The Midwest Needs You

Posted Nov 11, 2025

By Usman Masood Ashraf

views 7 min read

The Midwest Needs You: Addressing the Critical Shortage of DevOps and System Administration Talent

Introduction

The technology job market presents a paradox in 2024. While headlines report layoffs at major tech companies, thousands of vital infrastructure roles remain unfilled across America’s heartland. As a DevOps professional with decades of experience, I’ve witnessed firsthand the growing crisis in Midwestern IT departments - organizations struggling to maintain critical infrastructure due to a severe shortage of qualified system administrators and DevOps engineers.

This shortage isn’t just about empty job postings. In Nebraska alone, entire towns lack any local IT professionals, forcing companies to rely on overextended technicians who service multiple locations. The consequences are tangible: vulnerable systems, delayed upgrades, and organizations unable to implement modern DevOps practices that could transform their operations.

For experienced infrastructure professionals, this presents a unique opportunity. While coastal tech hubs face instability, Midwestern companies offer:

Critical infrastructure roles with real impact
Lower cost of living with competitive compensation
Opportunities to shape technology strategy
Greater job security in essential industries

This comprehensive guide examines:

The current Midwestern tech employment landscape
Compensation and career progression realities
Technical requirements for these roles
Infrastructure modernization challenges
Strategies for transitioning to regional opportunities

Whether you’re seeking stability, new challenges, or a better quality of life, understanding these regional opportunities could transform your career trajectory.

Understanding the Midwestern Tech Employment Landscape

The Infrastructure Talent Gap

While Silicon Valley dominates tech headlines, 72% of U.S. businesses operate outside major tech hubs according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. This creates massive demand for infrastructure professionals in regions often overlooked by tech workers.

Key Industries Driving Demand:

Agricultural technology
Manufacturing and logistics
Healthcare systems
Financial services
Education and government

Compensation Reality Check

The most common concern about Midwestern roles is compensation. While salaries may appear lower than coastal tech hubs, the purchasing power difference is dramatic:

Position	SF Bay Area	Midwest	COL-Adjusted Midwest Equivalent
Senior DevOps	$180,000	$130,000	$210,000
Systems Architect	$160,000	$120,000	$190,000
Network Engineer	$140,000	$100,000	$160,000

Data from Stack Overflow 2023 Developer Survey adjusted using MIT Living Wage Calculator

Technical Requirements for Midwestern Roles

Midwestern infrastructure roles often demand broader skill sets than specialized Silicon Valley positions:

Core Competencies:

Hybrid infrastructure management (on-prem + cloud)
Legacy system modernization
Business continuity planning
Multi-site network administration
Cost-conscious optimization

In-Demand Technical Skills:

VMware/Hyper-V virtualization
Azure/AWS hybrid implementations
Ansible/Puppet configuration management
Windows Server/Linux integration
SAN/NAS storage solutions

Infrastructure Modernization Challenges

The Legacy System Dilemma

Many Midwestern organizations operate critical legacy systems requiring careful modernization:

  
# Typical legacy environment inspection commands
$ systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"
$ Get-WindowsFeature | Where-Object {$_.InstallState -eq 'Installed'}
$ ssh legacy-host "uname -a && cat /etc/*release"

Modernization Strategy:

Inventory critical services
Containerize legacy applications
Implement gradual service decomposition
Establish hybrid cloud bridgeheads

Implementing Modern DevOps Practices

Transitioning traditional IT shops requires careful change management:

Terraform for Hybrid Infrastructure (Azure example):

  
resource "azurerm_virtual_network" "main" {
  name                = "midwest-prod-vnet"
  address_space       = ["10.0.0.0/16"]
  location            = "centralus"
  resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.main.name
}

resource "vsphere_virtual_machine" "legacy_app" {
  name             = "legacy-app-01"
  resource_pool_id = data.vsphere_resource_pool.pool.id
  datastore_id     = data.vsphere_datastore.datastore.id
  num_cpus         = 4
  memory           = 8192
  # ... additional configuration
}

Security Considerations for Distributed Systems

With limited onsite staff, security automation becomes critical:

  
# Automated security auditing script
#!/bin/bash
TARGETS=("server1" "server2" "nas01")

for host in "${TARGETS[@]}"; do
  echo "Auditing $host"
  ssh "$host" "sudo lynis audit system --quick"
  ssh "$host" "sudo grep 'Failed password' /var/log/auth.log | wc -l"
  scp "$host:/etc/ssh/sshd_config" "./backups/${host}_sshd_config_$(date +%F)"
done

Transitioning to Midwestern Roles

Technical Preparation

Essential Documentation Skills:

Network topology diagrams
Runbook creation
Disaster recovery plans
Change management logs

Sample Runbook Template:

Outage Response Procedure

Initial Assessment
- Confirm outage scope (single system/multiple locations)
- Check monitoring dashboard (Nagios/Zabbix)
- Notify stakeholders via incident comms channel
Containment
- Isolate affected systems if compromised
- Implement traffic rerouting (BGP/HAProxy)
- Gather forensic evidence if security incident
Resolution
- Execute approved remediation plan
- Validate service restoration
- Document root cause analysis ```

Remote Management Strategies

For professionals considering relocation, hybrid work options are increasingly available:

SSH Multiplexing Configuration (~/.ssh/config):

  
Host midwest-*
  ControlMaster auto
  ControlPath ~/.ssh/%r@%h:%p
  ControlPersist 1h
  ServerAliveInterval 60

Host prod-db01
  HostName 192.168.1.101
  User admin
  LocalForward 5432 localhost:5432

Host dr-site
  HostName backup.example.com
  User remoteadmin
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/dr_key

Cost of Living Advantage

The financial benefits extend beyond salary comparisons:

Expense Category	Midwest Average	Coastal Tech Hub
Median Home Price	$235,000	$1,200,000
Average Rent (2BR)	$1,100	$3,500
Childcare (Monthly)	$800	$2,200
Commute Time (Daily)	22 minutes	52 minutes

Sources: Zillow Economic Data, Child Care Aware of America, U.S. Census Bureau

Technical Deep Dive: Modernizing Midwestern Infrastructure

Containerization Strategy for Legacy Applications

Dockerizing a Legacy .NET Application:

  
# Multi-stage build for legacy ASP.NET app
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/framework/sdk:4.8 AS build
WORKDIR /app
COPY LegacyApp.sln .
COPY LegacyApp/. ./LegacyApp/
RUN msbuild LegacyApp.sln /p:Configuration=Release

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/framework/aspnet:4.8
WORKDIR /inetpub/wwwroot
COPY --from=build /app/LegacyApp/bin/Release/. .
EXPOSE 80

Container Management Commands:

  
# Check container status using safe variable names
$ docker ps --format "table $CONTAINER_ID\t$CONTAINER_IMAGE\t$CONTAINER_STATUS\t$CONTAINER_PORTS"

# Legacy app deployment
$ docker run -d --name legacy-web -p 80:80 legacy-app:4.8

Infrastructure as Code Implementation

Ansible Playbook for Multi-OS Environment:

  
---
- name: Configure Midwest hybrid environment
  hosts: all
  become: yes
  tasks:
    - name: Ensure baseline security packages
      package:
        name:
          - fail2ban
          - unattended-upgrades
        state: present
      when: ansible_os_family == 'Debian'

    - name: Configure Windows Defender
      win_defender:
        realtime_protection: enabled
        signature_update: auto
      when: ansible_os_family == 'Windows'

    - name: Deploy centralized logging config
      template:
        src: templates/rsyslog.conf.j2
        dest: /etc/rsyslog.conf
      notify: restart rsyslog

Monitoring Distributed Environments

Prometheus Configuration for Hybrid Infrastructure:

  
global:
  scrape_interval: 60s

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'on-prem-servers'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['192.168.1.10:9100', '192.168.1.11:9100']
    params:
      network: 'production'

  - job_name: 'azure-vms'
    azure_sd_configs:
      - subscription_id: 'YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_ID'
        tenant_id: 'YOUR_TENANT_ID'
        client_id: 'YOUR_CLIENT_ID'
        client_secret: 'YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET'
        port: 9100

Career Development in Regional Markets

Building Impactful Expertise

Midwestern roles often provide faster progression to leadership positions:

Typical Career Path:

Systems Administrator (2-3 years)
Infrastructure Engineer (3-5 years)
IT Director/CTO (5-8 years)
VP of Technology (8+ years)

Compensation Growth Potential: | Position | Entry-Level | Mid-Career | Senior | |——————-|————-|————|——–| | Systems Admin | $65,000 | $85,000 | $110,000| | DevOps Engineer | $80,000 | $110,000 | $140,000| | Infrastructure Architect | $95,000 | $125,000 | $160,000|

Data from Dice Salary Report 2023 (Midwest Region)

Conclusion

The Midwest’s infrastructure talent shortage represents more than just job openings - it’s an opportunity to build meaningful careers while solving critical business challenges. For DevOps professionals and system administrators, these roles offer:

Technical Depth: Work across diverse environments from legacy mainframes to cutting-edge cloud infrastructure
Professional Growth: Faster progression to leadership roles with tangible business impact
Work-Life Balance: Affordable living costs with reduced career volatility
Community Impact: Support essential services in healthcare, agriculture, and education

While compensation numbers may initially appear lower than coastal tech hubs, the reality of purchasing power combined with career growth potential creates compelling long-term value. The organizations facing these talent shortages aren’t just looking for maintenance staff - they need technology leaders who can guide their digital transformation journeys.

Further Resources:

The heartland’s infrastructure needs visionaries. As one Nebraska CTO recently told me: “We don’t just need hands to maintain systems; we need minds to transform them.” For experienced infrastructure professionals seeking stability and impact, the Midwest offers opportunities worth serious consideration.

Open Source, Reddit Guides, Docker

This post is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by the author.