Desktop support

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How do other people find there jobs in this line of work.

After being on servicedesk and working in a few call centres i moved into desktop support. I have been in my current role for 18mths and find it to be very quiet 90% of the time, which actually gets annoying sfter a while. I know alot of people think a job where you do no work and get paid is like a dream but i must say it is not.

Is this the same in other desktop suport roles?

 

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My job is quite similar, some days it gets really busy but normally i will probably only help 2 people a day.

It is mainly administration work, emails etc.

 

My job could very loosely be described as desktop support (being part of a small team in a small company makes it slightly more wide ranging). It does tend to be periods of quiet followed by frenzied activity, the quiet times I tend to try and fill with:

• Document updates
• user training
• investigating new and useful technologies
• studying
• more studying

 

When there's no work to be done, it's time to be proactive... either with your current infrastructure or with yourself. Take this time to do inventory, to do documentation, and to implement processes to make your job easier both now AND in the future. If all that's been done - and I have yet to see a company where it was ALL done - then you can spend some time learning new things, whether through book learning or by actual hands-on learning. I'd highly recommend the latter if you can swing it at your workplace. Ever wanted to learn how to administer servers? NOW is the time. Talk to your supervisor, team leader, or IT manager.

There's yet another benefit to being proactive... management is likely to notice your hard efforts. ;)

 

You have a job you complain and you do not have a job you complain even more. Well guess that's human nature:

Well on a serious note I'd take all what's be said on board.

 

With the company i work for, we dont get the chance to have a look at the server side of it.

We have loads of offices throughout the uk but in each office there is one desktop support technician and that is it from IT. All our stuff is ran from London and Milton Keynes and because of this have little chance of progressing.

I have started a new patch schedule as the existing one is all wrong and this means tracing it from our frame all the way to the persons desk so we know what number is where(very time consuming). Most documentation is provided by other teams.

I am going to start bringing in my books and try and do studying during the day aswell.

Thanks for the replies

 

Then it's time to start looking for a similar position, but one where you DO have the chance to look at the server side of it.

 

I've been in a desktop/server support role for just under 3 years now - I wanted to move on long ago, but the recession was against me, but I have done so now though.

The desktop support role is vary - sometimes busy and other times deathly quiet. Whilst Mike has a valid point about being proactive there can be some times that you simply can't be. I can't get hands on with other stuff, because there is a finite amount that can be done. Anything that can be made more efficient has been, or if not its only affects a local (ie my team of 4) level, and most, if not all, has been done. Documentation, inventory, even boring sweeping the floor has been done - and this was several months ago. My company isn't intereted in helping you improve, try new things, and if anything actively get in the way of any progress.

My company may be a anomoly but I identified very quickly that it had to be down to me to change and try new things - thankfully I'm leaving now!

Try your best to expand the role, but if not, you may need to get a new role.

 

That is exactly what my job is like, over Christmas they was so much work to do even if i worked 24 hours a day i could not do it. But some times i wont talk to a single person all day.

 

Congrats on the new role, guess you kept that silent? What's it more of a server role etc.

 

LOL - I definitely didn't keep it quiet - I'd be bubbling over with excitement, foaming at the mouth by now if I did!
Its a system admin role, about 85% new stuff, 2nd and 3rd line, blades, SAN, clustering, exchange, sharepoint, sms, some networking - some of the guys that are doing this exact job used to do my role about a year ago and they say that its still a good learning curve a year on so some good times ahead!

 

Brilliant and best of wishes

 

IT sounds so cool you could say that to any stranger and they would be like shocked.

"I work with blades, SAN and clustering, Yes Boi"

 

Wish I could say the same thing, today I did:

- BES 5.0 installation on a Server 2008, to link to Exchange 2003.
- BES 4.1 to BES 5.0 upgrade to link in with Exchange 2010.
- Built and troubleshooting Cisco PIX VPN tunnels.
- Repointed some DNS records
- Websense OU stuff
- Trying to figure out what was using a customers bandwith (turned out to be the MD opening his PST file over a VPN link from Server A to B).
- Mailbox restores and general crap.

 

Sounds like a good day in the office to me

I spent time today trying to work out why some users were sending e-mails but were never reaching the recipient, so my first time using exchange and clearpoint today and I managed to ascertain that it had left our network and was somewhere "lost" between ours and theirs........... but thats for tomorrow!

 

unfortunately some of the recipients are on another system we support..... but I agree with your principle though!