how to break into different positions within IT

I do desktop support with a few other random responsibilities now. I'm very happy where I am for right now. But eventually I would like to get into something else. I haven't completely decided exactly what else I want to do yet. I'm just wondering if anyone else went from desktop into a higher field within IT and how they did it.

Seems like everyone wants specific experience that you just can't get at the level i'm at right now. Although, I said that about desktop before I got into that too. All comments appreciated

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Comments

famosbrown

It all depends on what company you are working for and what the career progression opportunities are. If you are on Help Desk and there aren't any opportunites to move up to the LAN side of things, then it would be difficult to take what you have learned on Help Desk and apply it at the next level. If you are with a company that has an In-House LAN team (non-contracted out), then you may have a shot to get promoted within so you can get the experience to move on to another job later on. You could also see if your company offers different levels of Help Desk...Tier 3 usually offers a lot of networking/LAN experience for many companies. You have the degree, so you could choose different routes. YOu could go into programming for a company and move up that way, or you can start attaining some network admin/engineering certs to move up. It all depends on what you are trying to do.

Famos

Smallguy

I did helpdesk and left because I hated the company(call center) there there was no more oppurtunityto move up so I went back to school.

depending on what ype of helpdesk your working for see if you can take on more responsibility....get some paper backing that you cna do the added responsibility and when a position pops up yuo already have proven expereince and paper backing you.

but unless it is a situation where u can get more responsibility it may be difficult in either case get more certs they will never hurt

Young Fred

hay johnny is that a picture of boy meets world teacher lol

johnnyg5646

hay johnny is that a picture of boy meets world teacher lol

yes it is actually!!

I actually do not work on a help desk. The way our company works, if anyone has an issue they call the help desk. Those people have X amount of time to troubleshoot the issue. If they can not resolve it they create a ticket and send it over to me adn I go out and fix it. I'm kind of a level higher than help desk, yet still do desktop support. Not really a lot of opportunity for advancement. I think I might get my experience for a couple years and keep working on additional certs. Maybe Cisco down the line or even Active Directory or something. Thanks for the comments!!

Smallguy

I think I might get my experience for a couple years and keep working on additional certs. Maybe Cisco down the line or even Active Directory or something. Thanks for the comments!!

what u decide will largely depend on the size of organization you want to work in.

fro example the company I work for is only about 50 users.. while knowing cisco (not a CNA though) I'm sure helped me get a job we will probably never buy any cisco gear due to our budget.

also if you work for a large company you mgiht be able to only do cisco stuff or only AD work. insteadof with smaller companies where u need to be able ot do it all.

although it may not be completly wih in yuor control it is sometihng you should consider.

Personally I think you would be beter off gonig with an MCSA andthen worknig to a MCSE becasue it gives u more options off the bat. Then look into Cisco.

but it depends on your area where am we have a lot of small to medium size business but not alot of big business

RavenSpawn

Well Johnny, that sounds like the same type of environment as my last job. It was a desktop technician job, which would be classified as tier 2 support. We have 3 techs supporting a call centre of 300+ users. The users would do the same, call help desk if they had a problem and if it was unresolved by help desk, they would assign the ticket to us to resolve. The site we supported was only 1 of the many sites this parent company has and their large IT dept is in Miami were they centrally manage all the sites. Because of this, it meant we couldn't be 'hands on' as if we administrered everything ourselves. While this made advancement almost non-existent, you could still progress within the same position, i.e. desktop tech II then III.

Since you enjoy it, as I did as well, and if they do pay for training or getting certs, take advantage of that. You never know if they'll create a new position in the future or maybe someone higher will end up leaving. If you get along with your boss, you can always approach him to see where the company is heading and what's in the future in terms of positions or new responsibilities.

Dilan77

johnnyg5646 wrote:

I do desktop support with a few other random responsibilities now. I'm very happy where I am for right now. But eventually I would like to get into something else. I haven't completely decided exactly what else I want to do yet. I'm just wondering if anyone else went from desktop into a higher field within IT and how they did it.

Seems like everyone wants specific experience that you just can't get at the level i'm at right now. Although, I said that about desktop before I got into that too. All comments appreciated

Hi mate

I started off doing Helpdesk work, then onto Desktop Support and from there moved to network infrastructure (Cisco) and server work.

It depends on the organisation you work for - if most of your higher layer IT functions, such as server management, are contracted out to 3rd parties, then you don't have much room for manouvre. If you have an in-house 3rd line technical team, then get to know them and try and do the odd job for them....stuff like building a new Windows 2003 server maybe old hat and uninspiring for them, but if you've never done it before it'll give you loads of experience and will help you move onto that level.

From my experience, the network/server guys are always willing to help out newbies that have a passion for learning, cos that's how most of them started off too.