How bad is help desk?

Jayem

I just finished an interview for technical support rep for a hospital, and was told how so many people can't handle the stress, that they just quit. Is it really bad?

gbdavidx

There's good days and bad days - i just have great benefits and getting paid to tell people to restart things all day - im trying to get into a system admin position, luckily my company is all about career growth

SoulSearcher

The busy days are usually extremely busy and the slow days are agonizingly slow. I love it though because Im not just desktop support. I am being slowly involved in Network Administration and been given some more responsibility and learning new things all the time. Just gotta learn to deal with everyone thinking their problem is first priority. I also did help desk at a hospital once.

Arod95

Guess it depends where it is. I work at a help desk job at software developing company and I love it their when it's busy. but on the slow days it's horrible. Thank God I bring books to work so I can do some self studying while I'm there.

lsud00d

It's a great place to start and subject-matter aside is a good way to develop your

a.) Customer service skills
and
b.) Troubleshooting skills

Both go very far in not just IT but daily life.

N2IT

I think it depends on the help desk. I've been on one that paid 40+ a year and I only took 15 - 20 calls a day. I had access to servers and ERP systems. I thought the job was great. Then I moved on and well......... it was awful to say the least. It really depends on the environment.

hoktauri

Right now I'm doing a desktop tech / help desk position and it's so boring (I mapped two printers to a laptop today) I'm doing some document editing for another client until I get some real work to do.

kohr-ah

It depends the place's definition of help desk.

When I worked at the hospital our helpdesk was also the PC desktop techs. So we learned imaging, customer service skills, troubleshooting, and desktop and laptop repair. Made the day go by.

kanecain

Helpdesk becomes bad when you allow yourself to become typecast into the role.

Mutata

It depends the place's definition of help desk.

This. So much of this.

Stress wise- I have no problem. Hopefully they at some point in the process they introduce you to the Support Team (if there is one). My team members are probably one of the biggest de-stressers at work. If you can take a 5 after a really awful call and go have a laugh about it you'll find it tremendously helpful. I also think working in a restaurant to pay my way through college did me a great service with stress management.

I would emphasize using your downtime to continue to work on skills. Depending on the environment you may find 15-20 in between calls - that's pretty valuable time to spend some time reading / labbing or what have you.

When you are looking at Helpdesk jobs, evaluate the position and not the title. Between the posting and interview really try and wrap your head around the level of work you will be doing. I've been in Helpdesk positions that were pure entry-level (Account Creation, Password resets etc) and ones that are pretty technical (VM provisioning, Cisco Switch/Router config etc). Helpdesk is an insanely broad term.

My .02

jibbajabba

Depends on the customer. External or Internal. Our helpdesk for our internal "customer" have a good life - helpdesk dealing with external customer have to deal with shouting and abuse ...

WafflesAndRootbeer

Help Desk 1 - A bunch of people sitting in a call-center on the fifth floor, reading stuff out of a database, and passin unresolved support tickets to on-site support technicians.

Help Desk 2 - People with an actual desk who are there to help solve IT problems on-site.

Help Desk 3 - The Rajeev Singhdeep Technical Assistance Support Centre in Baddabaddallamabad, India.

Your mileage may vary.

coreyb80

WafflesAndRootbeer wrote: »

Help Desk 1 - A bunch of people sitting in a call-center on the fifth floor, reading stuff out of a database, and passin unresolved support tickets to on-site support technicians.

Help Desk 2 - People with an actual desk who are there to help solve IT problems on-site.

Help Desk 3 - The Rajeev Singhdeep Technical Assistance Support Centre in Baddabaddallamabad, India.

Your mileage may vary.

I laughed when I read this, but why does this sound about right.

DB Cooper

My first IT job was helpdesk for gateway, and I learned a lot. I met guys that put my geekiness to shame, and some turned out to be great mentors. The job has its moments of suck, but don't they all.

Kinet1c

If it weren't for the users it would be great.... if it weren't for the users it would also not exist

Akaricloud

On-site help desk almost always seems much more enjoyable from what I've seen.

I actually enjoyed both my Desktop Support and internal help desk positions. Both were very fast paced with no downtime at all but quite enjoyable. In both jobs I got to know everyone that I supported personally to the point where my days turned in to visiting and helping people that I considered friends. Pretty much this type of position is what you make of it and nothing more. I could have easily focused on the negative parts of these positions being they were both chaotic, stressful, difficult and had some difficult people to deal with... but why? -I'd rather enjoy my time and promote a positive work environment.

2URGSE

DB Cooper wrote: »

My first IT job was helpdesk for gateway, and I learned a lot. I met guys that put my geekiness to shame, and some turned out to be great mentors. The job has its moments of suck, but don't they all.

+1, it's a good stepping stone to learning about hardware and also gaining a lot of peoples' skills. Not many folks stay in it for long though, since dealing with end users is one of the toughest things, and gets old for many people who have been in the industry for a while (myself included).

Most folks either move up to HelpDesk Manager or higher up in the Technical ladder.

Here is how it went for me since 1998:

PC Tech at a shop --> HelpDesk contracts --> Desktop Support --> Technical Support Engineer --> Jr. Net Admin --> VoIP Deployment Engineer --> Regional IT Engineer --> Lead IT Engineer....

You can see the pattern here.

The goal is (well, my goal at least) is to gain more hands on and more certifications, but at this point it's a bit beyond the scope of this thread.

Cheers!

xmen123

It totally depends on the environment and the industry/sector. It can be fun. Check out this famous desktop support call haha: Helpdesk: Good day. How may I help you?
Male customer: Hello... I can't print.
Helpdesk: Would you click on Start for me and...
Customer: Listen pal; don't start getting technical on me! I'm not Bill Gates d#&* it!

Success101

Bad. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Snow.bros

Judging by the helpdesk co-coordinator it not that much glamorous, soon i will be his assistant so i will hold my breath for it and hope for the best, any way who said working would be a walk in a park. i think its because i am aware of the challenges i might come across so if the opportunity comes i will take one day at a time.

TechGuy215

To echo everyone's replies in the forum, it has its good days and its bad days. The most important thing is to be positive and responisive. I started out in HD and was promoted rather quickly because of my cander and attitude (along with my techinical skills). My advice:

1. Always be empathetic, don't argue or get upset with the enduser
2. Always respond immediately. Even if you can't get to a particular ticket right away, atleast email the enduser and let thme know they are on your radar.
3. Always follow up with endusers, even after the issue is resolved. It will show that you genuinly care about them.
4. Don't be afraid to ask for help. If you're not sure how to resolve an issue, use your co-workers for help.
5. Know when to escalate. Don't escalate every ticket that comes your way, attempt to resolve the issue yourself, only escalate if your truely stuck or if your policy dictates it.

Take the job! It's a foot in the door, and a great chance to learn!

Snow.bros

TechGuy215 wrote: »

1. Always be empathetic, don't argue or get upset with the enduser
2. Always respond immediately. Even if you can't get to a particular ticket right away, atleast email the enduser and let thme know they are on your radar.
3. Always follow up with endusers, even after the issue is resolved. It will show that you genuinly care about them.
4. Don't be afraid to ask for help. If you're not sure how to resolve an issue, use your co-workers for help.
5. Know when to escalate. Don't escalate every ticket that comes your way, attempt to resolve the issue yourself, only escalate if your truely stuck or if your policy dictates it.

Take the job! It's a foot in the door, and a great chance to learn!

Wow thanks man that is really motivational, thanks for your advise.

the_Grinch

Help Desk is always what you make it. I like having a mix of phone and onsite support as pure phone support can be taxing. The biggest thing is not to remain in the position for long. I've done four years of full time help desk type work and it has weighed on me heavily. Finally leaving it!

puertorico1985

I started out my IT career at a Helpdesk for the internal company. It was a great stepping stone to learn many valuable skills. Customer service, basic troubleshooting, and the basics (ins and outs) of a pc/laptop/printer. I did not get to touch servers or do any in depth troubleshooting, or work on projects, but I enjoyed my time there, learned the most that I could, and got my BSCS degree all while working there. I can say with absolute certainty that I DO NOT EVER want to work the Helpdesk again, but it was what got me to the point I am now.

Anonymouse

I worked as a helpdesk tech in a call center supporting over 10,000 internal users at my last job. Every day I wanted to quit. I was almost at the point that I would have been happy living a life of poverty over going to work every day. It was probably one of the worst jobs I have ever worked. It was much like working a retail job during the holiday season. Somehow through all the stress it helped me grow professionally in terms of my techie skills and soft skills.

Cpl.Klinger

I'm still in training at my "helpdesk" job and it truly is what you make of it. So far, I've had a lot of fun, I work from home, and I work with a bunch of great people that not only have fun but want to help each other out. Do I make as much as I used to in retail management? Not at all, but I wouldn't go back there for anything. Not to mention the fact that the store I was in has literally gone to he** in a hand basket since I have left. I've been learning a lot of cool stuff, talk to cool people, and the customers so far have been ok. I can live with it.