I spent about 1.5 years in an L1 Help Desk role, where I became a trusted go-to person and earned my AZ-104 certification. I recently joined a new company as a junior systems administrator because I wanted more exposure to Azure, Microsoft 365, networking, cloud infrastructure, and higher-level administration.
After two months, I still mainly handle onboarding and offboarding preparation, PC provisioning, Outlook problems, and other typical desktop-support work. I have received gradual access to tools such as our RMM platform, endpoint security software, and Intune, where I am helping with an adoption project. However, I still have little or no access to Azure, AWS, most of Microsoft 365, the access points, or other important systems. Even for basic offboarding tasks, I often have to ask the senior administrator to disable accounts or reset passwords.
Recently, my senior colleague and I investigated a bandwidth problem after an office move and determined that an access-point setting was responsible. My colleague made the configuration change and received the recognition, while I felt overlooked. I also recently discovered that my senior had been assigned another access-point task without me being told, which made me feel excluded from opportunities to learn.
The manager who hired me has since left, and a replacement manager will be starting soon. My senior colleague and manager are good people, so I am not sure whether this is simply a gradual-trust process or whether I am being kept at the Help Desk level. I understand that unrestricted administrator access should not be handed out casually, but I would like to work on more complex tasks under supervision.
Am I being impatient after only two months? Should I proactively ask to be included in projects and request specific, supervised access? How would you approach the conversation, and when would this become a red flag serious enough to consider finding another job?
4 Answers
Have a direct but positive conversation with your senior colleague. Explain that you want to support the team, learn the environment, and eventually take work off their plate. Ask to shadow specific tasks, be included in relevant meetings, and receive narrowly scoped access that can be used under supervision. Framing it around team coverage and allowing your colleague to take time off may land better than simply asking for more privileges.
Access policies vary dramatically between organizations. Some places give new staff broad administrator rights immediately; others follow least privilege very carefully. A good manager should be able to explain what access you need for your current and upcoming duties, what training or review is required, and what milestones will lead to more responsibility. Ask for a development plan with specific systems and timeframes rather than waiting indefinitely.
Your best approach is to be proactive without sounding entitled. Keep a short record of issues you investigate, improvements you make, and tasks you want to learn. When the new manager arrives, ask for a meeting about your first six months and say you want a progression from desktop support into cloud and systems administration. If months pass with no plan, no meaningful exposure, and no explanation, then it becomes reasonable to reassess the role—but two months alone is not a strong red flag.
Two months is still very early, and access is usually granted based on demonstrated need, trust, and risk—not just certifications or job titles. Many companies intentionally start new hires with limited permissions while they learn the environment. Keep doing excellent work at your current level, document your contributions, and show that you can handle responsibility consistently.
That makes sense. I should focus on asking for defined responsibilities and supervised access instead of treating unrestricted access as proof that they trust me.