Build your career with an MSP

Your IT career on the rise

A career in IT… are you pursuing it? Great job (literally)! You’ve chosen the most interesting field of study, the fastest developing industry and possibly the most diverse career path. But how is your career going? What is the smartest thing to do if you want to develop your skills, gain more responsibilities and become a true guru in your field of expertise?

Which parameters do you consider when planning your next career step? What are companies offering you? And is that what you are looking for in your job? Some common aspects to take into consideration; location and the related commute, flexibility, training options, growth path and of course salary! What is important to you?

Make your considerations, take your time.

Your job choice can have a decisive impact on your future. Here are a few tips you can take into account:

• What field do you want to specialize in and does your future employer have expertise in this? Is there an expert in house who can show you how it’s done?
• If there is no senior profile in your field of expertise, ask about training budgets and certifications. Being a gold-certified cloud specialist can be gold for your future career.
• Make sure your future employer is up to date regarding technology. Are they using the latest tools? Do they have modern equipment? Technology is changing so fast and only in a modern, cutting-edge environment will you be able to fully develop your skills.
• Is your job diverse and challenging enough? And is that what you are looking for? A job in the IT department of an SMB can mean something completely different than a job at an MSP, for example. Weight out the pros and cons.

An MSP ticks all the boxes!

An MSP is not just a tech company, it’s a people business. This diverse group of people, with complementary skills, may be just what your IT heart needs. There are patient first-line technicians who can put employees at ease. There are specialised security engineers who get their kicks out of the most difficult technical issues. And last but not least, the project managers, who love deadlines, communicate in human language and report with clear SLAs or KPIs. That all-in-one-mission-impossible IT person has been transformed into this whole team of experts and they are constantly available to you.

Do you already employ strong IT staff or did a talented junior choose to work for you? This can be perfectly combined with an MSP.  Young high potentials want to learn from the best. In this case, a Managed Service Provider is a beneficial environment for them. They get in contact with a wide array of technology and have the possibility to interact closely with vendors in their area of interest. Giving them a highway of opportunity to become niche experts in their preferred domain.

On-the-job training, combined with a team of experts assisting the juniors, makes all the difference. Young talents can work and deliver a project with consistent quality, knowing that someone is there to support them when needed.

Pre-defined vendor learning paths like CompTIA are a requirement for many startups who are changing careers and want to start in our industry. And for the experts, you have vendor-specific niche training courses to keep up to date with any new technologies or risks. As Executive Member of the CompTIA Benelux community, training in our industry is one of my personal priorities.

A strong MSP has also developed a standard product and toolkit. This software and hardware mix is price-wise balanced, because of course, an MSP has competitors. Thanks to years of experience, these solutions have also been extensively tested in all kinds of environments and situations. The technologies are known from A to Z and vice versa. The biggest cost for an MSP is the labour cost, so automation is the message. And you can only benefit from that.