Career fork in the road and I need help deciding what my best option would be.
Posted by Juan_Snoww@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 14 comments
I've been doing IT for about 11 years now. Started off interning, moved to a helpdesk role, studied for and passed my CCNA, then over time I ended up doing Sysadmin/Netadmin work at my local Power utility, where I've been at for 5 years now.
The role I currently have is very basic. I Patch our Network/Server equipment monthly, complete NERC CIP paperwork whenever any work is completed, I assist in any projects that come up throughout our company, and overall just help stay compliant with NERC CIP. We can WFH 3 days a week (all 5 days if we really wanted to), and the pay is very good. $109k this year, and every year we receive pay raises until we get to the company standard for Senior Engineers, which I should get to within the next 3 years ($144k /yr). Overall it's VERY slow pace and pays very well. Some might consider it the perfect job - we don't have a high turnover rate and usually people that join the team end up retiring here. But recently I've realized just how boring this paperwork/compliance stuff is.
Our job is very repetitive. Patch > paperwork > dive into a project for a week > and then its time to patch equipment again. Besides patching our Network equipment, I don't get to dive into networking the way I thought I would. I've always wanted to do Network Engineer work and design/troubleshoot networks - which I rarely do here.
Within our company we recently had an opening for a Network/Telecom Engineer position post which was offered to me. The Network team is always very swamped and actually behind on many projects, the pay could be similar - but more than likely will be starting out less, and less annual pay bumps. They have a 25% travel requirement, meaning I'd lose the comfort of WFH and watching TV while getting paid like I do in my current role. But I'd be doing the Network Engineering that I've always wanted to do.
I guess my question to you guys is - What would you do? Which position do you believe will have the hire upside in the future? If I were to eventually switch companies, is there a higher job market for Network Engineers, or for NERC CIP Sysadmins? Would I be dumb for leaving this "perfect" job for a higher paced role?
TL;DR Debating between a comfy, well-paid paperwork centric job, or a higher paced "dream" role. Not sure which one would have the higher upside/job market.
RepulsiveDuck331@reddit
Take the network gig. I've watched too many guys get golden-handcuffed into comfy compliance roles and then panic at 45 when the company restructures and they realize their resume is just "NERC CIP paperwork" for a decade. That stuff is niche - pays well if you stay in utilities, near useless outside it.
Network engineering has way broader market demand. Cloud networking, SD-WAN, datacenter - all of it builds on real NetEng chops. The 25% travel sucks but it's also where you learn fast because you're hands-on with actual gear and real problems.
Pay dip now, way higher ceiling later. Comfort is a slow career killer.
GrannieArmFlaps@reddit
Stay in the cush job, use spare time to upskill into CCNP/CCIE or whatever.
bk2947@reddit
Do you have the personality type that likes being thrown into a fire? Do you want to work with production systems where a mistake could impact thousands of users? How are your mental troubleshooting muscles working?
PawnF4@reddit
Firefighting and travel jobs are a young man’s territory dude. If you’ve got a family and are into your 30s I think this isn’t a great idea.
I credit working at an MSP with where I am today but there’s no way I could go back with where I am in life now. I would burnout and have too many family obligations now.
You’re also only giving yourself two options. There’s a third, just start applying for a different job that fills your desire to learn and be engaged but without the downsides of the one on your plate.
ThatBCHGuy@reddit
Hey, an OT engineer :). I personally got out of that, it was very repetitive maintenence and not the trajectory I wanted personally. I prefer solving complex problems not slow moving OT work. I also felt like it would Pigeon hole me I to that type of work too, and I didn't want that either.
Juan_Snoww@reddit (OP)
Yes sir! OT is well-paid, but like you said it's very repetitive and limits you to only this specific type of work. Which is why I want to move to a Networking role and expand my knowledge there. What do you do for work now?
ThatBCHGuy@reddit
I'm currently doing consulting around the Azure space. My background is broadly around infrastructure in the enterprise. I was not well paid in OT where I was (lowest I was paid in 15 years). I took it because it seemed interesting, but the reality was very different for me. I'm glad I got the exposure, but I wouldn't do it again. I thrive in doing and building, and OT was the compete opposite of that for me.
Leather-Gate3952@reddit
Take it from me (similar situation and I went for the network fun) don't look for your fulfillment from your work.
The more complex issues can help the day go quickly and provide you with satisfaction for a while, but, eventually, you'll get numb to it. The "complex and critical" issues will eventually show patterns. You can only discover that someone didn't propagate routes onto secondary/backup routing equipment so many times before it becomes the first thing you look at.
If you're losing money, WFH, adding drive time, adding on-call/after hours work, AND losing downtime, you'd be an absolute fool to go for it.
Granted the networking side has better career trajectory and more money to be had, you never really get out of the "everyone from the CEO to your direct manager is calling you at 3am because the ISP had a blip" situation.
Altruistic-Ad-4090@reddit
The only question I would ask is, how old are you? Married? Kids? All this factors in to decisions like this. If they are adding a bunch of travel and inconvenience for less money, then that's a no go for me.
Juan_Snoww@reddit (OP)
30 years old, married and 2 kids. Sorry I forgot to add this to the post.
Candid_Candle_905@reddit
I would stay put unless you’re bored enough to pay for it later.
You sound quite young and that's why I think you don't see the "combo" you have: good money, WFH, slow pace and a guarnateed climb to senior pay. The network job sounds more interesting, yeah sure, but 'interesting' is not the same thing as better.
In 5 years the utility role keeps cashing checks.... the network engineer role gives you better reps, but also: more stress, more travel, less sleep and no guarantee the upside beats what you’re already on.
My old dog advice: the boring job is only a bad deal if you actually hate being bored. Otherwise it’s hard to beat.
I love boring, it's so healthy.
llDemonll@reddit
Sounds more like a support style, hands-on, ticket-driven team and not the “network engineer solving complex problems” that you’re dreaming it is.
You’re wanting to take a pay cut, take less of a raise each year, take less max pay, lose WFH, and have to travel?
If you want something more exciting look for a new company and keep learning in your current job. There’s a reason the other team is always swamped.
redzone973@reddit
You would have to pry any WFH job that paid that kind of $$ out of my cold dead hands.
burmaning@reddit
You are not dumb to upskill and want more out of your career.
You are in the perfect spot to do so.
But you can't have your cake and eat it, most network engineers will have to travel and deal with onsite work. If you want to be remote and comfy as a network engineer, then it is your job to make sure your network has that level of access and uptime.
It may not make sense financially for you, it may difficult to find a different network engineering role above your pay grade outside your company depending on job location and market.
I personally would stay in your role, study during your downtime (homelab, youtube videos, etc.), and apply to external network engineering roles that fit your situation. larger companies, especially ones that are more security focused like Palo Alto pay network engineers 130-150k+, but require a lot of networking and security knowledge.
Good luck!