I've been with my current startup for about 4.5 years. I started in junior IT support and eventually became the company's only IT employee after my manager left. For roughly a year and a half, I handled everything from servers and infrastructure to end-user support and procurement. As the company grew, dedicated helpdesk staff were hired, and I moved into a focused System Administrator role.
My current job is comfortable and stable, and I've built a lot of trust and seniority there. However, the technology environment has mostly plateaued, and my salary is below market because I grew into the position instead of changing companies.
I now have a firm offer from a rapidly growing startup that would increase my pay by roughly 47–50%. The role would involve a much more complex technology environment, but I would initially be responsible for infrastructure, procurement, helpdesk, and general IT support as a one-person team. They say the department may grow later, though I need to understand how definite that plan is.
I'm concerned about returning to support and purchasing after working hard to move into infrastructure. The new role would also mean proving myself from scratch, but it could provide stronger technical growth and better compensation. I'm 28, have about five years of hands-on experience, and no formal computer science degree.
How would you evaluate this decision? What questions should I ask about workload, on-call expectations, vacation coverage, hiring plans, and the company's growth? Can a one-person IT role accelerate a move toward senior infrastructure, DevOps, or SRE work, or is it more likely to become a permanent helpdesk and firefighting position? I'm also considering a counteroffer from my current employer, but I worry that accepting one could make me more vulnerable during future layoffs.
4 Answers
Don’t assume the new title alone will determine your career trajectory. A title like IT Administrator can still lead to senior infrastructure work if your actual responsibilities include systems design, automation, security, and reliability. Conversely, a System Administrator title won’t help much if the work has stopped developing your skills.
I’d also avoid accepting a counteroffer purely because it reduces immediate uncertainty. If your current employer only offers a major raise after you resign, the underlying issues—stagnant technology and limited growth—probably remain. Compare the two roles based on learning, workload, leadership support, and future opportunities, then use the compensation as one factor rather than the entire decision.
Be honest about the burnout risk. A one-person operation can be a great learning experience, but only if you have enough confidence in both automation and troubleshooting to keep routine work manageable. Otherwise, you may spend every day underwater while still being judged on infrastructure projects that never get time.
The new job should move you closer to your long-term goal, not just pay more for the same work plus extra stress. If it offers meaningful architecture, automation, cloud, and reliability responsibilities, the temporary support work may be worth it. If it’s primarily break/fix and office support with vague promises of future growth, the raise may only be a short-term payday.
The key issue isn’t the 50% increase by itself—it’s what “one-person IT” actually means. There’s a big difference between owning infrastructure while temporarily helping support and becoming responsible for helpdesk, procurement, security, networking, cloud, on-call work, and every broken printer.
Before accepting, ask how many users and offices there are, what after-hours support looks like, who covers you during vacation, whether there is a real hiring budget and timeline, and what they expect you to deliver in the first 6–12 months. If “we’ll hire later” has no approved headcount or schedule, treat that as a warning sign.
The role could be excellent career growth if you’ll be designing systems, automating processes, improving reliability, and building the IT function. If most of your time will be password resets, laptop setup, purchasing, and random office problems, it may pull you away from the infrastructure path you want. Also be cautious about a counteroffer; the fact that they can suddenly find a large raise tells you something about how they valued you before.
At 28, I’d seriously consider taking the new position, provided the company is financially sound and the responsibilities are clearly defined. Staying in a comfortable role with a stagnant environment can quietly limit your growth, while a large raise gives you more room to save, invest, and make future career choices.
The important part is to protect yourself from the role becoming endless chaos. Find out whether you’ll have authority to automate, standardize, and prioritize work instead of simply reacting to every request. If you accept, document your workload and accomplishments from the beginning so you can show when the team is understaffed and build a case for additional hires.
That’s helpful. I’m going to get much more specific about staffing, coverage, and the first-year expectations before making a decision.