Difference between NOC and Helpdesk

I currently work as a NOC tech and have had a couple of interviews lately where the interviewer (one of them a network engineer) does not know the difference between a NOC and general help desk. Anybody have a concise description of the difference between the two? The reason I am asking is that I have a phone interview tomorrow for a Desktop Support position.

Job Posting:

REQUIREMENTS:

Ability to work safely and independently in a plant environment
Strong oral and written communications skills; able to articulate ideas and listen effectively
Self-starter demonstrating excellent time management & organizational skills including the ability to multi-task and effectively prioritize multiple, concurrent work activities
Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to work well with customers, peers and vendors at all organizational levels
Demonstrated commitment to customer service
Excellent work ethic and willingness to extend the extra effort required to meet critical completion time lines in support of plant needs
1-2 years experience supporting an enterprise network, or equivalent experience preferred
Able to lift 50 lbs and possess physical fitness necessary to work in a heavy-industry environment
Valid driver’s license and clean driving record to move equipment within/between plants
24/7 off-hours support including weekends and evenings as required
College Degree required

Technical Skills Required:

PC troubleshooting & installation in a network environment
Desktop application support
Software installation & management
Printer / MFD support
Data Network support including basic wiring and troubleshooting
Data Center Facilities Management, including UPS, power distribution, HVAC, structured cabling and related technologies strongly desired

Additional Skills/Qualities not required but would be a plus:

Advanced Data or Voice Networking design, configuration and support
Server Administration including hardware, software, storage & backup/recovery
Microsoft Server Operating System, installation, monitoring troubleshooting including AD and file services
Server Virtualization technologies including VMWare
Project management experience a plus

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Comments

pham0329

I've never been in a NOC environment, but most help desks are essentially the messenger between the end users and the people who actually fixes stuff. They open tickets, escalate tickets, and verify with end users that the problem has been fixed.

lsud00d

In my experience working in higher ed., the Help Desk was Tier 1 support who was responsible for the following:
1. Troubleshoot all incoming issues (phone, in-person) and put in a ticket to serve as record. If the ticket is not resolved, reassign to tier 2.
2. Review, address, close and/or reassign incoming tickets generated via email.
3. Send out broadcast notifications of ex: network outages

Then, the NOC is a 24/7/365 operation that assumes Help Desk duties after hours, albeit less troubleshooting is done and they do not reassign tickets, rather the Help Desk completes that in the morning.
In addition to the above outside of Help Desk hours, the NOC is responsible for:
1. Monitoring of network/server systems (via NMS, Groundwork, etc)
2. Tier II network troubleshooting, including ports, switches, AP's, etc

Aside from a few other things, NOC'ers are some of the laziest people I know because they generally don't have a lot of work to do. I'm sure that my experience is vastly different from others, but probably much in line with many as well.

NetworkingStudent

cleveoh wrote: »

I currently work as a NOC tech and have had a couple of interviews lately where the interviewer (one of them a network engineer) does not know the difference between a NOC and general help desk. Anybody have a concise description of the difference between the two? The reason I am asking is that I have a phone interview tomorrow for a Desktop Support position tomorrow.

Job Posting:

REQUIREMENTS:
Ability to work safely and independently in a plant environment

Strong oral and written communications skills; able to articulate ideas and listen effectively

Self-starter demonstrating excellent time management & organizational skills including the ability to multi-task and effectively prioritize multiple, concurrent work activities

Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to work well with customers, peers and vendors at all organizational levels

Demonstrated commitment to customer service

Excellent work ethic and willingness to extend the extra effort required to meet critical completion time lines in support of plant needs

1-2 years experience supporting an enterprise network, or equivalent experience preferred

Able to lift 50 lbs and possess physical fitness necessary to work in a heavy-industry environment

Valid driver’s license and clean driving record to move equipment within/between plants

24/7 off-hours support including weekends and evenings as required

College Degree required

Technical Skills Required:
PC troubleshooting & installation in a network environment

Desktop application support

Software installation & management

Printer / MFD support

Data Network support including basic wiring and troubleshooting

Data Center Facilities Management, including UPS, power distribution, HVAC, structured cabling and related technologies strongly desired

Additional Skills/Qualities not required but would be a plus:
Advanced Data or Voice Networking design, configuration and support

Server Administration including hardware, software, storage & backup/recovery

Microsoft Server Operating System, installation, monitoring troubleshooting including AD and file services

Server Virtualization technologies including VMWare

Project management experience a plus

I found an old thread..

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/65880-noc-vs-helpdesk.html

Turgon

cleveoh wrote: »

I currently work as a NOC tech and have had a couple of interviews lately where the interviewer (one of them a network engineer) does not know the difference between a NOC and general help desk. Anybody have a concise description of the difference between the two? The reason I am asking is that I have a phone interview tomorrow for a Desktop Support position tomorrow.

Job Posting:

REQUIREMENTS:
Ability to work safely and independently in a plant environment

Strong oral and written communications skills; able to articulate ideas and listen effectively

Self-starter demonstrating excellent time management & organizational skills including the ability to multi-task and effectively prioritize multiple, concurrent work activities

Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to work well with customers, peers and vendors at all organizational levels

Demonstrated commitment to customer service

Excellent work ethic and willingness to extend the extra effort required to meet critical completion time lines in support of plant needs

1-2 years experience supporting an enterprise network, or equivalent experience preferred

Able to lift 50 lbs and possess physical fitness necessary to work in a heavy-industry environment

Valid driver’s license and clean driving record to move equipment within/between plants

24/7 off-hours support including weekends and evenings as required

College Degree required

Technical Skills Required:
PC troubleshooting & installation in a network environment

Desktop application support

Software installation & management

Printer / MFD support

Data Network support including basic wiring and troubleshooting

Data Center Facilities Management, including UPS, power distribution, HVAC, structured cabling and related technologies strongly desired

Additional Skills/Qualities not required but would be a plus:
Advanced Data or Voice Networking design, configuration and support

Server Administration including hardware, software, storage & backup/recovery

Microsoft Server Operating System, installation, monitoring troubleshooting including AD and file services

Server Virtualization technologies including VMWare

Project management experience a plus

Not all NOCs are created equal. But if you work graveyard shift, being there is often a bum on a seat to keep the SLA legal. So you watch alarms. Senior engineers will be doing changes out of hours which is when they can usually be done, but often graveyard shift NOC personel are paid to just be there, respond to alarms etc. The rest of the time it's facebook, games etc.

Or you could do practice labs on the company dollar and get out of there...or stay there but move on up..help the senior engineers!

the_Grinch

Man no love for us night NOC people huh? I make the argument (or at least plan to at my review) that as the night NOC person I am closer to a senior engineer then a NOC or Helpdesk person. At my company, our NOC (daytime) responds to alerts, answer phones, make tickets, and perform graphs/Endpoint deployments. The helpdesk handles every ticket that comes in and will speak to the customers directly to complete the ticket or choose to escalate if needed. Once in awhile, the NOC will lend a hand, but they are usually lacking in experience so often will not get far for troubleshooting. As the night NOC person I am the gatekeeper and run the show for 10 hours a night. Someone calls in for support, I am the one they talk to and that gets them going. I am expected to troubleshoot and resolve issues so they do not spill into the day. Also, I perform just about all the server work at night and handle all alerts that pop up (downed internet, downed servers) even spending 12 hours between two days working on devices I have no knowledge of. My only line of support is an on call engineer, but usually takes time to rouse them from their slumber.

Bum on a seat? LOL I did laugh at that, because it does sorta describe the night NOC guys. I like to think I am a bit better then that, but there is a ton of downtime. Respond to alerts and fix issues, management leaves me alone and the customer is happy.

ssgmun5000

Turgon wrote: »

Not all NOCs are created equal. But if you work graveyard shift, being there is often a bum on a seat to keep the SLA legal. So you watch alarms. Senior engineers will be doing changes out of hours which is when they can usually be done, but often graveyard shift NOC personel are paid to just be there, respond to alarms etc. The rest of the time it's facebook, games etc.

Or you could do practice labs on the company dollar and get out of there...or stay there but move on up..help the senior engineers!

Yup pretty much. I do a little more in my NOC like bounce ports and telnet into switches and routers. There is more downtime than uptime though. I have been able to get a few certs under my belt while there and now looking to go for my bachelors.

phantasm

In the NOC I work in I do a lot more than monitor alarms and sit there. I do everything from hardware replacement to L3 conversions and new site turn ups. Configuration from the LAN side of the Carrier device back into the network is our responsibility. Of course when I worked at the Carrier NOC we just monitored alarms and handled outages for MNS customers and what not.

2E151

lsud00d wrote: »

Aside from a few other things, NOC'ers are some of the laziest people I know because they generally don't have a lot of work to do.

I cannot agree more. Its a terrible trap to fall into. Our nightshift is solely responsible for configuring and tearing down missions, while answering the one or two calls that come in during the night. When no missions are in the queue its easy to surf the internet or watch movies.

ssgmun5000

Yup it is a trap to fall into. Even though its extremely easy and pretty good pay I am tired of it. Hope to start school soon.

issiah

Where I work I am NOC and Help Desk. As a level 2 help desk tech I mostly remote in with RDP, VNC, Teamviewer, and or Join.me and fix almost 90% of user issues, the other 10% gets escalated to onsite support.

Tackle

Threads almost a year old. I'm sure he's figured it out by now.

pumbaa_g

Most of the guys who do NOC Work are pretty well paid. Majority of the time is spent looking for alerts and waiting for calls. Sometimes they are called by Remote Tech's for hands and eyes on the physical server and check the lights on the box or to upload error ****. I do wonder what they do rest of the time. The plus point is you have an amazing collection of toys available to play with

must be like a kid in a toy shop. I have heard some of them also get to take home the redundant/obsolete stuff from DC's at throwaway prices as well

WiseWun

I do tier 2 support for 12 hrs. Unless there's a change or power outages, I spend majority of the time studying and sometimes surfing the net. As many have said, it's a trap and you do tend to get lazy. The upside is I can study for school and watch training videos for hours if it's not busy. I know some folks who sleep during night shifts, is this the norm?

someasiandude

Sounda like my kind of job Lolz!

NetworkVeteran

WiseWun wrote: »

Unless there's a change or power outages, I spend majority of the time studying and sometimes surfing the net.

Odd! Are there only a couple L2 support people? If not, why don't they reduce staffing, and setup an on-call schedule and bonus rate for taking off-hours calls?

I know some folks who sleep during night shifts, is this the norm?

No. Most companies can't afford to let engineers sit idle. I've seen that work environment before, but only in low-wage or government positions.

WiseWun

@NetworkVeteran, I recently got promoted to tier 2, it was tier 1 where we had lots of time on our hands unless priority tickets came in and that would keep us busy. The work was so repetitive and not challenging at all. Only thing that kept me sane was training materials. 24/7 environment so there was a dozen of us for all around coverage and the on-call schedule list is for the tier 3 support group/architects.

As a level 2, it's still 12 hr shifts but with more responsibilities such as handling alerts, patching, and provisioning vms, daily reports, etc. Yes, a bonus rate for shift coverage is provided.