Temporary step back?

etbjr182

I currently work for a MSP that has a handful of clients. Nothing major, very chill and relaxed environment. Boss is pretty laid back but the pay and benefits are lacking. I am definitely underpaid. There were 3 of us (including boss) but one left awhile back for bigger and better things. My boss gave me a small pay raise to keep me on board as he would "do anything to keep me." It is still not nearly as much as I should be getting but can't complain. At this job I am used to having unlimited access and responsibility to all our clients IT infrastructure. Again nothing major and its pretty slow/dead.

Now I have this opportunity at my doorstep with a MAJOR healthcare organisation that is know nationwide (mostly southern and midwest regions). They support about 43 hospitals. This is an Help Desk Analyst position that is 100% phone support. Also its mostly password reset etc. They handle about 26,000 -28,000 calls/tickets a month split between 33 people in the help desk. Obviously this is a HUGE increase as far as user support but kinda of a step back as far as job responsibility etc. The company has many many doors and does promote hiring within and growth from what I gather.

The pay will be a slight bump and would have decent benefits available. Would get paid hourly plus O.T as I am currently salaried. Now since hospitals are 24/7/365 they rotate holidays and I would have to work a few where as now I get them off. I guess my main question would be is this a step back temporarily? The way I look at it is that it's one step back but 2 steps forward down the road as far as growth. I cannot really grow when I work directly under the boss. He is cheap and they are a small company so I would not really see much growth but I get to handle everything. While this help desk job will be a slight pay increase but I will be on phones all day. I never really worked in a call center environment. The manager says he doesn't micromanage which is good. I like to not have someone monitor everytime I go to the bathroom etc. I can definitely use the pay raise as I am trying to pay off some debt.

Would you guys take the new job and kinda bite the bullet for more pay for about a year and then apply to internal positions? Anyone else been in a similar situation?

ptilsen

If a level 1 helpdesk comes with a pay bump over your current job, you have to get out of there. If you cant find a DST or junior server admin job, helpdesk will still be a better career move than remaining underpaid.

cvuong1984

The job sounds terrible to me.

Ask yourself this question, if you are a SysAdmin Manager would you hire a person who, in the past year all they did was reset passwords? (which could be automated by phone or website, and the moment it does get automated? 33 people would become 5...)

You have to compete with 33 others for possible positions.

I think it may be better for you to ask for a raise, or just stay where you are at while looking for something better.
How bad do you need the salary difference? If all else just try to get your current company to match.

Turgon

etbjr182 wrote: »

I currently work for a MSP that has a handful of clients. Nothing major, very chill and relaxed environment. Boss is pretty laid back but the pay and benefits are lacking. I am definitely underpaid. There were 3 of us (including boss) but one left awhile back for bigger and better things. My boss gave me a small pay raise to keep me on board as he would "do anything to keep me." It is still not nearly as much as I should be getting but can't complain. At this job I am used to having unlimited access and responsibility to all our clients IT infrastructure. Again nothing major and its pretty slow/dead.

Now I have this opportunity at my doorstep with a MAJOR healthcare organisation that is know nationwide (mostly southern and midwest regions). They support about 43 hospitals. This is an Help Desk Analyst position that is 100% phone support. Also its mostly password reset etc. They handle about 26,000 -28,000 calls/tickets a month split between 33 people in the help desk. Obviously this is a HUGE increase as far as user support but kinda of a step back as far as job responsibility etc. The company has many many doors and does promote hiring within and growth from what I gather.

The pay will be a slight bump and would have decent benefits available. Would get paid hourly plus O.T as I am currently salaried. Now since hospitals are 24/7/365 they rotate holidays and I would have to work a few where as now I get them off. I guess my main question would be is this a step back temporarily? The way I look at it is that it's one step back but 2 steps forward down the road as far as growth. I cannot really grow when I work directly under the boss. He is cheap and they are a small company so I would not really see much growth but I get to handle everything. While this help desk job will be a slight pay increase but I will be on phones all day. I never really worked in a call center environment. The manager says he doesn't micromanage which is good. I like to not have someone monitor everytime I go to the bathroom etc. I can definitely use the pay raise as I am trying to pay off some debt.

Would you guys take the new job and kinda bite the bullet for more pay for about a year and then apply to internal positions? Anyone else been in a similar situation?

Stay where you are and look for other positions at the sysadmin level. You have good access in the present job and a reasonable relationship with your boss. You have downtime to study and look for better jobs.

blargoe

Taking a position that has your current responsibilities and voluntarily leaving to take a call center job tells future employers that you're either all about money, or that you couldn't hack it as a sysadmin. Either way, I don't think you're doing yourself a favor if you take the help desk job... but you should be looking for another position similar to the one you have now. My $.02

daviddws

It's up to you, but I would not do it. Call Centers are usually TERRIBLE and you will burn out. Not only that but you will realize what a horrible mistake you made and it will be too late.

lenell86

hahah ETB, PM me bro. I think I know the organization your referring to since everything in your description points to it. Assuming we are talking about the same company, what everyone is saying here is correct. I burned out from this position in 2 weeks lol. I took the job due to family reasons and I knew what I was getting into, but didn't realize until it was too late to the extent of how horrible it was.

snokerpoker

I agree with most posters here. Stay where you are at, get more certs, kick ass, and then move on to bigger and better things. I've worked with people who have some experience with call centers and they basically told me they were the antichrist. Good luck!

buzzkill

lenell86 wrote: »

hahah ETB, PM me bro. I think I know the organization your referring to since everything in your description points to it. Assuming we are talking about the same company, what everyone is saying here is correct. I burned out from this position in 2 weeks lol. I took the job due to family reasons and I knew what I was getting into, but didn't realize until it was too late to the extent of how horrible it was.

Go on, share some of the horror stories with the rest of us!

lenell86

buzzkill wrote: »

Go on, share some of the horror stories with the rest of us!

unfortunately, there is no "specific" horror story, since everyday was a horror story lol. I was just fed up with trying to be the over-achiever by not taking breaks, being in "ready" state constantly, while doing e-mails during calls while the rest of the team (not all, but most) had the attitude of, "oh he is taking most of the work, I'll go in not ready and screw around on the internet or watch movies", which added to the stress of taking on the bulk of the workload of the day to myself.

I got tired of trying to prove my worth and quickly found out it was pointless trying to impress managers by your work ethic since they could care less and you are just a warm body doing the dirty work (2-3 bodies equivalent to how I was pushing stats). The thought of going in at the lowest rung and trying to work up is a fairy tale in IT. It all boils down to experience and what you can do. I was real with myself and said there is no way another dept (data security or system engineering was my choice to move into) was going to look at me with what I was doing at helpdesk doing just password resets and basic troubleshooting. I knew I had to get out of there to re-gain my technical skills, which thankfully, I found a position elsewhere that I have more responsibilities in the field I want to specialize in which is IT security. I'd go back, no doubt, to the company, but just not helpdesk.

Taking a step back was the worst decision. I wish I didn't do it cause now, it shows on my resume I've been hopping jobs since my previous job before the helpdesk position, I was there for only 1 year as well. I learned nothing technical from doing helpdesk, and it just added stress to my life while I was employed there in that position.

JoJoCal19

Pay wise it might be a good move but I honestly think it would be a terrible move career wise. As was stated before, how are you going to demonstrate to potential employers down the road that you are multi-faceted or capable of much more when all you do is reset passwords. Also all it will take is for the hospital to decide to invest in an automated password reset system and save the expense of an employee.

daviddws

"I was there for only 1 year as well. I learned nothing technical from doing helpdesk, and it just added stress to my life while I was employed there in that position."

Your bringing back bad memories for me hehe.. I supported DSL a few years back. We were trained for 5 weeks and then set loose. 35 people started. Within one year only 4 of the original 35 were still there. They put me on a split shift. I was ALWAYS on the phone .. with calls waiting in queue. Mind you this was Tier 2 support, but it was still pretty bad. After 12 months I burned out. Stay away from call centers unless you have no other choice.

Turgon

daviddws wrote: »

"I was there for only 1 year as well. I learned nothing technical from doing helpdesk, and it just added stress to my life while I was employed there in that position."

Your bringing back bad memories for me hehe.. I supported DSL a few years back. We were trained for 5 weeks and then set loose. 35 people started. Within one year only 4 of the original 35 were still there. They put me on a split shift. I was ALWAYS on the phone .. with calls waiting in queue. Mind you this was Tier 2 support, but it was still pretty bad. After 12 months I burned out. Stay away from call centers unless you have no other choice.

A consequence of division of labour Im afraid. We have seen this in most industries and IT has gone the same way. Get enough experience in such an enviornment to be able to move on and then move quickly..

Turgon

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

Pay wise it might be a good move but I honestly think it would be a terrible move career wise. As was stated before, how are you going to demonstrate to potential employers down the road that you are multi-faceted or capable of much more when all you do is reset passwords. Also all it will take is for the hospital to decide to invest in an automated password reset system and save the expense of an employee.

Correct. Worse still, with the automation drive we will seen many people with the same skills hitting the streets the next five years. They will apply for jobs they dont have the experience for, then they will apply for the same sorts of jobs they had before, but there will be fewer of them, more applicants, they will have been out of it for a while and those jobs will be on the outsource/automation target anyway. A five year plan on your career is wise.

etbjr182

Thanks everyone for your advice! I knew I could trust in Techexams members with their experience and wise words I've decided to cancel the interview and just sit tight at my current job. I guess I got blinded by the bigger pay bump. I definitely figured this would be a step back and you guys answered any doubt. I will be more picky and make sure I move to a job that not only pays better but also is inline with my career goals. Guess that's just common sense lol

Thanks again everyone!

Turgon

etbjr182 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your advice! I knew I could trust in Techexams members with their experience and wise words I've decided to cancel the interview and just sit tight at my current job. I guess I got blinded by the bigger pay bump. I definitely figured this would be a step back and you guys answered any doubt. I will be more picky and make sure I move to a job that not only pays better but also is inline with my career goals. Guess that's just common sense lol

Thanks again everyone!

A wise choice. Bare in mind that many people grinding in helpdesk would kill to have the experience opportunity that your access gives you and they would be prepared to take a dink in pay to get it. Moving there for a few dollars makes no sense. The future belongs to the skilled, timeserved, useful people.

JoJoCal19

etbjr182 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your advice! I knew I could trust in Techexams members with their experience and wise words I've decided to cancel the interview and just sit tight at my current job. I guess I got blinded by the bigger pay bump. I definitely figured this would be a step back and you guys answered any doubt. I will be more picky and make sure I move to a job that not only pays better but also is inline with my career goals. Guess that's just common sense lol

Thanks again everyone!

Great choice. And just to add to what I put above, I actually had the same job and situation as you for a year and a half. Other than my manager, I was the lone IT wolf so to speak. I had God power and ran everything but the development stuff, even though my manager started teaching me more of that aspect. It was a super cush job and my manager was laid back. I loved that job. Well in June 2006 I was laid off as the new owners of the company didn't know wtf they were doing and they ended up losing a key piece of business and had to lay off some folks. I ended up 3 months later with my current employer and making $18k more and instead doing 2nd level desktop support, placing outbound and taking some inbound calls from level 1 folks. I HATED that position and at the time I would have gladly given up most of that raise to be back in my old job or one just like it. So similar to your situation. You'll be better served in the long run to stay where you are, get a bunch of certs, and then trying to move up in that same type of role, or learn new skills and branch out. Thankfully I only stayed in that position for a year and a half and was able to lateral to my current InfoSec position.

techdudehere

As everyone else said, stay put. I would ask something else, though. Are you maximizing everything you can do at current job? Are there tasks only the boss does that would be valuable for you to perform yourself to learn more? What new services and technologies could you offer up to the boss and then to clients? Can you please explain to me how you helping the boss partner with other, non-competing businesses (for example, perhaps an ISP will do the cabling and wifi for you guys but you'll do the server installs so each business brings the other into client sites for an instant trust relationship)? How much research have you done in the past 6 months on coming up with better solutions than are currently offered to clients? Have you offered to begin penetration testing and security audit services for clients? Have you given a talk to a group of perspective clients on behalf of your company, been to any expos or networking events? To be a sought after rock star in IT, you have to walk the walk. Ideas above

erpadmin

etbjr182 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your advice! I knew I could trust in Techexams members with their experience and wise words I've decided to cancel the interview and just sit tight at my current job. I guess I got blinded by the bigger pay bump. I definitely figured this would be a step back and you guys answered any doubt. I will be more picky and make sure I move to a job that not only pays better but also is inline with my career goals. Guess that's just common sense lol

Thanks again everyone!

Trust me, you did the right thing. I did the exact same thing you were contemplating and for the exact same reasons (more money.) Went from a JOAT who had access to everything to a desktop support position with ZERO advancement opportunities. I was fortunate that I was able to land a sys admin position later (which turned into being an ERP admin) but that was more luck than anything else.

You are in a perfect position right now. Just stick with that until you can find another opportunity that will get you a sys admin gig with the pay that you want. You can take the time to perhaps go back to school, and/or work on getting more certs.