If I were earning $75K in IT support and wanted a better role, I'd first identify whether I needed stronger skills, clearer positioning, or opportunities outside my employer.
Reduce uncertainty before spending heavily or leaving the current job. A targeted comparison with one suitable IAM opening can reveal more than another generic career roadmap.
Use the next few weeks to inventory relevant work, choose one meaningful gap, and test your candidacy. You can begin with a small plan and expand it when the evidence shows what would actually help.
Identify what “better” actually means
A salary target is useful, but it does not describe the whole move.
Write down the responsibilities you want, the minimum compensation you would consider, and the constraints you do not want to lose. Those might include remote work, location, schedule, or a manageable on-call requirement.
This prevents an attractive title from distracting you from a worse overall job.
Use the $75K figure as your starting context, not as proof that every role at that salary has the same problem. Your employer, location, and experience matter.
Inventory the identity work already in your queue
Look for account management, group changes, onboarding, MFA support, access troubleshooting, and application sign-in issues.
Describe what you actually do in each area. Separate routine execution from independent investigation and from design decisions owned by another team.
You may find enough relevant experience to begin applying to some roles now. You may also find a specific technical gap that needs work.
Do this inventory without exporting internal tickets or customer information. Private notes can summarize responsibilities without copying sensitive records.
Compare one IAM opening with your real experience
Choose a plausible role and map its central responsibilities to your examples.
Use three categories:
| Category | How to treat it |
|---|---|
| Supported responsibility | Attach a truthful workplace or clearly labeled lab example |
| Developable gap | Identify the missing understanding or evidence and a way to build it |
| Hard constraint or major mismatch | Address it honestly before assuming the move is realistic |
Don't let a long list of optional technologies hide the central work. Also don't overlook an essential requirement because you recognize several product names.
Mapping your experience against a specific IAM posting should let you explain why the transition is plausible.
If that explanation is weak, identify the exact missing evidence. It doesn't mean you're unqualified for the entire identity field; it means this proposed move needs a clearer assessment.
Build one project that answers the biggest question
If the gap is SSO troubleshooting, build a small test integration and investigate a controlled failure. If it is access governance, create a lifecycle or review scenario with clear decisions and evidence.
Avoid adding unrelated infrastructure because it makes the project look bigger.
Set a finish line that can be demonstrated: the intended behavior, the denied or failed case, and a clear explanation of what you learned.
You are trying to improve one part of your candidacy, not recreate an enterprise in your spare room.
Keep the project budget deliberately modest until you know the direction fits. Use resources you already have where they are suitable, and verify any licensing or equipment requirement before paying. A clearer target should come before a larger commitment.
Apply and learn while the plan is still small
Update the relevant resume examples and begin carefully matched applications when you can make an honest case.
Keep studying the gaps that the target roles reveal. Do not wait for a perfect feeling of readiness, but do not conceal the boundaries of your experience either.
If internal opportunities exist, discuss a bounded project or development assignment with your manager. If they do not, you have useful information about where the next move may need to happen.
The Six-Figure IAM Career Playbook organizes this approach into role selection, skills, three labs, and a 90-day plan. The $9 guide gives you a practical starting structure without promising a particular salary or deadline.
The first goal is not to escape support at any cost. It is to build a credible path toward work that better fits your skills, income goals, and life.