The pathway
How you actually get there, here
How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.
- 1
Systems Support Analyst (L2) Internal Promotion
2-3 years at L2Skills to master
- Consistently exceeding expectations in incident resolution, taking ownership of problem tickets, demonstrating informal leadership, and proactively contributing to process improvements and the knowledge base.
You're ready to move on when
- You're the first person junior colleagues ask for help.
- You've successfully led the resolution of several complex P2/P3 incidents.
- You've identified and implemented a significant process improvement.
- Your knowledge base contributions are consistently high quality and frequently used.
- 2
External Senior IT Support Engineer
5-8 years industry experienceSkills to master
- Demonstrable experience leading technical troubleshooting, managing problem tickets, and mentoring junior staff in previous roles. Strong familiarity with enterprise-level ITSM, IAM, and endpoint management tools.
You're ready to move on when
- You can articulate complex technical solutions clearly and concisely.
- You have examples of successful problem management and process improvement initiatives.
- You've managed critical incidents and can describe your role in their resolution.
- You have relevant certifications (e.g., ITIL, Microsoft, Okta).
- 3
Junior Systems Administrator / Junior DevOps Engineer
3-5 years in a related roleSkills to master
- While these roles are slightly different, if you've been heavily involved in operational support, troubleshooting infrastructure, and some scripting, you'll have a good foundation. You'll need to demonstrate strong user-facing skills and problem-solving abilities.
You're ready to move on when
- You're comfortable with scripting and automation beyond basic execution.
- You understand system architecture and can troubleshoot across domains.
- You have experience with cloud platforms and their operational aspects.
- You're keen to develop your user-facing support and problem management skills.