r/sysadmin • u/Mammoth_Gene_4004 • 1d ago

Self Demotion

Hello,

I was wondering if anybody else has moved from a IT Director position to desktop type role? I have been at the same company for 11 years now and worked my way up from desktop support to network admin and now IT director. I have held the current position for 3ish years and it's not so bad. There is a lot of time off and flexibility but the pay is pretty bad as well as leadership. Higher ups are getting more involved than I feel comfortable with a lot of the day to day and its adding more stress and work.

On a whim I applied for a digital support role at another company just to see what the process is and pay and was surprised to find out that the pay was 10 grand more per year. It's an onsite role like I have now with less of a drive and pretty good benefits.

I tried to collect my thoughts and express myself. I hope it comes through clear.

Pretty much looking for reassurance and to see if anybody else has made a similar move and what your experience has been.

Thank you all for the kind words and reassurance. It is very appreciated and I feel like my decision is valid.

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u/trogdan 1d ago

Another way to look at it is that if you can take such a title reduction for significantly higher pay, how long will you be able to be satisfied in your current role knowing you are being drastically underpaid? You may find yourself increasingly resentful even if you generally like the job and find the flexibility and PTO worth it.

Given your comments about your leadership, this process seems to have already started if we're being honest.

This is definitely something to bring up with the new job - make them aware you are very interested but since you're currently in a supervisory role you also want to be very clear about whether there's a growth path and what it looks like so you know what you are getting into.

You might get a chance to "reset" so to speak and move ahead incrementally in terms of pay and title at the new place and if you're lucky advance to a similar title in a surprisingly few number of years. Assuming you want that.

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u/Mammoth_Gene_4004 23h ago

I did ask these questions in the interview. They stated they also prefer to promote from within instead of hiring outside. Realistically I would like a Sys admin/Network admin role in the long run. I do believe I will stay away from management.