Purposefully applying for an internal IT Infrastructure role without enough work exp?

Discussion in 'Employment & Jobs' started by Alex_xelA, Nov 30, 2013.

  1. Alex_xelA

    Alex_xelA New Member

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    The title sums my question up nicely (I think)

    I ramble on for quite a bit so get comfy! :biggrin

    I started this IT Service Desk Operator position in a Main general NHS hospital and it's my first IT role so far and I've had no qualifications/education beyond finishing secondary school 8 years ago, been working in Techincal Support for the past 3 years for Mobile Phones previously and just before I left that position me and a work colleague reviewed every single process (about 70) for the Inboud Techincal Support department and presented them all in a easy to understand format using Microsoft Visio and had the flow charts stored electronically for the vieweing of 200 agents and I was liasing with the Client Operations Manager, so I feel that my understanding of why a process is followed in a speicifc way and how to make that process more efficient is fairly advanced considering my age (I'm 24)

    I'm currently on contract at the hospital as I get the impression they like to see if the new starters can hack it before they think about offering them a salary and I've certainly been tested by the characters and work loads, I've already had one instance of being a one man band on 1st line support for the entire hospital roughly 2,000 computers and countless software applications (somewhere near to 30 bespoke applications used within different departments) and despite my head nearly exploding I managed to make it through that day and even got a "well done" from my manager at the end of it as that was possibly the hardest day at work in my life so far

    I've been in my role for 4 weeks now and I've heard through the grape vine that there will be an infrastructure vacancy coming up in about a months time
    which is about the same time a permenant "IT Service Desk" position will come up (in the new year)

    So far after having worked there for 1 month I would love to eventually progress onto the infrastructure team after doing some self study, finishing my A+ I'm currently sudying for then getting the Comptia N+ following that, at that point I'd be confident that I should have the knowledge to stand a decent chance of getting a position in the infrastructure team (the infrastructure team is made up of about 7 members of staff, 3 of those positions being the entry level positions)

    From several staff across the several different departments I've been told the more standard route for progression is going from "IT Service Desk" to Desktop Support Techinican" to "IT Infrastructure", is it reasonable to try to go straight from IT Service Desk to IT Infrastructre, skipping out the IT Desktop Support Techincian role and If you're thinking I'm wanting to go straight to infrastructure purely because it would pay more then I can tell you now the differences in salary from a Desktop Support Techinican to an entry level IT Infrastructure role is about 1k which certainly isn't enough to base my decision on

    Simply put I'm really intrigued to learn more about the infrastructure of a network and as I'm working next door to the IT Infrastructure team I'm getting a good feel for if it interests me, the next step would be seeing if I can wrap my head around what I'd need to know to work in that department

    Sorry if I rambled on a bit then but I thought I'd give you a full overview of my current situation

    If I apply for this Infrastructure position earlier than I should do (too early due to my lack of work experience and knowledge) what kind of negative and/or positive impact would this have?? in terms of how it's viewed by the powers that be, would the negatives be far outweighing the postives?

    I was thinking that applying for this role earlier than I should it demonstrates my drive to progress in the IT Department but... on the flipside management may look at my application and think that I'm simply not willing to put in the hours to progress if I'm applying for the internal vacancy so early on

    This post is border line on being a cover letter for a job opening :D seeing as this is my decision on what job I spend the rest of my days doing I didn't want to be short on details when seeking advice

    Thanks in advance for any advice!
    and well done on reading through my riveting story, loads of sarcasm intended :)
     
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2013
    Certifications: None at present
    WIP: Comptia A+
  2. Arroryn

    Arroryn we're all dooooooomed Moderator

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    Hey there.

    I think you may be getting a bit ahead of yourself. Understanding of processes aside, you've only been in the role for 4 weeks and you're not a permanent member of staff. You've given us what you can do and what your role entails, but you haven't told us what the infrastructure role includes or needs. The fact that you're still planning to take the A+ says to me that you're not confident on servers, or infrastructure-level work.

    In my opinion, go for the permanent service desk role, not the infrastructure role.

    1) Don't run before you can walk. Sure, you've got your foot in the door and it's going well, but right now you've got the new job buzz and it's giving you adrenalin and a general feeling of wellbeing around being in IT. This doesn't mean you can hop skip and jump straight to your dream job.

    2) Staff interpretation. If I were at the NHS and I'd done my time on the SD and was eyeing up that infrastructure role, I'm not entirely sure how I'd feel about the new guy 4 weeks in to the industry applying for such a senior role. I think it would raise eyebrows. I think that management might see you as potentially not "in it" for the long term on the service desk and it could put your contract and your potential for a full time role on the SD in jeopardy.

    I'll say this again - you've been there 4 weeks. Just start getting the experience you need and go for the service desk role.

    But on the flip side, its great that you're so stoked about your role and working in IT - hit those certs with a hammer and put your head down, there's no reason why you can't sprint to the Infrastructure role :)
     
    Certifications: A+, N+, MCDST, 70-410, 70-411
    WIP: Modern Languages BA
  3. Alex_xelA

    Alex_xelA New Member

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    thanks for the reply and the advice, I think I'll stick to the service desk role for now, until i get 1 or 2 certs done atleast :)
     
    Certifications: None at present
    WIP: Comptia A+

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