Possible move to Help Desk Supervisor

BerkshireHerd

Hi guys and gals, Right now I'm a Level 2 tech. During my mid year review last week, my boss mentioned that a change might be coming at our Service Desk Supervisor and he thought of me moving into the role. Well the change happened very quickly like yesterday and I have a sit down with my boss to discuss the opening on Thursday.

My ultimate goal is IT management, my boss is VP of IT & Infrastructure Operations at a 7 billion dollar bank, he thinks is a good move and natural progression for where I want to go. I'm just scared that it could be a dead end , just like long term help desk level 1 jobs, albeit I will be a supervisor of 5 service desk techs and would help with Level 2 day to day operations.

I always thought I would get more technical experience to get a management job, just got CCENT and currently studying CCNA.

Your thought?

lsud00d

That's a tough one. It is a potential right step in the management direction, but it would probably cut into your technical route and could very well be a trap. I'm sure there's other people here who have managed HD's who can comment, but I would personally avoid this like the plague. Nearly every HD Manager I've come across ends up burning out because they are essentially baby sitters and take the brunt of user complaints.

Nersesian

lsud00d is right on this one, but I can offer a different perspective. If your goal is to move into management, you need to understand what that means and what it entails, as its difficult to move back into a tech role within the same firm if you decide this isn't what you want. IT management has a different set of requirements on the personal "one on one" side of the house. Initially, when I was in a similar spot in my career, I thought it would be great to not have to deal with end users. This is not the case. You're going to be dealing with more end users, only this time they are not calling you, don't necessarily want your help and are generally not interested in what you have to say. You're going to be called every name you can imagine and even some you've never heard of. You will serve as the "catch all" for everyone's issues, regardless of if its your fault and you're not always going to have a solution that pleases anyone, let alone everyone. Your tech skills will inherently slide (if you're doing it correctly), you will have sleepless nights about delegation and why Simple Bob just can't run the reports like you ask, when you ask for them.

If this is truly your goal, then you need to accept the promotion. Just know your list of responsibilities is not going to get smaller and everyone from the CEO's office to janitorial will be on your jock for something they need done.

Protip - Prioritize your schedule above all else. If you take lunch at 1pm, take it every day like clockwork. Do not cater to those who do not value your schedule and put hard limits on what you are or are not willing to do, within reason of course. Otherwise, Jan in accounting is going to run you over.

Edited to add - If you do this long enough, your day will feel somewhat incomplete if you don't get compared to the spawn of Hitler (direct quote from a phone conversation a week ago) from some a-hole in marketing. I'm not sure thriving on conflict is a good thing or not.