IT Professional Seeks Advice on Transitioning to Cybersecurity

The poster has seven years of IT experience, including five years in system administration, managing infrastructure for a small-to-mid-sized manufacturing company with 200 employees, 70 servers, a vSphere multi-cluster, 300 end devices, and a hybrid Azure/on-prem Windows AD environment. They are currently enrolled in the SANS Institute’s BACS program, funded by their employer, and are considering a transition into cybersecurity. They seek advice on suitable job titles, whether SOC Tier 1 roles are necessary for career growth, and if their systems administration background positions them well for a cybersecurity pivot.