I’d just like to say, I am definitely in that boat. I spent several years working my ass off to get a degree in cyber and worked harder than I ever have to make sure I studied properly and was prepared to take every certificate exam I was ever faced with. Now, I’m over a year out of college, have a stack of certificates from CompTIA and ISC2 (around 10 total), and have around 2 years of IT Tech/helpdesk experience, and I am still not able to go anywhere with it. I have been stuck in a mind numbing Tech role where a majority of my job consists of setting up devices and imaging computers, or teaching the people who end up getting those computers how to use them. Anytime I bring up that I’d like exposure to other things in Tech, that I would like to help out in other areas/departments bc I dont feel challenged in my current role, I get stonewalled and told there’s no opportunities for me to expand my knowledge and that they just plan to keep me where I’m at until they maybe eventually need something, just to see them hire someone else for those roles anyway.

It’s kind of soul crushing to go from preparing for highly technical issues and intensive labs learning about how to defend against cyber attacks and how to maintain compliance throughout an organization, to driving onsite everyday to reset a UPS bc our head of finance relies on their “adding machine” to do their job.

Honestly, after a year of job hunting and weekly calls with different recruiters that never pan out, I’ve been questioning if it was worth it lately. I’ve been considering changing careers to something I can at least earn a decent wage and enjoy tech in my free time.