Geek Squad vs Help Desk?

Ok, so I am starting over career-wise, a few certs under my belt, and I am still in school... pockets are getting thin, I'm going to have to go back to work...

i have accepted that I will have to start at the bottom... I've accepted the fact the money is going to be poop for awhile... my question...

I have some apps out there and I have gotten some calls... would I be better off in a Geek Squad or at a Help Desk somewhere? when I say Geek Squad I mean the Geek Squad City, not the actual Best Buy store, and it would be entry level, just repairing laptops, etc....

or would it be better to start in a help desk answering the phone somewhere and resetting passwords?

I am finishing up Security+ and then headed down the Microsoft path school-wise

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Comments

pinkydapimp

Take the job thats going to give you the best stuff to put on your resume. Chances are you will end up some place else. So i wouldnt worry too much about a career path at this point. You need to get some stuff on your resume. So i would talk to each and find out which one will allow you the most experience with a wide array of technology. That will be the job that you can better build your resume with. Then, once you have more certs and experience you can look to jump to a position with a better career path.

Markv

RobertKaucher wrote: »

This deppends a lot on where you go. Many of them are guys like me working part time for the discount and extra cash. The core agents at the Best Buy I used to work at - I'd put them up against anyone on this forum for troubleshooting skills. Many of the part timers are software developers and sys admins in their full time jobs.

I couldn't agree more. It all depends on the Best Buy you go to. There are some really good agents I worked with who really knew their stuff. Some were not so good but that didn't mean they were total idiots.

People don't realize the **** they have to put up with. They have to put up with management and making sure everyday they meet budget. They have to put up with people who call and want free troubleshooting and people that come into the store with the dumbest questions. Example: "My wireless doesn't work" , well mam' let me take a look...... well it looks like the wireless was disabled on your laptop via the function key. This is the type of **** we have to deal with all day.

And yes the people at the GSC are not all the greatest either. I can't tell you how many times they didn't fix a issue that was blatantly there and send it back unfixed.

Geek Squad gets a bad name in the IT world because of just a select few people. Its retail. What do you expect? All Best Buy cares about is their bottom line in the end. It's a job for people in their early 20's. Its the minimum wage for IT. You get a lot of experience at GS that you can't really get anywhere else. They handle the most volume and you get a lot of experience with so many different brands of computers and hardware. Not only that but you gain a lot of customer experience dealing with complainers and people bitching. Not to mention you gain sales experience which is never a bad thing for anyone to have. Everyone has to start somewhere.

hypnotoad

GS is great. We pirated their MRI disc and automated all our spyware cleanups and hardware diagnostics -- total no-brainer. Allows reproducible results, increased productivity, and more time spend on our undeserved sense of self worth.

SteveLord

Markv wrote: »

Geek Squad gets a bad name in the IT world because of just a select few people. Its retail. What do you expect?

Right. Not IT. Thanks.

"Select few" is also a little exaggerated.

And like someone else said, their "service" involves popping in a disc or sitting on a computer for a few hours to do a 10 minute job, or shipping computers off for weeks to do a 1 day job.

zerglings

SteveLord wrote: »

And like someone else said, their "service" involves popping in a disc or sitting on a computer for a few hours to do a 10 minute job, or shipping computers off for weeks to do a 1 day job.

I don't know about the job responsibilities of the GS in the stores now, but it wasn't always like this. We did pretty much everything in the store as long as we have the parts for it. We opened up laptops and fix whatever we can fix. Everyone in our team had A+ and other certifications and knew their stuff. Most, if not all, had previous IT jobs and I was the only one who had no IT experience at all. A+ and having a connection inside had something to do with me being hired. It was pretty much a requirement to have A+ at that time. If you didn't have it then you're out of luck.

I am sure having GS position had a lot to do with me being hired with my previous position in the company I work for. I am in the fourth position now (almost 8 years in the company). I probably would've been stuck in my first position if I didn't have that GS in my resume. I am glad that I didn't get stuck because this is a pretty good company and being a team member of a company that is in the Top 50 of the Fortune 500 is not too bad.

Being able to move up or jump ship to a "greener" pasture is a combination of a lot of things. There's no right combination but having a guideline is always better than having none. I'd say investigate how much exposure you can get with the Help desk and in the GSC position then decide from there. I've never applied for any Help desk positions when I got out of school so I can't say it would be a good gig or not. Good luck with your decision!

Mike-Mike

thanks a lot zerglings, you just made me feel a lot better about considering it...

and again, this will be Geek Squad City, not a Best Buy store, so as far as I know there would be no customer interaction, no sales, etc... certainly not a customer service job... it says A+ is recommended before getting hired... as far as I know I would just be repairing laptops and pc's all day

zerglings

Customer service is always part of our jobs, in my opinion. For example, my customers are Managers, Directors, Senior Directors, Tier 1, 2 & 3 groups, End users, and etc. Yes, I understood your point - you're talking about consumers as the customer. c",)

While serving customers is part of your job in Geek Squad in Best Buy stores, 95% of our time are spent in fixing computers, at least I did as a GS part time employee. I guess it really depends on the area and the management of the Best Buy store. I don't really know nowadays how they are run.

Mike-Mike

UPDATE: Geek Squad guy never called me back, so I assume they couldn't work with my schedule.. he called me one day wanting me to start the following Monday, I said you didn't clarify if they can work with my schedule, and he said he would check and call back.... never to be heard from again...

so, now I'm waiting on two different help desk type jobs... good times