From AI security to Mac SysAdmin, we ranked 16 tech certs for 2027 by employer demand, with pay ranges, difficulty and prep time for each.

Genuine question for people working in IT, especially those with 2–5 years of experience:

What salary and benefits would you consider reasonable for someone with a bachelor’s degree, industry certifications, and nearly 2.5 years of professional IT experience?

My experience: 2 almost 2.5 years experience in infrastructure support, desk side support, traveling tech

City minimum wage: 19-20

I’ve received offers in the $20–$26/hour range with extremely limited or no PTO, health insurance, or paid holidays, often framed as strong opportunities to gain experience.

I’d appreciate hearing how others evaluate compensation at this stage of their careers. What salary ranges, benefits packages, and job titles would you consider appropriate in today’s market, particularly in high-cost-of-living areas?

What’s an everyday problem you wish someone would build better software for?

Hi everyone, I’ve recently started an IT business, and I’m interested in building software that helps people with the practical frustrations of everyday life.

I’d like to hear about things you find harder or more time-consuming than they should be. It could be keeping on top of bills, organising family schedules, dealing with paperwork, or something specific to your situation.

What’s a task you regularly put off because it’s a hassle? How do you handle it at the moment, and what would make it easier?

I’d also be interested in hearing about apps you’ve tried that haven’t quite worked for you, whether they’re too complicated, too expensive, or missing something useful.

You don’t need to have a software idea. Just hearing about the problem and how it affects your day would help me understand what’s worth building.

Thanks to anyone willing to share.

😨

I’m only a month or two into my first IT job. It’s a small MSP and we work with dental offices. So 50% tickets for softwares for dental stuff. 50% responsibilities, which are WSUS, nakivo, hamachi, exsi setups, so on.

Yes I made a post recently….

I feel that everyday my manager finds something to yell at me for, it’s really busy right now stress is high and tasks are non stop. Swarm of tickets and so many new clients we are setting up.

But it’s getting to me, not because it’s busy but because I’m getting railed everyday about something. Very small things but I’m new to it all…..

I genuinely worry I’ll get fired lol. It’s like I can do 10 things good but occasionally two I get wrong, I get yelled at for.

I’ve been a manager before In my previous profession. I know how to train people. My manager is definitely is acting a bit shitty but I’m so worried that he’s going to let me go for dumb shit

For those over 55 and in IT.. is it me or is it my job? I’m so afraid of causing an outage on the job. I’ve been doing this stuff for dozens of years but am getting old. Some of it has to do with using automation instead of good ol’ fashioned cli. Scripts that I know I tried before (that I didn’t write) but know they worked for one device, will it be safe on another? How come others are so confident to use them? Then there’s the management. If even a planned outage goes perfectly and one app had to be restarted by someone who was missed in the verification they penalize you for it. A full inquiry and many meetings later to make sure it never happens again. All my mistakes seem to be magnified by mgmt. They don’t bother training me. The only training I get is if a new hire comes in and I complain to get the same exposure he gets. The feeling that maybe someone will come to the conclusion that I’m not fit for the job anymore. Does anyone else have these issues?

Redacted all PII and specific company information.

I know this extreme redacting is a buzz kill but I’m just moving carefully.

Phew. Not life changing money but I have worked so, so hard man. What a strange roller coaster the IT world has been so far. I hope everyone here is having a great week and getting big wins.

Old role title was System Administrator.

I have been in the same level 1 section for 3 years and I am trying to get out in the last year I have been put in charge of a Building Management System and some projects that are above my pay.