I’m kind of in the same boat, thought I’d be programming but figured out early on that sitting at a desk coding for 8+ hours a day just wasn’t my thing. Turns out I’m happier doing all the other IT grunt work e.g. setting up servers, backups, dealing with the network/wireless/firewalls, even provisioning and supporting user desktops gets interesting.
A few times a year, probably around 5-6 I’d guess. Some months I end up going to more than one and other months it’s quiet.
Almost always buy merch… I have a lot of t-shirts haha.