Skipping helpdesk.

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If you've already been working on a helpdesk for three years... why would you even be asking this question? Sadly, the fact that you don't know the answer to your own question already speaks volumes. But for the benefit of people who ARE new to IT, I will give my opinion.

The drive and determination to want to do higher-level IT work is admirable. But the mindset of "skipping helpdesk" because you "already know your stuff" is very detrimental. Techs who harbor this mindset usually end up being the ones who can't be bothered to fix a printer, reset a user's password, or troubleshoot a PC problem; some go as far as to hole themselves up in the server room and rage whenever anyone disturbs their little kingdom by asking them to do something that is "beneath them". Techs with this sort of attitude are the techs that the rest of us don't want to work with - or hire.

Please, don't be "that tech." Doesn't matter how many certifications and qualifications you have. Your job, from entry-level all the way up to CIO, is to support the user.

In truth, those who think they're "too good for helpdesk" are the ones who need to work a helpdesk job the most. I firmly believe that working a helpdesk job will give them the user-focused perspective they need to succeed throughout their IT career... or to ultimately let them know that IT support isn't a good career for them to pursue.

 

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AS stated earlier, its not gospel that you have to take a Helpdesk Role, but it will in my opinion give you a great insight and experience into resolving basic common issues, and devlopment your understanding to rule out stuff, when you are at 2nd Line or higher role. It also ensures you ask the right questions to get to the cause, or to allow someone else to get to the cause and this develops your troubleshooting skills.

Ive seen a lot of very very very Techy guys, in my 3 Year IT career, to know that whilst these guys can wire their and configure their hubs to watch TV on, through the little LED screen they have installed. They just dont know sh1t about something as basic, as checking IE is not set to work ofline when a user cant get on the net, because its something that would probably come from experience when working on the helpdesk.

It is fun when you get a call passed back to helpdesk and you see it has been all around the IT houses, for one of the expereinced 1st Line guys to fix it in 5 seconds



In regards to the quote by coolc saying he Helpdesk is easy..............Ive worked on 3 different helpdesk roles before I came her to my current It Support role. Helpdesk can vary a lot from different sites. Unless your stuck on a helpdesk, where you pick up the phone, say Hello, take details and then pass the call on. The helpdesk will be as challenging as you make it and how busy it is and how long you have been there

You can either be another Person answering the phone - this involves

Sit there, take the call, read or be told how to fix it without really caring why it now works, that it works, or why the issue occured in the first place

or

Be a experienced Thelpdesk Agent

Sit there, fix it because, you understand whats happening, learn how to fix it for next time, and if your not allowed to fix it, provide enough detail so the person above can fix it................and doing this can be a frustrating task, but so rewarding and make your role......Fantastic

 

Hi There,
I've been MCDST qualified for 6 months, i started working in a small local IT shop before I left school now after gaining my cert's I'm working a technical support engineer role, supporting various sized business/ factories (and there's 3 of us in the office) and it's very much first line support but it's all experience, like I've said before elsewhere everyday I come into work, a problem occurs that i haven't seen before and I try to fix it to the best of my ability if i cant there's always someone to ask who can fix it, but the initial thing is I tried, I mean sometimes I have to resort to google to figure out why something isn't working or how to fix it but the customer isn't bothered by that they just want there tech fixing.

main point for people who are just starting their career's in IT is just try, you can't know everything, the key point to remember is someone somewhere knows why something does what it does and how to troubleshoot and fix the problem

(so if possible don't skip first line support as it's valuable experience!!)

 

There are such jobs as trainee IT tech roles where you would do a bit of everything although they are more rare than 1st line support roles.

 

*sniff* *sniff* By jove, that just hit my troll-o-meter!

MS/Microsoft is not a certification. It is a Certification Provider (in this context). Perhaps you would care to elaborate further by providing the detail requested of you - to wit: the actual certs you have.

 

In other words do not be ignorant WesternKings

 

I love how people compare skipping first line to becoming a financial advisor over night.

Personally ( no disrespect) but I came form a IT background, in the sense that I did a BSc in Computer Science and Btec and generally was good with computers so for me a job in first line would have been mind numbing and pointless.

So I dont agree with the fact that you must start in first line. My first job was a 2nd line technician and within 2.5 years I am now in third line responsible for the domain and exchange etc. But obviously my opinion is my opinion.

If I was you I'd apply for both first line and second line roles. If you get a opportunity great, if not progress through the bottom.

 

Having said that, one of my friends got a job as a First Line Analyst and did pretty much everything from desktop to server support and rarely had to resolve any issues over the phone. He kinda struggled in his next job because he wasn't confident in resolving issues over the phone and struggled multi tasking.

So I think it depends on how good/confident the person is to be honest.

 

It's worth noting that not all entry positions are the same.

As has been said, some will leave you reading a script with very little scope to expand. Whereas as others (like the first job you got and like my own first IT job) will let you do as much as you can handle.