life after finishing helpdesk sentence?

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been working the helpdesk for 6 moths now, another 6 may finish me off (joke), I know ideally I need a year experience so I am willing to do my time. I am considering my options and weighing things up in my mind. Lets say I wanted to stay in IT but possibly step away from the hands on technical side, what sort of roles would I be looking at? Not saying thats what Im going to do but I have to weigh up my options and make plans as tbh I dont want to be doing this forever. Ideally Id like a job where I am not on the front-line constantly, and possibly behind the scenes abit.

Anyway thought Id ask here seeing though you guys basically got me the job to begin with.

 

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Great question mate. Ok, my 2 Pence.
What I love about IT is that there are SO many different paths to take.

Do you like Networks? Look at becoming a Network Enginner.
Do you like messing about with AD & Server? Become a 3rd Line Support (Tech Services).
Do you like Linux / Mac? Become a Linux / Mac specialist.

I think it all depends on the person mate.

 

You need to decide if you like the tech side or rather people manage.

 

Many possibilities. I've been "Behind the scenes" for the last 4 years of my IT career, but i'm still technical - i just done deal with anything front line.

In my honest opinion, i think you'd struggle to move into a non-technical, non-hands on behind the scenes role with only a years worth of helpdesk experience - i assume you mean something along the lines of service desk manager, or network manager with people working as direct reports.

The other, and in my opinion easier alternative (To get in to, not to do) would be to rise up the levels, e.g. lvl 2 helpdesk, then on to level 3 etc. Level 3 support is where the real behind the scenes stuff occurs, but it depends on the company and how they structure their support.

So many different roles can offer that in many, many different area's of IT - it's just deciding on what you'd want to go into

 

Guess if you want to be less hands on then possibly via team leader -> manager routes, however this is not always possible, depends on the company. Moving jobs in general is very good if you can't progress or go where you want to be, after few years of exp you should be able to find out from interviews if a move makes sense.

Bear in mind team leader roles usually need good tech knowledge and deal with all angry user escalations which can be a lot more stressful as you might end up reporting to company's management when things go bad

 

It's not always possible to get away from the helpdesk. Where I work it's a small IT Team (just 4 of us) and all of us play a part in managing it. I still end up looking at tickets and answering the phone even though my role is mainly 3rd line with some 2nd thrown in. As has already been mentioned, 1year of 1st line experience is not a great deal though. You'll need to serve your time a fair bit more than that. Pick up some certs along the way, perhaps try and offer to shadow people doing 2nd / 3rd line work in your spare time at work. There isn't always an opportunity to do that, but it's a way to get experience or noticed for different roles.

 

I have been on the helpdesk for 2 and a half years now, sure I have all that experience and have learned a lot more, but even I don't think that is enough. As for moving on, I like to do everything so I don't know yet, I am applying for 3 new jobs this week, its not that I don't like where I am its just I know I wont grow much here anymore.

I have been lucky mind, I have had 1st, 2nd and 3rd line support experience so for my applications that should look pretty good. I will also need some certs to back me up.

Just my thought

Ed