Oct. 22, 2023, Post by Curtis
Help Desk is an entry-level IT job that will get you on the path to becoming an IT pro. Typically the next step after Help Desk would be Network Admin, Systems Admin, or Cloud Practitioner. There are quite a few other jobs you can get after Help Desk but these are the main "categories".
You do not need a college degree to excel in IT, but to get past Help Desk you will need to get educated in the skills required for that next job. It is best to decide as soon as possible which direction you want to go in so you can start studying those specific skills as soon as possible. You should get 1 or more valuable certifications and get hands-on experience by building labs and working with the technology as much as possible.
Salary $71,000
Job Satisfaction 6.7/10
Job Growth 5.6% per year
Networking is a great next step after Help Desk as it is a foundational skill that is relevant to all other IT jobs.
Examples of how networking will help in other jobs:
The problem-solving skills you learn at Help Desk will help you as a Network Admin since Networking involves a lot of problem-solving and quickly dealing with issues as they come up.
Entry-Level Network Jobs
Salary $74,000
Job Satisfaction 6.6/10
Job Growth 5.5% per year
Sysadmin jobs have a lot of variation as to what their job responsibilities will be since every organization uses a different combination of systems. Things commonly run by Sysadmins would be servers, specifically Windows and Linux. Exchange and Office365 are also very common Sysadmin responsibilities.
Entry-Level SysAdmin Jobs
Salary $127,000
Job Satisfaction 7.5/10
Job Growth 4.7% per year
Cloud is an even more broad field than Sysadmins. There is basically a cloud version of all the other IT jobs. Cloud Systems, Cloud Networks, Cloud Security, and so on. This shows that everything is moving to cloud and getting experience in this field will put you in high demand. The future for cloud is very bright.
Entry-Level Cloud Jobs
Salary $49,000
Job Satisfaction 6.8/10
Job Growth -3% per year
NOC Technician jobs are usually for large data centers. This involves server maintenance, patching, updating, and provisioning. There is also a large hardware role involved as you are maintaining physical servers and network equipment.
Entry-Level NOC Jobs
Salary $99,000
Job Satisfaction 7/10
Job Growth 35% per year
Security is going to be difficult to get into with just Help Desk experience unless you have a degree. Though after you get some network experience and some good security certifications, you will then be able to get into a cybersecurity role.
One thing I noticed is that most companies are understaffed in the security department. Probably because of the high cost associated with having a dedicated security team. As a result, there are often security-related tasks that the company would be happy to let a Help Desk staff member do. Things like monitoring threat activity and setting up automated reports to see if security software is installed and up-to-date on all end devices. These things are mostly informational, which can be done by a low-level employee. This can get you some experience and a foot in the door to cybersecurity.
It is hard to get a security job but not that hard to get security experience if you keep an eye out for what needs to be done where you work at.
Entry-Level Cyber-Security Jobs
Salary $64,000
Job Satisfaction 7.2/10
Job Growth 24% per year
The Data Analyst field is somewhat new and growing quickly. Your Help Desk experience won't play a large part in getting you into a Data role, but it will help. Experience working with servers, Linux, and Excel will help. You could learn SQL and Python to get into Data though it isn't always required.
Entry-Level Data Analyst Jobs
Salary $80,000
Job Satisfaction 7.6/10
Job Growth 23.5% per year
There are so many different types of developer jobs and some of them do not have very difficult qualification requirements. Writing code for a living is a bit of a departure from Help Desk, but having that experience with how the IT infrastructure of a company works will serve you well. There are plenty of developers who aren't very computer savvy and are only good at coding, making them a little dangerous in certain situations.
Learn to code while working at Help Desk and get a small portfolio of interesting coding projects, and you should be able to find a way into a developer job.
Entry-Level Developer Jobs
All of these fields are growing and have a bright future. If you pick something that interests you, you can't go wrong.