Desktop support

steve-o87

I just been offered an interview for a job for Desktop support paying about £13k at a firm in Manchester. It pays much better than my current job but it's not really what I want.

The company has great prospects for growth and I get a salary review every 6 months and all that. They seemed really interested that I had a CCNA and on my NP
So that could be great for my networking future, but the job entails helping people with outlook and other such *cough* support.

I guess I'm going to have to swallow my pride and work up from the bottom again. If anybody has a position like this could you give me a few pointers (My current job is more like remotely logging in to a customer site and checking all is right)

Fool: My computer screen is blank
Me: Have you tried switching it on

blargoe

If it's better than your current job and it pays more, why is it even a question

Smallguy

if it pays more ride it out for a bit see if the company really does what it says then re-evaluate.

you seem to have some certs but if i had ot guess your lacking the hands on to go to the next level(I'm assuming if you had alot of hands on you could do better than help desk).

steve-o87

Smallguy wrote:

if it pays more ride it out for a bit see if the company really does what it says then re-evaluate.

you seem to have some certs but if i had ot guess your lacking the hands on to go to the next level(I'm assuming if you had alot of hands on you could do better than help desk).

Your right, Not as much hands-on as I would like. I was under the impression that when I got CCNA it was an automatic ticket into the Networking world...I Was Wrong

The company's I'm at now is working with routers on a very restricted level, were only small. This other company is a massive corporation with a few more benefits but I have done help desk before, I don't really want to work from the bottom again. But if I bite the bullet, in a years time I could be singing a different tune, since they have more chance of promoting you.

tibul

probably because alot of people have ccna now, i'd aim for at least ccnp as i doubt there is half as many with the ccnp.

but yeah i'd go with the company that has the most chance for you to get a promotion into an area that you actually want.

ProjectFocus

I am a desktop support engineer again in the UK. I am down in the Brighton area. The job is not all as bad as people make out with stupid questions. It is not like that atall. This is only the opinion of people that have obviously never done the job.

It is all about supporting users yes and giving a good service. So yes it is a service orientated position and you will need to work face to face with your customers. Some questions are yes like how do I do this thing in a mail merge. Others could be reseting of passwords that people have forgotten. Maybe setting up user acounts and deploying patches accross the network. Giving user induction to new starters. Rebuilding PC's. Performing disaster recovery tests. Restoring lost files from backups. Changing phone system perameters.

I am sure how big the scope of your role will be but it will always branch onto more responcibility.

I have been doing the role for just over a year and I am doing less user side stuff as the more you help people the less help they need. Provide a good service and train people in areas instead of always doing it for them and you will have more time to learn other things.

I am not sure if that is the going rate for Manchester though as I work down south.

Smallguy

tibul wrote:

probably because alot of people have ccna now, i'd aim for at least ccnp as i doubt there is half as many with the ccnp.

CNNP is still not gonig to open as many doors if you don't have hands on exp no one wants someone to run theri infrastructure who only know what the books said

Certs are valuable but you need experience

think of it this way if you were hiring what would you do....would you hire a guy as the president of your company who just graduate with an MBA... and went right into his mba program after his undergrad....99% of the time no way same goes for certs.

tibul

but then thats another problem alot of the reasons why people get certificated is so they can show they at least have some knowledge of the product they want to work with especially as they may not have any experience in the area,maybe they work as desktop support and now want to do network admin of a cisco network etc, they would need some knowledge to even try to land a job as one, if all they say is "oh id like a job in that area" unless they get lucky and somebody offers to train them up certification could be the only way to open doors.

and as the people who have got cisco certified know, its hard to pass a cisco exam by just studying from a book you need to build your own lab etc to get the hands on experiance, especially with the harder cisco exams.

Its like saying because you went to school and have no work experience you will never get a job

Jammywanks

I can see your point. The job pays more, but its still the same. Studying for a CCNA to work desktop support is totally missing the point... something like an A+/Net+ would be better. But who the hell wants to work desktop support forever? I've done it, and at the moment I'm doing low end IT equipment moving, but hey, this job pays me more than I've worked helpdesk that had more responsibilities. Kinda odd. But I am really slowly, but consistantly hitting the CCNA book and my lab. Sometimes I bring my book to work.

I would still be on the lookout for a job where you can actually use your CCNA skills. A job is a job either way, but I am dying in my current job and I gotta get my CCNA or I'm stuck in this dead end.

steve-o87

** UPDATE **

Well I went for the interview and they were very impressed, apparently.
It sounded so much better in person than on paper -- It's not just desktop support that I would be doing but they also have a bit of Cisco kit and only one IT guy in the whole building who admitted that he doesn't know how to use it, Since he's an M$ guy.

So it's working with the Cisco stuff and they will send me for some other training, M$ stuff I presume. I have to say though it was a very friendly environment and they were very easy to get along with, they are quite "human" compared to other interviewers I've had so I think I will be happy doing this job.

Cheers,
Steve

BF2Mad

Hope you get the job, let us know

Jammywanks

That is quite the job I have in mind someday. Although I want to stay far, far away from desktop support at that level.

I can see what you mean by how it looked way different on paper. Luckily it seems people have a fun personality at your job. That is always a plus, and not always a given. For my current job at the moment, my recruiter was up my ass about being on time on the dot and things of that nature, and you know the directions to the corporate office compared to real world driving were a bit different from my perspective, so I was late by about 10-15 minutes. Turned out I waited an additional 10 minutes in the waiting room. Interview went smoothly and they never even brought up why I was late. Also by the time I was in the job, the guy told me I asked many questions and was rather impressed on how I handled the interview...

I just hope I can keep it up and get the next job I want

ally_uk

I did have done desktop support for 2 years and more recently have aqquired a different technicain role

The prospect of doing desktop support feels me with dread

I am going to undertake the CCNA to fufill a more network orientated role

don't worry about your wage

when I first started at the age of 18 i'm now 21 i was on 8k a year as a support role

But i am working my way up now on 16k

This time next year I will have 3 years experience in the IT field will also be CCNA and Network+ qualified and will demand no less than 25k

steve-o87

*UPDATE*(another one)

Well I got the job
I take my words back, it's not as bad a job as I thought.
But thanks for the input guys

muriloninja

ally_uk wrote:

I did have done desktop support for 2 years and more recently have aqquired a different technicain role

The prospect of doing desktop support feels me with dread

I am going to undertake the CCNA to fufill a more network orientated role

don't worry about your wage

when I first started at the age of 18 i'm now 21 i was on 8k a year as a support role

But i am working my way up now on 16k

This time next year I will have 3 years experience in the IT field will also be CCNA and Network+ qualified and will demand no less than 25k

At that wage, i am glad i don't live in the UK. You should expect at the least $40,000 USD

3+ yrs exp and a CCNA. Do you have a degree on top of that?

What is the value of USD vs UK?

sprkymrk

What is the value of USD vs UK?

British Pound to US$ = 1.97879

16k British = $31,660

Olajuwon

sprkymrk wrote:

What is the value of USD vs UK?

British Pound to US$ = 1.97879

16k British = $31,660

He may be referring to euro above.

steve-o87

muriloninja wrote:

ally_uk wrote:

I did have done desktop support for 2 years and more recently have aqquired a different technicain role

The prospect of doing desktop support feels me with dread

I am going to undertake the CCNA to fufill a more network orientated role

don't worry about your wage

when I first started at the age of 18 i'm now 21 i was on 8k a year as a support role

But i am working my way up now on 16k

This time next year I will have 3 years experience in the IT field will also be CCNA and Network+ qualified and will demand no less than 25k

At that wage, i am glad i don't live in the UK. You should expect at the least $40,000 USD

3+ yrs exp and a CCNA. Do you have a degree on top of that?

What is the value of USD vs UK?

Actually £16K is good money in the UK considering that Ally doesn't have any sort of professional cert(Yet ).
He has experience but the employers like to see the certs too - for a nice salary boost.
Take into consideration that with 2 years exp. and a professional level cert you can get £30k + easy in my neck of the woods. It's all relative

muriloninja

Oh, ok!

$30,000 sounds ok for what you have (no degree and no certs) IMO.