Desktop support vs Service Desk

mintu

Hi All!

I graduated last year and now looking for jobs in IT. Would like start with either desktop support or service desk.
But I would like to know the pro and cons of these two before I start applying.

Below I have listed some, but please feel free to add more.

Desktop Support +
*Possible to advance to sysadmin or network enginner
*You are not stuck at your desk
*High chance to work hands on with servers and network equipment

Desktop Support -
*Always be happy and nice to users, even when you feel like crap
*Crawl under desks (read about this in another thread here)
*Users who is interrupting your work

Service Desk +
*You can advance to Teamleader, secondline or thirdline support
*Do not have to interact with users besides the calls

Service Desk -
*Stuck at the desk
*Many calls make you mentally exhausted

Anything else to add?

tahjzhuan

Our LAN admins travel. Sometimes it's fun, sometimes not. They are also part of a 24/7 on call rotation.

NetworkNewb

At most companies Desktop Support and Service Desk mean the exact same position. Don't get hung up on titles and think they mean what you think they do.

Unless you are working a very large corporation, then there will be a separate desktop support that handles specifically hardware. Otherwise you can bunch those plus and minus categories together.

There really isn't much of point to make a pros and cons list anyway Help Desk is pretty much something almost everyone has to do get their feet wet in IT. The trick is just to work hard improving and not staying there very long.

Lexluethar

Depends on the company and industry. The title varies depending on the person in charge of the department.

One company may have a service desk that does everything while another may have a desktop support group that does a limited amount of things.

My company has a service desk, they do EVERYTHING under the sun from replacing desktops, reimaging PCs to troubleshooting software over the phone. My previous company at support analysts that only did help desk type work.

Some notes looking at your post:
Desktop Support +
*Possible to advance to sysadmin or network enginner - Not always this depending on the field and individual
*You are not stuck at your desk- You'd be surprised, if you are worth your weight in salt the less you are away form the 'desk' the more valuable you probably are to your company because you can troubleshoot more remotely
*High chance to work hands on with servers and network equipment -Agreed

Desktop Support -
*Always be happy and nice to users, even when you feel like crap- This is in an IT job. A lot of people have this idea that once you get out of first level support you don't deal with people. In fact that's the opposite, you deal with not only the normal end users on escalated issues but now you have to deal with vendors
*Crawl under desks (read about this in another thread here- Meh, true but when you move up you'll be running cables, racking servers, still getting dirty
*Users who is interrupting your work - This is way worse once you move up, now you have end users and projects

Service Desk +
*You can advance to Teamleader, secondline or thirdline support-Depends
*Do not have to interact with users besides the calls - Depends on the company

Service Desk -
*Stuck at the desk -Depends
*Many calls make you mentally exhausted - Yes, agreed

Mooseboost

It depends on where you work and how they run things. I've heard from people who have it pretty rough because their company is so strict on them. Where I am at it is in the middle, so bit more of a regulated relax. Some companies mesh the roles together, while others separate it more. Where I am we are sort of the do-all guys. Either or will suit you fine. You have to get your feet wet before you can swim.

mintu

NetworkNewb wrote: »

At most companies Desktop Support and Service Desk mean the exact same position. Don't get hung up on titles and think they mean what you think they do.

Unless you are working a very large corporation, then there will be a separate desktop support that handles specifically hardware. Otherwise you can bunch those plus and minus categories together.

There really isn't much of point to make a pros and cons list anyway Help Desk is pretty much something almost everyone has to do get their feet wet in IT. The trick is just to work hard improving and not staying there very long.

Hi,

I am located in Europe and this is not correct. All ads I have seen is for either Desktop support or Service Desk, it's not the same job duties from what I have been told by the ads.

Also can anyone tell me if NOC is a better position to aim for compared to Dekstop support / Service desk

BerkshireHerd

At my job, Service Desk is the same as help desk or Level 1, they answer the calls and the emails needing password resets and such, anything they can not handle the send over to Level 2 or Desktop Support. level 2 does everything that does not require logging into critical servers. They are considered field techs as they will travel to all 100 locations if a need arise. It is not uncommon to only spend about an hour a day at your actual desk as your are always on the go.

I spent a year on Level 2 before moving to Security.

The Silent Assassin

Overall it depends on how the company is structured. Some companies will have their service desk do some light desktop work like software installs, printer mapping, patching... anything that can be done remotely. Other companies have their service desk do log and pass with no access to anything. I am lucky enough to be in the type of situation where I have admin access on any machine that I RDP to so that allows me to do things a standard L1 desk night not be able to do.

The primary role of the service desk is to be the first point of contact for all IT related issues but just because you are the main POC that doesn't mean you should expect pc hardware and software issues. At the service desk you should expect to be asked about anything and everything from processes related to hardware removals all the way to HR related things like direct deposit setup. Why? Because the service desk/help desk number is published the most and sometimes you might be the only one to answer a question.

So while it can suck on that level at times, cause no technician wants their day dominated by inbound calls, you can gain a lot of exposure to areas and develop or improve soft skills like communication, documentation, memory recall, and strengthening troubleshooting.