Field Service/Tech Engineer

darkfibre

Do any of you have a job like this? What is it like? Pros and cons?

94jedi

that was my first job in the IT industry. I worked for a fairly large real estate company. I drove around to about 20 sales offices and maintained their lans. didn't do too much with the servers or switches/routers at the time.

pro's: set your own schedule, little-to-no supervision, lots of driving, different situations every day.

con's: set your own schedule., little-to-no supervision, lots of driving.

I set the first three as both a pro and con because depending on you they can be either.

malcybood

I worked a field engineer role for about 2 and a half years. Personally I enjoyed the work and the challenge of rolling onto site not knowing what to expect, however the travelling began to get to me a bit and I also felt I couldn't get any more out of the job so I switched jobs in September to a Network Admin.

It depends on size of your company etc but I'd say be prepared to do around 20,000 - 30,000 miles per year and spend half of your working day in the car!

Overall very enjoyable time doing this work, it was just my time to move on

Any specific questions?

JDMurray

I liked the brief time I spent as a field service tech because I met new people almost every day. You need to keep a fresh and helpful customer service attitude in your mind when you are meeting new people with computer and equipment problems that you are suppose to fix. It's also easier (for me) to meet with only a few new people per day and for a longer period of time, as compared to a bank teller-like occupation that meets a hundred new people each day for only a very short period of time.

stlsmoore

You guys all hit the nail on the head, I work in the IT department for a copier company. Most people think that I service copiers when in fact I hardly ever touch em. I spend half of the day with customers and half of the day in my car. What I like about my job is that I'm exposed to many different networks. What I least like is that you don't have admin privileges going in, so I usually always have to talk to an outsourced IT. Either that or figure out a work around to get the job done. I do a wide variety of things from updating firmware on a printer to creating distribution groups in Active Directory. It's not to bad considering it's my first true Networking position.

darkfibre

Thanks for the replies. Did you find that because you were on the road all the time that it affected:

1. Study time
2. Life balance?

intelamdcpu

being field tech is every IT guys' transition. u get some experience, work hard, learn more, then study your cert, one day you become engineer. do it in right attitude.

stlsmoore

darkfibre wrote:

Thanks for the replies. Did you find that because you were on the road all the time that it affected:

1. Study time
2. Life balance?

It didn't effect study time or life balance for me, if anything it gave me more of an opportunity to study since when you're a field tech you usually have very little supervision and set you're own schedules. It does get hectic when a lot of calls come in at once, but I've learned to not stress because you'll get to them when you can. I learned rushing makes you make little mistakes which can cost you serious wasted time when you have to drive all the way back to fix something simple.

darkfibre

Thank you for your accounts guys.

Going back to the 'little or no supervision' scenario, what happens when you're stuck? Is there a contact centre that you have to call back to or is there some other method you use. Sorry, you can tell this is all new to me.

And does the travelling really creep up on you after a while going to client sites? Is it a sort of "live on the road out of a suitcase and hotel" type of role? (Probably suited to those who are single perhaps?)

bikeandski

I have been a field tech for 15 years, although I'm ready to move into an actual IT department now I love being a field tech. The reasons have been stated above, flex schedule, very little supervision, lots of driving, etc. I only have to travel locally as well.

94jedi

darkfibre wrote:

Thank you for your accounts guys.

Going back to the 'little or no supervision' scenario, what happens when you're stuck? Is there a contact centre that you have to call back to or is there some other method you use. Sorry, you can tell this is all new to me.

And does the travelling really creep up on you after a while going to client sites? Is it a sort of "live on the road out of a suitcase and hotel" type of role? (Probably suited to those who are single perhaps?)

yes, there's always someone you can call if you get stuck. When I was a field tech, we always had a few other techs who were the go-to guys. after a while, I became one of the go-to guys. I loved the lack of supervision. I always got my work done but I made sure I could check out of work around 3:30-ish everyday. Oh and we were supposed to start at 9am but I'd leave my house at 9 lol. I did make sure I had my day planned out the day before so I was able to have a cushy schedule. Plus, my offices LOVED me. that always helps. you have to treat each individual "client" as though they are your #1 priority. Make them feel like they're your "special" one and they will love you for it. After you endear yourselves to them, they make your job much less stressful. It's funny, I just told my younger brother the same few things....about women hahaha.

the traveling depends on your area and the region you're in charge of. I had one office that was in a ski resort about 100 miles away from my home. It was fun traveling up there...unless it was a real disaster. I never stayed away from home though. I'd finish a job and drive straight home. all my other offices were within 40 miles of each other. Make sure you have a good reliable car with good gas mileage though.

malcybood

I agree with basically all of the other comments the main ones being

- manage your own time and schedule/little supervision
- Lots of driving but I wouldn't say it was "living out of a suitcase"......maybe 3 or 4 times a year for team meetings or cover work if another engineer is off long term sick
- I had more time to study when I was a field eng than I do now in an office based environment
- The trick to this job is providing excellent customer service and don't bullshit people (white lies are ok ).
- If you can't fix something, explain that you will have to come back to them and give regular updates.....If you don't keep users up to date they will constantly chase you and lose respect
- Try to involve yourself as "one of them" as opposed to being "the guy from IT"
- If you provide great service and win your customers over to embracing you as one of their own, you're 99% there!

This seemed to work pretty well for me, but every environment is different I guess.

JDMurray

malcybood wrote:

- The trick to this job is providing excellent customer service and don't bullshit people (white lies are ok ).

I've sometime made things worse by being too honest or giving too much information. It's best to speak carefully to avoid giving false hope or creating unreasonable expectations. It's just something you learn by experience and by not talking faster than you are thinking.

malcybood

JDMurray wrote:

malcybood wrote:

- The trick to this job is providing excellent customer service and don't bullshit people (white lies are ok ).

I've sometime made things worse by being too honest or giving too much information. It's best to speak carefully to avoid giving false hope or creating unreasonable expectations. It's just something you learn by experience and by not talking faster than you are thinking.

I completely agree that being too honest can have an adverse affect sometimes and you should think carefully about what you say/how you word things, however my point was more along the lines of if you're working with people on a daily basis, trying to strike up relationships and you tell them lies all the time to get yourself out of situations then people will eventually see straight through it, which is not a positive thing.

Being straight up and telling it like it is, in my experience has always been beneficial to me, although I do admit I'm rather selective on what info I disclose at times......depends on the circumstances and situation.

Poison Reverse

Lie gracefully.

I just got a new job beinga field technician i start in a couple weeks i hope i like it

girt81

The field tech job is a great place to start out an IT career in. I spent around 3 years doing it, with a year and a half of that managing 4 other techs. For me it was a great experience in a wide range of systems, and a crash course in customer service. Especially for a smaller sized business you'll get to do a little bit of everything. For me it was phone systems, servers, small to medium business networking, fixing printers, and the occasional cable pull. If you're able to learn on your feet and figure out the best ways to deal with customers then it's a great experience. The hours can be good and once you've proven yourself you will have a ton of freedom to make your own decisions.

That being said, there's always downsides to the job. The pay for a starting tech isn't great, and even when I was managing I never was enthusiastic about the pay. You tend to jump from system to system very quickly and learn the basics, but never really master anything. The whole "jack of all trades, master of none" moniker can definitely apply. You may have more opportunity to specialize with a larger organization, but you'll still be expected to have a wide base of knowledge. Dealing with customers can be frustrating, as the majority of the time that you'll be on site somewhere, something is broken. People are rarely in a great mood when you have to show up, and while they might love you for fixing it, you still have to deal with bad attitudes on the front end. You learn quickly what to say to people, and when to omit information. Just be ready to fudge the truth sometimes. Don't out and out lie to people, leave that to your sales staff.

You also have to be able to get out of the job and move up when the time is right. These types of jobs tend to have a glass ceiling, especially in the smaller companies. Stick with the certifications and the continued learning, and use the experience you'll get from the tech job to move up into something more specialized and better paying.

Poison Reverse

girt81 wrote:

The field tech job is a great place to start out an IT career in. I spent around 3 years doing it, with a year and a half of that managing 4 other techs. For me it was a great experience in a wide range of systems, and a crash course in customer service. Especially for a smaller sized business you'll get to do a little bit of everything. For me it was phone systems, servers, small to medium business networking, fixing printers, and the occasional cable pull. If you're able to learn on your feet and figure out the best ways to deal with customers then it's a great experience. The hours can be good and once you've proven yourself you will have a ton of freedom to make your own decisions.

That being said, there's always downsides to the job. The pay for a starting tech isn't great, and even when I was managing I never was enthusiastic about the pay. You tend to jump from system to system very quickly and learn the basics, but never really master anything. The whole "jack of all trades, master of none" moniker can definitely apply. You may have more opportunity to specialize with a larger organization, but you'll still be expected to have a wide base of knowledge. Dealing with customers can be frustrating, as the majority of the time that you'll be on site somewhere, something is broken. People are rarely in a great mood when you have to show up, and while they might love you for fixing it, you still have to deal with bad attitudes on the front end. You learn quickly what to say to people, and when to omit information. Just be ready to fudge the truth sometimes. Don't out and out lie to people, leave that to your sales staff.

You also have to be able to get out of the job and move up when the time is right. These types of jobs tend to have a glass ceiling, especially in the smaller companies. Stick with the certifications and the continued learning, and use the experience you'll get from the tech job to move up into something more specialized and better paying.

Thank you for the great advice

networknoob

I been working on a field job for 2 years + already.. Like everyone else here said, the lack of supervision plus the freedom to roam is great but there were definitely days you wished you never have gone to work. I have been installing Internet/Voice/Video service for the cable company and am studying really hard to get my CCNA. Hopefully by the end of this year I can move up a little bit.

darkfibre

networknoob wrote:

but there were definitely days you wished you never have gone to work.

I'm sure that's like any job

So what happened on the days when you wished you'd never gone to work?

networknoob

darkfibre wrote:

networknoob wrote:

but there were definitely days you wished you never have gone to work.

I'm sure that's like any job

So what happened on the days when you wished you'd never gone to work?

Lets see....passenger side + driver side windows smashed, costly equipments gone, driving in the freezing cold to a glass repair shop.......
Other better days would have been...surrounded by hostile customers, chased by pit bulls, and stepping on unmentionables in the backyards... fair enough ??? :P