New Job Offer

So currently I work in User Support for a smallish (around 200-250 users) company. Being so small I do everything from tier 1 support to some jr system admin stuff. We only support our internal staff and don't communicate with our company's clients at all.

I got an offer from a small IT Consultation company in the same town but was offered about 30% more. It pains me to leave my current position as I LOVE the company, people I work with, and the hours, but due to my financial situation I will likely have to accept the position.

The new position is for a systems engineer/ help desk role. I will be out in the field working with clients about 30% of the time and doing help desk/ system maintenance for clients about 70% of the time.

My question for you guys is, has anyone else made the switch from supporting internal users to supporting external clients? What was your experience? Anyone else have a similar role that can share any insight?

Thanks.

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Comments

kohr-ah

The company I work for I have done both.

I have been assigned to sites where I am to treat it as if they are internal customers. Aka, worked for a hospital and supported the hospital as one of their staff. Now I am at our headquarters and we support them from an external point of view.

It really isn't much different. The idea works the same, the way you handle a lot of it is pretty much the same. The only difference is until you get used to seeing the external customers/clients more is learning how their system works. That is the hardest part. After you get that under control it is all good from there

Akaricloud

I personally much prefer supporting internal clients, or being hired to help one specific external customer. Having a small set of internal clients allows you to actually get to know them and thus get treated as a co-worker instead of just the place they call for support. I'm not trying to say one is better or worse than the other, only that my personality works best with internal clients.

With that said, the 30% increase and added job responsibilities sound great. Worst case if you end up hating it then you can stick around for ~6 months and use that experience to find something else internal on a much higher level.

Params7

Akaricloud wrote: »

I personally much prefer supporting internal clients, or being hired to help one specific external customer. Having a small set of internal clients allows you to actually get to know them and thus get treated as a co-worker instead of just the place they call for support. I'm not trying to say one is better or worse than the other, only that my personality works best with internal clients.

This is very true. Internal clients > External clients any day. But this is just one factor. If you get to learn new technologies, earn more money, all work with great people then the pros outweigh the cons.

taternuts666

Thanks for the input everyone. I fully agree that I think working with internal clients will be much better than external clients but the 30% increase in pay and new experience will be more beneficial in the end. You guys made me feel a little better about my decision

TechGuy215

Just be careful with working for consulting firms/recruiters, most of those guys are head hunters and will take a take a nice big slice of your salary. I much prefer direct hire vs being whored out to random clients.