When I started out in IT, back in 2016 (wow, 10 years ago! Where has time gone??) It was a time where 1st line support was mostly telephone support e.g logging calls, password resets etc. 2nd line support was physically going to a site and resolving an issue whether it was a printer problem, or something not working on Windows XP at the time. Sometimes you'd be able to jump onto active directory and resolve some issues there. 3rd line support was for the more involved stuff e.g creating OU's and groups in active directory, ensuring permissions were correct and cascading down etc.
Fast forward 10 years and this is what I personally see in my area:
1st line support roles don't really exist now, at least in the same way. They want you to have an ITIL cert and log calls as a first responder. They also want you to be aware of Windows 10's features and the way it works. They might even require a little networking too. I've even see some first line roles ask for knowledge of servers.
2nd line support - Most 2nd line roles i've seen are very, very heavily network-orientated. I've seen 2nd line roles asking for MCSE and CCNA's. To me - that always used to be a 3rd line role. I'd only ever met one 2nd line guy in my career who had an MCSE and he said his MCSE was useless for second line.
I have seen a massive surge in SOC roles (I personally spent 2.5 years in a SOC role across two different companies). I guess this is due to security breaches, but being honest, I think SOC's are a comical joke. A SOC is only as good as the rules you have and the people in it - i've seen some extremely obvious strains of malware missed by rookies.
I've been unemployed since August and i'm actually finding it hard to get back into work because of the shift in IT. Because i'm not ITIL certified (I failed by one mark, see my thread
here), employers seem a bit reluctant to try me. I've not got a CCNA (never really been into networking to that kind of level) and i'm only just getting around to Microsoft's server track. I'd never step foot in another SOC again if I could help it - but where does that leave me?
This has turned into more of a rant than anything else. But it's very interesting to me how ITIL has changed the landscape so much so, that most graduates are ending up in SOC jobs as their first gig, rather than working their way up through 1st, 2nd and 3rd line roles. I'm not a big fan of the way the industry is going. Everything seems strange now compared to 10 years ago. I'm not even saying it's ITIL's fault, but ITIL has a lot to do with it. The IT industry is definitely an ever-changing industry but sometimes I sit back and wonder if that's a good thing or not.
