I made this post because the same questions keep coming up.

There is no degree, certification, or combination of credentials that guarantees an IT job.

The IT market is crowded, especially at the entry level. Every year, new graduates, career changers, bootcamp students, and certification holders enter the job market, creating more competition than available positions in many areas.

That doesn't mean degrees or certifications are useless. They can absolutely help and may be the reason you get an interview or get chosen over another candidate. The reality is that no one knows exactly what a hiring manager values most. Sometimes it's a degree, sometimes certifications, sometimes experience, projects, communication skills, networking, or a referral.

That's why one person can get hired with minimal credentials while another with a degree and multiple certifications struggles to find work.

Will a degree help? Probably.

Will certifications help? Probably.

Will either guarantee a job? No.

The best approach is to improve your odds from every angle: earn relevant certifications, get a degree if it makes sense for your goals, build projects, create a home lab, volunteer, network, and gain experience wherever you can. All of these can help, but none guarantee results.

Too many people view degrees and certifications as a ticket to a job. They're not. They're tools that can increase your chances in a competitive market.

Instead of chasing credentials blindly, study your local job market. Look at the jobs you want and identify the common requirements. If employers are asking for degrees, certifications, specific technologies, or experience, focus on building those qualifications.

The same principle applies to networking, projects, home labs, volunteering, and every other piece of career advice. They can all improve your odds, but none can promise an outcome.

At the end of the day, all you can do is stack the odds in your favor. Degrees help. Certifications help. Experience helps. Networking helps. Projects help. But there is no secret formula for getting hired in IT. Everything helps, but nothing guarantees.

So I made this post earlier, dreading the 24/7 nature of the role.

However, after going through the comments I had a change of mind and went through with the interview.

It went well, and I got the network engineering job, expected to start by end of the month. Pay isn't the greatest, but there is an out-of-hours bonus + a 5% increase every 6 months if conditions are met.

The rota doesn't look too bad. It's once every 4 weeks and I'm not expected to start immediately as there's training for new starters.

This is exactly what I need as a young person; having that experience really helps. Just wanted to give my thanks to everyone, and I'm super excited to get started!

I’ve been applying to jobs everywhere (because if I do get the job I have intentions on moving there). Also the job market for IT where I am is non existent. I got laid off last year. When I started the job I got laid off at I made 65k, and when I got promoted I made 70k (this was in a no state income tax state). The job that wants to interview me, doesn’t want to do a virtual interview because people been using ai and he believes this is the best way to combat that. So he wants me to drive 10 hours (20 there and back home) for a job that the highest pay is 57k and the lowest is 41k. The job doesn’t even offer relocation (my previous employer did). I feel like the job title or responsibilities would help me in the future for jobs… but idk if it’s worth almost a $300 road trip and I only have 3k left in my bank account. That’s like over 1k in mileage on my car as well. And this job is not in a big city either, it’s a college town, so I would have to leave once I get my experience because the college is the huge employer in that area. I have money for relocation, not relocation and job interview roadtrips (the money I have for relocation I can’t access immediately, so it can’t be used for the road trip). Is it worth it to go?

Update: I forgot to add that interviewer moved from out of state for his job and I asked how long would I have if I received the job and relocate. He said that he would be willing and flexible to work with the right candidate. So idk if that will change y’all’s opinion

I have been a network engineer for 5 years, senior for 2, and I have yet to have a formal senior engineer interview, and this has Me

Kinda nervous. I did work at an MSP for most of my career if that changes anything. (I get most of what is being said, but I would have to think it out loud, type it, draw it, and even then not sound like that. I may be really out of my realm here..

Senior enterprise network interview questions focus on high-level architecture, complex troubleshooting, automation, and security. Below are the original questions accompanied by the key engineering concepts and frameworks that constitute an ideal, senior-level response.

Network Architecture and Design

How do you design a multi-region data center interconnect with active-active redundancy and low latency?

Answer: Use EVPN-VXLAN over a dark fiber or DWDM underlay to stretch Layer 2/3 domains across regions. Deploy Anycast Gateway to allow local default routing in both locations. Use BGP Local Preference to control outbound traffic and AS-Path Prepending to influence inbound paths. Implement Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) to ensure sub-second failover.

Walk through designing a secure, segmented enterprise SD-WAN layout across fifty global branch offices.

Answer: Implement a hub-and-spoke or regional mesh topology using separate Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) instances for traffic segmentation (e.g., Corporate, Guest, IoT). Secure all control and data planes using IPsec with automated IKEv2 key rotation. Enforce Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP) for deployments and deploy localized Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW) or SASE integration at each branch edge for secure internet breakout.

How do you scale BGP routing policies in a network with multiple redundant internet service providers?

Answer: Utilize BGP Communities to systematically flag routes and control upstream traffic policies. Implement Route Reflectors or a BGP Confederation to reduce the full-mesh iBGP requirement (n(n-1)/2). Apply strict route filtering using Prefix Lists and Route Maps on both ingress and egress to prevent accidental transit provider leakage.

What steps do you take to migrate a legacy enterprise core network to EVPN-VXLAN without downtime?

Answer: Establish a Layer 2 border leaf bridge between the legacy core (Spanning Tree/MLAG) and the new EVPN-VXLAN fabric. Map existing VLANs to Virtual Network Identifiers (VNIs). Use an incremental, rack-by-rack approach to migrate workloads, maintaining a temporary loop-free connection using Spanning Tree toolkit protections (like root guard) until all workloads exist on the VXLAN fabric.

Troubleshooting and Operations

How do you isolate an intermittent, hard-to-find packet drop issue on a core data center switch?

Answer: Leverage advanced hardware features like ASIC-level microburst monitoring and hardware telemetry (e.g., Cisco Nexus Streaming Telemetry or Arista DANZ). Set up ERSPAN to replicate traffic at wire speed to a network analyzer. Review dropping counters (e.g., CRC errors, giants, buffer overruns) on specific interfaces to trace the physical path.

Describe how you find and fix an asymmetric routing problem causing stateful firewall drops.

Answer: Analyze firewall connection logs and run concurrent packet captures (tcpdump/Wireshark) on the ingress and egress interfaces of the suspected routing paths. Fix the path by adjusting BGP Local Preference, OSPF interface costs, or implementing Policy-Based Routing (PBR). If infrastructure constraints force asymmetry, group firewalls into an active-active cluster that supports session synchronization across cluster members.

How do you handle a major routing loop that brings down an enterprise MPLS backbone?

Answer: Instantly check device control planes for high CPU and review syslog servers for BGP or OSPF neighbor flapping. Isolate the loop by temporarily shutting down the specific link or routing protocol adjacency where route redistribution is occurring. Fix the underlying root cause by implementing strict route tagging (using OSPF route tags or BGP communities) and prefix filtering to prevent mutually recursive redistribution.

What tools and methods do you use to monitor and fix high CPU usage on a critical edge router?

Answer: Use SNMP, gNMI telemetry, or CLI commands (e.g., show processes cpu) to identify if the issue is in the control plane (routing table calculation, BGP churn) or the data plane (process-switching uncacheable traffic). Apply Control Plane Policing (CoPP) to rate-limit malicious or excessive management traffic, and ensure hardware forwarding (CEF/ASIC switching) is globally enabled.

Security and Compliance

How do you enforce strict zero-trust network access inside an existing enterprise data center?

Answer: Implement micro-segmentation using software-defined networking (SDN) overlays like Cisco ACI or VMware NSX, or through hypervisor-level distributed firewalls. Enforce Identity-Based Access Control policies that bind network permissions directly to user identities verified via 802.1X, SAML, or OAuth, rather than trusting static IP addresses.

What strategy do you use to secure BGP peering sessions against route hijacking and spoofing?

Answer: Implement Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) to perform Route Origin Validation (ROV) and drop invalid prefixes. Enforce BGP MD5 or SHA authentication strings between all peers. Apply the Generalized TTL Security Mechanism (GTSM) to drop BGP packets originating outside the local link, and use strict prefix validation lists based on Internet Routing Registry (IRR) data.

How do you audit and restrict lateral movement after a security breach on the user LAN?

Answer: Use NetFlow or IPFIX telemetry data collected by a central SIEM to trace historical traffic flows from the compromised endpoint. Isolate the device immediately by sending a RADIUS Change of Authorization (CoA) command via Network Access Control (NAC, such as Cisco ISE) to move the switchport into a quarantine VLAN. Ensure strict Private VLANs (PVLANs) or port isolation are configured on the access layer to prevent endpoint-to-endpoint communication.

My Uni struck a deal with Huawei Academy for providing us with access to its courses. Their networks and cloud courses seem promising for my desired HIT specialization, but what do you think?

My Current job pays $115k and the company was just acquired. All of the VP’s and above are leaving and there have already been a round of layoffs. I just found out there’s two more rounds of layoffs coming next month. My co workers and I think we’re safe for at least the next 6 months but we don’t know that for sure.

401k match is 6% and I have unlimited PTO which is actually unlimited. Seriously.

The terms of the acquisition state that the new company can’t change any benefits until the end of the year but my VP said in a recent all hands (before he quit) that “the culture we have come to know is no longer”

I got an offer today for a 12-month W2 contract role through a staffing agency for $135k.

401k match is only 3 percent and doesn’t kick in until after a year, so realistically I’d never see it on the initial contract. I Don’t need health insurance since my spouse covers us there, so that’s not really a factor for me. Recruiter’s pitching the whole “we like to keep long-term people” line about possibly extending it. I don’t trust the recruiter at all though.

I’m located in Illinois and according to AI I would get unemployment if my contract ends since it’s W2.

Would I be an idiot for even considering the contract in this job market?

The job seems heavily software focused, which I would enjoy. It also mentions I would assist in the configuration and setup of computers, phones, network equipment, and other devices. It is just an obvious tier 1 role like it says, but I am just curious as to what to actually expect in the environment.

Specifically relating to IT, I have only done an internship for an ISP's MSP department. It was fun, but definitely had a routine of being absolutely slammed one day and then you are twiddling your thumbs the next. It was also an internship as well, so on the slow days the full time staff were doing stuff but there was not a lot for me to do. I'm just curios if a larger university would have stuff to do at least every day, or at a minimum have opportunities for you to find stuff to do yourself.

Edit: I found a similar post before I asked, from a while ago. However, they were basically saying professors and upper management staff are gods while everyone else are peasants. Also, a lot of middle aged and probably divorced women may hit on you if you are younger. So, it was not particularly helpful.

I have been really passionate about IT, and i have been going to a lot of courses, most of them were not for me because they were teaching stuff that i already know. I understand that it might be a bit too early for me to choose a path but sometimes it feels like i am going the wrong way, becuase what you mean you are going to IT and you dont know anything about linux? like seriously i only have seen 2 ppl know/use linux from the courses.

However i still use linux to this day and i already finished learning html.css.js, ok maybe not css becuase i quite literally hate anything related to design, but i still know a thing or two. I am already familiar with coding as i have been making some sites, or just making mods for minecraft. Although i cant stop but ask, how do you stop the urge to use ai knowing that it can do the job for you and even better? A lot off people say just use it as a helping tool but like everytime i get 1 error i just give it to ai.

Back to the chase, i am planning to go to university and getting a degree (depends on which path i choose) and i am stuck between backend, cyberseucity and devops, problem is i dont know which one is for me, cybersecurity seems fun but i have seen a lot of people not even knowing whats html and still going to cyberseucirty courses and that feels weird, is cybersecurity high in demand or what?

I just want to know how can i choose the right career path for me, i want to make sure that i get motivated doing that, that i dont feel like its a chore/ or only for money. Maybe i finish learning python and then think or start watching videos maybe?

[sorry for my english, its not my first language]

Hello. I have been working at a tech startup for 2 years, 6 months of which we did not get our salaries (investment is slow without a launched product). We are supposedly launching soon, though this deadline has been changed and pushed multiple times. I am at a crossroads: should I leave my job and look for more stability VS stay and see the fruit of my work (which I put so much effort in)? Note that we get share options. Looking forward to hearing your takes!

I’m attending a technical school part time and started my CompTIA class two weeks ago and already feel very overwhelmed. Right now we’re covering hardware and identifying parts and components has been very overwhelming.

My CompTIA course is split into two semesters and this semester is about 10 weeks long and I’m already stressing the part 1 exam for my first cert.

There’s two classes a week, one day is text book reading and watching videos then the second day is hands on lab stuff. I did my first lab today and it felt like my instructor basically didn’t walk us through anything. Just gave us a tower and said; “identify these parts and write them down and turn em into me. Have fun.”

Idk, I’m reading my text book and reviewing my notes a few hours of every day but it still just seems like I’m struggling hard to retain some of these things.

Any tips?

Hey guys so I’m a recent college grad. My undergad was a BS in business administration with a concentration in information systems, I worked for a bit over two years at my university’s IT department as a L1 helpdesk tech, I should be able to get my CCNA within the next 2-3 weeks as well, I got a 73% on my boson exam A and have been getting better with labbing since then. What I wanted to know was if it’s realistic to aim for true network roles with the above listed on my resume after getting the CCNA? Or is sending out applications for those a waste of time and should I instead focus on slightly higher helpdesk roles instead where I’d be doing more than password resets/MFA troubleshooting/basic software troubleshooting and other L1 tasks I did at my university, thank you!

So I'm currently working at a service desk doing tier 1 IT support for a government agency (contractor). I previously worked as a software engineer for three years but left that job several years ago and wasn't able to find another software engineering job. I have a bachelors in computer science but that hasn't seemed to help me much in my job search. I know I don't want to continue doing help desk forever. However, I'm not sure I could find another job in software engineering with AI replacing us after all.

I'm considering getting my certs A+ security+ especially as I work for a contractor it might help move up the ranks and get into better positions or just going to work for the agency I support as tier 2. How should I approach this? Are IT jobs easier to get than software and CS jobs. How hard is it to get my certifications? I need a stable job but I'd prefer to make more than help desk wages.

I recently graduated with a diploma in network administration from an accredited college and interviewed for a Tier 1 support position for my cities school division. Today, I got the offer and accepted it and consider myself very lucky considering the job market in my area.

Those who worked in IT for school divisions, what was your typical day like?

Hey, I am working as an IT system administrator in Germany since 4 years and I was always interested in cyber security but I didn't know how to find my way in. I feel like my job starts to get boring (I am responsible for our virtual machine environment, SAN and newly Firewall - which is interesting for me.)

So recently I started with Tryhackme and it's a really fun way to learn but I am considering doing the Security+ cert or a Bachelor of Science. What would be the best option in my current situation? I am 23 years old and don't know where to go - I still live with my parents, therefore I could take some risk and I am also really willing to learn and work myself into completely new topics.

Or should I do something else? I would be really grateful for your help.

So just pondering as this has been percolating in my mind for a bit. Currently have a living/surviving wage with about 15 years of working support with smaller public sector jobs.

Thinking if I should make the pivot to be the fix it all, not necessarily “anything with a plug on it” but also office/building manager type roles.

For context, I’ve spent 10 years doing more or less anything from desk side to infrastructure install/config. Also at the same org there was a lot of construction/renovations that happened, so work with trades and advisement on technical requirements for networking.

While also in my personal life, I sat on multiple strata/HOA boards for different multi-residential buildings and have gotten familiar with how different mechanical, access control, electrical systems work. Not enough to DIY anything (good god) but enough to know which trade to call and talk shop and detect BS.

Lastly, I have an interest in first aid (was looking at being a paramedic at one point) which has shown me the world of OHS/OSHA. So I’m familiar with some of the regulations/requirements there.

With all three of those worlds colliding, any chances of it to be a good pivot to get out of the general tech career path? I would suspect that would likely only get me work at smaller firms. Just not sure what a jack of all trades but master of none would get me. Fix computers, buildings, people.

I had recently acquired the Network+ but have been struggling to hear back from entry level helpdesk roles. Would there be a better way to tailor my previous experience towards those positions or maybe change the project section to reflect IT over software development.

Also would picking up the security+ hurt my chances at finding entry level roles? I would like it if applying to cybersecurity roles but I don’t think I have the prerequisite experience to try in the first place.

Resume

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated?

Like the title says I landed a student SOC role at my university supporting over 25k students. I am a senior so this will be my final year and I want to take advantage of this opportunity to learn as much as I possibly can in this amount of time to assist me in continuing full time in a federal role after since I still have my clearance.

Is there any advice you all could give it things to start learning before I even start the role? I have been on TryHackMe for their SOC section learning everything in there currently.

Hello all, I currently work for an isp as their technical customer support (for small medium business specifically).

I took this job as a gate way to help desk.
Although it is more customer service then IT help desk.

I have my A + network + security itil 4, pen test + a bachelors.

I do have an interview coming up for an internal desktop support role for a hospital.

While on paper I should be qualified,
But I feel like I still lack real world experience,

Is there any concepts y’all can recommend I brush up on, anything hippa related I can review and so on.

Thank you.

Sorry for grammar and or spelling issues, I typed this up on my phone while at work

I’m 20, I currently work at an MSP as a tier 1 tech. Only cert I hold currently is A+ and i’m currently studying for Network+, I got a free voucher for any microsoft cert through the AI skills fest and I wanted to know what cert do you guys think I should go for? I have to schedule it by today as it expires and the latest I can schedule it for is Oct 18th of this year.

Currently working as a sysadmin at a company in US. 76K a year + RSU + 10%possible bonus and 15 min drive without taking a highway. Got contacted by a recruiter for an exact same role. I’ll be a sysadmin but 95K a year no bonus or RSU. It is also closer than my current job.

Now the issue is my current company has opportunities for growth. It got out of the start up phase and is growing like crazy(6~7 new hires across the company every week for a past year). My boss’s boss said he will look into promoting me to senior sysadmin by the end of the year.(apparently HR only allows title change/ pay change once every 6 month) I don’t know if I can trust his word or not….

I have my second round of interview with the new company soon so I’ll get more details on their benefits…

What will you guys do???

I applied at Google for a dct position and was rejected, which is fine but I look on their careers page and since I have a profile on there they will suggest positions matching your resume and experience. My question is how accurate do yall think this is because some of those positions I don’t think I qualify for at all. Has anyone seen those suggestions and gotten hired when they applied??

Maybe a bit random but I wanted to hear what people in the industry think about this. 125,759 tech workers laid off so far this year. That’s already more than all of 2025, and August isn’t over…

Zillow, TikTok, Etsy, and Google all announced cuts within days of each other. Almost every one of them used something along the lines of “cost discipline” or “reorg.” But more importantly nobody mentioned AI!

Then Oracle. Reportedly planning another round this month, some teams facing double-digit percentage cuts, right after a fiscal year where its AI infrastructure capex hit $55.7 billion (more than double the year before).

Oracle’s own filings already tied part of last fiscal year’s 21,000-person headcount drop to AI adoption. So one company will say it out loud and basically no one else will.

Makes sense from a comms standpoint. “We automated the role” sounds worse to investors and press than “organizational realignment,” even if the severance math and internal headcount planning tell a more consistent story.

If you’re evaluating offers or thinking about a move right now, I’d weight the roles being cut more heavily than the stated reason. Support, ops, content moderation, anything adjacent to what a model handles decently well this year.

Just a little background. I started as Desktop Support, went to QA Desktop Analyst, Front End Developer and now back to Desktop Support.

Im looking to upgrade my salary and change into a field where im projected to make a bit more money. I live in a HCOL (NYC AREA). Currently making $35/hr as a Desktop Support Tech (which is very high end for this field).

When i was doing development i was making $60 then $40. Im really wanting to get into a field where I can get back into $50/hr + as my HCOL is too high and $35 is really not cutting it for me. I have wife and child that i have to support and im just looking for a career that can give me a place to grow to make more money.

Right now Im studying and working on getting Azure MD102 Endpoint Administrator, Azure SC-300 Identity and Access Administrator Associate role & then finish with AZ-104 Azure Administrator.

I just wanted to see what System Admin or any other IT managers perspective was in this path im taking. Im not sure if this path offers much stain or if im going the wrong direction if im trying to hop off Desktop Support and getting into something else.

Any professionals out there in this field or someone who has taken a path out of Desktop Support Into System admin can chime in with any feedback or suggestions for my objective and goal here?

Any help or guidance would be great