Left MSP for Internal IT - Early Thoughts

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YoNa82@reddit

I personally made the same move 3 yrs ago - still no regrets. I am less stressed, while significantly better payd in money and apprechiation of my work. Overall this decision still feels like the best outcome i could have hoped for.
Fear of beeing slow - initially was worried - today: i think the quality of my output improved a lot!

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jhuseby@reddit

I’ve worked for an MSP twice, would never even consider it again. They were by far the most toxic environments I’ve worked in.

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Samatic@reddit

Yep I once worked at an MSP where the manager would record your calls and listen to them with out us knowing about it. I once told a client that he needs to just go buy a new laptop and stop calling us each week with issues on his 10+ year old laptop. I was put on a PIP for saying this because I failed to say you need to purchase a new laptop through us so we can mark it up 50%!

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Malaka__@reddit

Going through this now. Clients can be the worst part.

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muzzman32@reddit

Or the best part? I made relationships with all my main clients when I was in MSP land, and then after the MSP turned to shit... guess who was there to scoop it up and take the business? Gotta play the long game.

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Michelanvalo@reddit

So you became the new MSP?

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muzzman32@reddit

nah fk that. I dont want that responsibility. I just sold them my profitiable projects, and left ad-hoc break fix as emergency pricing or expect multiple days before I get to it. Works well as client is happy to pay ongoings for support they hardly use, im happy because I make money and without the bs that comes with support.

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Elensea@reddit

But when you quit it’s like quitting 50 companies at once. One of the best feelings I ever had.

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MasterIntegrator@reddit

I was you once. Will be a director here soon.

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IllIntroduction8499@reddit

I left my MSP for Internal IT too, it's been what... Eleven years now? This might be where I retire.

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AntRidesBikes@reddit

Internal tech roles everyones out to cover their ass, decisions take longer to sign off. Especially when business balances risk vs reward and operational impact.

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FadezV2@reddit

So there is hope for a better life?

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Dirty_Techie@reddit

This is why I chose not to join an MSP ever again and kept to internal IT roles for SMB, enterprises etc.

For me, it was the ability to put my heart and soul into one company and under it inside and out. I don't have to switch between different clients and based on small nuggets of information how best to support, suggest solutions or improvements.

It's generally now my only option when looking at new roles, but glad to hear you've had a positive expereince thus far!

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SopSauceBaus@reddit

Great post! I started my IT career with an MSP and while I credit them with leading me into the industry gave me the opportunities to get my where I am today, I would never work at one again. Love that you're enjoying the Internal IT life.

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FlickKnocker@reddit

You were at a bad an MSP. Low barrier to entry, unfortunately.

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ZaradimLako@reddit

Having only worked internal IT, I don't think I will ever switch to an MSP job

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stone500@reddit

I actually liked my MSP job and I sometimes consider going back. Each day was new and different. I got to visit a lot of businesses and meet a lot of business owners and other important local people. I worked on all kinds of things from simple break/fix projects to building VR labs for a local interactive education center to building an esports lab for a school.

But there were definitely parts that I didn't enjoy so much. Number one for me was the constant timesheets and billable hours. My MSP was relatively laid back about it, but it was still a chore to be constantly tracking each and every time I worked on something. I didn't have a "goal" of billable hours per week, but I just really hated having to deal with timesheets.

Number two would be flying in blind to a customer location and trying to get things working with incomplete information while the customer is hovering over your shoulder. I hated looking incompetent when I didn't have passwords to their equipment or have an immediate understanding of their layout. Navigating those situations was tricky.

The final thing I really didn't like (and what ultimately made me leave the MSP life) was anytime you lost a big client. I was the primary engineer for one of our bigger customers that did thousands of dollars of business with us every single month. I thought things were going well until it was time for contract renewal and they decided they really weren't happy with us (i.e. me) and wanted to go with someone else. My biggest client essentially fired me, and it devastated me for a while. My MSP never gave me grief about it, but the whole incident sent me in a spiral for a bit. That was when I decided it was time for me to leave the MSP life because I did not want to deal with that again.

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Hebrewhammer8d8@reddit

As you get into the game you learn certain business and type of people value IT whether internal or MSP. Most MSP can solve most other companies IT issues, but as MSP grow there is turning point are they going to just get more clients and be fire fighter. Or they take their lumps and not make as much money, but develop their internal tools for monitoring, automation, strong baseline SOP & documentation, and develop their relationships to take on bigger clients to solve their issues with projects. Same with internal IT you most can solve the company IT issues in the early stages as the business grow can you develop monitoring, automation, strong baseline SOP & documentation, and finish out projects that management drop on you (lets move our internal CRM/DMS on prem to vendor datacenter and barely use their new features)

I have been in both MSP and Internal IT for awhile and there are a lot of mess out there whether, and there are levels to the mess.

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trueppp@reddit

I went from Internal to MSP and I don't think i'll ever go back to Internal...too boring.

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peoplepersonmanguy@reddit

If you ever get married and have kids, you will go back, unless you start your own.

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trueppp@reddit

Why would I want to go back to Internal where you have to be on-call 24/7, do overtime, no real vacations, and have to do all the shitty work?

Right now I have my clients, a helpdesk taking care of all the stupid calls and can fire clients if they don't keep their infrastruture up to date.....

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Elensea@reddit

Many internal IT isn’t on call 24/7. Lots of internal IT outsources NOCs and SOCs.

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Hashrunr@reddit

I've been internal for 20yrs and never had on-call. On the rare occasion I have scheduled off-hours work, I make it up by taking a regular day off. I get 6 weeks vacation per year and have an option every year to pay out whatever I have accrued in my time bank.

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peoplepersonmanguy@reddit

Did you start your own?

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trueppp@reddit

Nope, not worth the trouble.

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BeyondTheHubbleFlow@reddit

Every time I see one of these posts it just makes me aware how many bad MSP's there are out there especially in the US for some reason.

No MSP I have worked for has had this band-aid mentality.

If we do a fix we want it to last just like internal IT would otherwise as long as the client is still our client its our problem and very likely my problem when someone looks up the ticket to see how it was fixed last time when it crops up again.

If we didn't do that they wouldn't be our client for very long and rightly so.

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Conscious-Lettuce704@reddit

its definitely harder going from internal to msp then the other way. i have seen some guys quit on their first day. Challenges both ways though.

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a1155997@reddit

7+ years in a major MSP here..... My brain is fucking cooked. I'm ready to do anything else, maybe become a garbage truck driver even

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ddixonr@reddit

Makes sense. The MSP doesn't care whether the fix is a long term one. Get in, get out, collect payment is the goal for them.

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Frothyleet@reddit

Not any actual MSP. Break/fix shops, yes.

However the modern MSP model - actual managed services with something along the lines of AYCE pricing - incentivizes MSPs to do real fixes and proactive work (although they're going to want to get paid for it).

If I'm making $150/user/month from you whether or not I get 10 tickets a week caused by your broken DC configuration, guess what? I want to fix your DCs, just like you do.

Your old, out of support operating systems? I want to upgrade them! And if you don't want to pay for that, assuming I keep you as a customer, I'm going to set the expectation that "hey you can either invest now, or you can pay a lot more when you get compromised and you have to pay me to fix everything, 'cause I ain't covering that".

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trueppp@reddit

Nope. If the client is willing to pay for long term fixes, they get long term fixes. If they don't....well they don't...

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ddixonr@reddit

That's funny. I don't remember that in the contract.

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trueppp@reddit

Well your MSP sucked then. We usually try to fix the root cause of problems for out managed clients...they pay us handsomely for everything to work, and every avoidable ticket is lost profit.

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nostradx@reddit

A lot of folks in this subreddit don’t understand how most MSPs operate. We’re profitable because we’re proactive. They think we make our money via billable time, not AYCE agreements.

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peoplepersonmanguy@reddit

They were in the rejected projects pile, not your support contract.

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I_SNORT_KITTENS@reddit

I worked for one MSP. I spent three weeks training, one of my colleagues on all of my processes before my wedding. I told them not to call me under any circumstances while I am out on PTO… Again, for my wedding. they called me over a dozen times on my wedding day and I did not answer. from there, I just did the quiet quit until I found something much better.

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PurpleCrayonDreams@reddit

good for you. you made the right call. msp will chew you up and spit you out. your worth is only what you are billed at.

good luck building a future. you made the right call!

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Middle_Boot7573@reddit

Correction: It's actually the *fully-managed MSPs, that service tiny-sized companies/customers that don't have (cannot afford) an internal IT team to manage their IT stack. However, other MSPs (co-managed) like I'm working for right now (2 years and counting), have a good structure in terms of SLA agreements/contracts, scopes and specialization. We only augment our medium-large enterprize customers' internal IT team. The support services and professional/managed services are different scopes with different costs for them tied to their agreement/contract with us (MSP):

Fully-Managed MSP

What it is: 100% outsourced IT — MSP runs everything (infra, security, helpdesk, strategy).

Used by: SMBs or companies with weak/no internal IT

Reality (from industry data):

Lower total cost vs hiring full IT team (often cheaper than even 1 senior hire)

Predictable monthly cost + 24/7 support

Less control + heavy dependency on provider

👉 In practice: “Virtual IT department”

Co-Managed MSP

What it is: Shared model — your internal IT + MSP (division of responsibilities)

Used by: Mid-size to enterprise with existing IT team

Reality (from industry data):

\~30% cost savings vs hiring specialists

Flexible (scale MSP up/down based on workload)

Requires strong coordination + capable internal team

👉 In practice: “IT team + external specialists (force multiplier)”

Straight Comparison (real-world view)

Aspect Fully Managed Co-Managed

Ownership MSP owns everything Shared

Control Low Medium–High

Cost model Fixed, higher overall Flexible, usually cheaper

Internal IT needed None Required

Use case SMB / no IT team Enterprise / growing IT

Risk Vendor lock-in Coordination gaps

Bottom line (practical decision logic)

No IT team / want hands-off → Fully Managed

Have IT team but overloaded or lacking skills → Co-Managed

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Realistic-Animal1562@reddit

Silence clanker

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tdiz009@reddit (OP)

Thank you, exactly this.

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Brendan_McCoy@reddit

I did 7 years internal IT, then 1.5 years MSP, I'm in week 2 back on internal IT and never going back to MSP.

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Fragrant-Eye-9421@reddit

I am desperately looking for an internal role just for this. Problem is that we moved to a small city. I currently work remotely for an msp and I really don't want to anymore.

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andrew_joy@reddit

One of the key points is that you can know your environment.

MSP: We need to patch CVE-2026-00001, force the update now !..... PC in theater reboots and surgeon removes the wrong testicle from some poor guy. guys is sad

In House: We need to patch CVE-2026-00001 , this is critical but the likelyhood is low, set it to go out tonight. theater does not reboot and surgeon removes the correct testicle from some poor guy. guys is happy that he has the correct nut .

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JosephRW@reddit

You're making five year choices, not choices constrained by the length of your contract. If you fuck up you get to see and fix your fuck up for five years. That's what the core difference is. Mistakes that didn't matter before are now punished with removal of your time which you should want to spend elsewhere.

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Smiles_OBrien@reddit

I too made this switch. K12 Sysadmin, absolutely loving it.

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rsndomq@reddit

Standards and consistency matter more than tools right now. Early infra decisions compound fast. The slow pace”is actually your only window to get this right.

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brintha_lynxtrac@reddit

That shift from reactive to proactive is honestly the hardest part to adjust to.

MSP kind of trains you to equate speed with effectiveness, so when things slow down it feels like something’s off. But in internal IT, that “slowness” is usually where the real improvements happen.

One thing I noticed after making a similar move — when you actually get time to fix root causes instead of just patching symptoms, a lot of the noise just disappears over time. Fewer recurring tickets, fewer surprises.

Takes a bit to trust that pace though.

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frosty3140@reddit

This is one of the most positive posts I have seen on here in ages. Like you I have worked both sides of the equation, as a consultant early in my career, but in the last 20 years as in-house IT staff. I've been lucky enough to be at my current employer for 16 years. In the first 2-3 years I rebuilt their infrastructure. Around year 9 I did it again. And again a year ago. Infrastructure v3 which now has years of embedded learning which informed the design. It is as simple and robust as I can make it. I hope you have a really good experience in your new role and continue to enjoy having that time to plan and execute things properly (and document them well too).

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tdiz009@reddit (OP)

Thank you. I’ll be owning infra overhaul v1. So far I’ve not had any cause for concern. I’m no longer consulting rather taking ownership to plan, design and deploy. Working on something end-to-end is definitely different than being responsible for systems that someone else created. There is only so much patchwork to contain the chaos.

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MajStealth@reddit

i wish you the biggest potential budget you can get, i know i had -5 for 3 years and am again at nearly 0 at my new place..\^\^

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pegz@reddit

MSP is a great introduction but I learned the most going to an internal role and doing the ground up planning or re-engineering predecessors designs and decisions.

The proactive work by far is the eye opener though. You spend sometimes weeks months maybe years getting things in order and one day you see it all come together. Its a beautiful thing. I recently went through with my org. Spent 2 years cleaning up infrastructure tech debt, P2V, stood up an actual helpdesk system beyond just email and automated patching documentation.

It really clicked when I sent out new hire to our knowledge base and he came back with functional knowledge.

Take notes. Ask questions and be efficient but methodical when necessary.

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spin_kick@reddit

You just had a shitty MSP. There are bad internal roles too.

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WayfarerAM@reddit

I agree moving internal is the best. MSP is an inherently bad business model as customers want as cheap and possible and the MSP wants to do as little as possible so they can keep billing for bandaids. You can present a client a permanent fix but that costs extra so they don’t want to.

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VernapatorCur@reddit

For anyone looking to make the leap, not all internal support gigs are like that. I made the same switch about 10 months ago and I went from a steady pace to insanity. That we were in the middle of an audit (SOC/ISO) didn't help, but the biggest issue is a C-suite that's obsessed with the next best AI agent. In September it was getting everyone set up on Copilot, in November it was ChatGPT, by February it was Claude. Each time we get started moving everyone over they balk at the cost and jump ship to something else. Most annoying bit is we paid for a year up front this last time, and they still want to jump ship based on cost.

I guess what I'm saying is your experience will depend heavily on upper management.

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bobdobalina@reddit

good for you, enjoy, its complicated but not like that

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tdiz009@reddit (OP)

Thank you. Figuring it out as I go.

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bobdobalina@reddit

stay curious but don't trust, verify

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cfrshaggy@reddit

Wow internal IT that allows for deliberate thought changes to scalability and structure? You must not be an overworked department of one 😭

Mines a smattering of project planning that lets you stop the fires from consuming the building all while dealing with constant firefighting and complaints about the air quality from the smoke and then asking why the water bill is so high?

So what I’m asking is, are you hiring? 😂

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tdiz009@reddit (OP)

Incidentally we are, but only helpdesk role for now.

That’s precisely what I was doing before this role.

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cfrshaggy@reddit

Any the pay for help desk will be comparable to my current rate, right, right? 😉🤣

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StarSlayerX@reddit

When I moved from MSP to SMB, I noticed similar observations as a Systems Engineer.

MSP:
- Engineer is focused on cookie cutter, easy deployable, quick turnaround, and standardized solutions for clients.
- Closing tickets as quickly as possible to meet SLA

SMB:
- Engineer is focused on the best possible solution that meets the unique needs of the business. This would mean spending time on understanding the business need, researching multiple products, vendor POCs, and QA testing.
- Tickets are analyzed and engineers will perform discovery to either permanently resolve the reoccurring issue or build automation to resolve the issue with minimal touch.

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tdiz009@reddit (OP)

Bingo

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desmond_koh@reddit

I think it probably depends on what kind of MSP you worked at. We try to do exactly what you are describing for our customers. We plan with them and align their technology with their business goals. We build things that make sense and are scalable and maintainable. But those are the projects. When it comes to solving problems, it is fast paced and very often there is only one correct solution and it's just a matter of finding it.

Drawing on my own personal experience I would say that internal IT tends to be overworked, underappreciated, and with fewer professional boundaries. This odten results in unreasonable requests like asking you to take your laptop on holidays "just in case" when you're not being paid to be on call. In the MSP space there are codified service level agreements. And although you might be asked to be on call, you'll get paid for it.

I also find that my breadth of experience and my knowledge increased substantially when I got out of internal IT. When I was in internal IT I knew the systems that one company used and had a very little exposure to other systems. Within 6 monthd of branching out into the MSP world I was suddenly presented with all sorts of different ways of doing things - some good some bad - and I learned an enormous amount.

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tdiz009@reddit (OP)

I agree with the breadth of experience but in my case it was MSP being understaffed and having to work on too many things all the time.

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Killbot6@reddit

Congrats.
My life is so much better since I made the transition, and I bet it will be for you as well.

Working for an MSP was just dreadful for me, client expectations & my mental exhaustion were at an all-time high.

Internal IT is just a vibe compared to MSP work. You have more time to do things right, and make sure things are getting done correctly.

MSP life was patching holes in a ship while still taking on water.

Internal is just a joy.

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tdiz009@reddit (OP)

Thank you. Still early but based on first impressions, it’s a nice change of pace to see that my professional recommendations carry weight and drive decision making.

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Empty-Lingonberry133@reddit

The change is because your time isn't directly billable to a client so you can take time making meaningful changes over billable break fixes. The pace of life can give you whiplash, take it in strides but don't get comfortable. Continue upskilling and growing as if you were in an MSP environment

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tdiz009@reddit (OP)

This is spot on. Once you become complacent, it doesn’t really matter what environment you’re in. Skills atrophy if not used.

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KeredEkralc@reddit

This. I am in a similar boat to OP as I just left an MSP for a corporate position, and while I haven’t started yet, I have worked in corporate before and god, I can’t wait to be able to sit there and bang out a proper, long-term solution to whatever problem I get thrown instead of trying to fix something as quick as possible so my time can be billed.

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blackjaxbrew@reddit

I guess we work like internal IT then? We really never band aid issues if we can avoid it at all cost. We push back on lack of planning, we will even hold up projects for being a dumbass client. It takes a bit for this to sink in with clients, but once it does our lives are easier and the client learns how we work.

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Ruthlessrabbd@reddit

Your type of people is exactly what I need in place of my MSP lol! I have found so many haphazard configurations and I will reach out to escalate a ticket to find out why something was configured a certain way before making changes - and they treat it like they've never heard of the thing before.

My firewall didn't get any updates for literal years and they said they only do updates when needed, so I asked if they can just start proactively patching it on my behalf (their account is set up as the owner for some reason). Well, they don't have someone watching for when patches come out - so they set up a quarterly ticket to ask someone to check when patches come out and update our firewall. I feel like that's just making way more work for them

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Ruthlessrabbd@reddit

The way you describe how your work used to be is exactly why I have been having a hard time in working with my MSP. I didn't realize that it was such a meatgrinder-like mindset

So what has happened is I'll have some crazy random issue, document all my troubleshooting... And the MSP team will leave me hanging for weeks, to then call out of the blue for a remote session. I always expected that they could look at other tickets or documentation on an issue but it's like every ticket is the first time they've seen a problem.

My only other experience is proprietary helpdesk at a small org with a lot of clients, so it was easy to know things inside and out. It's different in a windows environment I guess

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SRF1987@reddit

Did the same almost 3 years ago. No regrets.

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davy_crockett_slayer@reddit

MSP’s are fine. Depending on the MSP, you can do projects. It typically depends on what the client is willing to pay for. I’ve seen consultants from IBM, HPE, Xerox, etc, do interesting work. They’re typically brought in for a project, and then they’re gone.

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Mr_Dobalina71@reddit

I’d never go back to a MSP.

Internal IT - slower paced, less stress overall for me personally.

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ItaJohnson@reddit

It’s like there is an incentive for not permanently addressing an issue for job security reasons. If internal IT doesn’t address it, it’s an expense. If a MSP doesn’t permanently address it, it’s justification for their support contract.

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TerrificVixen5693@reddit

All of a sudden you have to think proactively, not reactively.

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Exalting_Peasant@reddit

And unlearn a lot of bad habits

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SublimeApathy@reddit

Managing one network vs. 30 and making sure you account for billable time. Left the MSP world 10 years ago and will never go back.

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Witty_Formal7305@reddit

Maybe its just my ADHD but I actually like the MSP life, I will admit i'm super lucky and work for an AMAZING MSP where our mgmt really cares about us & work life balance with great clients but I love being able to bounce from thing to thing to thing, if I focus on one thing too much for very long I lose interest in it and work stops being fun for me and if it stops being fun i'm out, I lose all motivation at that point.

I love what I do in part because I always get to do something different. I can bounce from migrating email to setting up servers in Azure, to deploying Teams Phone or migrating a server cluster from vmware to hyper-v in the week, even though its stuff i've done before there's always something new or different so its never lost that cool factor to me.

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Sad-Offer-8747@reddit

I tend to do a few years of MSP work because I like keeping track of multiple environments, having different issues every day to work on, and not spending weeks surfing the internet because there’s just nothing to do.

Then I spend a few years as an engineer or a manager to actually work on large infrastructure projects for a while where multi year planning is good, and you get to focus on making the network ‘sing’.

So I get both worlds. It’s best when you lead your MSP clients in the right direction with goals, rather than just closing tickets and doing micro projects, but then again a lot of customers don’t have direction except ‘let us get our work done as cheap as possible’.

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