Academic suspension and pizza delivery were part of my starting point—not the end of my career options.
A search about making six figures without a degree led me to investigate IT. Unpaid switch-installation work helped me get started, followed by network support, security software, and eventually identity.
The useful lesson isn't that one search produces a high-paying career. It's that you can investigate a practical next step from an imperfect position. The work and decisions between those milestones mattered more than the neat sequence suggests.
An income goal can start the research without becoming the whole plan
Wanting to earn more gave me a reason to investigate IT. It did not explain what the work involved or which role I could become qualified to do.
That distinction matters when you see a salary headline online.
A compensation number can make you curious. Your next step still needs to be specific: identify the job, understand its responsibilities, and compare them with what you can demonstrate.
Without that translation, ambition can turn into a collection of unrelated courses. You keep preparing for “a better life” without preparing for a recognizable job.
Early proof can be smaller than a perfect credential stack
The unpaid switch work was a concrete way to get near technical work and contribute. It was not a requirement everyone should copy.
Your circumstances may make unpaid work impractical, and you should not assume that a vague promise of exposure is worth your time.
The broader principle is to find a legitimate, bounded way to demonstrate useful work. That might be an approved internal assignment, a volunteer project with clear scope, or a lab you can explain honestly.
The work should produce something beyond a story about how badly you want the opportunity.
A setback is information, not a permanent job title
Academic trouble can affect your options. It does not automatically describe your ability to learn a specific technical skill later.
The productive question is what conditions help you make progress now. Perhaps you need a smaller scope, a clearer purpose, or a routine that fits your responsibilities.
Avoid rewriting the past into a motivational movie. You do not need to claim that every difficult experience happened for a reason.
You can simply acknowledge where you started and make a more deliberate next decision.
Borrow the decision process, not my exact sequence
Your starting point may differ from mine:
- Already in systems administration: You may have relevant account, group, and troubleshooting responsibilities.
- Supporting Microsoft 365: You may already encounter identity tasks that weren't obvious in my early roles.
- Entering IT: You may need foundational experience before targeting the same kinds of opportunities.
Copying my credentials or job titles in order would ignore those differences. It could send you back through steps you don't need, or skip preparation you do need.
Why copying my exact certification path can be the wrong move comes down to that mismatch: a biography isn't a requirements assessment.
Use a career story to expand the options you'll consider. Then compare real openings with your experience and constraints. The next useful action should come from that comparison, not from recreating someone else's timeline.
Turn the story into one action this week
Save a role you would genuinely consider. Identify three responsibilities you have touched and one you could investigate through a small project.
Make the project small enough to finish and specific enough to explain. A tested access-control scenario is more useful than announcing that you are “getting into cybersecurity.”
That is why The Six-Figure IAM Career Playbook focuses on a target role, relevant skills, practical labs, and a 90-day plan. The $9 guide is not a promise that you will reproduce my path. It is a way to make your own next move less vague.
You cannot choose a different starting point. You can choose a next step that produces better information and useful evidence.