I recently changed jobs, and my eyes have been blown wide open. Actually, until now, I did all sorts of odd jobs, most of them not even in tech. Things like brick and marble laying, working as a sports shop technician, and bike mechanic. I also worked in oil recycling, where we refined used cooking oil to resell either for research purposes or to established companies to create lubricants or biodiesel.
I am also a coach for trail running and expedition counseling. Additionally, I do a lot of health advisory work, as I have, through 25 years of constant self-education, a much wider view on health than most one-shop doctors, naturopathy practitioners, or even regular doctors.
In terms of IT, I was mostly peeking into projects, doing hands-on stuff like helping set up basic infrastructures, doing open-source to Microsoft migrations (and vice versa), cleaning up messy setups, and loads of physical and software-based repairs.
The thing is, when you work for just one company, after a few days you get the hang of it. You know what types of employees they have, what sorts of demands you might get. You know the physical servers. You know the physical PCs and equipment. You know the types of software used and what could become problematic. You understand how their infrastructure is set up.
After a while, you get totally comfortable and can solve any issue. You know that you can't really mess up — you aren’t doing anything too dangerous, thanks to your ever-increasing internal knowledge.
But when you are handling 10 companies, each with 5 to 10 locations — all installed by different people, not just IT specialists — your initial view, especially during the first three months, is total chaos.
Let me give you an example.
I have companies working with multiple Internet Service Providers. Some use multiple ISPs for redundancy, some delegate different services to different providers. Some sites have a single entry point, others multiple entry points.
In the server bays, sometimes — if I'm lucky — I find only Cisco switches. But that's almost never the case! If I walk through one of our bays, I usually find a messy mix: old Netgear, Cisco, Fortinet switches... then in different buildings, a random mix of manageable and non-manageable Huawei and TP-Link switches.
I might find a FortiGate firewall — but sometimes it's a Meraki. Sometimes they use Windows-based VPN services, paid VPN services, or the built-in FortiGate VPN from the firewall.
Printers could be simply connected directly to the network — or there could be a full print server setup: CUPS, PaperCut, or Windows Print Services.
WiFi?
Well, in very old buildings where there’s no network cabling, WiFi is set up in a messy mesh from the first connected router.
Backups? Again, a different story every time.
Sometimes there's just a simple Windows backup running to a local mini-server. Other times, multiple Synology NASes with VEEAM are on-site. Sometimes, those NASes are there and there’s also Azure Backup running.
Some companies still run Windows Server 2008. Others have a mix of all possible Windows Server versions plus a couple of Ubuntu servers.
Some companies have everything covered under an M365 plan. Others have a chaotic mix of physical on-premises servers and M365 — with or without directory synchronization.
And this mess? It doesn’t even scratch the surface of the 1% real catastrophes IT technicians face when managing big infrastructures.
A simple task like user creation becomes a nightmare.
In a one-shop setup, it takes 3 minutes: create user, add to groups, done.
In a multi-site environment, it’s different every time and full of procedures:
You have to create the user, add to the necessary groups, wait for GPOs to apply, handle printing setups, configure cloud and physical file sharing (which could be a mix of Google, SharePoint, local servers, or others), manage VPN settings, check whether the Windows server syncs with M365, and set up email filtering (Barracuda, Cisco, Mailinblack, etc.).
And of course, set that filtering either in Windows Server, Lighthouse, or both!
When you're handling all this, your mind is just expanding every day.
Your level of experience jumps, Diablo-style — 10x faster than a regular one-shop IT guy.
You collaborate daily with area experts: network engineers, phone system engineers, Android and iPhone specialists, cybersecurity experts, and so on.
[The goal of this write-up is simple:]
I'm advising anyone starting out in IT to join a company like this for a few years.
Your knowledge will become so strong that passing a Network or Sysadmin exam will feel like a flash!
Going for a degree afterward will also be ridiculously easy — even doing a Master’s in Cybersecurity or Networking.
Understanding real infrastructures gives you real knowledge.
Things like CMD line, PowerShell, Cisco/Huawei/Fortinet/Netgear supervisory interfaces will become daily interactions.
Writing reports and technical documents will be second nature.
And when you stand in front of professors with four degrees, you'll already have 100 times the practical experience.
Of course, specialized jobs are much more tranquil: easy, slow-paced.
But those are very elitist and highly sought-after.
The "throw-you-in-the-water" positions — the high-pressure, fast-learning ones — are often reserved for young, enthusiastic, and fast learners. They are usually team positions, meaning there are more openings.
{What I strongly recommend though: don’t settle for Level 1 or Level 2 remote tech support.
That will ruin your daily life.
You’ll be stuck on the phone, unplugging mice and recovering Excel files remotely — all day long.
Often (especially in the US), your access rights will be heavily admin-blocked, limiting your ability to actually learn.}
Where I work, if I have 30 minutes free and don’t understand something, I can remote into any server, check connections, investigate event viewers, call a site to turn on a PC, or even drive there myself with my company car.
My Recommendations:
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Keep your health in check: do sports, eat well, drink plenty of water, and sleep properly.
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Add 2–4 extra work hours per day to explore and learn.
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Avoid screen time before and after work.
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Focus hard during work, but disconnect afterward.
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Once you are comfortable, limit your working hours to the strict minimum.
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Start learning new skills independently.
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Prepare for exams!
You know, if you gave me a Windows Server with three redundancy servers, a nice BAY, 100 PCs, AD-Azure connection, a couple of NAS+UPS devices with, Azure Backup, and some extras, I could easily handle it in 15–20 hours per week.
Right now, I'm doing 50–60 hours of work weekly to master what I do.
Thanks to my health-conscious lifestyle, I still run every day and do strength and conditioning daily.
It’s tough during the week — my family misses me — but it's not permanent. On weekends, I am 100% with them anyway!!!
I hope this advice helps you and gives you some ideas for future-proofing your place in the IT world.
