If you spend any time on LinkedIn, you’ll see the same message from a thousand different accounts every day.
Get into tech.
It’s easy.
You can go from zero to six figures in six months.
AI won’t take your job.
Remote work is guaranteed.
Just take this bootcamp, follow this influencer, click this link, and your life changes.
I’ve been in this industry for over 20 years.
And I’m going to tell you something….
Tech isn’t for everybody.
The Three Things Nobody Warns You About
Every conversation about tech careers focuses on one difficulty.
Breaking in.
The narrative is that once you’re in, you’ve made it.
There are actually three difficulties.
And breaking in is the smallest of them.
Difficulty One: Getting Into Tech Is Not Easy.
This is the one you already know about. You have to study.
You have to certify.
You have to interview well.
You have to compete with hundreds of other candidates for the same role.
In 2026, entry-level tech roles have never been more competitive because the visible tech industry is contracting while the hidden tech industry is expanding, and most career changers are still trying to break into the wrong slice of it.
Difficulty Two: Staying In Tech Is Not Easy.
Nobody talks about this.
Once you’re in, the industry expects you to level up continuously.
Your skills from three years ago are outdated today.
If you’re not learning something new every month, you’re falling behind the people who are.
Tech is one of the only industries where standing still is the same as moving backwards.
Difficulty Three: Leveling Up Is Not Easy.
Getting promoted.
Getting raises.
Getting recruited to better companies.
All of this requires ongoing certifications, ongoing skill acquisition, and ongoing visibility.
The people who make it to $150,000 and beyond are the people who kept learning after they got hired.
The people who plateau at $60,000 are the ones who thought getting in was the finish line.
AI has added another layer to all three difficulties.
So has the shift toward remote and hybrid work, where you can be in Texas competing with someone in Chicago for a job based in Nebraska.
The competition is global now.
The bar is higher than it was even three years ago.
None of this is meant to discourage you.
It’s meant to prepare you.
Because the people who understand what they’re walking into are the ones who make it.
Before you go any further, know your starting point.
Take the free IT Career Roadmap Quiz. Five minutes. Tells you exactly which certification path fits your situation, your background, and your goals.
What Actually Separates The People Who Make It
After 20 years and thousands of conversations with students, veterans, career changers, and hiring managers, I can tell you that the people who succeed in tech share a specific set of traits.
Not credentials.
Traits.
Baseline Analytical Thinking.
You have to be able to look at a problem, break it into pieces, and reason through it systematically.
Not everyone can do this naturally.
Some people can.
Some people can develop it with effort.
The Ability To Think Both Micro And Macro.
Great tech professionals can zoom into the specific line of code, the specific network packet, the specific configuration setting.
They can also zoom out to see how that piece fits into the larger architecture, the larger business, the larger industry.
If you can only think at one level, you cap out early.
The Right Mindset About What You’re Owed.
Here’s the hardest one to hear.
Nobody in tech owes you anything. Not your employer.
Not your teammates.
Not the industry.
If you aren’t continuously getting more certifications, more skills, more visibility, and more results, you don’t get to expect promotions, raises, or opportunities to just show up.
This is not any other industry where you can learn a skill in your twenties, work with that skill for 30 years, and retire comfortably.
Not if you want to be making six figures.
Six figures in tech is earned every single year, over and over, by people who never stop learning.
Being Likable And Coachable.
This is the one I bring up the most because it gets skipped the most.
I’ve watched incredibly technical people get passed over for promotions because nobody wanted to work with them.
I’ve watched less technical people get promoted because their teams trusted them, respected them, and enjoyed working with them.
Being likable is not kissing up. It’s not playing a game. It’s being a decent human being who can operate on a team without creating friction.
It’s being coachable enough to hear feedback without getting defensive. It’s showing up as someone others actually want in the room.
The intelligence piece is important.
The likability piece decides your ceiling.
Every hiring manager I’ve ever worked with has told me some version of the same thing.
Given two candidates with similar skills, they will always pick the one they’d actually want to have lunch with. Skills can be taught.
Attitude cannot.
The Six-Figure Reality Check
Almost everyone who reaches out to me tells me they want to make six figures in tech.
And I have to give them all the same reality check.
If you want to make six figures, you have to work for six figures.
This sounds obvious. It isn’t obvious in practice.
Here’s what “working for six figures” actually means in the tech industry in 2026:
→ You read industry newsletters weekly. Not scroll them. Read them.
→ You go through at least one course or book every quarter.
→ You pass at least one certification every 12 to 18 months.
→ You find mentors who are two levels ahead of where you are, and you actually maintain those relationships.
→ You get around other professionals at your level, above your level, and below your level so you stay sharp on all fronts.
→ You practice your interview skills constantly, not just when you’re job searching.
→ You track your accomplishments in writing so you can articulate them when opportunities show up.
→ You follow up on job applications, networking conversations, and mentorship connections without being asked to.
Every one of those items is optional if you want to stay at $65,000.
Every one of them is mandatory if you want to hit $130,000 and beyond.
The opportunities are out there.
According to Splunk’s 2026 IT and Technology Salary Guide, there are 700,000 unfilled cybersecurity positions in the United States alone.
Global average cybersecurity salary in 2026 is over $135,000. Cybersecurity engineers making $128,700 to $148,157 mid-level, pushing past $180,000 at senior levels.
But those opportunities go to people who are prepared to take them. Not people who are hoping for them.
Ready to build the credentials that get you those opportunities?
Every serious tech career starts with the same foundational credential: CompTIA A+. Then Network+. Then Security+. That’s the ladder. Here’s the programs that get you there at pass rates 30-40% above the industry average.
→ See The Full Certification Programs
If you’re brand new, start with the A+ Program. If you’re already in help desk or IT support, Network+ is your next credential. If you’re ready to specialize into cybersecurity where the biggest salary jumps are happening, Security+ is the door.
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The Age Question
I get this question every single week. Some version of: “I’m 42. Is it too late for me to get into tech?”
No.
I have students who started in their 60s.
I have students who started in high school. I have students who started at every age in between.
And when I ask them what they regret about their journey, not a single one of them tells me they regret starting.
The only thing they regret is not starting sooner.
If you’re over 40 and you’re reading this, I need you to hear something specifically.
You do not have the luxury of thinking about this as “whether” you should make a change.
What you’re currently doing is not working.
You know it’s not working.
And you know it’s not going to get better on its own.
You’re going to get older.
You’re going to get more tired.
Ailments may come.
Opportunities that were available at 40 will not be available at 50.
The question is not whether to change.
The question is what you’re going to change into.
And the cost of not starting only goes up from here.
Certifications Are Getting More Complex, Not Simpler.
When I first took the CompTIA A+ back in the day, it wasn’t easy.
But it was simpler than it is now.
Today’s A+ covers hardware, networking, mobile devices, virtualization, cloud, operating systems, security, software troubleshooting, and operational procedures across both Core 1 and Core 2 exams.
A lot of people slide into my DMs telling me they can skip the A+ because they built a computer once.
Let me be direct with you.
Building a computer is about 5 percent of the current A+ exam.
The other 95 percent covers material you don’t know until you actually study it.
Trying to skip A+ because you built a PC is the fastest way to fail the Security+ exam a year later.
The foundation matters.
Skip it and everything you build on top collapses under the first real interview question.
The Job Market Is Getting More Competitive, Not Less.
Every year more career changers realize what’s possible in tech.
Every year the certification pool grows.
Every year AI raises the bar for what “entry level” actually means.
The version of the tech industry someone could enter 10 years ago is not the version you’re entering today.
This is not a reason to delay.
It’s a reason to start today.
The version of the tech industry you can enter in 2026 is significantly better than the version you’ll be able to enter in 2028.
Not worse.
Better.
Because most people will keep waiting, and while they wait, the opportunities go to the people who moved.
The Reward Nobody Tells You About
I want to end with the part of this conversation that gets lost in all the hard-truth talk.
The reason I’m still doing this work after 20 years is not because it’s easy.
It’s because when I see people literally change their lives, it hits different than anything else I’ve ever done.
Students who buy their first home. Have their first kid without financial panic because they have health insurance, retirement savings, and stock options.
Parents who work from home and pick their kids up from school every day.
Veterans who transition from active duty into remote cybersecurity roles without disrupting their families.
Every one of these outcomes started with the same decision.
The decision to actually start.
Not the decision to think about starting.
Not the decision to research some more.
The decision to actually take the first step.
Money isn’t the point.
The life the money buys you is the point.
For parents specifically, tech is one of the only industries that lets you build a real income while being present with your family.
Internet connection required.
That’s it.
As long as you have that, you can be working when your kids need you nearby, home in time for dinner every night, at every school pickup, at every practice.
For veterans, tech is one of the fastest paths from military service to a stable civilian career that respects the discipline you built in service.
Especially with a clearance already in place.
For anyone stuck in a career that’s grinding you down physically or emotionally, tech is one of the few industries that will pay you well to think for a living.
Not lift.
Not stand for 12 hours.
Not smile at customers who don’t respect you.
Think.
Where To Start
If you read all of this and you’re still with me, you’re likely one of the people this actually works for.
Here’s what to do next.
→ Take the free IT Career Roadmap Quiz. It’ll match you to the certification path that fits your specific situation. Link at the top of this article and also below.
→ Commit to a plan. Pick your first credential. Give yourself a realistic timeline (8 to 12 weeks for the A+ if you follow a structured path).
→ Invest in the process. Free content will only take you so far. Real certification requires real study material, practice exams, and structured guidance. Whatever you spend on training will return itself many times over in salary within your first year in the industry.
→ Get around other people doing what you’re doing. Find your community. Find your mentors. Find your accountability.
And if you’re still not sure whether this path is right for you, or you want a real conversation with someone who can look at your specific situation and give you an honest read, I do 1-on-1 sessions specifically for this purpose.
Not a sales call. Not a strategy pitch. A real conversation where I ask about where you are, where you want to be, what’s stopping you, and give you my honest assessment of what makes sense for your situation.
Sometimes the answer is a program. Sometimes it’s a different cert path. Sometimes it’s a completely different career move that has nothing to do with certifications. Whatever the honest answer is, that’s what you’ll get.
Want a 1-on-1 conversation to figure out your specific next move?
Book time directly on my calendar below. If tech is the right path for you, we’ll figure out exactly which credentials to prioritize and how to sequence them. If it’s not the right path, I’ll tell you that too.
Tech isn’t for everybody. But if it’s for you, this is the year to move.
The people who make it in this industry are the ones who understood what they were getting into and moved anyway. The ones who read all the reasons it’s hard and decided the hard was worth it.
If that’s you, welcome. Let’s get to work.
— Rob
Founder, Master I.T. | Army Veteran | 20+ Years in IT | 12+ CompTIA Certifications |MBA
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If this article resonated, share it with one person you know who’s been thinking about tech but hasn’t made the move.
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