Considering of pivoting to an MSP from Internal IT

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JollyGentile@reddit

I've spent my entire career in MSPs. It's very much a mixed bag, and as others have said it's hectic. Lots of things happening all the time, and you have to be on top of all sorts of specializations.

I enjoy it, for the most part. It's definitely not for everyone.

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Majestic-Home2021@reddit (OP)

See that sounds like something I like

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JollyGentile@reddit

Then make sure you thoroughly vet any new employer. Good MSPs are good and bad MSPs are very bad.

And welcome to the circus

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Newdles@reddit

This is a crazy move. Generally far less pay, 200% more chaos, no time to do anything "right" beyond just "fix it now." 5x the stress.

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Mammoth_War_9320@reddit

The only positive thing I have to say about my current MSP is I’ve learned more in my last 2 years than I did in my first 3 working in IT.

I’m genuinely doing L3/Sr Sysadmin/Sys Engineer work now and I was basically help desk when I started.

That said, the work load and billable hour quotas are stressful as fuck. Everything is on fire all the time.

I do like my leadership, they are decent people. I don’t blame them it’s just the nature of MSP.

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Foxtrot-0scar@reddit

How much notice do you need at your current place?

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Have you looked at whether the boredom is the role or the org? Moving to a different internal gig in a messier environment might scratch that itch without the MSP downsides like billable hour pressure and constant client escalations.

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Historical_Score_842@reddit

You have to ask yourself, what do I want out of my career? Is it to learn more? Is it money? Will your current job provide you 1 of these 2 things? Will a new job provide you atleast 2 of these things?

You are siloed at the moment. I think MSP work will teach you so many valuable skills and introduce you to different industries. It’s supposed to be hard for a reason.

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Sobeman@reddit

Make sure you ask questions. Ask about utilization targets, utilization tracking, after hours work, on call compensation. Training reimbursement and utilization. PTO

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Delusionalatbest@reddit

I'd recommend going to a professional services or consulting gig.

Regular MSP work will probably drain you after coming from structured and regulated industries.

Your skills would be desirable for implementation projects. You don't want to be stuck on BAU tickets and P1 customer f**kups.

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Majestic-Home2021@reddit (OP)

Yea this what I was thinking. Are professional services much different to MSPs? I work with an MSP now and it’s mostly implementation projects.

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Delusionalatbest@reddit

There are MSPs who are big enough to have a dedicated professional services team. Not huge MSP orgs. Maybe mid double digits.

Regardless if you're doing implementations then that is professional services. Consulting for IT projects is arguably not that different to PS work but there are more presentations and client engagement. You need to be a little bit more than "just an engineer" if that makes sense.

Consulting would tend to have larger clients whereas MSPs would be closer to SMB clients. There is plenty of overlap though.

If you can, take the time to get a couple of MS certs. Particularly M365 administration and one of the new copilot ones. They are held in high esteem by MSPs/Consulting firms because they are waved at clients to "demonstrate" competency. Plus it helps quite a lot with Microsoft partner requirements.

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Majestic-Home2021@reddit (OP)

Yes sounds like good advice, will be doing the MD-102 in a few weeks. I have postgrad in UX Design as well which will me be that ‘little bit more’ than an engineer. I’ll take note of the copilot cert, thought most companies wanted the sc-300 cert as well?

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Delusionalatbest@reddit

The UX bit is a little cherry of added value on top for SharePoint no doubt.

However the more than an engineer comment is about soft skills and talking shop. Being able to reassure the client, saying I don't have a fucking clue in a calm manner that won't disarm the client. It's a little bit of sales and managing expectations. Plus looking for angles and opportunities to pitch the next contract.

Think of like someone in technical sales or solution architects. They typically have those blended skillsets. You still need to be "the dude" from a technical standpoint.

You could argue there's a bit more project management knowledge needed on the delivery side. Although generally consulting teams come with a PM or change management person who's all over it.

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titlrequired@reddit

Not sure UX design would be considered ‘that bit more’ for an MSP, what people were looking for traditionally was things like MCSE+CCNA, maybe Linux experience (like 20 years ago) so you had knowledge of not just Windows but networking as well. Nowadays, you’ll be looking at Windows + Mac, maybe Linux, Entra ID, M365, maybe AWS or Google Workspace, scripting etc. plus you’ll need to stand out against what any AI bot can churn out.

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cpz_77@reddit

I actually thought the earlier commenter meant like sales/presentation experience when they were talking about needing to be more than just an engineer for consulting (because you have to “sell yourself” and your services in addition to simply providing the technical services like you would in other roles).

In any case, to OP I would suggest if you’re looking for something more challenging possibly look into moving into a slightly larger /more complicated environment as internal IT somewhere rather than MSP. Why? Because then you still get an environment that’s actually “yours” - something where you continually build and improve on stuff that you did in the past. I’d suggest somewhere midsize though because if you go too large then you’ll be forced into one specific area which it doesn’t sound like you would want based on your post. Midsize enterprise would give you the best of both worlds - internal and an environment you own but hopefully still get to work with a lot of different systems etc.

Just keep in mind it will definitely add stress. It’s jot uncommon for people to be overworked hard in such environments until they totally burn out. Of course it depends on the company. But usually the jobs where you learn the most are also sometimes the most hectic and stressful at times. So make sure you find a way to maintain the work life balance.

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titlrequired@reddit

This is what I did. 17 years in Helpdesk/MSP now been in Professional Services/Project Implementation for three.

The broad experience I got in MSP was great, but I wish I’d done this years ago.

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smoothvibe@reddit

Getting much experience fast is the only selling point of MSPs in my opinion. Nothing where you'd want to grow old with, unless they are VERY structured.

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bdam55@reddit

As you can see in the brief few hours of posting this, a fairly strong anti-MSP sentiment here. There are, of course, good MSPs and bad MSPs just like there's good companies to be internal IT for and bad ones.

In theory, at an MSP you're driving actual profits, you're making them money. Surely, they would treat you as such. Alas, it's also generally a race to the bottom; MSPs are bidding against each other to win deals. The whole reason companies 'outsource' to MSPs in the first place is to save money after all.

It really depends on what you want and where you are in your career. If you're OK taking a risk to make a move where you will get a broader work experience and 60-hours weeks ... MSP is it. If you're looking to travel but never actually see the places you go to, professional services can pay well and will expose you to lots of different environments. If you go into it with the right mindset, it could be an interesting few years before burnout sets in. Or you find you love it.

Personally, it's not a jump I would make without having some inside baseball on the MSP. Someone I know already working there who can vouch for the culture there. But I'm mid-career with kids to see and bills to pay in a weak market. Your mileage may vary.

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StarSlayerX@reddit

I done an MSP for 3 years working 60-70 hours a week from phone support to projects scribbled on a piece of paper. It was absolute hell, but the experience is what I needed to move me from Desktop Support making 25 dollars an hour to 75k a year as a Sysadmin at my next job.

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jftuga@reddit

So 60 hours per week @ $25 would be $75k. Your new sysadmin job pays the same? Is the end result about the same pay but only working 40? Something here is not adding up.

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Majestic-Home2021@reddit (OP)

Sounds like my current job 😂 maybe not as intense though.

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guydogg@reddit

I would advise against it. If you find working for a company directly challenging, you'll be in for a rude awakening at an MSP, and this compounds by the fact that you're now dealing with customers. Customers that sometimes don't care if they're wrong, and want things done a certain way. My time with one of the larger MSPs was miserable, and I left there being 800+ hours in lieu time (as they took away paid overtime).

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gixxer-kid@reddit

I think you just had a bad experience. I worked for a smaller MSP in the Uk for 7-8 years and it was one of the best times in my career in terms of developing and getting paid well.

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guydogg@reddit

Developing your skillset is definitely the one plus. I did have a bad experience and know of dozens of others from other MSPs that share the same.

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gixxer-kid@reddit

The bigger MSPs I always hear how bad it is, but tbf I never experienced one. I stick to the small-medium sized ones.

I don’t think I could go back to Internal IT but that’s just me 😂

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guydogg@reddit

I'm paid better now, have more autonomy, have proposed several infrastructure solutions that have been implemented, have one of the best pensions and my work/life balance has returned. Returning to internal IT has been awesome, although my current employer was one of the MSPs customers when I was there. Over 15 of my colleagues from the MSP ended up here.

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MeetJoan@reddit

MSPs will fix that fast - the variety is relentless. What's your current ticket volume like? MSP days can feel like 5 clients' emergencies landing at once, which is either exciting or exhausting depending on the person.

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omn1p073n7@reddit

MSPs are the worst

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Calleb_III@reddit

MSP are generally lower pay, higher workload and stress. But you do you.

Also generally you will be siloed with little access and opportunities to other technologies outside your main strengths.

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GrapefruitWeary8686@reddit

Yeah nope, never again stay internal

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No_Promotion451@reddit

In other words you want to experience burnout and being under paid huh

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TaliesinWI@reddit

Then find a more challenging internal IT situation.

Working at an MSP will teach you how to constantly put out fires while being unable to find the arsonist because the customer isn't willing to pay for that.

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Glad-Entry891@reddit

MSP is definitely a great way to feel challenged, but it’s a high stress environment where you generally don’t see people lasting in the big picture. Every minute is tracked, setups are a mishmash of “whatever fixes it now” and band-aid on top of band-aid on top of band-aid.

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FlickKnocker@reddit

The narrative on here is that MSPs are prison planets where you're whipped by Ferengis all day mining dilithium crystals, but that's not always true.

There are good MSPs and bad MSPs, just as there are good companies and bad companies to work for.

Since you're a specialist and presumably you want to keep it that way, you'll have a great opportunity to be exposed to many different clients and industry verticals, all with different business goals, constraints, and challenges, which translates to new and interesting opportunities for you and the MSP.

But you'll also get a chance to do other things, like networking, server builds/workloads, security, and so on, because unless it's a really large MSP, many hands make light work, so you'll come out of it more well-rounded.

I would say that it really helps if you're well-socialized and enjoy personal interactions to work at an MSP. You don't have to be the life of the party, but being comfortable with small talk, having empathy and wanting to understand the business and where they're coming from will go a long way to helping your career.

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MDParagon@reddit

WHY lmao, I'm from a former MSP. I learned ALOT in like 3 years, I also aged ALOT in 3 years, like 10 years worth. Unless that's like twice the offer, I would consider it VERY well.

I'm in an internal IT as a "Retired" Consultant, while I give food to my cats and fish treats to my koi pond lol, life is good

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smoothvibe@reddit

Man, I was in the same position. Left a job that was "boring" just to earn a bit more money at some MSP but it was hell. If you love stress, go for it.

I'd never change away from internal IT ever again.

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Xelopheris@reddit

MSPs are a higher stress environment, where you are being tracked by billable hours for everything you do.

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ProfessorWorried626@reddit

Depends, the MSP I was at before my internal job was much better. The amount of bullshit politics in some companies is worse than any workload.

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Lvl30Dwarf@reddit

This is the answer. Been at my MSP 10 years and it's all about the management and leadership. I see tons of internal IT people I would never want to work swap places with.

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1stUserEver@reddit

You can basically make your schedule and have control over pretty much everything. Very little red tape and politics. There is too much chaos and work to have time for bullshit 😂 as long as you can outlive the stress.

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DFLDrew@reddit

Anyone have experience owning a MSP? Or perhaps more consultancy work?

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Akamiso29@reddit

Will your current place pay for certs?

If so, skill up and bounce. Do not do MSP.

If no, save up, skill up and bounce. Do not do MSP.

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Majestic-Home2021@reddit (OP)

Yea taking the MD-102 exam soon

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RiceeeChrispies@reddit

If you want challenging, the right MSP is great - but you have to like spinning plates all the time.

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parracite@reddit

Many MANY techs are chasing the opposite direction. Only move to an MSP if you like your heart rate being high and hair turning grey :)