First week at Help Desk done!

I started my new position on Monday. I have to say I am quite pleased with everything. I have read some stories on here about how people hate their help desk jobs. Mine is not quite your average help desk. I have been introduced to their Cisco equipment, VOIP system, administrating exchange 2013, and all of the basic help desk stuff with their ticket system. After I am out of training I will be the only help desk guy in a new location. I have my own office and will be the main support for the location. I will be responsible for much more than the normal help desk will in my opinion. I was told on Friday by my boss that this isn't your normal help desk, I will learn way more than a standard call center/help desk person would learn. I'm excited for it, but at the same time feel that I may end up being under payed for what I will be responsible for. I feel as if I will almost be more of a junior network admin rather than a help desk. Is there much difference between the two? I just didn't expect quite as much responsibility with an entry level job? I embrace the responsibility but I want to make sure I'm not being under-payed in the future.

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Comments

cyberguypr

This is the kind of deal I had when I was doing help desk. In the early years it was always a quasi-jr. admin role so things were always interesting. Yes, you may be underpaid for a while, but you'll most likely gain experience that will be very hard to come through in a bigger environment, where the role would be more desktop/phone centric. Also, once you've been there for a while, have completed some projects, have some measurable achievements, and revision time comes, you can easily justify asking for more money.

Overall it sounds like a great opportunity.

jws86

Absolutely, I think it is a great opportunity. I wasn't necessarily trying to complain. I wanted this type of role. I am so glad that I don't have to sit in a cubicle all day and answer phone calls. This company is all about employee satisfaction and growth. They are expanding rapidly and I hope that there are larger rolls for me to obtain later on.

cyberguypr wrote: »

This is the kind of deal I had when I was doing help desk. In the early years it was always a quasi-jr. admin role so things were always interesting. Yes, you may be underpaid for a while, but you'll most likely gain experience that will be very hard to come through in a bigger environment, where the role would be more desktop/phone centric. Also, once you've been there for a while, have completed some projects, have some measurable achievements, and revision time comes, you can easily justify asking for more money.

Overall it sounds like a great opportunity.

devils_haircut

Sounds like a good opportunity to learn. I'm in a similar situation. I'm basically the help desk for a school district, but I have the keys to the kingdom, so to speak. vSphere, switches, routers, Novell eDirectory (yes, Novell), phone system, you name it, I have admin access to it. Since this is my first real, permanent IT job, I've learned to be really careful about any changes I make to the system, and I try not to do anything too drastic to any critical servers. I accidently took down the DNS server one day by mis-clicking in YaST, but a quick reboot fixed that. I learned not to do that again.

Soak it all up, and get certified on anything you can.

Danielm7

Yep, that sounds great. Maybe after 6 months or so you can ask them to adjust your title, that could go a long way towards the next steps in your career.

jws86

Yeah I have admin rights to everything as well. I can't wait to dig deeper into everything and actually learn how to perform the backups along with administration of exchange and all that. I just had an overview of each this week just to get me familiar.

devils_haircut wrote: »

Sounds like a good opportunity to learn. I'm in a similar situation. I'm basically the help desk for a school district, but I have the keys to the kingdom, so to speak. vSphere, switches, routers, Novell eDirectory (yes, Novell), phone system, you name it, I have admin access to it. Since this is my first real, permanent IT job, I've learned to be really careful about any changes I make to the system, and I try not to do anything too drastic to any critical servers. I accidently took down the DNS server one day by mis-clicking in YaST, but a quick reboot fixed that. I learned not to do that again.

Soak it all up, and get certified on anything you can.

Jon_Cisco

I think what a lot of people hate are the call centers. Taking one call after another until your shift is over.

I am volunteering in a similar environment to yours right now and it does allow for great learning experience. Once you have gained the experience you can start to make choices about income.

Good Luck!