Help Desk Certification?

Is there such a thing? Ive seen it on a few employers webpages for job applications, but have never seen anything about books or an official exam.

Any news would be appreciated.

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Essendon

They could be referring to the HDI certification, but most job adverts are written by know-nothing-at-all stupid HR idiots that cant tell a CCIE apart from a CCNA. They could also be alluding to entry level certs such as a CCENT or an MCP, or even an A+/N+.

Bl8ckr0uter

parttimetechie wrote: »

Is there such a thing? Ive seen it on a few employers webpages for job applications, but have never seen anything about books or an official exam.

Any news would be appreciated.

They might mean the HDI certs Certification & Training | HDI - Leading IT Service & Support

I have no experience with any of their stuff (nor do I plan to get them)

IT_FAN

I would recommend skipping HDI certification and moving to Certifications such CompTIA A+ or CompTIA Network + for entry level certifications.

parttimetechie

Ive got Net and A +. Im trying to work on 70-680, Windows 7 configuration. I think with an MS exam on my resume, that would really help me move up to a more advanced position.

Monkerz

Or they could be referring to a MCDST. The company I work for requires it for HD Techs.

eMeS

IT_FAN wrote: »

I would recommend skipping HDI certification and moving to Certifications such CompTIA A+ or CompTIA Network + for entry level certifications.

This makes little to no sense.

While they may be entry-level, A+ and Network+ are specific for certain lines of work, whereas the certifications offered by HDI are specific to people that work on and/or manage service desks.

MS

astorrs

eMeS wrote: »

This makes little to no sense.

While they may be entry-level, A+ and Network+ are specific for certain lines of work, whereas the certifications offered by HDI are specific to people that work on and/or manage service desks.

+1 the HDI certs have a place and larger enterprises are aware of HDI and its training, etc.

eMeS

astorrs wrote: »

+1 the HDI certs have a place and larger enterprises are aware of HDI and its training, etc.

I'm at one of my major customers this week in Houston. They have ~1000 IT employees. I can count on one hand the number of people on their service desk that have any CompTIA certs, but a huge percentage have various levels of HDI certs.

Personally I've never gone down the HDI path as I have never worked on nor managed a service desk, but it has been tempting to pursue because there is a huge training market out there for this stuff. Not sure that I'd be credible though as I've never had to shag phone calls....

MS

BradleyHU

eMeS wrote: »

This makes little to no sense.

While they may be entry-level, A+ and Network+ are specific for certain lines of work, whereas the certifications offered by HDI are specific to people that work on and/or manage service desks.

MS

yeah, i was like WTF also @ dude's comment. they made absolutely no sense.

albanga

Well looks like im the only one here with this useless certification!

I actually have a HDA (Help Desk analyst) certification. I think all it counts for are some extra letters at the end of my name.

Basically the book was about 100 pages with lots of pictures and at the back were 40 practice questions with which about 10 appeared on the actual exam. The other 30 were common sense that anybody with half a brain would be able to do and the other 10 on the exam actually required some study, but that was more just to learn the terminology.

If you are seeing a lot of jobs that you want to go for that require this then without a word of a lie you should buy the book and study for 3 days and you will pass with 100% accuracy

wastedtime

I am not saying HDI isn't the way to go but I think this guy is being a bit unjustly flamed.

1. Comptia exams are very well known entry level certifications
2. In the 2006 exam (not sure about current) there was a "Remote Support Technician" track that was geared toward help desk techs.
3. Just an example but I know at one time (while I was a senior in high school, which reminds me it is my 10 year reunion this year) Dell tech support personnel where required to take A+ training. (not a prerequisite, but over the time thing.)

eMeS

wastedtime wrote: »

I am not saying HDI isn't the way to go but I think this guy is being a bit unjustly flamed.

1. Comptia exams are very well known entry level certifications
2. In the 2006 exam (not sure about current) there was a "Remote Support Technician" track that was geared toward help desk techs.
3. Just an example but I know at one time (while I was a senior in high school, which reminds me it is my 10 year reunion this year) Dell tech support personnel where required to take A+ training. (not a prerequisite, but over the time thing.)

I don't feel my intent was to flame, rather, it was to point out that it was a strange recommendation in light of what several of us here see regularly; that many of the HDI certs are valuable to people working in Service Desk environments. I think it's difficult to say "skip HDI in favor of CompTIA", especially when one of the CompTIA things being recommended is A+.

Honestly I don't know much about the demand for A+, (other than I don't see demand for it at any of my customer's service desks), but from what I gather it's very entry-level and it might be useful for hands-on type jobs like Geek Squad or something such as that. When I look at my customers they will very clearly go for the people with the HDI certs over A+/Network+ for those low-level service desk type jobs, and their hiring practices demonstrate clear evidence of this.

Personally, I'm not sure that were I in such a position as the OP that I would want an HDI cert. Getting a cert in service desk work seems to be a whole lot like being the best employee in the mail room. The risk is you get painted into a box and you never get to do something else.

MS

Strat_

When I was supporter it was highly recommended to have the ITIL v2 foundation and one MS Win Xp cert.

Jonny70

There was no additional information about what they were looking for? It seems it would be reasonable to start with the technologies that you expect to be working with. If this is MSFT then it may make sense to go after an MCDST. You can also check out this range of MCTS certs that might play to particular technology competencies you wan to showcase.

Microsoft Learning: Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS)

darwoodhurst

This is one of those LOW LEVEL service desk workers you labeled in you post below

Just so you know, I don't just take phone calls and then log them and send them to the break/fix/field techs, we actually remote into pc's and configure install and troubleshoot issues.

I work with active directory and transfer accounts in containers, install and configure proprietary software, work in the registry and ms config troubleshoot and resolve network issues, as well as, configure windows 7 and network printers and scanners through the web interface. Our Help Desk is way more than a low level job, but we are looked at as a low level job. We are actually more productive than the field technicians. So with that, I will say that you really need to watch how you phrase your comments.

"I don't feel my intent was to flame, rather, it was to point out that it was a strange recommendation in light of what several of us here see regularly; that many of the HDI certs are valuable to people working in Service Desk environments. I think it's difficult to say "skip HDI in favor of CompTIA", especially when one of the CompTIA things being recommended is A+.

Honestly I don't know much about the demand for A+, (other than I don't see demand for it at any of my customer's service desks), but from what I gather it's very entry-level and it might be useful for hands-on type jobs like Geek Squad or something such as that. When I look at my customers they will very clearly go for the people with the HDI certs over A+/Network+ for those low-level service desk type jobs, and their hiring practices demonstrate clear evidence of this.

Personally, I'm not sure that were I in such a position as the OP that I would want an HDI cert. Getting a cert in service desk work seems to be a whole lot like being the best employee in the mail room. The risk is you get painted into a box and you never get to do something else. "

MS

Nersesian

I've got a few HDI certs and even went to one of their conferences in Vegas a few years ago. I'm not gong to sit here and tell you it revolutionized my IT career, but what it did was get me comfortable with answering questions in a dimly lit room about the field I've worked in for all of 6 months at that point. The people who run the organization are some of the nicest, well intentioned people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting in a conference environment which is why I keep them on my resume. I want people to ask about them so I can pass along the good word about HDI. Unlike the MS exams and even some of the CompTIA exams, they are more accessible, and friendly to new folks in the industry which I think is a net gain for all of us.

Some people simply want to work support, collect their check and go home to their kids and this is an excellent way to certify their knowledge on a series of topics specific to their goal.

- Getting a cert in service desk work seems to be a whole lot like being the best employee in the mail room.

You sound like an awesome person and a joy to have at parties.