Field notes from a career change
Break into IT from the trades or the military.
Plain-language career guides, certification roadmaps, and home lab builds from someone who went from electrical work and a repair bench to senior systems administrator. No CS degree required.
Route sheet
J2T-001
Background
U.S. Marine Corps
DONE
Electrical and fabrication
DONE
Repair engineer, medical devices
DONE
IT career
Help desk analyst, MSP
2021
Senior systems administrator
NOW
Azure administrator (AZ-104)
IN PROGRESS
AAS in Technology: earned. BS in Cybersecurity: in progress.
Pick your starting point
Three ways in. Most people need a little of each, but start with whichever is blocking you right now.
01 / Career guides
Turn your experience into an IT resume
Translating military and trade work into IT job titles, resumes, and interview answers. What MSP hiring managers actually screen for.
02 / Cert roadmaps
Which certs, in what order, and what to skip
A+ through Security+ and CySA+, then the Azure track. Study approach, real cost, and which ones get you past the resume filter.
03 / Home lab
Build experience before anyone hires you
Networking, virtualization, and self-hosted services you can run at home. The gear worth buying and the projects worth putting on a resume.
What transfers
You’re not starting from zero
The habits that make a good tradesman or Marine are the same ones that make a good sysadmin. You just need the words for them.
| On the job | In IT |
|---|---|
| Tracing a fault through a panel, one circuit at a time | Troubleshooting a network one layer at a time |
| Working from a work order and the code book | Working tickets against SOPs and change control |
| Pre-op checks, comm checks, and standing orders | Monitoring, runbooks, and incident response |
| Measure twice, cut once | Test it in the lab before you touch production |
Why take advice from me
I started this site in 2020 as an accountability log. I was working a repair bench full time, going to school full time, and studying for my first certification at night.
A year later I was on a managed service provider’s help desk. Today I’m a senior systems administrator, and I’ve supported more than 80 client organizations.
No course to sell you on the first visit. This is the route I took, written down so you can take a shorter one.
80+
client organizations supported
6
industry certifications
Certifications
- CompTIA A+
- Network+
- Security+
- CySA+
- Azure AZ-900
- Apple ACSP
- AZ-104 (in progress)
From the log
The IT Cert Roadmap for 2026: Which Certs, in What Order, and What to Skip
The cert order I would follow starting from zero today: CompTIA to get hired, Microsoft to move up, Azure for cloud, then…
Where I Stand Now: The 2026 Update
From MSP help desk to senior sysadmin. The full route, what worked, and what I’d skip if I did it again.
One Year Later: Where I Stand Now
Update, 2026: Since this post I moved from Level 1 help desk to Level 3, then help desk manager, and I’m now…
Free download
Get the IT career roadmap
Two pages: which certs to get and in what order, a starter home lab, how to put trade or military experience on an IT resume, and how veterans can get it paid for. New guides go to the list first.
Free · 2 pages · Updated Oct 2026