DatabaseHead wrote: » +1 si20 I've seen it destroy some really good people. Had a buddy years ago who went through A+, N+ and even a few other certifications. Was on a mission to get off the desk and something happen. 10 years later he is still on it and now he has been typecasted as service management..........
Phalanx wrote: » Pick the area you want to go into first, then work to get off it. If you're after sysadmin, the natural progression is 2nd line and upwards. If you want management, then Helpdesk Team Leader or Manager is a spot to look at. If you want to move to desktop support, you're looking at becoming a field engineer or whatever, depending on the role/business.
si20 wrote: » That's what happened with the guy in my post (he doesn't have certs though). But he could script, use powershell, servers, AD etc and he's stuck answering 40+ calls per day. What people don't realise about service desk roles is that as the agent on the phone, you're being monitored - and rated by internal members of staff. If you say one word out of place, you're picked up on and management will find out. Calls are supposed to be as short as possible - if you go over 10 minutes per call, you get told off by management. Sounds ridiculous doesn't it, "told off" like a child - but it's true. Hellish environment, perhaps worse than many SOCs i've worked in. Again OP:get out as soon as possible and chalk it up to experience. The guy I knew who had been stuck on a service desk for 10 years is stuck there for life because he didn't study up whilst on the desk and after 10 years in various service desk jobs, he had learned one tool and one tool only: remedy. Yeah.....nuff said. Best of luck!
NetworkingStudent wrote: » Yes this!!!!!!!!!!!!! i need to leave the help desk. I feel like I'm five years old. We sign on/in on our Shortel phones. Also, we sign on a sheet of paper too saying we are here and we mark the time. We are constantly being monitored, but it’s not as bad as other places. Mostly if the calls go over an hour then people get worried. It’s really silly though, because there is a KB for everything. In fact, there is a KB to deal with angry callers. Ha What’s crazy is when you need to go home and you're on a call, then you need to get a script from a lead and then read that script off to the customer. It’s sad they won’t give us the script, because they think we will abuse it. Another funny thing happened today. I talked to one of my leads and he said he wanted to put next steps into the ticket. This was for tickets I didn’t resolve. I said ok I can do that. Is everyone going to do this? He said “yes” I said “ok great!!...We have 300-400 agents, can we send an email out so they know to do this…crickets..crickets..” Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want my next job to be desktop support. If it’s not desktop support, then I want it to involve Active Directory, so I can move closer to a dev ops or system admin role.
technogoat wrote: » having problems finding a gig in networking since most jobs require experience already
NetworkNewb wrote: » Try to find things you can do in current position that would be related to networking. (might take a little effort to search out and create tasks that are networking related) Put that on your resume. BOOM, now you have experience.
si20 wrote: » Everyone has got this covered. I recently ended up in a service desk role (was lied to ...or shall we say "not told the whole truth" on the interview for the role). It can literally destroy your career if you stay there too long.Picture this. I finished university with a First class degree and was getting anywhere from 5-10 calls PER DAY for different IT roles. After working on the service desk, I was getting ZERO calls per day. In a short space of time, i'd gone from being a hot prospect, to a "ticket/telephone monkey". My love of IT was almost dead, I was taking 40+ calls per day from angry customers. I was actually depressed for a while. There was a guy on the desk who I got along GREAT with. We were best friends - until I told him I was leaving. It turns out he was a "lifer". He used to be somewhat technical, but ended up being stuck in service desk jobs. He had been unable to get a job that didn't involve being stuck on a desk taking calls. He got jealous, turned on me, reported me to the manager - basically made my life hell because he was jealous I was moving on. Sadly, those kinds of personalities really come out in roles like this. Backstabbing, bitchy people who are competing with each other. There is no "team" in a service desk, it's every man for himself. In short: get off the desk as soon as you possibly can. It's the career dustbin - i'm not saying this out of spite, i'm saying this from personal experience. The second recruiters saw I worked on a service desk, they didn't even respond to my CV. I was lucky and due to prior experience, got out. If you stay in this kind of role for 1 year+, it's going to be an uphill battle. So, how do you get off the desk? As everyone says: study and specialise in something. Forget the rest of your colleagues: study. Get a book at lunchtime and read it. Work at home. Take courses and work your butt off. That is the only way out, unless you've got good contacts in a more technical role. Good luck.
DatabaseHead wrote: » Like a lot of others I found out the hard way there is no easy button. Certs didn't get me off the desk or education. I finally had to button down my tail and specialize in something. Once I committed fully to that it was easy street. It was a long journey, but what was even more distracting was coming here and trying to find the magic potion. Here are some questions that will derail you and you just have to tune them out.What if I am not good enough / Never will be the best or the worst What if the technology goes away / IT WONT I don't have the time / Then rot on the desk My family comes first / So then does poverty And the list goes on and on.
Panther wrote: » That's me right now. It's kind of crazy. 10min to handle a call, 2min to wrap/write it all up, nicely. What's a SOC?
si20 wrote: » Everyone has got this covered. I recently ended up in a service desk role (was lied to ...or shall we say "not told the whole truth" on the interview for the role). It can literally destroy your career if you stay there too long. Picture this. I finished university with a First class degree and was getting anywhere from 5-10 calls PER DAY for different IT roles. After working on the service desk, I was getting ZERO calls per day. In a short space of time, i'd gone from being a hot prospect, to a "ticket/telephone monkey". My love of IT was almost dead, I was taking 40+ calls per day from angry customers. I was actually depressed for a while. There was a guy on the desk who I got along GREAT with. We were best friends - until I told him I was leaving. It turns out he was a "lifer". He used to be somewhat technical, but ended up being stuck in service desk jobs. He had been unable to get a job that didn't involve being stuck on a desk taking calls. He got jealous, turned on me, reported me to the manager - basically made my life hell because he was jealous I was moving on. Sadly, those kinds of personalities really come out in roles like this. Backstabbing, bitchy people who are competing with each other. There is no "team" in a service desk, it's every man for himself. In short: get off the desk as soon as you possibly can. It's the career dustbin - i'm not saying this out of spite, i'm saying this from personal experience. The second recruiters saw I worked on a service desk, they didn't even respond to my CV. I was lucky and due to prior experience, got out. If you stay in this kind of role for 1 year+, it's going to be an uphill battle. So, how do you get off the desk? As everyone says: study and specialise in something. Forget the rest of your colleagues: study. Get a book at lunchtime and read it. Work at home. Take courses and work your butt off. That is the only way out, unless you've got good contacts in a more technical role. Good luck.
