1st line support?

Discussion in 'Employment & Jobs' started by coolc, Feb 14, 2011.

  1. coolc

    coolc Nibble Poster

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    Im wondering what do these 1st line support people do?

    is it helpdesk or what?

    Like what kind of technical problems do they solve?
     
  2. cosway

    cosway Nibble Poster

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    I was fortunate enough to get into IT from the programming side, then switched to support later on, although I was never on a 1st line support, I have worked in places where there are 1st line support, and the role is more-or-less the same but the amount of fixes you are required to attempt may be different from organisation to organisation.

    Leading UK ISP :x
    I was a programmer and intranet manager at a leading UK ISP back when the internet was just starting out (before facebook, eBay, Google, yahoo was king back then), one of my projects was to create and manage an intranet based technical knowledge database. In this particular ISP the 1st line support had 3 roles, ask the customer the questions on the screen to resolve the issue (think Microsoft help wizard – switch PC on, did this resolve the issue? Yes - no), a 1st line support may also be required to try and talk the caller into upgrading their account or purchasing add-on services, the final role was to ensure that the call lasted for 20 minutes then drop the call. The helpline was £1.00 per minute and there was some sort of rule that stated that a there was a £20 maximum per phone call. Any issues that remained un-resolved where passed on to 2nd line support, and then on...

    Local Council :biggrin
    The job of a 1st line support in a local council I worked at was to be the first point of contact for anyone experiencing ICT issues. Any issues that 1st line could not resolve where passed on to 2nd line support. There was a clear career development path to 2nd line support, i.e., if you managed to fix enough issues without passing on, then you would be given 2nd line support status, a van/car allowance and double pay (if there was a place on 2nd line support).

    So from my experience 1st line support in the first company I worked at back in early 2000’s was just a money making scam, with little change for progression within the company. 1st Line support in the local council was a good job with a real chance for knowledge and career development.

    So...

    I guess it depends on what company you work for there are good and bad ones, but 1st line support generally answer the phone and talk to customers, the main role would be to try and understand what the caller is saying and try to understand what the problem is, then record, trouble shoot and try a fix, record results, etc...
     
    Certifications: MCDST, MCSA, A+
    WIP: MCSE
  3. Apexes

    Apexes Gigabyte Poster

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    As you say, should be easy enough?

    My first role in IT was 1st line support, in house IT for an office of around 200 users, and there was another guy doing same job as me, and IT Manager - On a regular basis:

    - Active Directory
    - Software troubleshooting
    - Creating/removing logons
    - Exchange troubleshooting
    - SCCM Deployment / OSD & troubleshooting of SCCM
    - Application installs
    - Software updates
    - Licensing with vendors
    - Basic cisco switch configuring
    - Racking new cisco kit + servers (not very often)
    - Configuring iLO basics
    - DNS Access to site, assigning/maintaining static ip's
    - WLAN support
    - BES support
    - Hardware support & troubleshooting
    - Building machines, liasing with dell ref: faults
    - McAfee EPO monitoring

    This probably wouldn't be the same in most "1st line roles" dependant upon where you go, but 99% of all problems were resolved by us in house. we don't really have a 2nd line to go to, as we don't need it for the majority of problems we get, if there's any issues with cisco kit, or problems on the wlan box etc - we have a specialized network team who can do it all remotely
     
    Certifications: 70-243 MCTS: ConfigMgr 2012 | MCSE: Private Cloud
  4. ethernet0

    ethernet0 Byte Poster

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    As above. Some companies 1st line are more technical than another companies 2nd line so there are no hard set rules coolc.
     
  5. BosonMichael
    Honorary Member Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    You ask an awful lot of questions regarding first line for someone who has "been in IT for years". :hhhmmm
     
    Certifications: CISSP, MCSE+I, MCSE: Security, MCSE: Messaging, MCDST, MCDBA, MCTS, OCP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA Security, CCNA Voice, CNE, SCSA, Security+, Linux+, Server+, Network+, A+
    WIP: Just about everything!
  6. greenbrucelee
    Highly Decorated Member Award

    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    Some people read from a script when they are in first line or serch the companies support database or the ms knowledge base to help people out. Some people do all that plus a lot more.
     
    Certifications: A+, N+, MCDST, Security+, 70-270
    WIP: 70-620 or 70-680?

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