The map

38 roles across 7 fields. Every role page tells you what the work genuinely involves — including the part nobody advertises.

Or let the scenarios narrow it down for you →

Roles you can actually start in

Most IT roles are second or third jobs, and pretending otherwise wastes people’s time. These are the ones that are genuinely reachable without prior professional experience.

Where the fields overlap

These roles belong to more than one world at once. They are usually where the interesting work and the better pay are, and they are invisible to any tool that makes you choose one column.

Detection Engineer

Write the rule that catches it next time — without crying wolf.

Cybersecurity Data Software & Automation

Usually a second role

Identity Engineer

Own the system that decides who everyone is and what they may reach.

Cybersecurity Systems & Infrastructure Cloud

Usually a second role

Zero Trust Engineer

Stop trusting anything for being "inside", and build what replaces that assumption.

Cybersecurity Networking Cloud

A senior destination

DevSecOps Engineer

Put the security checks inside the pipeline, so nobody has to remember them.

Software & Automation Cloud Cybersecurity

A senior destination

Security Architect

Decide the shape of defence before anything is built — then defend the decision.

Cybersecurity Cloud Networking

A senior destination

Platform Engineer

Build the internal platform other engineers deploy onto, so they stop reinventing it.

Cloud Systems & Infrastructure Software & Automation

A senior destination

Site Reliability Engineer

Decide how reliable a system needs to be, and engineer it to stay there.

Cloud Support & Operations Software & Automation

A senior destination

Network Administrator

Keep an existing network healthy, and be the person who fixes it when it is not.

Networking Support & Operations

Reachable as a first job

Network Security Engineer

Protect the pathways that information travels through.

Cybersecurity Networking

Usually a second role

Network Automation Engineer

Configure a thousand network devices with code instead of a thousand logins.

Networking Software & Automation

Usually a second role

Cloud Network Engineer

Solve routing problems that exist only as API calls.

Cloud Networking

Usually a second role

Data Center Engineer

Run the physical place where thousands of machines live and talk to each other.

Networking Systems & Infrastructure

Usually a second role

Security Engineer

Build and run the controls that everyone else’s safety quietly depends on.

Cybersecurity Systems & Infrastructure

Usually a second role

SOC Analyst

Decide, quickly, which of today’s thousand alerts is the one that matters.

Cybersecurity Support & Operations

Reachable as a first job

Threat Hunter

Go looking for the intruder nobody has raised an alert about.

Cybersecurity Data

A senior destination

Application Security Engineer

Find and fix the flaws in software before it ships.

Cybersecurity Software & Automation

Usually a second role

Cloud Security Engineer

Secure infrastructure that can be created, changed and destroyed in seconds.

Cloud Cybersecurity

Usually a second role

Vulnerability Management Analyst

Know what is broken across ten thousand machines, and what to fix first.

Cybersecurity Systems & Infrastructure

Reachable as a first job

OT / ICS Security Engineer

Secure the systems running factories, utilities and physical processes — where a reboot is not an option.

Cybersecurity Networking

A senior destination

Systems Administrator

Keep the servers, accounts and services running that everyone uses without thinking about them.

Systems & Infrastructure Support & Operations

Reachable as a first job

DevOps Engineer

Make shipping software boring — automated, repeatable and reversible.

Cloud Software & Automation

Usually a second role

Database Administrator

Keep the system of record correct, fast, and recoverable.

Data Systems & Infrastructure

Usually a second role

Data Engineer

Get data reliably from where it is created to where it can be used.

Data Software & Automation

Usually a second role

NOC Technician

Watch the whole network at once, and catch what is failing before anyone calls.

Support & Operations Networking

Reachable as a first job

Field / Infrastructure Engineer

Do the work that only happens with your hands on the actual equipment.

Support & Operations Networking

Reachable as a first job