Entry Level Help Desk question.

Good afternoon. I recently got a call from a hiring agency to work as a Help desk, Job description "

Provide technical support via phones and/or other media as required.
Complete and document all calls in the form of Service Tickets through
resolution. Escalate and monitor tickets. Dispatch vendors or division
contacts as required for on-site repairs" My question is I'm working as a painter right now and working for $16/HR and going to college for Computer Science, I have no certifications at all and they are willing to train. Would it be a good idea to take a pay cut and work for the experience, the hiring agency told me that Kroger does quarterly reviews on Temps and that I would be eligible after 6 months of working there. The pay is $13/hr, I'm just worried they might have a high turn over right since it is a job as a temp.

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Comments

NetworkNewb

I think that would depend on what exactly you want to do in IT.

If your looking to get into Software or Web development type position with your Comp Sci degree. I would pass on this. If you looking to get into a Sys Admin or Networking type position. It could be alright first IT position.

MrGastelum

I want to get into Network Security, But I guess the $13/hr seems low but the value of the experience is what I'm guessing is more valuable. Thank you for your reply.

CiscoASA2202

I would say do it for the experience and it can help get you into the door sooner. Also negotiate for a higher pay and look at starting some cert training and find out what that company supports, what kind of products/services they offer and go from there.

TheFORCE

Do it for the experience, the company name and for the experience again. You will be making more than 16/h in a year after that.

p@r0tuXus

Pros: Job Experience in line with a field of study you're currently undertaking that has the potential to yield long-term income growth and opportunity. That fresh "new job" feeling and meeting new people in a less physical job role.

Cons: Immediate decrease of $6,240 annually until hired full-time and possible loss of benefits (or gain if not currently receiving). You work at the pace of the problems, not your own ability to produce deliverables. Be ready to be managed by metrics, it can be tedious. Less physical activity, might want to supplement with exercise.

Additional Points: If you have dependents or other financial needs that can't be sustained with the income loss, this could be stressful. Your attention to detail you no doubt exercise in painting will come in hand with troubleshooting technical issues. The recipricol benefits of studying what you're learning and learning what you study through theory and practice will help you grow faster if applied meaningfully, however do you have a back-up plan if the temp job doesn't pan out? Dealing with people on the phone can be stressful and repetitive, compounded if you're not familiar with the technology and company's operations. Sure you'll get training, just don't expect everything to fall right into place.

ps.89

I see a lot of benefits for taking the job, but first, the Cons:

Like NetworkNewb mentioned, if you're going to school to learn programming, technical support might only do very little for your programming career because you won't be doing any programming whatsoever as tech support. So when you eventually look for a programming job, tech support won't have much weight.

It also depends on your financial conditions. Are you single, live with your parents, and can afford the pay cut? Or do you have a kid to support?

Now the Pros:

If you want to eventually get into Network Security, tech support/desktop support/help desk, whatever you want to call it, is usually the first step to getting there for most people. Like most of the people here are saying: do it for the experience. If this is going to be your first help desk position, you'll learn a ton, especially if it's a smaller company. The reason is because with smaller companies, you'll have more opportunities to get your hands into different systems.

$13 sounds reasonable for a first IT job with no prior experience - you could probably find up to $15 if you continued to search. But this isn't a bad thing because you've got to start somewhere. There's a slim chance that you'd get hired at a corporate IT department paying $20-25/hr with no experience, although you might be doing the same work as the position that's asking for $13.

If you want to go into network or systems administration eventually, get your foot in the door now with any tech support position and get that experience. If you're concerned about pay, once you have some time under your belt (1 year), you can definitely get into a corporate-level IT department who pays much, much more.

MrGastelum

Thank you all for the responses. I've spoken to my enployer who is actually a buddy of mine who owns his own painting company and he said if it doesn't work out for me there that I'm more than welcome to go back to painting since I've been there for almost 2years. On another note I've been doing my own research and have found that most people who come out with a degree usually end up starting at help desk, and finding a job with no certs or diploma is "rare" to find,so I just got home from my final interview and I start on the 22nd

Once again thank you all for your responses you've all been a great help.

Sweece

Avoid all help desk roles if you really want to get into Network Security. Look for entry level roles as a Network Analyst or some at least a Network Administrator. It's so easy to get stuck in Help Desk for YEARS. I would avoid it at all costs my friend. It's very hard to break into the Security field with only IT Support experience.

NetworkNewb

Sweece wrote: »

I would avoid it at all costs my friend. It's very hard to break into the Security field with only IT Support experience.

Yea, I heard it is easier to break into the security field with a background as a painter... Great logic

I came from working at help desk for a couple of years and now work in security. It is easy for anyone to get stuck in any position if the person doesn't work on improving themselves and look for opportunities to grow. And from my experience alot of people don't work hard on improving themselves in IT.

What is stopping him for getting some network certs and than look for Network Analyst positions if that is route he wanted to go? I guarantee having some IT experience will look a lot better than having zero IT experience when/if that time comes.

Ryan9764

Congrats man!!! I can't even find a job, even with a degree in Network communications.

TheFORCE

NetworkNewb wrote: »

Yea, I heard it is easier to break into the security field with a background as a painter... Great logic I came from working at help desk for a couple of years and now work in security. It is easy for anyone to get stuck in any position if the person doesn't work on improving themselves and look for opportunities to grow. And from my experience alot of people don't work hard on improving themselves in IT.

What is stopping him for getting some network certs and than look for Network Analyst positions if that is route he wanted to go? I guarantee having some IT experience will look a lot better than having zero IT experience when/if that time comes.

I agree with this. I started as desktop support/ helpdesk and now i work in security. Any IT experience is better than any non-IT experience.

NetworkingStudent

NetworkNewb wrote: »

Yea, I heard it is easier to break into the security field with a background as a painter... Great logic I came from working at help desk for a couple of years and now work in security. It is easy for anyone to get stuck in any position if the person doesn't work on improving themselves and look for opportunities to grow. And from my experience alot of people don't work hard on improving themselves in IT.

What is stopping him for getting some network certs and than look for Network Analyst positions if that is route he wanted to go? I guarantee having some IT experience will look a lot better than having zero IT experience when/if that time comes.

Ryan are getting any interviews?

Ryan9764

NetworkingStudent wrote: »

Ryan are getting any interviews?

Sometimes but this was like 2 years ago. The VA is helping me find a job. They sending me to a tech school to get some certs and after I finish my school and get all the certs that the program offer, they going help me find a job. I really suck at interviews. I get nervous. I even practice before an interview but when they asking me question, I just have a brain freeze or blackout and don't remember ****.

ps.89

Ryan9764 wrote: »

Congrats man!!! I can't even find a job, even with a degree in Network communications.

What type of job are you looking for? Help Desk or straight into networking? With a degree in Networking, it wouldn't be too hard to find a help desk position at a small company just to get your foot in the door. Many smaller companies will hire you with no IT experience, although they might list IT experience as a requirement. Help desk duties aren't really hard to learn. How to reset a password/unlock an account in Active Directory, how to assign an Office365 license, how to add a user to a distribution group, etc. It's all scripted and can be learned in a week. For actual computer troubleshooting, most user's issues are really simple and answers can be found on Google. I think if you can convey that you're really passionate about getting into IT and are actively trying to better yourself with school or certs, you can definitely get a level 1 tech support position.

ps.89

TheFORCE wrote: »

I agree with this. I started as desktop support/ helpdesk and now i work in security. Any IT experience is better than any non-IT experience.

If you don't mind me asking, what were some of the factors that helped you get into security?

MrGastelum

So after some research I've found that Kroger is #17 on the Fortune 500, that being said them using a temp agency means the agency makes money off the people they get hired on right ? Because the temp agency is offering $13/hr but possibility to get hired on directly is definitely something they look for. So assuming someone gets hired on directly what kind of pay would that be ?

TheFORCE

ps.89 wrote: »

If you don't mind me asking, what were some of the factors that helped you get into security?

I stayed at the Helpdesk role for 2-3 years, it was my first job out of college working for a big corporation. I showed the managers that i can handle responsibilities and worked over time, weekends too. When a role opened up in their security team, i made my intentions known that i had out grown the Helpdesk role and that I could offer more in the other role. So I was promoted and transitioned into the team within 2 months. If you want something you have to let the internal people know and key your eyes open to internal job postings. Companies will post new positions internally first and if they cant fill them then will post them externally. This was 10 years ago, but the same applies now. My last company the Helpdesk and Security were in the same office area, 2 years after I left, they promoted a Helpdesk person to security engineer.

BerkshireHerd

I stated at Level 2 spent a year there and got in as a Security Analyst, spent a little over 2 years doing that and now I am in a Identity and Access management role. This coming from a marketing job.

It can be done my friends.