I recently started as a Microsoft 365 engineer after working as a senior helpdesk technician at an MSP. My previous job was nonstop: monitoring queues, answering calls, staying available, and serving as the final point of contact for several clients. I worked across most of the Microsoft 365 admin centers, including Defender investigations and eDiscovery, and I'm comfortable with PowerShell while beginning to transition to VS Code.
My new position is much more corporate and has considerably more downtime. There wasn't much formal training or an immediate project waiting for me, so I told my manager I was concerned about not contributing enough. He reassured me that the workload would increase, that he understood my background, and that the person who recommended me is an excellent teacher. It may simply have been a slow first week.
I've now been introduced to my first project: setting up Mac device management with Apple Business Manager and Intune. I'm considering using a free trial to build a lab and practice the setup before the project gets underway. I'm eager to grow beyond a reactive helpdesk mindset, but I'm also anxious about making a good impression and proving myself early. What are some productive ways to use this downtime and take initiative without overstepping?
3 Answers
Try not to panic—corporate IT can move much more slowly than an MSP. Use the downtime to build a lab around the Mac management project, document what you learn, and prepare questions for your manager. That’s visible initiative without inventing work or stepping on anyone’s toes.
A good first-week approach is to learn the organization before making major changes. Read available standards and diagrams, understand the change-control process, ask how success will be measured, and schedule brief check-ins with your manager. For the MDM project, create a small test plan and bring your manager a concise list of findings, risks, and questions. That demonstrates ownership while keeping your work aligned with the team.
Build out the Apple Business Manager and Intune workflow before the project starts. Practice enrollment, Company Portal, compliance policies, configuration profiles, certificates, and deployment behavior. You can also test settings such as stronger password requirements, passkeys, Windows Hello for Business, Defender, proactive remediations, supersedence, and dependencies. Keep notes on what works and what needs clarification.
That makes sense. The change from being constantly reactive to having quiet stretches has felt like whiplash, so I’m still learning how to judge whether I’m actually being productive.