Why do IT jobs require impossible skill sets?
Modern job descriptions demand expert-level capabilities across multiple disparate domains like coding, infrastructure, and security all at once. This creates intense anxiety for job seekers who feel entirely unable to compete with these inflated expectations despite years of hard work.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1studying for additional certifications like AWS
- 2throwing resumes into job boards
- 3putting homelab experience on resumes
- 4applying directly on company websites instead of aggregate boards
- 5building small personal projects and putting them on GitHub
- 6embellishing experience and treating job requirements as wishlists
- 7practicing interview skills and adopting a confident persona
- 8doing physical manual labor like cutting cable trunking
- 9juggling multiple major projects and daily operations simultaneously
- 10traveling extensively to multiple store locations
- 11quietly applying elsewhere while still employed
- 12spinning the diverse workload into resume bullets about adaptability
- 13staying a few more months to hit the six-month mark
- 14Developing internal self-esteem and mantras
- 15Creating organizational systems and emergency sub plans
- 16Leaning on supportive colleagues for mentorship and venting
- 17Focusing on small positive moments each day
- 18Taking the mislabeled job to build resume experience and move to a better position later
- 19Passing on the job and not applying
- 20Telling the employer they are looking for an entire team rather than a single person
- 21using another client as a reference
- 22asking questions
- 23Measuring the day by what fires were put out rather than what is left on the list
- 24Looking for another position
- 25Working late hours and weekends constantly to keep up
- 26refusing to attend the interview
- 27relying on staffing agencies to find positions
- 28accepting administrative tasks if the pay is higher
- 29Absorbing the extra work, handling tasks outside their expertise, and trying to maintain a positive customer service attitude despite being severely overwhelmed.
- 30asking for a raise
- 31looking for other jobs
- 32using better systems or AI to help with tasks
- 33Considering a move to rural or smaller schools
- 34Accepting positions with more lesson preps at smaller schools
- 35Limiting work strictly to 40 hours a week and letting things fail
- 36Documenting concerns in writing to management and bccing personal email
- 37Offloading tasks to AI or juniors and focusing on communicating small wins
- 38Keeping a journal to track wins and taking plenty of PTO
- 39Looking into pivoting to other fields like security
- 40delaying extracurricular or volunteer activities until after the demanding work period concludes
- 41trying to kindly say no to meetings about past teachers
- 42agreeing to evening rehearsals to accommodate student schedules
- 43leaving at 5pm anyway
- 44leaving work on the desk for the next day
- 45ignoring what others are saying
- 46biting tongue to avoid speaking out
- 47leaving the profession entirely
- 48planning to learn as much as possible for a year and then find another staff job
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“They were looking for a Senior Systems administrator but labeling it as a Help Desk position so they could lowball whoever applied for it.”source ↗
“Every day I‘m drowning in a sea of urgent repair, legal and maintenance emails and no matter how productive I am at the end of the day I never feel accomplished because I might have done 30 things but 300 are outstanding.”source ↗
“I feel like a failure at the end of every workday.”source ↗
“I am panicking about the job situation. I lost my job and feel like I am going to be unable to bounce back.”source ↗
“Looking at the job market though, I feel like I can't compete. I don't have experience with terraform outside of labbing. I don't know how to code very well. Every job seems to want someone with extremely strong skills across so many different domains”source ↗
“Everyone wants so much experience for everything that it makes me feel as if I have been slacking even though I have been working hard.”source ↗
“After 15 years I've hit the wall.”source ↗
“My company got "merged" a couple of years ago and my 3 person team is getting more and more added to our plate”source ↗
“When my boss told me this last week that I was going to inherit the care of our entire organizations data lake infrastructure, I felt myself break and check out.”source ↗
“The phone rings and I want to cry.”source ↗
“Employee has a computer problem? We’re supposed to troubleshoot it.”source ↗
“We take the frustration. We take the complaints. We try to explain something we don’t control.”source ↗
“I manage IT for a retail business with multiple stores and brands. It’s me, one junior technician and external vendors.”source ↗
“Right now, I’m juggling a server refresh, app integration problems, connectivity changes and compliance requirements alongside normal operations.”source ↗
“Is this reasonable for our team size, or am I covering too many roles?”source ↗
“I'm being asked to successfully direct three productions a year with only 3 rehearsals every two weeks.”source ↗
“I have over 170 and a coworker has over 200 this year with 6 sections. Where in public education are middle school teachers having less than 150 or even 100 students? I am considering a move and that may be a driving factor.”source ↗
“I’m a first-year teacher in upper elementary (I am teaching a split this year).”source ↗
“I just realized I am not experiencing the joy I see others around me experiencing, and I’m not looking forward to the next day(s), and I am worried I made the wrong choice.”source ↗
“It’s awful and I just want to cry.”source ↗
“oh god, I'm a Gen X accountant about to pull an all-nighter to meet the 9/15 deadline tmrw. IT'S MY OWN FAULT AND I HATE IT.”source ↗
“I have to wear multiple hats which I know is the norm but at this point I have my hands tied with literally everything I’m the one manning the phone, I had to create the strategic plan 4 months in with zero help from the board.”source ↗
“I’m already burnt out and I feel like I have nothing to show even though I work until 10pm every night.”source ↗
“I’m just so frustrated and unsure of what to do.”source ↗
“I work full-time as an HR Admin for a corporation. About 4 months into my role, it expanded to absorb a coworker's full-time HR Admin role.”source ↗
“They acted like I was being ridiculous and over stepping by asking for any additional pay.”source ↗
“Fast forward a few months, I'm still drowning in work and just treading water...there's always new projects to take on along with daily competing priorities.”source ↗
“There is just too much work to complete in my 40 hour work week, and I'm hourly.”source ↗
“Hello, I’m going to be interviewing for this position but the more I look at the responsibilities list, the more I feel that they are asking for way too much.”source ↗
“They are paying $28/ hr and this is in California.”source ↗
“I manage several properties ALONE. no team. No staff, just me. I get the feeling of not finishing tasks. People are always upset, but I am one person😭 I am in search of advice too, a career change is not currently in the cards for me.”source ↗
“Well, I consistently feel valued neither as a person nor teacher from my job.”source ↗
“They acknowledged my burnout and then piled on more work and told me to view it as a leadership opportunity.”source ↗
“What causes partners to set these extremely difficult deadlines in the first place?”source ↗
“I'm guessing they're afraid of the client getting mad. But why does that mean I get an impossible deadline that there's no way I'm gonna meet?”source ↗
“I second guess my career choice every day.”source ↗
“I have 190 in high school. I did have around 145 a few years ago, but that was the year we lost three positions a month into school.”source ↗
“we are overburdened, we are undervalued and certainly underpaid.”source ↗
“i feel overwhelmed and under appreciated as my 90 day review is put to the side due to other “critical” tasks being in the way.”source ↗
“is this normal or should i get out of here quick? I’m nervous about having a 3 month only position on my resume and am debating whether this toxic environment would be amazing for future job opportunities.”source ↗
“Payroll procedure and Accounting software is the worst thing I’ve ever laid eyes upon and I really doubt there’s any company that also uses it.”source ↗
“I feel like I’m so overwhelmed at my audit internship. I’ve been here for about 3 months, and I still feel like I can’t grasp things on the first try.”source ↗
“I’ve also gone significantly over budget on my hours, which obviously isn't helping my confidence.”source ↗
“I’ve interviewed for Staff Accountant positions three times and even with a degree, they have all told me I need more experience. Unfortunately I only have AP experience and a bit of AR”source ↗
“maybe I'll look into it when busy season isn't actively trying to delete my will to live”source ↗
“Job and company turned out to be messier than expected, and I realized I’m definitely not ready for that responsibility.”source ↗
“A big part of why I took the job is that I was looking forward to mentorship from my boss, but often when I ask a question I leave feeling more confused.”source ↗
“It also seems like he offloads tasks and projects onto me when he doesn’t want to and/or doesn’t know how to do them, and will tell me to use chat gpt to work through it.”source ↗
“I feel like there is no way I’d want to or be ready to take over for him in 2 years.”source ↗
“I have 5, soon to be 6 locations across 3 states in the southwest... Just me and a junior doing everything you got + cameras.”source ↗
“I am stretched too thin by a good amount.”source ↗
“I don’t know how we still have our sanity at this point I feel like the worst person on earth daily for years”source ↗
“I am second guessing my investment into security certifications because I have first-hans experienced some very stressful security incidents.”source ↗
“Yeah, literally just went through this myself. Tier 2 and all thr job duties were senior sys admin/networking AND help users...”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 25Why do I feel so overwhelmed after starting a new job?
- 7How to stop doing everything at once as property manager
- 6Why does home maintenance feel like a never-ending job?
- 6How to change careers when you are stuck in a niche
- 3Why is corporate industry accounting so boring after public practice?
- 6Why is modern IT work so boring and automated?