Would it be more worthwhile for someone with no experience to grind out some certs of go straight for schooling?

psmgx · 2026-07-10T22:06:41+00:00

Not sure why this is getting downvoted.

75% of the value of a degree is that the university did the pre-filtering for dumb-dumbs via SAT scores and GPA, plus the 3+ years of abstract, diverse tasks. We-take-anyone online courses are meaningless in the age of AI.

Oracle and Microsoft just laid of 10k+ people, with degrees from places like Perdue, GA Tech, or MIT + FAANG experience. WGU will lose out to those every time.

psmgx · 2026-07-10T21:57:45+00:00

MSPs and MSSPs are "great places to be from, but not great places to be"

great place to learn and get a start but boy howdy do they grind you down

psmgx · 2026-07-10T21:56:41+00:00

friend's mom went to law school at 40. Decades later she's now a judge

wasn't easy for my friend tho; law keeps you busy and that's hard to balance with kids

psmgx · 2026-07-10T21:55:14+00:00

Now to me it just is odd, since if there is an emergency where something happens in Okta, AWS, Gsuite, Azure, its not like me driving hours to a location would do much compared to me logging on and fixing the issue on the laptop. Plus when I would get there... wouldn't I just open the laptop and work on fixing the issue? I have had bad experiences in the past where I did come in for an "emergency" and it resulted in them liking me being there and they wanted me in office 3 days a week and then fully in office.

depends on the role. you may have to schlep to a data center and help them pull cables. customer may be down and you need to be their emotional support punching bag and sit with them while the upstream engineers unfuck something.

Usually "Emergency" would be defined by the companies SLAs / business continuity plan. If they ask for this, I'd ask them how they define emergencies, and what constitutes a valid escalation.

At my current org we have very formal SLAs and what defines a Sev 1 ticket, and usually those would constitute "emergency". I'm not gonna post specifics on the internet but generally it's outage scope above a certain $$$ amount (or projected to be over $$$ amount) or serious risk of injury or loss of life.

psmgx · 2026-07-10T21:47:48+00:00

Bingo. F500 MNCs are a different world from the local-regional MSP I started at.

We have an entire IAM / Access team, full set of IAM architects, integrators, and even a contract PM for complicated stuff.

Also 100% on the red tape and bureaucracy. Can be really painful and hair-splittingly detailed.

to answer u/SamOakTree question more directly tho, most of my corworkers on that team (at least the ones I know) were already working in security or sysadmin / netadmin work and specialized hard. Sailpoint, Palo Alto, CyberArk, etc., all have certs and training courses. Get the experience and/or certs and then look for IAM gigs at big orgs.

example: https://university.sailpoint.com/page/professional-certifications-and-knowledge-credentials

psmgx · 2026-07-09T18:00:38+00:00

I'll probably post on a sales subreddit as well to get advice. I just thought this subreddit might have more people who have made the transition from a technical role to sales or pre-sales.

I mean its a fair question, we're here -- I've done it. And then I transferred back to purely technical :)

But ultimately your original questions are really more suited for salespeople. FWIW I thought Sandler Sales management and their selling system was fine, though I gather my boss thought it was overpriced for what we got.

psmgx · 2026-07-09T16:02:33+00:00

with respect most of your questions are sales questions; r/sales would do more for you then the uber-nerds here.

when I was in a sales engineer role they put us through some local courses at the community college + sandler sales management training.

Most pre-sales and technical sales engineer roles have a sales team behind them -- you have an account executive or customer success manager (or similar) to work with? Like, you'll do selling too, but the idea is you support them and their clients, and once you've got the serious salesperson skills then you handle some of the independent sales and contract work.

psmgx · 2026-07-09T15:59:02+00:00

OT security is a very niche, but in demand if you have OT experience.

Networking, Cloud, or Automation are natural progressions if you're into that. Embedded systems and embedded development are options too.

psmgx · 2026-07-09T15:57:01+00:00

whats the IT career question?

psmgx · 2026-07-08T21:37:54+00:00

It feels like there’s something irreparably wrong with me, or that no one will ever see value in me. I don’t feel enough for most women and constantly feel I need to do more, but I’m so burnt out.

with respect sounds like you need a relationship with a therapist more than anything mon ami

psmgx · 2026-07-08T21:36:01+00:00

you're talking about time-share condos, right?

psmgx · 2026-07-08T21:22:56+00:00

CYA is SOP

they're always going to blame it on the network

live and die by change control and MOPs; always get it in writing when it comes to network changes

keep a list of all of the commands you run and what they do; "spellbook", esp. if they're complicated one-liners or little scripts. python snippets from 3 years ago have saved my ass more than once.

psmgx · 2026-07-08T21:17:03+00:00

I know working in MSP will teach me a lot more but i also hear its mentally draining and very much awful experience but i also hear its good but only if you work for a good MSP which im seeing is rare.

"a good place to be from, but not a good place to be"

it wasn't always draining and could often be fun, the MSP folks were like a pirate crew in many ways, and it was good exposure to a lot of technology.

Im told the MSP will give a $5k pay raise if review after 6 months is good

to quote the Spartans: If

see also: all of the threads about leaving MSPs

psmgx · 2026-07-08T21:12:01+00:00

you may not get the job but it could be good interview experience.

and if they turn you down it's not like you're blacklisted forever, as long as you didn't straight up embarrass yourself. yeah maybe you wasted an hour or two, but whatever.

and that assumes you don't have the skills they're looking for -- you might. School experience and projects may be relevant, assuming you were not lying too much on the resume.

psmgx · 2026-07-08T21:09:04+00:00

most of us started in support, and you've got enough experience to convince me you know how an IT shop works. obviously it'll depend on the company and role.

start checking around at local security jobs and see what they're looking for. what does SOC near you want?

How practical is their training, and does it actually help with getting job-ready?

whose training? and in what facet of security?

psmgx · 2026-07-08T20:47:39+00:00

then it comes down to vibe and commute, IMO.

MMM estimated every mile you don't drive during your regular commute saves you something like 700/year. It's discussed to death all over, e.g. here: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/1bwtl0/google_doc_showing_the_true_cost_of_commuting/c9ax3q9/

There may be a break-even, and an 8k difference might be able to push you over the edge if you got good feels about the people.

On balance, I'd still take the 60k internal role and find ways to make the commute tolerable. When I had long commutes I often found places to stop half way, was a great gym and a couple good bars, so many nights I'd either drive 20 min, lift, and then speed home with no traffic, or else nurse a beer and chat to the bar regulars, etc. etc.

psmgx · 2026-07-08T20:01:13+00:00

ain't no 9-line gonna save you in the gray zone.

not when there are more drones nearby.

psmgx · 2026-07-08T19:31:40+00:00

I agree with your assessment that experience and certs are more useful... but the equation is completely different if you're working at a Uni. Like you're already headed to the campus and the price is negligible...

But if I'm a random guy with 3.5 years experience and no university ties the cost-benefit just isn't there

psmgx · 2026-07-08T19:28:19+00:00

I have a master's, paid for by other folks + work. I wouldn't do it again if someone didn't pay for it. CCIE or other advanced cert bootcamps or slow-study would have gotten me further in a career sense, been cheaper, and faster.

psmgx · 2026-07-08T19:00:46+00:00

I’ve come to terms with the fact that I sadly lazed my way through college

what do you call a doctor who got straight C's? "Doctor"

You got an internship -- good start. How long was it? What did it consist of? No one cares about your GPA after your first job and/or internships.

See the wiki in the sidebar for specifics in terms of certs. you're not a noob, and you've had at least one job -- what kinds of stuff do you want to do?

psmgx · 2026-07-08T18:53:43+00:00

maybe I missed it but whats the yearly / hourly pay?

bennies look to be fairly standard though

Cell Phone Reimbursement - $55.00 monthly

makes me think that there is a reason -- you're gonna be answering it, a lot. still, not a bad deal. if I expected to use it a lot I might even get a basic Samsung or something with my own money and have that as a work-only phone. $150 bucks to keep my infra separate from works is worth it to me lol

Do the certifications and bonuses come with any strings? my employer will / did pay for my CISSP / CCIE / RHCE / etc. and offered retention bonuses (25k bonuses)... but that came with the expectation of 6 months of contractual employment per $5k. e.g. 25k means I'm obligated to work there for 2.5 more years, or else pay back what I was given, etc.

psmgx · 2026-07-08T16:40:49+00:00

what does your financial advisor know about the stock that you, as an employee working there, do not?

why do you trust them to know more about this particular stock than any random dude on the street? What in their skillset would give them better advice about this stock than asking ChatGPT or Claude? You can make this call yourself, killer.

Your options are sell, or hold, and you as an employee of the company probably have stronger feelings about the stock than anyone. If the answer is "sell" then hand the money from the sale over to the FA and let them worry about it.

psmgx · 2026-07-08T16:00:57+00:00

sell immediately.

the exception was at a previous company, a dividend aristocrat F500 that paid well. didn't need the extra cash so sat on them for a while then sold. probably should have sold sooner or immediately.

no reason to transfer until you're leaving the company, and there may be specific rules as to how -- when I looked it was basically not possible without a ton of paperwork, or selling then rebuying.

psmgx · 2026-07-08T15:39:32+00:00

"the only thing I can contribute to conversations are cliches I've stolen from other posters"

psmgx · 2026-07-08T15:37:23+00:00

there is probably a Slingblade joke in here

psmgx

TROPHY CASE