Think I got a job today Desktop support level 1

It says desktop support, but they explained that it's still a phone job. Maybe the "level 1" refers to tier 1 helpdesk? ugh...anyway, I accepted it since I don't have anything better at the moment. It's for Masco corporation, and I was impressed by what I saw and heard today.

The helpdesk side has three divisions handling desktop support(me), applications(oracle, etc), and networking. They use VNC and various software applications for remoting into client machines and doing all the work themselves(rather than sending someone out). So I won't just be resetting passwords all day.

Sounds nice, though I actually don't have much experience with helpdesk. All the work I've done up until now was basic desktop support(hands on), with a little phone interaction with customers. The interview went really well and I would be surprised if they didn't hire me. I got by without talking too much about my actual helpdesk experience. I had knowledge in everything they were mostly looking for so they were satisfied overall.

Assuming I get called in in a few days...any tips for starting helpdesk? I don't mind answering phones and conversing with people. The women I interviewed with claimed that it wasn't a difficult job and it was rare to answer more than fifty calls a day.

KG

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Pash

Good luck to you man, I hope you hear some good news soon!

Huge Tip: The user is your number one priority all the time, if their productivity is cut then from a business perspective people will get mad. Problems that effect several users need to be fixed ahead from single user problems....unless of course that user is a manager or some bigwig, in which case you will be made to drop what you are doing and investigate why he cant get ebay to open in his browser properly. haha helpdesk support fun! Anyway im sure you will love it, the users 98% of the time are great

paintb4707

KGhaleon wrote:

Assuming I get called in in a few days...any tips for starting helpdesk? I don't mind answering phones and conversing with people. The women I interviewed with claimed that it wasn't a difficult job and it was rare to answer more than fifty calls a day.

KG

50 calls?!

On my help desk, its rare on a BUSY day to get over 35 calls within an 8 hour shift. And when I say busy, theres 10-15 people answering calls and 5 calls waiting in the queue throughout the entire day, so you're picking up one call immediately after the other.

I hope you can multi-task because that sounds like one busy help desk

KGhaleon

Really? I went to Lockheed a year or two back for a helpdesk position(which I wasn't able to get into) and they took 100-150 calls a day. <_< It was helpdesk on steriods.

She said 50 calls on "busy" days. I assume it won't be that bad.

KG

sprkymrk

Well 8 hours x 60 minutes = 480 minutes.
480/50=9.6 minutes per call if you were on the phone all day non-stop. Assuming most calls last under 5 minutes (password resets, connect to a printer, change my desktop resolution, taskbar disappeared, etc.) you may only be on the phone half the day. Still a busy day in my book, but do-able. Especially if she indicated that would rarely happen.

Good luck!

paintb4707

sprkymrk wrote:

Well 8 hours x 60 minutes = 480 minutes.
480/50=9.6 minutes per call if you were on the phone all day non-stop. Assuming most calls last under 5 minutes (password resets, connect to a printer, change my desktop resolution, taskbar disappeared, etc.) you may only be on the phone half the day. Still a busy day in my book, but do-able. Especially if she indicated that would rarely happen.

Good luck!

It's not always that fast though. Especially when you're remoting into NT workstations all the way in Canada and the speed of performing a simple task takes 10 minutes longer than it really should.

But it depends on the client really, it might not always be simple tasks such as mapping a printer or unlocking an account. You could spend 15-20 minutes or more on a call.

And personally, I hate escalating tickets because we only have a single person in the escalations group so I know that it may be days before the user even receives a call back. But then again, thats my own company's fault so it most likely won't be the same.

KGhaleon

They also use Oracle, and told me I would probably need to learn how to use it. I sat down earlier and went to work researching it and still don't completely understand what it's used for. If I'm correct, it's installed on UNIX and remote computers can access database files stored by it?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9Fn6s_bXpsM

This was a video I found on the subject, which isn't bad, but the guy just seems to be reading out loud.

blargoe

Like SQL Server is a database server for Windows, Oracle is a database server for Unix, that happens to have a version for Windows as well.

Good luck

KGhaleon

I ended up not getting it, because the company apparently changed their mind about filling the position. Not sure if my lack of Oracle knowledge might have made them reconsider, since it was one of the better interviews I've had. $:\$

I did get a contract job installing 240+ new workstations at a school today...but that wasn't too interesting. Ah well, I will continue searching.

I had a friend suggest I come with him to California in a couple weeks, since the work pays a lot more over there. Pay here in florida doesn't seem very fair. Hopefully this decision won't break me financially since I'm already quite broke.

snadam

KGhaleon wrote:

I ended up not getting it, because the company apparently changed their mind about filling the position. Not sure if my lack of Oracle knowledge might have made them reconsider, since it was one of the better interviews I've had. $:\$

I did get a contract job installing 240+ new workstations at a school today...but that wasn't too interesting. Ah well, I will continue searching.

I had a friend suggest I come with him to California in a couple weeks, since the work pays a lot more over there. Pay here in florida doesn't seem very fair. Hopefully this decision won't break me financially since I'm already quite broke.

KG

growing up there, and doing some work in CA the pay might be better, but cost of living is MUCH higher than most places. If your going out there for a little while then coming back, thats probably a good idea.

sucks you didnt get the job, but good luck either way!

sprkymrk

Sorry you didn't get this one.

If you want to make decent money in a place where the cost of living is not nearly as bad as California, try looking in Atlanta, GA. Or maybe Huntsville, AL. You'll be closer to home too.