The Survival Rate
Every MSP engineer has considered leaving. Many have tried. Fewer have succeeded without landing in a similar role at a different company.
This article collects the stories of engineers who not only left β but thrived. Their experiences form a pattern that can guide others considering the same journey.
Story 1: From MSP L3 to Government Senior Architect
Background: 8 years at three different MSPs. Final role: Level 3 engineer at a tier 2 Melbourne MSP supporting 40+ clients.
Breaking point: A weekend on-call rotation with 17 escalations, followed by a Monday morning client meeting where the account manager threw the engineer under the bus for a missed SLA caused by understaffing.
The transition: Applied for a Senior Infrastructure Architect role at a state government department. Took 4 months of applications and 6 interviews. Salary drop of $8,000 in the first year.
Current state: Two years in. Salary now $35,000 above peak MSP earnings. 9-day fortnight. No on-call. Meaningful project work with actual budgets.
Their advice: "The salary hit was temporary. The quality-of-life improvement was permanent. Government is slower, but you can actually think about what you're building instead of just surviving the next ticket."
Story 2: From MSP Service Desk to SaaS Product Manager
Background: 5 years at MSPs. Started on service desk, worked up to team lead.
Breaking point: Realised he knew more about the ticketing system than the vendor selling it. Every MSP used the same tools badly. Saw a product gap.
The transition: Spent 6 months building a prototype of a lightweight MSP operations dashboard. Quit. Bootstrapped for 18 months.
Current state: 25-person SaaS company. $3M ARR. Sells to Australian MSPs.
Their advice: "Your MSP experience is market research disguised as a job. Every ridiculous process, every broken tool, every 'someone should build x' moment β that's a product idea. The MSP world has terrible software because people who know what's wrong are too exhausted to fix it."
Story 3: From MSP Engineer to Independent Consultant
Background: 12 years across MSPs and one internal IT role. Specialised in SharePoint Online and M365 migrations.
Breaking point: Took a work call during his child's birthday party. His 6-year-old asked: "Daddy, do you like your phone more than me?"
The transition: Built a client pipeline over 8 months while still employed. Quit with three retainer clients at $5,000/month total. Grew entirely through referral.
Current state: 10 retainer clients. $18,000/month. Works 25 hours/week. Refuses all on-call.
Their advice: "MSPs sell your time for $150-250/hour and pay you $50-80. If you have a client relationship, you can sell your time for $150-200/hour directly and keep it all. The first client is terrifying. The second is easy. By the third, you wonder why you didn't do this years ago."
Story 4: From MSP Engineer to Electrician
Background: 6 years at a regional MSP. Broad generalist β networking, servers, some cabling.
Breaking point: Realised he was spending more time arguing about SLA definitions than solving technical problems. Stared at a ticket queue that hadn't dropped below 200 in three years.
The transition: Studied electrical apprenticeship part-time for 2 years while working at the MSP. Took a $25,000 pay cut to start the apprenticeship at age 29.
Current state: Licensed electrician. $140,000/year. Physical work. No computers at home.
Their advice: "I thought IT was my identity. Turns out it was just a job I was good at. There's no shame in building something with your hands. I sleep better, I'm healthier, and I never think about work after 5pm."
Story 5: From MSP Team Lead to Product Support Engineering Manager
Background: 7 years at a single MSP. Promoted to team lead at year 4.
Breaking point: Was responsible for 12 direct reports, 80+ clients, and SLA reporting β all while still carrying a ticket queue. A senior engineer quit and management told him to 'absorb the workload until we hire.'
The transition: Applied for a support engineering manager role at a US-based SaaS company with Australian operations. Remote role.
Current state: Managing a global support team of 18. $165,000 total comp. Unlimited PTO. Stock options.
Their advice: "Your MSP management experience is more valuable than you think. You've managed more complexity in a week than most SaaS support managers see in a year. The trick is translating that into terms non-MSP people understand β talk about process design, team development, and metrics, not ticket counts."
The Pattern
Across these stories, common themes emerge:
| Factor | Description |
|---|---|
| Preparation | Every survivor prepared for 4-12 months before leaving |
| Financial buffer | Minimum 3 months of expenses saved |
| Skills translation | They reframed MSP experience in non-MSP terms |
| Network activation | Most transitions leveraged existing relationships |
| Temporary regression | Most took a short-term financial hit before long-term gain |
| Boundary setting | Every survivor developed strict work-life boundaries in their new role |
| No regrets | None of the survivors wished they'd stayed longer |
If You're Reading This and Recognising Yourself
- Start preparing today, even if you don't know where you're going
- Document your achievements in business-language terms, not technical terms
- Talk to people who've left β the MSP echo chamber makes exit seem harder than it is
- Build a financial buffer β financial stress is the #1 reason engineers stay too long
- Your skills are more portable than you think. The MSP context obscures their value.
The door is there. You just have to walk through it.
Escaped the MSP burnout cycle? Submit your story to inspire others.
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