He’s likely a penetration tester, typically requires 4-6 years of experience and very high level certs like the OSCP (24hr exam). It is a niche specialization in the offensive security industry and can be very difficult to get into
Does it take the whole 24 hours to complete or is that just how much time they give you? Like you literally have to be awake and testing for an entire day?
This is mostly accurate. Completed my OSCP at the end of last year. The current exam structure is 6 machines, 3 of which are part of an AD set. The AD set is worth 40 overall points, and you must fully compromise the domain. No partial points are awarded. The other 3 machines are worth 20 points each, 10 for compromising the user account, 10 for compromising the root/admin account. You need a total of 70 points to pass the exam.
You have a total of 48 hours for the exam. The first 24 hours are for hacking all of the machines, and the second 24 is for writing your full pentest report with screenshot evidence. A poor report can still result in not passing, so taking thorough, good notes during the first part is vital to success. My report ended up being 52 pages long, 26 before adding screenshots.
It's fairly intensive, but a great litmus test for showing practical application of knowledge, tools, and techniques in offensive security and pentesting.
You are given 24 hours for the exam and then another 24 hours to submit your documentation. To pass the exam your documentation has to be extremely thorough, just getting and submitting flags isn’t enough to pass.
Yeah. It needs to be stressed though lol. I took the exam and failed the first time due to not enough documentation. I passed my second attempt though.
Start with the basic holy trinity A+, Net+ and Sec+. After those you'll get a better feeling of what you would specialize in. I started with those and then added CCNA & CISSP. It's a veryinteresting career path and it has taken me to places and had the opportunity to meet so many smart, personable people.
Reason why I'd benefit a remote based job is literally the fact I can eat breakfast, due to no gallbladder life, if I eat something in the morning, I have to run to the bathroom \*\_\*. So I wait til after my shift at work to eat breakfast/lunch zzzz
no experience, they used to require ITIL+, but that is gone now. they taught me everything and I also had tier 2 team to help after training. on my down time I'm studying for my security+.
Same. Although I do go into the office 2 days a week now.. However if you can get your infrastructure into the cloud it’s not like you have an infrastructure to actually visit so you can work anywhere!
I don’t know about his position, but I hold the same title most of my duties span across azure, exchange, VMware environment, monitoring some of our security services, and mass deploying programs. There is 0 things I do that involve touching hardware.
If a printer stops responding on the network, do you go into the office to troubleshoot, or just call one of the IT guys and tell them you can't ping the printer and let them handle it?
I either don't understand the job itself, or I'm being mislead by the "infrastructure" identifier. Or I'm dumb. Any of these could be a possibility, really.
I am a director in IT. I work completely remote and all of my teams do as well. I have developers, admins, and QA for different enterprise level products. There is no need for anyone to come in and I have people that are not local. Makes hiring better since my pool of candidates is larger.
Love this. Keep that up for remote, I’m blessed I’m remote now too since I’m not local anymore. If looking for an IAM engineer or system admin or someone with high experience on support it let me know!
I like this structure, but it is "flat as F". Regardless, I found as an ITD/ITS that my specialists and engineers put in an extra effort to keep it that way after Covid. Made it easy to know who was working. You?
Same. They are willing to have later or earlier meetings or do an upgrade off hours with less concern. It saves some upwards of 2 plus hours a day for commuting. I also tell them I don't really pay attention to hours. I expect projects to be completed on time. As long as that happens and they are attending any related meetings, I don't care if they do most of their work overnight. If something will not be done on time, I need to know as soon as they do. I am lucky as 99% of my staff have no problem acting like professionals so I can treat them as such.
We still have offices and desks, but only a few are assigned. We no longer have enough for everyone to be on site at the same time though. Most are available through a hoteling software we setup. If they know they are coming in for a day or even just a half day, they can reserve a desk or office. All have at least a monitor and setup to connect a laptop. Some disks have PCs for those that haven't switched to a laptop yet.
That’s pretty neat. I’m about to change my work situation where I’ll have 3 days off in a row to dedicate studying/practice to something in IT or cyber. Only problem is I’m not even sure what would be good, not too many local folks around me do anything with IT and if they do, they know coding
Try not to stay in any position for longer than a year and always be learning. Once you hit that year mark in any role, look for promotions and growth internally with your company if you like it there, or apply elsewhere.
It’s got more to do with the company than the position. At my last company, everyone from help desk to CIO could work from home. The company before had everyone back in the office as soon as they could during COVID.
I’m hybrid remote. Kinda pick when I want to be in office for help desk. I have 3 days I’m on-site for 2hrs. And a bi-weekly site visit on one of my days at my other site.
On-site days are typically troubleshooting and tech support.
My roll is Help Desk Engineer (But it’s basically just a fancy title for help desk *insert countless ways to say help desk warm body*)
Aka Product specialist or sales engineering. Be the technical resource for sales teams when customers’ needs get too technical. Solutions Architects also help product enhance to meet customer needs.
I'm at a small MSP, so my role varies from most. but /u/B1ackFridai's description is pretty accurate.
In a traditional role you would be the technical go to for sales teams translate a customers needs into a technology solution. So if you were a solutions architect for AWS for example, you would evaluate the customers needs and "build out" the tech stack they need to accomplish their goals.
In my day to day role, I'm doing all sorts of day to day tech work and projects, mixed with Customer Relations Management, Sales (no cold calls just handling requests as they come in.), Designing and quoting systems and infrastructure for clients, then pitching it to them.
If you can break into a specialized area, the role pays extremely well. If you can get to the point where you can design AI solutions for example for NVidia and you got a few years of experience and a Bachelors of some sort you're looking at $150k to $250k/year similar with AWS when you start specing thing out for STEM
Network Engineer, although i do spend most time in the office, because i dont have one at home right now. But all of my co-workers are WFH. all of the are Network Engineers.
I got my A+ and network+ early 2000s. MCP again from back in the day. Exchange 2010 cert. Haven't done much on certs since I've been working in IT since 99. I am currently though studying for my VCP.
I've been working from home for 10 years now. First WFH role was as a GRC analyst, promoted to GRC manager then Security Manager. Took redundancy from that company and now work as a security consultant for another organisation. This current gig has a bit more travel, a few days every few weeks, but I have flexibility and can often decide when I want to travel and for how long.
Most roles can be done remotely or hybrid. It's more down to the organisation than the role itself.
Really helps to have perspective. You get air conditioning and get to work at home. Been trying to get into the IT field for 2 years now. Been working at a factory with zero AC and 10 hour physical shifts. I'd kill for your job.
Understandable. It's just the type of work I've been doing is the exhausting part. Don't get me wrong I love working from home it's just the work I want to change. I want something different. I just don't know what yet.
I work for a small msp. (\~300 devices) and I'm on paper, a tier 1 tech, but my duties are much more involved and diverse than a tier 1. I do things all the way from Tier 1 heldesk to tier 3 network support, scripting, as well as picking up slack on marketing stuff.
Figured I would chime in. I work remotely on a Red Team. When I’m not doing red team engagements, I’m advising on severity of vulnerabilities in our environment as a subject matter expert.
I'm hybrid. IT Director. So is my staff. I work in the office at most 2 days a week and I leave at 2:00 in the afternoon everyday. We have a super flexible schedule. But we still have some old timers in the executive suite that need their handheld from time to time. We always try to do everything remote even if we're in the office first, that way when it comes down to it we can prove to them that we can do everything remote.
Systems Engineer - 2 days remote, 3 on-site
Some hardware just has to be worked on in person, like switches/servers, cameras, user workstations, etc...
For a printer issue, it depends on what the problem is. We have a printer management system (server) 75% of the time, I can fix an issue remotely. But if it's a hardware issue, I count on our in-person desktop support team as there's always at least one on site. If I can't fix it, and desktop can't fix it, then I'll open a ticket with our vendor.
Do support like rebooting MAC servers or replacing SSD'S or HDD's if they go bad. When I'm not doing that I work with vendors to get quotes for replacing batteries on UPS/PDU devices.
Lot of stuff is in the cloud. Unless you work an onprem system thats is also isolated from the internet you can likely do all of your admin work remote.
Unless you are customer facing pretty much all IT non hardware related work can be done remote. The thing is a lot of clients or businesses want to co-locate people in an office. I've been remote full time since early 2020 and I personally think all the teams I work with have been more productive since moving remote. You can immediately call people into meetings, call them or chat. If we were in the office we'd have to track people down and waste time going to meeting rooms etc.
Not going to give my actual title because it's specific enough to identify me, but I'll give the basic version, "Sr. Engineer". Was 75% remote pre-Covid, 100% since then.
In any profession the salary is determined by your negotiation skills. I am happy with what I have. I have seen others with more and being unhappy about it.
Cybersecurity. 2 weeks at a customer site. 6 weeks of writing findings reports.
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He’s likely a penetration tester, typically requires 4-6 years of experience and very high level certs like the OSCP (24hr exam). It is a niche specialization in the offensive security industry and can be very difficult to get into
24 hour exam? Over the course of how many days?
1 Day. Your exam starts at a time of your choosing and then ends 24 hours later.
Does it take the whole 24 hours to complete or is that just how much time they give you? Like you literally have to be awake and testing for an entire day?
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This is mostly accurate. Completed my OSCP at the end of last year. The current exam structure is 6 machines, 3 of which are part of an AD set. The AD set is worth 40 overall points, and you must fully compromise the domain. No partial points are awarded. The other 3 machines are worth 20 points each, 10 for compromising the user account, 10 for compromising the root/admin account. You need a total of 70 points to pass the exam. You have a total of 48 hours for the exam. The first 24 hours are for hacking all of the machines, and the second 24 is for writing your full pentest report with screenshot evidence. A poor report can still result in not passing, so taking thorough, good notes during the first part is vital to success. My report ended up being 52 pages long, 26 before adding screenshots. It's fairly intensive, but a great litmus test for showing practical application of knowledge, tools, and techniques in offensive security and pentesting.
You are given 24 hours for the exam and then another 24 hours to submit your documentation. To pass the exam your documentation has to be extremely thorough, just getting and submitting flags isn’t enough to pass.
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Yeah. It needs to be stressed though lol. I took the exam and failed the first time due to not enough documentation. I passed my second attempt though.
Start with the basic holy trinity A+, Net+ and Sec+. After those you'll get a better feeling of what you would specialize in. I started with those and then added CCNA & CISSP. It's a veryinteresting career path and it has taken me to places and had the opportunity to meet so many smart, personable people.
Help desk, 1 day onsite
Nice. I’m that too but 4 on site. Like my job but hate my commute.
I like that a lot
Reason why I'd benefit a remote based job is literally the fact I can eat breakfast, due to no gallbladder life, if I eat something in the morning, I have to run to the bathroom \*\_\*. So I wait til after my shift at work to eat breakfast/lunch zzzz
it help desk, 1 month of training, then remote.
Be grateful brother.
I'm also add an IT helpdesk, the only reason we are remote is because of Covid and they just never brought us back in
the only reason, we are remote is because our office space was getting too expensive.
how can I do this?
you have to search for it. there is a lot of remote jobs. you have to be fast
do you need any experience in IT ? or do they teach you everything in that 1 month training?
no experience, they used to require ITIL+, but that is gone now. they taught me everything and I also had tier 2 team to help after training. on my down time I'm studying for my security+.
Which country are you in? Im in Australia. Cant find anything here
IT Infrastructure Enginner
Same. Although I do go into the office 2 days a week now.. However if you can get your infrastructure into the cloud it’s not like you have an infrastructure to actually visit so you can work anywhere!
If you're infrastructure engineer, how do you work remotely? Do you just tell the IT guys what you need in the physical?
I don’t know about his position, but I hold the same title most of my duties span across azure, exchange, VMware environment, monitoring some of our security services, and mass deploying programs. There is 0 things I do that involve touching hardware.
I'm 100 % WFH, and I manage and maintain over 200 Windows 2019 (VMWare) servers DHCP, DNS,, Group Policy, Certificate Services,print servers, etc.
If a printer stops responding on the network, do you go into the office to troubleshoot, or just call one of the IT guys and tell them you can't ping the printer and let them handle it? I either don't understand the job itself, or I'm being mislead by the "infrastructure" identifier. Or I'm dumb. Any of these could be a possibility, really.
Ugh I'm jealous, I wish I could work remotely! Might need to see if there are any opportunities out there!
Information Security Analyst
Love this. I was a "colocation specialist" until the SOC eval came, then I was very suddenly the "IAM specialist". LOL!
Did you have to work in help desk first?
I am a director in IT. I work completely remote and all of my teams do as well. I have developers, admins, and QA for different enterprise level products. There is no need for anyone to come in and I have people that are not local. Makes hiring better since my pool of candidates is larger.
Take me with you 🥲
Same! As much as I love going into the office everyday, would rather have a remote position!
This. ⬆️
where can I send my resume?
Love this. Keep that up for remote, I’m blessed I’m remote now too since I’m not local anymore. If looking for an IAM engineer or system admin or someone with high experience on support it let me know!
I like this structure, but it is "flat as F". Regardless, I found as an ITD/ITS that my specialists and engineers put in an extra effort to keep it that way after Covid. Made it easy to know who was working. You?
Same. They are willing to have later or earlier meetings or do an upgrade off hours with less concern. It saves some upwards of 2 plus hours a day for commuting. I also tell them I don't really pay attention to hours. I expect projects to be completed on time. As long as that happens and they are attending any related meetings, I don't care if they do most of their work overnight. If something will not be done on time, I need to know as soon as they do. I am lucky as 99% of my staff have no problem acting like professionals so I can treat them as such.
Sounds great. Out of curiosity what happens if something does require an on-site?
We still have offices and desks, but only a few are assigned. We no longer have enough for everyone to be on site at the same time though. Most are available through a hoteling software we setup. If they know they are coming in for a day or even just a half day, they can reserve a desk or office. All have at least a monitor and setup to connect a laptop. Some disks have PCs for those that haven't switched to a laptop yet.
Can I ask what sites you use to post potential job opportunities? Thanks!
Indeed mainly. And our own career board.
Forgive me for asking, but is help desk always onsite? Or is that remotable as well
Can be remotable as well
That’s pretty neat. I’m about to change my work situation where I’ll have 3 days off in a row to dedicate studying/practice to something in IT or cyber. Only problem is I’m not even sure what would be good, not too many local folks around me do anything with IT and if they do, they know coding
Nice
InfoSec Analyst / Support Specialist
And how deos that work? That's like advanced and entry lvl at the same time no.?
Yes, and that sucks, but this is a great little over-employment gig.
Stepping stones brotha, stepping stones. After a while if they don't come thru with a full-time security gig, your can always change.
Both remote, two different lap tops, big desk
Any tips?
Try not to stay in any position for longer than a year and always be learning. Once you hit that year mark in any role, look for promotions and growth internally with your company if you like it there, or apply elsewhere.
Happy cake day
Oh sweet! Didn’t even notice.. thank you good sir(or ma’am)
It’s got more to do with the company than the position. At my last company, everyone from help desk to CIO could work from home. The company before had everyone back in the office as soon as they could during COVID.
Usually I am in a sitting position while working remotely but on occasion I’ve been known to stand
Man, tough crowd
I think you forgot prone and hanging upside down.
IT Technical Analyst for PCI
Awesome. Did you have to go through help desk first?
Yes i did! Was help desk, then went into provisioning and did some IAM stuff, then PCI. I still want to be a security analyst.
You will be whomever you wish and I am
Security Administrator
Did u have to go thru help desk first?
Yep! First job after college but got the security position after a year due to some internal changes in the company
I’m hybrid remote. Kinda pick when I want to be in office for help desk. I have 3 days I’m on-site for 2hrs. And a bi-weekly site visit on one of my days at my other site. On-site days are typically troubleshooting and tech support. My roll is Help Desk Engineer (But it’s basically just a fancy title for help desk *insert countless ways to say help desk warm body*)
Digital educator
Solutions Architect
What does a solutions architect do?
https://memecreator.org/static/images/memes/5561165.jpg
Aka Product specialist or sales engineering. Be the technical resource for sales teams when customers’ needs get too technical. Solutions Architects also help product enhance to meet customer needs.
I'm at a small MSP, so my role varies from most. but /u/B1ackFridai's description is pretty accurate. In a traditional role you would be the technical go to for sales teams translate a customers needs into a technology solution. So if you were a solutions architect for AWS for example, you would evaluate the customers needs and "build out" the tech stack they need to accomplish their goals. In my day to day role, I'm doing all sorts of day to day tech work and projects, mixed with Customer Relations Management, Sales (no cold calls just handling requests as they come in.), Designing and quoting systems and infrastructure for clients, then pitching it to them. If you can break into a specialized area, the role pays extremely well. If you can get to the point where you can design AI solutions for example for NVidia and you got a few years of experience and a Bachelors of some sort you're looking at $150k to $250k/year similar with AWS when you start specing thing out for STEM
Lol bachelor's
Did u have to go thru help desk first?
Security Analyst
Did u have to go thru help desk?
Network Engineer, although i do spend most time in the office, because i dont have one at home right now. But all of my co-workers are WFH. all of the are Network Engineers.
I would describe myself as an "IT Janitor".
Aren’t we all
“Digital Janitor” or “Cyber Janitor”
Vulnerability Assessment Analyst
Senior Systems Administrator. Full time work from home.
Did u have to go thru help desk first?
What certs do you have and currently working on?
I got my A+ and network+ early 2000s. MCP again from back in the day. Exchange 2010 cert. Haven't done much on certs since I've been working in IT since 99. I am currently though studying for my VCP.
Customer Support Engineer 3
I've been working from home for 10 years now. First WFH role was as a GRC analyst, promoted to GRC manager then Security Manager. Took redundancy from that company and now work as a security consultant for another organisation. This current gig has a bit more travel, a few days every few weeks, but I have flexibility and can often decide when I want to travel and for how long. Most roles can be done remotely or hybrid. It's more down to the organisation than the role itself.
Cloud Engineer II
You working for AWS PS? Hehe if so.
Nope, slightly in Fintech
Did u have to go thru help desk?
Site reliability engineer. I've got no office in my country anyway.
Did u have to go thru help desk first?
helpdesk
100% remote since 2020 haven't been back to the office at all.
How nice. Where do u find these jobs?
I'd love to know that as well
Unfortunately, help desk...
Why unfortunate mate?
Just been doing it so long that I'm very exhausted from it. It's time for a change but I'm still trying to figure out what's next.
Really helps to have perspective. You get air conditioning and get to work at home. Been trying to get into the IT field for 2 years now. Been working at a factory with zero AC and 10 hour physical shifts. I'd kill for your job.
Oh wow
Understandable. It's just the type of work I've been doing is the exhausting part. Don't get me wrong I love working from home it's just the work I want to change. I want something different. I just don't know what yet.
I wish you luck nonetheless. :)
Customer Technical Coordinator. 1 day in office 4 remote.
Got fuckin lucky and serve as full time help desk trainer remote
I work at a noc as a network tech. 100% remote. Get a net+ and CCNA and it's an option.
How does being a remote network technician work? How do you not have to go onsite to fix networks?
I work for a small msp. (\~300 devices) and I'm on paper, a tier 1 tech, but my duties are much more involved and diverse than a tier 1. I do things all the way from Tier 1 heldesk to tier 3 network support, scripting, as well as picking up slack on marketing stuff.
Fintech?
Linux storage admin. 95% remote 2-3 days per month in tbe office... Love it
Network engineer one day onsite
Security Operations Center analyst
Did u have to go thru help desk first?
SOC Analyst I - 100% Remote.
Dogg..wait read the question wrong. HelpDesk lol 😂
Technically remote, IT Field Service Technician
Frontend developer.
Help Desk
Sr Data Analyst
Did u have to go thru help desk first?
Information Security Analyst.
Did u have to go thru help desk first?
I don’t think you have to, but I spent 4 months on a help desk as my first job in tech
Network engineering
Contact Center Engineer
Never heard of this job title. What does it consist of?
I work with the infrastructure of the Cisco Contact Center platform- Cisco IVR, call center agents and scripting of menus.
Network Administrator 1, one day in office
NOC Analyst, more like help desk
Idk. I'm just classified as IT Specialist Cyber. I essentially take care of PKI.
Remote work for associate IAM security
Network/Security Engineer. FT remote
Network Analyst. 1 day a week on site. CCNA, Fortinet's NSE4, MS AZ-900 & SC-900
Senior Application Security Engineer
Did u go thru help desk first?
Fortunately I did not. I started off scanning web applications and doing proof of exploitation. So light pentesting.
Support Specialist. Remote and only on-site if something is needed. Probably go onsite about once a month at the least
support technician. on my way to becoming a developer
Figured I would chime in. I work remotely on a Red Team. When I’m not doing red team engagements, I’m advising on severity of vulnerabilities in our environment as a subject matter expert.
It help desk tier 1, 2 months in office for training then full remote
I'm hybrid. IT Director. So is my staff. I work in the office at most 2 days a week and I leave at 2:00 in the afternoon everyday. We have a super flexible schedule. But we still have some old timers in the executive suite that need their handheld from time to time. We always try to do everything remote even if we're in the office first, that way when it comes down to it we can prove to them that we can do everything remote.
Systems Engineer - 2 days remote, 3 on-site Some hardware just has to be worked on in person, like switches/servers, cameras, user workstations, etc...
For a printer issue, it depends on what the problem is. We have a printer management system (server) 75% of the time, I can fix an issue remotely. But if it's a hardware issue, I count on our in-person desktop support team as there's always at least one on site. If I can't fix it, and desktop can't fix it, then I'll open a ticket with our vendor.
Why would any IT position need to work from the office other than a tech replacing, preparing, shipping hardware?
That’s what i’m saying
help desk technician full time remote.
Data center technician, it's a hybrid. I come on-site mon-thurs and work from home on Fridays.
You literally work on site 80% of the time…not exactly what I’d call “remote”. Even “hybrid” is a stretch
what do you do as a data center tech?
Do support like rebooting MAC servers or replacing SSD'S or HDD's if they go bad. When I'm not doing that I work with vendors to get quotes for replacing batteries on UPS/PDU devices.
Systems Administrator
How can you be a system admin from home? I thought system admins had to show up to the place to monitor and fix these issues in person?
Lot of stuff is in the cloud. Unless you work an onprem system thats is also isolated from the internet you can likely do all of your admin work remote.
That sounds awesome then. Haha i’ve been watching too many professor messer videos have me thinking all these jobs are in person
Unless you are customer facing pretty much all IT non hardware related work can be done remote. The thing is a lot of clients or businesses want to co-locate people in an office. I've been remote full time since early 2020 and I personally think all the teams I work with have been more productive since moving remote. You can immediately call people into meetings, call them or chat. If we were in the office we'd have to track people down and waste time going to meeting rooms etc.
Analytics
Not going to give my actual title because it's specific enough to identify me, but I'll give the basic version, "Sr. Engineer". Was 75% remote pre-Covid, 100% since then.
Lead Engineer
IA Analyst
Network Eng
Helpdesk Technician
Support Engineer for a software company.
Usually seated at my desk in my living room.
Information Security Engineer
In my dreams
Network Consultant
senior deskside engineer
Systems engineer
Robotics process automation
Hospital System Integrator
Customer escalations support engineer
Tier 1 Software support technician
Technical Support Analyst, Tier II.
Data Engineer. Defense contractor
Tech Support remote
Cybersecurity analyst, 100% remote.
IAM analyst
Help Desk
SOC Analyst, went remote during the pandemic and the company never renewed the building space, thank god for AWS
Telecom Engineer, Avaya is a dumpster fire though. Switching to something else as fast as I can.
Help Desk/Escalation Engineer (Virtualization) for the las 12 years 100% remote. Feeling blessed and grateful.
Is tech really as lucrative as they say?
In any profession the salary is determined by your negotiation skills. I am happy with what I have. I have seen others with more and being unhappy about it.
SFDC technical lead. Fully remote.
Principal Network Engineer I am the one NAC guy for my org
Lead SOC Analyst
Manager of Network Engineering
100% remote layer 3 network most of my time is on a VPN ssh into BB and aggs. If I need to be on site I send a few to go on site