I'm 28, a father, and recently transitioned from sales into IT. I studied independently for several months and started my first IT position as a support trainee less than two months ago. My long-term goal is to move into systems administration and eventually cloud administration. I'd appreciate honest feedback on my resume, including any red flags, what I should remove or reword, and which skills, certifications, or home-lab projects would make me a stronger candidate. I'm also wondering how to present my sales background and previous technical projects without overstating my current experience.
4 Answers
At this stage, focus on becoming strong in support and building real fundamentals before aiming directly for cloud administration. Ask to shadow more experienced technicians, volunteer for infrastructure projects, and learn how changes are handled in a production environment. Home labs are useful, but practical exposure at work will carry much more weight. Your sales background is an advantage, so highlight communication, customer handling, understanding business needs, and problem-solving instead of trying to present yourself as an experienced cloud engineer.
The wording and design should sound like you, not like a generic AI-generated resume. Use a cleaner layout, fewer colors and buzzwords, and replace broad claims with specific responsibilities and results from your current support job. Explain what tickets you handle, which systems you troubleshoot, how you improved a process, or how you helped users. A hiring manager needs to see evidence of skills rather than a long list of tools.
Your resume sounds too busy and lists too many technologies without enough evidence of what you actually built or accomplished. Condense the home-lab section into a few named projects with a one-line summary of the goal, technologies used, and outcome. Save the deeper technical details for interviews. Also, avoid repeating the same founder or project experience in several sections; mention it once and keep the focus on what you can contribute in an IT role today.
Don’t list certifications as if you already have them when they’re only planned or in progress. Either list a scheduled exam with an expected date or put your study goals in a separate section. Once you have the basics down, certifications such as A+, Network+, CCNA, or AZ-104 can help establish a foundation, but they won’t replace hands-on experience. Be precise and honest about your level so the resume feels credible.
A project repository would help support those claims. Include diagrams, setup notes, troubleshooting examples, and a short explanation of what you learned rather than just listing products.