IT careers, minus the fluff

You want into IT. Or you're stuck in it.

I spent twenty years in IT support: overnight sysadmin, tier 1 phones, quality control, and nine of it running a 50-seat enterprise service desk that served a thousand-plus people. I did the hiring, the firing, the promotions, and the layoffs. This site is everything I wish someone had told my new hires on day one.

Start here: breaking in with no experience   The Resume Guide

Latest

Getting in

How to break into IT with no experience

The honest version: what actually gets a zero-experience resume past a service desk manager, and what wastes your time.

Resumes

The IT resume that gets interviews

I screened hundreds for my own desk. Here's what made me call someone, and what made me stop reading.

Interviews

The 10 questions I asked every helpdesk candidate

And what a good answer sounds like, because most people fail these without knowing they were questions.

Certifications

A+, Network+, or nothing: which cert first

Certs are a filter, not a ticket. Which ones earn their cost and which are just resume decoration.

Tier 1

The tier 1 survival guide

Scripts, shortcuts, ticket hygiene, and how to keep your soul while closing 40 tickets a day.

Getting out

Helpdesk to sysadmin: the actual path

Not the LinkedIn version. What skills transfer, which ones don't, and how the escape actually happens.

Free tool: the Resume Analyzer: upload your resume, get an ATS-style score, missing keywords, and specific fixes before you apply. No signup for the basic report.

Who this is for

If you're trying to get your first IT job, or you're on the phones and trying to get off them, or you're wondering whether the manager track is worth it: that's this site. If you want "learn to code in 90 days" fantasies, plenty of other people sell those.