The map

IT careers are a graph, not a ladder.

Every role on this site, joined by the moves people genuinely make between them. There is no top and no bottom — just a lot of doors, most of which lead to more doors. The circles with a second ring are the 10 you can reach with no experience at all.

Hover or tab to a role to see what it connects to. Click to open it. The layout is computed from the connections themselves, so roles that share a lot of ground end up near each other — which is why the fields form clumps without anyone drawing boundaries around them.

Data Center Engineer — Networking and Systems & Infrastructure, usually a second job, 4 connected moves Data Center Engineer Network Administrator — Networking and Support & Operations, reachable as a first job, 4 connected moves Network Administrator Network Automation Engineer — Networking and Software & Automation, usually a second job, 5 connected moves Network Automation Engineer Network Engineer — Networking, usually a second job, 9 connected moves Network Engineer Service Provider Network Engineer — Networking, usually a second job, 3 connected moves Service Provider Network Engineer Wireless Engineer — Networking, usually a second job, 3 connected moves Wireless Engineer Application Security Engineer — Cybersecurity and Software & Automation, usually a second job, 3 connected moves Application Security Engineer Detection Engineer — Cybersecurity and Data and Software & Automation, usually a second job, 4 connected moves Detection Engineer Digital Forensics Analyst — Cybersecurity, a senior destination, 2 connected moves Digital Forensics Analyst GRC Analyst — Cybersecurity, reachable as a first job, 2 connected moves GRC Analyst Identity Engineer — Cybersecurity and Systems & Infrastructure and Cloud, usually a second job, 5 connected moves Identity Engineer Incident Responder — Cybersecurity, a senior destination, 4 connected moves Incident Responder Network Security Engineer — Cybersecurity and Networking, usually a second job, 9 connected moves Network Security Engineer OT / ICS Security Engineer — Cybersecurity and Networking, a senior destination, 2 connected moves OT / ICS Security Engineer Penetration Tester — Cybersecurity, usually a second job, 3 connected moves Penetration Tester Security Architect — Cybersecurity and Cloud and Networking, a senior destination, 11 connected moves Security Architect Security Engineer — Cybersecurity and Systems & Infrastructure, usually a second job, 7 connected moves Security Engineer SOC Analyst — Cybersecurity and Support & Operations, reachable as a first job, 7 connected moves SOC Analyst Threat Hunter — Cybersecurity and Data, a senior destination, 4 connected moves Threat Hunter Vulnerability Management Analyst — Cybersecurity and Systems & Infrastructure, reachable as a first job, 2 connected moves Vulnerability Management Analyst Zero Trust Engineer — Cybersecurity and Networking and Cloud, a senior destination, 3 connected moves Zero Trust Engineer Systems Administrator — Systems & Infrastructure and Support & Operations, reachable as a first job, 4 connected moves Systems Administrator Systems Engineer — Systems & Infrastructure, usually a second job, 7 connected moves Systems Engineer Cloud Architect — Cloud, a senior destination, 4 connected moves Cloud Architect Cloud Engineer — Cloud, usually a second job, 7 connected moves Cloud Engineer Cloud Network Engineer — Cloud and Networking, usually a second job, 6 connected moves Cloud Network Engineer Cloud Security Engineer — Cloud and Cybersecurity, usually a second job, 7 connected moves Cloud Security Engineer DevOps Engineer — Cloud and Software & Automation, usually a second job, 7 connected moves DevOps Engineer Platform Engineer — Cloud and Systems & Infrastructure and Software & Automation, a senior destination, 5 connected moves Platform Engineer Site Reliability Engineer — Cloud and Support & Operations and Software & Automation, a senior destination, 3 connected moves Site Reliability Engineer DevSecOps Engineer — Software & Automation and Cloud and Cybersecurity, a senior destination, 4 connected moves DevSecOps Engineer Software Developer — Software & Automation, reachable as a first job, 3 connected moves Software Developer Data Analyst — Data, reachable as a first job, 2 connected moves Data Analyst Data Engineer — Data and Software & Automation, usually a second job, 5 connected moves Data Engineer Database Administrator — Data and Systems & Infrastructure, usually a second job, 2 connected moves Database Administrator Field / Infrastructure Engineer — Support & Operations and Networking, reachable as a first job, 3 connected moves Field / Infrastructure Engineer Help Desk Technician — Support & Operations, reachable as a first job, 3 connected moves Help Desk Technician NOC Technician — Support & Operations and Networking, reachable as a first job, 4 connected moves NOC Technician
Reachable as a first job Usually a second job Senior destination Bigger circle = more moves connect there

The doors in

10 of the 38 roles are reachable as a first job. Every other role on this map can be reached from one of them — that is checked when the site is built, not asserted here as encouragement.

The junctions

The largest circles connect to the most other roles, so they keep the most options open:

The gaps between fields

Roles sitting between two clumps belong to both. Nothing positions them there deliberately — they are pulled into the gap by having connections on both sides, which is exactly what those jobs are.

The same map, written out

Every role and what it connects to. A drawing is useless to a screen reader, and this is a page about where you can go next — so the information exists in both forms rather than only the pretty one.

Networking

Cybersecurity

Systems & Infrastructure

Cloud

Software & Automation

Data

Support & Operations

Don't know where you'd start?

A map is only useful once you know roughly where you are. The scenarios show you the problems rather than describing them, and tell you which ones you keep reaching for.

Two of these look the same?

Neighbouring circles are often near-identical jobs with different titles. The comparisons put any two of them side by side on the same dimensions.