A different kind of IT support?

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Hi everyone.

Currently studying for A+ cert hopefully taking exam in the next month or so. Been looking at jobs and I keep seeing the same sort of jobs over and over again, sitting in offices on telephone support for a specific product getting no sight of man nor machine bar those in your company office.

When I first thought of getting into IT support, I was thinking of something a bit more hands on and personal like an IT technician for a school or offices, or being part of a company being called in to fix a problem.

Have I been deluded by training materials or am I missing something? Am I looking at the right career ladder (even if I am barely touching the first rung)? Have I misinterpreted the jobs I'm finding online?

Nic

 

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Hi,

yes, looks like you're aiming more for an Engineers role (this would include a School/College Technician role to a point, also) like a "Field Service Engineer".

'Support' type roles tend to be more office-based with Phone/email & remote-console type support being the most prevalent.

HTH

 

You will find most start out as support role though in an office and the likes. It is a good first step to gain experience.

After a year or two then you would be much better equipped and much more likely to be given a Field Service Engineer type role.

 

Thanks for the replies RichyV and Coupe2T. Sorry it took me sooo long to check for replies!

Thanks. I was struggling to verbalise the kind of IT role I wanted. I wanna be an Engineer! I didn't realise there was a distinction as such. I guess to an extent I didn't realise that so much of IT support was remote. The A+ training books reinforce my image of on-site support as virtually every example of troubleshooting mentioned assumes you are with the user in person!

I was worried that would be the case. What enthuses me the most about IT support is the satisfaction of onsite problem-solving, meeing different people and getting physically stuck in to a computer. But needs must I suppose!

I am a bit concerned that a lot of the 1st line helpdesk roles will be too specialised i.e. working with one brand of router, pushing me more along the line of only troubleshooting routers. Should I be careful which jobs I apply for?

Thanks again for your help!

Nic

 

Hi again,

no, I would not worry too much about this. It would be impossible to learn 'everything' about 'everything' in IT as much as it would be in any other field.

You will obviously only be exposed to the technology that is in-place at the time of your employment at any particular establishment.
But this at least DOES give you exposure that can be built-upon and extrapolated in future roles/businesses.

IT never stands still for long, so even staying in a single role in a single business doesn't mean that your exposure will be worthless. Unless the business itself completely stagnates and puts blinkers on when it comes to future technologies, you will be exposed to new/different tech over time.

At the end of the day, PC's are PC's; routers are routers; 'networks' are 'networks' & 'servers' are 'servers'. I'm sure that you will, given time and experience/training, become proficient at applying your skills to different manufacturer's hardware.

HTH