I currently work in higher education IT, where I provision Windows, Mac, iPad, and Teams Phone devices; manage annual computer refreshes; maintain and reimage about a dozen computer labs; administer Jamf Pro; maintain an MECM imaging task sequence; and handle escalated technical issues.
I may be moving into a more operations-focused role in the same organization. I would continue managing Jamf Pro while taking on broader MECM administration, third-party application updates, Intune administration, some Active Directory responsibilities, and potentially Windows Server administration. I know MECM and Active Directory at a basic working level, but I have never used Intune and currently find its interface and structure confusing.
Our environment is hybrid between MECM and Intune, but the long-term goal is probably to move away from MECM. I am considering using Entra-joined devices for all new deployments and gradually allowing MECM to phase out, although I realize that may not be the safest migration strategy.
What would be the best way to learn Intune and the broader Windows management ecosystem? Which topics should I prioritize, and what resources or migration approach would you recommend for moving from MECM and hybrid management toward an Intune-focused environment?
2 Answers
Moving from service desk or asset work into operations sounds like a solid career step, even if the immediate pay increase is disappointing. You should still make sure the expanded responsibilities are reflected in your title and compensation during the next review cycle. Long term, moving toward Entra-joined devices and cloud-based management is a sensible direction.
Your Jamf experience should transfer better than you expect. The core ideas are similar: enrollment, inventory, configuration profiles, application deployment, compliance, patching, and troubleshooting. The terminology and failure modes will be different, but you already understand device management concepts.
I would avoid simply letting MECM disappear through attrition. First map every workload that depends on it, including imaging, certificates, Wi-Fi, VPN, printers, BitLocker recovery, lab software, and application deployment. Then pilot Entra-joined devices with a small group and migrate one function at a time.
A practical Intune learning order would be enrollment and groups, configuration profiles, compliance policies, Win32 applications, update rings, Autopilot, and troubleshooting logs. Microsoft’s Intune learning paths are useful, but a controlled pilot in your own environment will probably teach you faster. Document assignments, dependencies, testing, and rollback procedures as you go.
That makes sense. I was thinking of provisioning all new computers through Entra and letting the existing MECM population gradually age out, but I can see why we need to inventory the dependencies first.