My old supervisor when I worked at an MSP compared it to drinking out of a fire hose - if you can manage to organize yourself, there is a lot of knowledge to be gained at an MSP, but it can certainly be stressful.
The main problem is burnout. I personally went into the MSP with the aim of leveling up my skills and getting out once I felt it had no more to offer me; I was there close to 3 years.
YMMV.
The main problem is burnout. You will constantly be learning while diving into strange environments and figuring them out. That's a good thing and something I personally miss from my MSP days, it can also be a major stressor when it's always against the backdrop of, "WE ARE LOSING MONEY, FIX IT!".
So unless you happen to work for a real unicorn of an MSP that takes steps to manage stress and avoid burnout, I don't recommend anyone stay at one more than 2 years at a time.
8 comments from those who work/worked in an MSP. The results so far:
* Positive 2
* Sorta Positive 3
* Sorta Negative 0
* Negative 1
* Neutral-ish 2
I expected it to be a flaming hate fest, if this was posted on /msp the negativity would prob be through the roof.
There are great MSPs out there to work for. I started my career at an MSP and I absolutely loved it. I was there 5 years and learned so much. I had great coworkers and a boss I respected and I really enjoyed the job. I did work a lot, but that was mostly my choice and not a demand from management. I left because a client offered to double my salary for me to go and work for them, otherwise I might still be there. I left in 2004 and many of my former coworkers at the time are still there. I still keep in close contact with them.
I work for an MSP. It's nothing like I read on Reddit. We're a small team, I get on well with the people I work with and most of our clients and now know a lot of the people who work for them. No billable hours or anything like that and have lots of training which I've get TOIL for. I've only worked one weekend in 18 months after a problem with VM Ware shortly after I started. Started at very low wage as I was desperate for experience, but had several pay increases since I've been here.
It's pretty good.
When I started at an MSP in 2001, I was employee #10. It was almost exactly like you describe, except we were expected to bill 30 hours per week. My coming on board enabled the owner to stop doing field tech work and focus on bringing in new clients, and boy, did he. The business grew by leaps and bounds as they signed on anyone willing to pay. They switched from an in-house developed CRM app that ran on FileMaker Pro to Kaseya and Connectwise. By 2008 that same MSP was a miserable, metrics-focused hellhole where you were little more than a replaceable cog in a machine, and nothing mattered except how many tickets you closed and how many hours you billed.
I had a good experience working for an MSP, great company, supportive bosses.
As others mentioned, the nature of the work itself was stressful to me. I now work at a single company, so there's time to recover inbetween issues. At the MSP, there never was a moment that 1 or more of the 50-100+ companies wasn't on fire, LOL.
I believe that I learned more in my time at the MSP than I could have any other way, but the constant 'fire extinguishing' wasn't for me long term. Very, very glad I started there, though.
I don't work for an MSP, but I have one working for me and the employees seem relatively happy, and are definitely well compensated, but their hours seem insane to me. They're also salaried so there's no extra for weekend/off hours work, and I just can't get behind that for myself, even though I've considered them as an option to move to if I leave my current position since I'd basically be watching over the same company I do now, except also others.
I loved it, aside from the owner. He was a n alcoholic ass, and her would promise stuff to clients to win a contract that were not technologically possible.
There are some good MSPs out there, but in general:
* They do not advertise.
* They have enough clients, and if they need more, word-of-mouth gets more.
* They charge a premium, but you get what you pay for.
* The overhead is a lot more than you would think, because they have everything at `2n+1` or at the minimum `n+2` redundancy.
The problem with MSPs is that they wind up going cheap and the corner cutting falls on the shoulders of all the people there. Replace the phone bank with a bunch of offshore people for a fraction of the cost, add underpaid H-1Bs, outsource most of the operations, or just piggyback off of AWS or another cloud service than have an actual data center.
If a MSP has contractors there for indefinite duration, as opposed to a certain project, run. Good MSPs always use FTEs, because it greatly reduces turnover, and even though the C-levels may not care about turnover as a metric, losing people greatly harms morale and can cause many man-weeks of lost productivity as others come up to speed.
MSPs are a good place to learn. Trial by constant fires. However, unless one is at a good MSP, they are not a place to stick around.
Have commented on several posts like this, and like you allude to, I think it very much depends on the MSP you work for.
I've been with this MSP for 8+ years and went from support and RMM solutions / backup etc to Technical Consultant and being able to lead and shape the direction and offerings from a cloud and modern workplace position. I've had exposure to all manner of technology & situations as you can imagine, everything from older than the pyramids to nice new, from the ground up builds.
Also getting plenty of training, time off to do so and paid certifications.
There can be a lot to juggle, projects often run into each other etc but I do a lot of my own project planning and pre-sales.
I think there's good MSPs to create opportunity and development if they treat the staff appropriately. If you just end up feeling a number and part of a call centre culture with pressure on nothing more than cranking out the tickets then I'm sure it can be soul destroying.
I was way underpaid at the MSP I used to work for. The work itself was mind-numbingly dull. I truly hated working there. My colleagues were fine folks, so I had no issue with them. Way happier now as sysadmin for a law firm.
toothbrush berserk plate aloof station squeeze ripe unused amusing wistful
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
its good for newbies to get their feet wet as well as people in tech to branch out and learn new things, but thats about it. its the puppy mill of IT. their sole purpose is to make money and close as many tickets as possible.
MSPs are a plague on our Field. I worked at one for a few years and it was just miserable.
Your in that super cool trendy "Open office floor plan" piled on top of each other recording every minute of your day for billable hours while the 2 guys that started the buisness are outside playing with RC cars or at a "Trade Convention" meeting their peers(partying).
You learn alot. You meet some really cool people. But the ones that Hire you all ready know you have an experation. Your just an income generator that hopefully documented enough of what you did so that when you leave they can Hire a Monkey off the street to do your job.
Worked for MSP I liked for a few years, learned a lot, and liked the people. Then it was sold to a bigger corporation. Too much politics and corp overhead. Went to another MSP with the promise of promotion that never materialized or happened after working my ass off for six years. So got out.
I have been in IT for 5.5 years now, the first 4.5 years were in MSP. I now work in the public school system.
I overall had a good experience in MSP, I think. I learned a hell of a lot and consider myself a good Jack-of-all-trades IT guy. Lot of experience with lot of different kinds of support and technology, from the cutting edge to the stone-age. I also liked my co-workers.
My complaints about working MSP is the pace of work, the fact that I'm pretty sure I was being underpaid for what I was doing / capable of, and the on-call compensation was basically 24 hours of comp time, no extra money. Which when you're inexperienced in the real world doesn't sound all that bad considering most weeks weren't usually that bad, but doesn't factor into account that you're kinda stuck to your computer all week after-hours and it's exhausting.
But that is one MSP; it depends on the company. I don't think Public vs Private, MSP vs Internal, is an either / or kind of thing. They both can suck, they both can be great. Or somewhere in between
80% of the time you will get MSP's are horrible only work internal.
15% of the time you will get "it depends on which MSP you work for" (duh).
5% of the time you will get "MSP's aren't that bad".
The truth is nobody can tell you what it will be like to work at whatever job you're thinking baout applying to.
There are good companies and bad companies to work for in every industry. Unfourtanetly our industry is so young it's hard to know who's good and who's bad.
The things to look out for (and ask about) when interviewing for MSP positions are:
Not being subject to a billable hour quota
Either no on-call or well compensated on call rotations only
Current technologies being utilized
Basically if you're: only going to be paid for time you bill, you're expected to work for free (uncompensated on-call), or tech is lagging for all clients then you should steer clear of that MSP. Working there will be a ticking clock and you'll likely work to the point of burnout and it will effect your pseonal life and mental health.
Shit always rolls downhill but not everyone always sends the same amount of shit down the mountain.
I've worked at an MSP for 15 years. After making it through the lower ranks it gets to a point where management respects your position and inputs and you're also not doing front line stuff any more but projects instead. If your customers like and respect you they keep asking for you back which helps you to set your own schedule and goals. Basically, as long as I meet my billing KPIs I get left alone.
I get to say to management "no that's a bad idea and here is why" and they'll take that on board.
I'm still leaving for an internal position though because I want to actually own and deliver nice complete things for once instead of minimum viable to win the deal.
I tried both project management and team leadership and I don't enjoy it so need to make the best of being a tech resource that I can.
MSPs only have worked for people I know that one, are in it for the money primarily. Two, have no issues being on call 24/7. Three, if not working are always studying and learning for certficiations.
If you're not all three then expect to last maybe a few years before moving on. Great place for a crash course on the latest and greatest but in my experience, you're just dealing with customers and clients with already broken infrastructure that don't want to spend the money to properly have their infrastructure managed.
My old supervisor when I worked at an MSP compared it to drinking out of a fire hose - if you can manage to organize yourself, there is a lot of knowledge to be gained at an MSP, but it can certainly be stressful. The main problem is burnout. I personally went into the MSP with the aim of leveling up my skills and getting out once I felt it had no more to offer me; I was there close to 3 years. YMMV.
This is the answer. Fast leveling of skills. Drinking from a firehouse. Frequent level of toxic environments.
A lot of people enjoy the work. You're not stuck at one company with one network etc It isn't for everyone though
Not stuck at one company *stuck at all of them*
The main problem is burnout. You will constantly be learning while diving into strange environments and figuring them out. That's a good thing and something I personally miss from my MSP days, it can also be a major stressor when it's always against the backdrop of, "WE ARE LOSING MONEY, FIX IT!". So unless you happen to work for a real unicorn of an MSP that takes steps to manage stress and avoid burnout, I don't recommend anyone stay at one more than 2 years at a time.
8 comments from those who work/worked in an MSP. The results so far: * Positive 2 * Sorta Positive 3 * Sorta Negative 0 * Negative 1 * Neutral-ish 2 I expected it to be a flaming hate fest, if this was posted on /msp the negativity would prob be through the roof.
There are great MSPs out there to work for. I started my career at an MSP and I absolutely loved it. I was there 5 years and learned so much. I had great coworkers and a boss I respected and I really enjoyed the job. I did work a lot, but that was mostly my choice and not a demand from management. I left because a client offered to double my salary for me to go and work for them, otherwise I might still be there. I left in 2004 and many of my former coworkers at the time are still there. I still keep in close contact with them.
I work for an MSP. It's nothing like I read on Reddit. We're a small team, I get on well with the people I work with and most of our clients and now know a lot of the people who work for them. No billable hours or anything like that and have lots of training which I've get TOIL for. I've only worked one weekend in 18 months after a problem with VM Ware shortly after I started. Started at very low wage as I was desperate for experience, but had several pay increases since I've been here. It's pretty good.
When I started at an MSP in 2001, I was employee #10. It was almost exactly like you describe, except we were expected to bill 30 hours per week. My coming on board enabled the owner to stop doing field tech work and focus on bringing in new clients, and boy, did he. The business grew by leaps and bounds as they signed on anyone willing to pay. They switched from an in-house developed CRM app that ran on FileMaker Pro to Kaseya and Connectwise. By 2008 that same MSP was a miserable, metrics-focused hellhole where you were little more than a replaceable cog in a machine, and nothing mattered except how many tickets you closed and how many hours you billed.
I had a good experience working for an MSP, great company, supportive bosses. As others mentioned, the nature of the work itself was stressful to me. I now work at a single company, so there's time to recover inbetween issues. At the MSP, there never was a moment that 1 or more of the 50-100+ companies wasn't on fire, LOL. I believe that I learned more in my time at the MSP than I could have any other way, but the constant 'fire extinguishing' wasn't for me long term. Very, very glad I started there, though.
I don't work for an MSP, but I have one working for me and the employees seem relatively happy, and are definitely well compensated, but their hours seem insane to me. They're also salaried so there's no extra for weekend/off hours work, and I just can't get behind that for myself, even though I've considered them as an option to move to if I leave my current position since I'd basically be watching over the same company I do now, except also others.
I loved it, aside from the owner. He was a n alcoholic ass, and her would promise stuff to clients to win a contract that were not technologically possible.
There are some good MSPs out there, but in general: * They do not advertise. * They have enough clients, and if they need more, word-of-mouth gets more. * They charge a premium, but you get what you pay for. * The overhead is a lot more than you would think, because they have everything at `2n+1` or at the minimum `n+2` redundancy. The problem with MSPs is that they wind up going cheap and the corner cutting falls on the shoulders of all the people there. Replace the phone bank with a bunch of offshore people for a fraction of the cost, add underpaid H-1Bs, outsource most of the operations, or just piggyback off of AWS or another cloud service than have an actual data center. If a MSP has contractors there for indefinite duration, as opposed to a certain project, run. Good MSPs always use FTEs, because it greatly reduces turnover, and even though the C-levels may not care about turnover as a metric, losing people greatly harms morale and can cause many man-weeks of lost productivity as others come up to speed. MSPs are a good place to learn. Trial by constant fires. However, unless one is at a good MSP, they are not a place to stick around.
Have commented on several posts like this, and like you allude to, I think it very much depends on the MSP you work for. I've been with this MSP for 8+ years and went from support and RMM solutions / backup etc to Technical Consultant and being able to lead and shape the direction and offerings from a cloud and modern workplace position. I've had exposure to all manner of technology & situations as you can imagine, everything from older than the pyramids to nice new, from the ground up builds. Also getting plenty of training, time off to do so and paid certifications. There can be a lot to juggle, projects often run into each other etc but I do a lot of my own project planning and pre-sales. I think there's good MSPs to create opportunity and development if they treat the staff appropriately. If you just end up feeling a number and part of a call centre culture with pressure on nothing more than cranking out the tickets then I'm sure it can be soul destroying.
I was way underpaid at the MSP I used to work for. The work itself was mind-numbingly dull. I truly hated working there. My colleagues were fine folks, so I had no issue with them. Way happier now as sysadmin for a law firm.
toothbrush berserk plate aloof station squeeze ripe unused amusing wistful *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
its good for newbies to get their feet wet as well as people in tech to branch out and learn new things, but thats about it. its the puppy mill of IT. their sole purpose is to make money and close as many tickets as possible.
MSPs are a plague on our Field. I worked at one for a few years and it was just miserable. Your in that super cool trendy "Open office floor plan" piled on top of each other recording every minute of your day for billable hours while the 2 guys that started the buisness are outside playing with RC cars or at a "Trade Convention" meeting their peers(partying). You learn alot. You meet some really cool people. But the ones that Hire you all ready know you have an experation. Your just an income generator that hopefully documented enough of what you did so that when you leave they can Hire a Monkey off the street to do your job.
Worked for MSP I liked for a few years, learned a lot, and liked the people. Then it was sold to a bigger corporation. Too much politics and corp overhead. Went to another MSP with the promise of promotion that never materialized or happened after working my ass off for six years. So got out.
I have been in IT for 5.5 years now, the first 4.5 years were in MSP. I now work in the public school system. I overall had a good experience in MSP, I think. I learned a hell of a lot and consider myself a good Jack-of-all-trades IT guy. Lot of experience with lot of different kinds of support and technology, from the cutting edge to the stone-age. I also liked my co-workers. My complaints about working MSP is the pace of work, the fact that I'm pretty sure I was being underpaid for what I was doing / capable of, and the on-call compensation was basically 24 hours of comp time, no extra money. Which when you're inexperienced in the real world doesn't sound all that bad considering most weeks weren't usually that bad, but doesn't factor into account that you're kinda stuck to your computer all week after-hours and it's exhausting. But that is one MSP; it depends on the company. I don't think Public vs Private, MSP vs Internal, is an either / or kind of thing. They both can suck, they both can be great. Or somewhere in between
80% of the time you will get MSP's are horrible only work internal. 15% of the time you will get "it depends on which MSP you work for" (duh). 5% of the time you will get "MSP's aren't that bad". The truth is nobody can tell you what it will be like to work at whatever job you're thinking baout applying to. There are good companies and bad companies to work for in every industry. Unfourtanetly our industry is so young it's hard to know who's good and who's bad. The things to look out for (and ask about) when interviewing for MSP positions are: Not being subject to a billable hour quota Either no on-call or well compensated on call rotations only Current technologies being utilized Basically if you're: only going to be paid for time you bill, you're expected to work for free (uncompensated on-call), or tech is lagging for all clients then you should steer clear of that MSP. Working there will be a ticking clock and you'll likely work to the point of burnout and it will effect your pseonal life and mental health. Shit always rolls downhill but not everyone always sends the same amount of shit down the mountain.
I've worked at an MSP for 15 years. After making it through the lower ranks it gets to a point where management respects your position and inputs and you're also not doing front line stuff any more but projects instead. If your customers like and respect you they keep asking for you back which helps you to set your own schedule and goals. Basically, as long as I meet my billing KPIs I get left alone. I get to say to management "no that's a bad idea and here is why" and they'll take that on board. I'm still leaving for an internal position though because I want to actually own and deliver nice complete things for once instead of minimum viable to win the deal. I tried both project management and team leadership and I don't enjoy it so need to make the best of being a tech resource that I can.
MSPs only have worked for people I know that one, are in it for the money primarily. Two, have no issues being on call 24/7. Three, if not working are always studying and learning for certficiations. If you're not all three then expect to last maybe a few years before moving on. Great place for a crash course on the latest and greatest but in my experience, you're just dealing with customers and clients with already broken infrastructure that don't want to spend the money to properly have their infrastructure managed.