I come with positive news!

Hey guys,

Apologies for not posting for a while. You might remember this thread: http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/123674-having-rough-time-3.html - I think it's fair to say i'd hit an all time low. I'd been unemployed for approx 5 months before I landed a role.

Well, here's the rub. The role I landed was a service desk role. Having never done service desk (i've always done lv 2 or above), it was a huge, huge, huge eye-opener. I'm going to spend a paragraph or 2 whining about service desk, so please skip it if you want the positive news.... [rant] Service desk has to be by far, by a long, long, long shot, one of the worst roles in existence. I speak to Americans on a daily basis and i'm sorry to say this, because I know there are Americans on this forum, but some of the Americans I speak to are the most rude, ignorant, obnoxious people i've ever had the misfortune to come across. I'd say 20% of Americans I speak to are great, and we have a laugh whilst fixing the issue. The other 80% want something fixed yesterday, have a spoiled-brat, entitled attitude and speak to you as if you're less than nothing. Having never worked at such a low level before, I am now not shocked that turnover is so damn high for service desk jobs. I can honestly say (and this is the truth). I'd MUCH rather be unemployed than be on a service desk. It's horrific in every way imaginable.

So, that being said: the positive news. I have managed to land a new role in InfoSec. Can't go into much detail because it's all up in the air at the moment - waiting for leaving date, contract, replacement for my role etc etc So here's hoping i've found a good role whereby I can have a career.

In other news, i've decided to go back to University and do a full MSc (online-based course in my spare time), which means i'll have a BSc, Postgrad cert (3 modules at MSc level) and an MSc and when i'm done, approx 5 years in InfoSec. So that should in theory boost my CV and I shouldn't have to worry about being unemployed ever again.

TL;DR - Moral of the story. If you're down and out and everything isn't going your way. Don't give up. Keep pushing because the only way you'll fail is if you stop trying.

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Comments

Welly_59

Ive worked helpdesk and ive found all nationalities can have a bad attitude, its not just limited to Americans!

si20

Welly_59 wrote: »

Ive worked helpdesk and ive found all nationalities can have a bad attitude, its not just limited to Americans!

I don't doubt it, but I just tend to find they're the worst out of the ones I come across. And it's such a shame as well because it doesn't help their own situation by them being like that!

mzx380

I remember your OP! Happy to hear you bounced back!

brewboy

Sorry but the internet disagrees with you and the internet is always right...

"The travel search site Skyscanner.com surveyed its users about where the locals never smile and people are particularly unfriendly, and the nation with the most votes for rudest locals was...
Wait for it…
France (félicitations, mes amis!), followed by Russia. The survey received over 1,200 responses, 65 percent from the UK and Ireland, plus elsewhere in Europe, North America and Australia.

Rounding out the top five rudest countries were the UK, Germany and “Other” (those Others are the worst, don’t you think?). The US placed 7th, behind China."

Congrats on the new gig BTW

si20

brewboy wrote: »

Sorry but the internet disagrees with you and the internet is always right...

"The travel search site Skyscanner.com surveyed its users about where the locals never smile and people are particularly unfriendly, and the nation with the most votes for rudest locals was...
Wait for it…
France (félicitations, mes amis!), followed by Russia. The survey received over 1,200 responses, 65 percent from the UK and Ireland, plus elsewhere in Europe, North America and Australia.

Rounding out the top five rudest countries were the UK, Germany and “Other” (those Others are the worst, don’t you think?). The US placed 7th, behind China."

Congrats on the new gig BTW

Thanks! I didn't mean to upset any Americans haha I was just trying to paint a picture of how terrible service desk roles are. I really feel for people who are stuck in them forever, it's truly hell on earth.

TheFORCE

You should have taken a trip across the pond amd tried your luck in the US instead of wasting 5 months at the helpdesk. With your certs you would be making 100k easy plus more.

Congrats though well done.

DatabaseHead

I'd rather sell cars or lease apartments......

Ertaz

Congrats on never giving up. https://youtu.be/myyWXKeBsNk?t=13 There's nothing more American than that. I wish you all the best going forward.

Sincerely,
A rude, ignorant, obnoxious American.

UnixGuy

I'm happy that you have good news to share, I remember your journey clearly!

Good luck in your new endeavour! if you don't mind sharing a link to your new MSc course (here or via PM) that would be great.

With regards to dealing with Americans, I'm sorry that you've had a bad expereicne, but if you think Americans are the worst then you simply haven't dealt with enough people from the rest of the world. There are much, MUCH , MUCH worse places...but you're bound to find douchebags in every part of the world anyway

Keep us posted with your progress mate!

PJ_Sneakers

Hey man this is great news! I'm happy for you!

volfkhat

"the most rude, ignorant, obnoxious people..."

Personally, i think OP is 100% correct....

just look at who we elected as our President.

*RIMSHOT*

Kinet1c

Best of luck with Si20, really hope it works out for you as I know you've had a bad run of late.

p@r0tuXus

I'm happy for you! Coming from an American, I can empathize with you. To date, the worst "service" I've gotten over the phone was from India. The worst end users I've spoken with were French-Canadian. Just my experience.

gkca

brewboy wrote: »

where the locals never smile and people are particularly unfriendly, and the nation with the most votes for rudest locals was...
Wait for it…
France (félicitations, mes amis!), followed by Russia.

I'm totally not surprised by that as Russian culture is quite different from the western standards and communication is much more direct, the concept of small talk virtually doesn't exist and you're not supposed to smile at strangers.

Tibs

Congrats on the bounce-back! I read your old thread and it's good to see you worked through it.

I'll chime into the nationality talk too. As an American that has provided global tech support, I can say the "common American" has a pretty high sense of entitlement. Pair that up with if the person is not *willing* to understand, it can certainly lead to stressful interactions. But if the person is willing to understand (or even learn!) it can be pretty easy to get them on your side and diffuse the frustration. That willing to understand concept is in fact global and I have seen both sides of it from every corner of the world. But arguably the American entitlement was consistently high and made those contacts a bit harder to get through.

The worst conversations came from people who think they are smarter than you. Claiming they have a high position in IT and telling you that you're wrong in your solution despite any log evidence, without willing to go through the troubleshooting at all. So many times you just want to reply with "You're the one that contacted us. If you know everything, then why are you asking us for help?" Contacting help desk / tech support and refusing to go through the troubleshooting, that mind you the representative has likely seen many of the same situations multiple times in the past and is leading you down the path of what has worked most commonly... things usually don't get accomplished in those interactions.

Fulcrum45

Well I WAS going to congratulate you till I saw that jab at Americans....kidding

. We Americans aren't all bad- I just think the majority of users are jerks regardless of their nationality. I think it ties back to the "I want it right now" syndrome everyone suffers from. Anyway, congrats on the new gig, this is huge!