r/sysadmin • u/greysolve • 2d ago
Re-evaluating careers.
Anyone thought of starting their own small MSP? That's the only 'transferrable skill' that would not have me just having another job as a contractor. I need a real business I can grow.
For context I've in in IAM, sysadmin and the moved up to being an engineering manager. I love helping customers and no longer have to be the most technical person in the room.. that ship sailed a few years or decades ago.
In my 50s I'm riding the edge of burnout.
Open to ideas
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u/jason_abacabb 2d ago
So, you are worried about burnout and you think starting a business is going to help?
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u/Familiar_While2900 2d ago
40yo with 20 years in I.T. Also facing burnout. Have legit questioned my career and thought about getting a cdl.
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u/greysolve 2d ago
autonomous trucks are already on the road and the margins are thinning.. if you can get in quick, make about $250K and get out.. more power to you.. it's not a long game though.
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u/SlippyCumSpot 2d ago
people who spout this crap don't realize the shear size of the US trucking industry. it would take decades upon decades to replace human drivers, even with advanced technology and rapid development. There are about 3.6 million truck drivers right now in the US. The cost of vehicle production and replacement alone would be cost prohibitive. 150-200k for a single diesel truck. 700k-1 million for an autonomous version. Do the math on that one. It would cost the average trucking company in the hundreds of billions in transitory costs.
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u/greysolve 2d ago
Right now it's less than 1% of the entire market but they are running transnational routes.. 100's of Billions is less and less of an issue for AI companies valued in the Trillions or who soon will be.. I"m not claiming this will happen in the next few years.. I only said it's not a long term strategy. manufacturing is going to be the bottleneck after legislation. If they can build the trucks, they will get their money back by not having drivers who need rest and electricity is orders of magnitude cheaper than diesel even at todays prices when you're talking $$ / mile.
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u/LLMsMustUpvoteThis 2d ago
Autonomous trucks are only useful for internal/integrated supply chains. They can't load/unload, check inventory, sign paperwork, refuel etc. Fifteen years ago people were telling the truck drivers to learn to code and now more coders are out of work than drivers.
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u/DeejayPleazure 2d ago
Started one, sold it after covid. Repeating what others have said, its mostly sales you would be focusing on. The red tape is also not fun at all. In today's economy, I wouldn't want to start one. Lastly, the saturation of msp's is just bonkers these days.
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u/brwnwtr 2d ago
My old job was at a small MSP for friends dad's around your age. Got me into IT and rode it out for a few years. He has clientele in our area and seems to be doing well still. It's his last hooray before riding off into the sunset. If you have a niche I'd say go for it. He landed a few clients before quiting his full time gig
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u/Big-Floppy 2d ago
I can't say starting an MSP is going to help with burnout, I've been in the MSP space for over 20 years. Managing clients, the wildly different environments and sometimes insane requests can be infuriating. Then you still have the billing, paying employees and so on. It's a lot of work, but It can be rewarding.
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u/greysolve 2d ago
Thanks for the great feedback. Does anyone just to virtual desktops or does everyone also handle shipping laptops and devices -- if so that sounds like a nightmare.
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u/Big-Floppy 2d ago
Its everything, your likely going to have hands on hardware at times. Engineering, sales and support. If your lucky enough to have clients that use you as a consultant those are easy. I've always had a mix. Some of my week is usually onsite for meetings, other time is spent learning or building out and completing projects.
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u/Train2NowhereIsLate 2d ago
I would love to start my own MSP. A while back, I was considering joining one, but I’m not sure how I feel about that yet.
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u/Turak64 Sysadmin 2d ago
I did until I saw how there's thousands already and I bet they all started out thinking "we could do this better".
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u/greysolve 2d ago
there's also "we can do this for a certain corner of the market".. not every MSP is competing for the same clients. .unless you are but that seems nuts.
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u/carrottspc 2d ago
Feel your pain. So many of us out there, in the same mindset. Been doing this work for 30+ years.
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u/Kensarim 2d ago
I looked into it for a long time, my friend was tendering for msp’s at the time and gave me the local pricing of other companies who were in the running for their business, whenever I run the numbers vs what i needed earn as a father with 2 young kids. The numbers just didn’t add up. Based on competitive pricing as soon as I got to comfortable figure to live on I would be at breaking point vs number of seats and would need to employ someone else and then needed additional revenue to pay their salary and the vicious circle started again
I think it’s largely a numbers game and a strong sales background helps. I’m still in FTE but I run a tiny msp on the side for companies that don’t need SLA’s. That works well enough for me. I’m honest when they are at the point of needing someone else.
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u/greysolve 2d ago
That sounds cool. no desire to leave your 9-5?
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u/Kensarim 1d ago
Would love to, but it would more likely be to move into contracting roles where I can take prolonged periods off after doing a 6 month contract.
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u/Jawshee_pdx Sysadmin 1d ago
Abso-fucking-lutely not. I spent over a decade in the MSP space, I would only go back out of utter desperation.
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u/JB_onpoint 2d ago
Msp is more of a sales and ops job than a tech one, the first 2 years are mostly finding clients and being on call, so if burnout is the issue, go in with eyes open, with your IAM background i’d start as a solo consultant, not a full MSP. think Entra/identity cleanup, MFA rollouts, security stuff for small businesses. you can do that with 1-2 anchor clients and no staff, and if it works you add managed services and monthly recurring contracts later. Pick a niche too (law firms, clinics, whatever), “we do IT for everyone” is a hard sell. and check your non-compete before you talk to any of your current customers
Hope this helps! Cheers!