1st, 2nd or 3rd?

Discussion in 'Training & Development' started by zxspectrum, Dec 9, 2017.

  1. zxspectrum

    zxspectrum Terabyte Poster Forum Leader Gold Member

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    So I have been tryking to work this out the last 2 weeks or so but my role just says IT technician however I think I am doing more than I am getting paid for and I think I need to be putting this more detailed information down when I apply for other roles

    So for me a 1st line support role is where you reset passwords and do the simple checks, then if you cant do that you would escalate the call to the next level as it were. I very rarely do this these days as I can do a lot more than when i first started all those years ago. For instance I can set up a licence server and make sure that the pcs that need to talk to that licence server can connect, which you may think, big deal, thats not too hard.

    Recently that licence server went down, with a HD fail, so I found myself setting up a new one then instead in having to install the software again on pcs, i found that you could edit a file within the program which was where the old host ID would have been, and change it to the new pc name. Even though I did that the licence server still would not work, so after a bit of diagnosing I noticed the service the licence server would use to authenticate was disabled, so I started that. Still nothing, so I disabled the firewall on the server pc and hey presto, things got talking to each other again.

    Now thats not something that happened that easy and as fast as you have read it but between that I am doing other things such as troubleshooting network issues which we had a lot of last week, whilst looking into a solution for a piece of software using app V and keeping a tab on setting up a private cloud.

    So what would that come under in your opinion? Im getting the itch I think but I dont know if I should stay in the education sector or move into industry.
     
    Certifications: BSc computing and information systems
    WIP: 70-680
  2. nisseki

    nisseki Byte Poster

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    Each company defines it's own support levels but I think 1st line these days refer to jobs such as helpdesk and service desk analyst.

    It looks to me you're definitely in the second line zone or at least desktop engineer.

    3rd line in my previous jobs were development teams such as software engineers, programmers etc.
     
  3. FlashDangerpants

    FlashDangerpants Byte Poster

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    1st line - don't get passwords to sensitive systems, aren't allowed to put themselves and others in harm's way by doing risky things.
    2nd line - where all the actual work happens.
    3rd line - does the stuff that you get fired if it goes wrong.

    The rest of it is just stuff that gets divied up between the people nominally in those lines ... which can appear arbitrary on a large desk where some of the 2nd line are window lickers, but some are better than half the 3rd line.

    When you interview for a 2nd line role they are going to ask you to describe a recent incident where you have had to do some troubleshooting. Sounds like you have a decent one to talk about, so go right ahead and start looking.
     
    Certifications: MCITP Exchange 2010, MCSA Svr 2012
    WIP: Exchange 2013
  4. Juelz

    Juelz Gigabyte Poster

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    1st line support is a myth.. no company pays you to just reset passwords when they could just implement a system to do so.. do I reset passwords? Yup but I also migrate servers, deploy software and a whole lot more.. go look at a job advertised as 1st line and look how much more it is than resetting passwords.
     
  5. Sparky
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Very hard to define 1st 2nd or 3rd line support so always expand on your responsibilities on your CV.

    Some 1st line support do cover just password resets unfortunetly and end up escalating everything else or following a script – it really comes down to call volume, SLAs and first time fix rates etc. All very corporate :)
     
    Certifications: MSc MCSE MCSA:M MCSA:S MCITP:EA MCTS(x5) MS-900 AZ-900 Security+ Network+ A+
    WIP: Microsoft Certs

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