Got the helpdesk job!!!!!! Omgomgomgomg

I GOT THE FREAKING HELP DESK JOB GUYS!!!! THIS IS EXCITING SO EXCITING i COULD GO DO BACK FLIPS OFF THE ROOF OF MY HOUSE RIGHT NOW!!!!! OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

This is going to be the start of my IT career and I've finally made the jump from 5 years in retail to IT. My dad passed almost two years ago and he would always tell me "you can't work at that grocery store forever" and I didn't want to leave. Over time, I begun to want more, and grew tired of the job. I felt hopeless in finding another job to begin my IT career. As many have said here, persistence pays. I appreciate all the advice I got here on TE. The help with my resume was a HUGE freaking help. I am going to be working VERY HARD and really submerge myself into work.

TE has played a HUGE part in me landing this position through so much useful advice and knowledge.

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Comments

CodeBlox

I think I'll be there for at least a year and I'm going to learn a lot. I was wondering, seeing as I'm not to savvy with outlook, if someone could point me in the direction of some preferably free documents that detail Outlook. I'm going to use these three weeks until i start to learn a lot about what was in the job description that I'm not completely familiar with.

Asif Dasl

CodeBlox wrote: »

I think I'll be there for at least a year and I'm going to learn a lot. I was wondering, seeing as I'm not to savvy with outlook, if someone could point me in the direction of some preferably free documents that detail Outlook. I'm going to use these three weeks until i start to learn a lot about what was in the job description that I'm not completely familiar with.

Get a 7 day trial of Lynda.com and then check out the Outlook videos.

Mishra

This is a cool post. I like to see the excitement. Congrats.

CodeBlox

Thanks Asif, I will check those videos out.

Man... This whole bringing my 2 weeks notice in today is giving me MEGA BUTTERFLIES IN MY STOMACH!!! I'm so nervous about giving my only job of 5 years a 2 weeks notice.

NetworkingStudent

CodeBlox wrote: »

I think I'll be there for at least a year and I'm going to learn a lot. I was wondering, seeing as I'm not to savvy with outlook, if someone could point me in the direction of some preferably free documents that detail Outlook. I'm going to use these three weeks until i start to learn a lot about what was in the job description that I'm not completely familiar with.

Here’s the link to Outlook:
2010

http://customguide.com/wp-content/themes/customguide/pdf/qr/outlook-quick-reference-2010.pdf

2007

http://customguide.com/wp-content/themes/customguide/pdf/qr/outlook-quick-reference-2007.pdf

Quick References | CustomGuide

Congrats!!!
I have been looking for a help desk role since (December 2010) and it’s been tough to find one that is contract to hire or offers full time employment. Not to mention without experience it’s even harder to convince someone to take a chance on you. Why hire a graduate, when you have so many people with experience out of work?

I did get an offer somewhat for one help desk job yesterday , but it’s only for the summer, so I turned it down. I hope something turns up soon.

CodeBlox

I found this one on Monster.com but I just took the phone number and called the guy personally. It's a "long-term" full time position. At the moment I have no work experience in IT. This will change very soon. Thanks for the Outlook materials.

CodeBlox

Could someone tell me if this 2 weeks notice letter is fine?

Melissa, Kim, Chris

May 10, 2011

It has been a privilege to work for [company name]. This letter is to serve as my two weeks notification of resignation. My last working day will be May 31, 2011. Working here has been great however, I have made this move to advance my career. I appreciate the opportunity I have been given here. In my remaining time, I will still be performing at the level of performance expected by you, my employer.

Respectfully,

[first][last]

RouteThisWay

RobertKaucher wrote: »

Congrats!

IMO in the world of IT, if you are not moving in some positive direction every 3 years you are risking becoming stagnent. For us this is like being type-casted for an actor. It can be very hard to break out of.

Within 3 years you should have fully mastered your current role and have started setting down the foundation for your next.

Year 1 - getting to know your position
Year 2 - working hard to excel at it
Year 3 - working hard to move into a new, better position.

Which remonds me... I should probably get back to what I was doing...

Exactly. +1

Code, congrats man! I am happy for you, I know you were wanting this!

I remember in my first true Help Desk role. I was so excited. Eat up as much info as you can. Help is much more about soft skills than tech skills. Know how to talk to people, how to communicate, etc. There is a fine line between patronizing someone and making them feels stupid, and giving advice without sounding like a tool. Learn this. It will be an invaluable tool in your arsenal in the years to come.

CodeBlox

Thanks, One thing I started wondering about this. A few weeks ago, I told the professor of my CCNA net acad class that I was trying to get this position. He basically said "pfft, why are you trying to get a Help desk job? Psh, Help desk? Help desk?" He seems to think that once I get a CCNA, I'll have this nice 55k per year job. Should I have waited and tried to get jobs that require CCNA? Most of those require about 4+ years of experience.

Cisco Inferno

CodeBlox wrote: »

Thanks, One thing I started wondering about this. A few weeks ago, I told the professor of my CCNA net acad class that I was trying to get this position. He basically said "pfft, why are you trying to get a Help desk job? Psh, Help desk? Help desk?" He seems to think that once I get a CCNA, I'll have this nice 55k per year job. Should I have waited and tried to get jobs that require CCNA? Most of those require about 4+ years of experience.

hes a professor...

also i would never let a newly minted ccna with no troubleshooting exp touch my super complex critical network connections. but thats just me..

cyberguypr

CodeBlox wrote: »

Thanks, One thing I started wondering about this. A few weeks ago, I told the professor of my CCNA net acad class that I was trying to get this position. He basically said "pfft, why are you trying to get a Help desk job? Psh, Help desk? Help desk?" He seems to think that once I get a CCNA, I'll have this nice 55k per year job. Should I have waited and tried to get jobs that require CCNA? Most of those require about 4+ years of experience.

Some people are just disconnected from reality. One thing I like is that you have the right mindset. Ride out Help Desk until you can't get anything else out of it or sometghing better comes along. At the same time, keep working on advancing your knowledge. We'll see who's where 5 years down the road.

Turgon

CodeBlox wrote: »

Thanks, One thing I started wondering about this. A few weeks ago, I told the professor of my CCNA net acad class that I was trying to get this position. He basically said "pfft, why are you trying to get a Help desk job? Psh, Help desk? Help desk?" He seems to think that once I get a CCNA, I'll have this nice 55k per year job. Should I have waited and tried to get jobs that require CCNA? Most of those require about 4+ years of experience.

How long has it been since the professor supported production networks fulltime? The job market is fierce and expectations very high. Get into helpdesk, you will at the very least get exposure to people who work on the network side of the house. I recall reading CCNP cert books back in 1999 and one piece of advice was to befriend people who do 'real networking', explain your goals and assist them when you can.

That's still good advice.

N2IT

Turgon wrote: »

Congratulations. Now having worked so hard for this break, knuckle down and concentrate solely on that job. Mothball all your certification and future career plans for a while. Best advice I can give you. I put 20 months in on my first IT job years ago and never looked back since. Once the first year was stablised I then put my gas into certification, but get the work under control and the perception of the people you work with under control first. Expect a very difficult and challenging first year in IT. I still feel in some ways it was my hardest, but what I put in back then still stands me in good stead to this day.

+100,000,000

Turgon only if people would listen to you! Including me!

I think mothballs are even more fitting. Certifications wern't what they used to be. IMO it's all about deliverables. Can you deliver?!

drew726

The job market should be getting better? I'm hearing a lot more "got a job" postings lately.

CodeBlox

Turgon wrote: »

How long has it been since the professor supported production networks fulltime? The job market is fierce and expectations very high. Get into helpdesk, you will at the very least get exposure to people who work on the network side of the house. I recall reading CCNP cert books back in 1999 and one piece of advice was to befriend people who do 'real networking', explain your goals and assist them when you can.

That's still good advice.

Probably over 10 years ago. He always would bring up the fact that if we got a CCNA along side a bachelors degree, we'd be golden. I'm sure that isn't the way it'd work out. He'd also always bring up the fact that he was a software engineer on those long tangents.

drew726 wrote:

The job market should be getting better? I'm hearing a lot more "got a job" postings lately.

Perhaps. As turgon said though, employers are expecting more of potential candidates and the job market is VERY competitive. Have to stay sharp.

vanquish23

Wait till you move up to a Network Control Center. Then helpdesk is a joke.

Armor149

Congrats on the new job

MrRyte

A helpdesk job ain't the most glamourous; but it achieves two important things:

1. You finally have your big break into the IT world.
2. You can start to build up real world experience.

Congrats to you.

VAHokie56

Grats on the job dude

where you the guy I was forwarding some positions to in the Richmond area?

Turgon

MrRyte wrote: »

A helpdesk job ain't the most glamourous; but it achieves two important things:

1. You finally have your big break into the IT world.
2. You can start to build up real world experience.

Congrats to you.

Yes I would agree with that. It's a start. Back in the day when I began I went in green from University as a systems administrator and had to do a bit of everything. But the helpdesk model has matured and that's the way it is these days. There is a lot of competition just to land those jobs.

Turgon

CodeBlox wrote: »

I think I'll be there for at least a year and I'm going to learn a lot. I was wondering, seeing as I'm not to savvy with outlook, if someone could point me in the direction of some preferably free documents that detail Outlook. I'm going to use these three weeks until i start to learn a lot about what was in the job description that I'm not completely familiar with.

It might be worthwhile starting a new thread documenting how you go with this new job. Im sure people would help you out. There's lots to learn and plenty of experience here you can draw from. We do a similar thing on the CCIE boards for people studying the track.

instant000

Like Turgon stated, starting a new thread would be a great idea for this.

Outlook: Outlook Help and How-to - Office.com

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/default

Also with regards to Outlook, it's based upon Exchange, so going here would be a good reference point:

Exchange Server

CodeBlox

VAHokie56 wrote: »

Grats on the job dude where you the guy I was forwarding some positions to in the Richmond area?

Yes, it was me. I appreciate the help you were giving me very much! Made me feel as if there was actually hope.

I hope the thread doesn't get deleted. I'll make one as suggested.