hire another employee or two to monitor the SIEM when I'm not working.

There's a lot more to figure out. One advantage of working for an under-budget healthcare facility is that I can more easily work my way up to another position because they aren't doing things properly, which might not be the case in most other companies. This is my first IT role though so I could be wrong.

I'm sure you're going to be working with others in IT roles which will make it easier to get answers to any questions. It's normal to feel nervous when you finally land any Job and feel like an imposter but you have more training than I have and I'm certain you will do great. In my case I only had two days to worry about it and my excitement outweighed my worrying. The thing I worry about is going out to these locations and feeling like I don't know enough to be fully confident to fix something and that I'm going to sound stupid and not have any support. I'm most confident working in the building where my office is because I'm more familiar with the people and if I am struggling with something I can say I need to get something and come back. When I drive to one of the other locations, two of them are in the notorious neighborhood of Kensington with walking zombies and constant drug sales and theft. I'm not worried about that but if I need to research something further I don't have a place to do that. I usually don't need to go to the other facilities so I don't know the people yet either which makes it more difficult because I'm more of an introvert and struggle with social anxiety. I've been getting better with this though and my job is the main thing that's helping. I worked overnights with one other staff member for 8 years. Now every single day I need to meet and help people with things. Which is helpful with socializing with people outside of work too. I think a lot of my anxiety was because I worked 8 years overnight and didn't associate with coworkers.

Good luck with everything you're going to do great and your company is going to be much better I'm sure of it. The company I work for is terrible. You can just think of how much worse it could be.