How marketable am I?

I have 5 1/2 months of experience providing warranty support for dell precision workstations. I troubleshoot the hardware with limited support for the operating system. We only support the client systems such as Vista XP and 7 and no linux at all. We provide 15 minute best effort support for out of scope issues but after that we usually have them reinstall the OS (even thought I try to avoid an osri at all costs).

Anyway, my point is my troubleshooting experience is mostly computer hardware and a possibility of moving to the dell server department and supporting dell poweredge servers even thought it would still be hardware. I'm just wondering how valuable this experience would be after a year or so. Do you think I would be able to move to a desktop support position after 1 or 2 years or do you think I would need experience with active directory or something? Should I try looking for a basic helpdesk job after a year that will give me experience with things like active directory?
How important is active directory and do you think with a combination of hardware troubleshooting experience and personal knowledge of linux from running it at home that I could maybe get some sort of desktop job involving linux after a year or so? By the way I am going to WGU and will eventually have a microsoft certification for server 2008 if that would help at all.

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Comments

lsud00d

The sooner you move to Help Desk, the sooner you move out of Help Desk.

SouthSeaPirate

Looking at your credentials, you should have no problem getting into helpdesk. Why not try while your still working for Dell.

Akaricloud

If I were you, I'd look at moving into Desktop Support now. You have enough hardware experience for it and it'll give you great exposure to client operating systems in depth.

W Stewart

Akaricloud wrote: »

If I were you, I'd look at moving into Desktop Support now. You have enough hardware experience for it and it'll give you great exposure to client operating systems in depth.

Do you really think I'd be able to get into a desktop support job? I've also been looking at relocating as well once I have a little more experience.

W Stewart

One more thing. We do have another department called pro support that supports everything from hardware to software on a system. It's just a more expensive warranty. They remove viruses support outlook and any third party software that the customer might have. They have people working overtime in that department right now due to being short staffed and I could always move into that department as well. I was just wondering how valuable that server experience would be since they touch a lot of server technologies. Just not the software.

SouthSeaPirate

Sounds like desktop support to me. I say try for Helpdesk positions in your area and try for the Pro Support. I say your ready without a doubt.

N2IT

Another for deskside/top support. You are on the phones as well so you can leverage that for help desk. You have some options.

Slowhand

With your experience and certs, I'd say you definitely have the hardware and networking aspects of helpdesk/desktop support down cold. What I would do in your situation, pick up the study-material for the Windows 7 exam and start studying. While you're working on that, start applying for other jobs in your area, you'll be surprised how marketable you just might be. If you're seeing a lot of job-descriptions asking for Mac or Linux knowledge, then getting some practice in with either/both of those might not be a bad idea either.

ptilsen

W Stewart wrote: »

Do you really think I'd be able to get into a desktop support job? I've also been looking at relocating as well once I have a little more experience.

A+,Net+, and CCENT? I'd hire you for a level one DST-type position if I had an opening. As long as you interviewed well. We've hired people with less experience and no certifications (but 4-year degrees) for the same position.

That said, don't get too cocky. Helpdesk is good enough. Go for both and get what you can. You have six months of hardware experience, which proves you can at least fix computers and you didn't just braindump entry-level certs. That's good enough to get started, but you have to get out of there. Your experience in that position isn't going to get more valuable by staying there long. In fact, it will get less value as you are in that position over a year because it could be interpreted as lack of ambition.

Moving to other positions you described would be good. Just don't get stuck where you are.

SouthSeaPirate

ptilsen wrote: »

A+,Net+, and CCENT? I'd hire you for a level one DST-type position if I had an opening. As long as you interviewed well. We've hired people with less experience and no certifications (but 4-year degrees) for the same position.

That said, don't get too cocky. Helpdesk is good enough. Go for both and get what you can. You have six months of hardware experience, which proves you can at least fix computers and you didn't just braindump entry-level certs. That's good enough to get started, but you have to get out of there. Your experience in that position isn't going to get more valuable by staying there long. In fact, it will get less value as you are in that position over a year because it could be interpreted as lack of ambition.

Moving to other positions you described would be good. Just don't get stuck where you are.

And once again, couldn't have said it any better myself. I notice a lot of people usually move on to something better between 6 months to about a year and a half. But that's helpdesk. OP That's the stepping stone you need to get to. You are very qualified, now go and market yourself.

W Stewart

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I think I definitely need to start marketing myself again to get into a better position.

W Stewart

Another thing. Most of the jobs I see require at least a year of experience. Do you think I should apply for those jobs as well?

ptilsen

Absolutely.

SouthSeaPirate

W Stewart wrote: »

Another thing. Most of the jobs I see require at least a year of experience. Do you think I should apply for those jobs as well?

I say, half the time if not more, ignore qualifications. If you think you can do the job, be honest, go for it! Without a doubt, you won’t find a single posting that doesn’t say 'must have X years experience.' Worst that can happen is the resume gets passed. And let me assure you, yours will not be the worst they see. You won’t be wasting anyone’s time by trying. You couldn't imagine the applicants I had applying for a tech position.

W Stewart

SouthSeaPirate wrote: »

I say, half the time if not more, ignore qualifications. If you think you can do the job, be honest, go for it! Without a doubt, you won’t find a single posting that doesn’t say 'must have X years experience.' Worst that can happen is the resume gets passed. And let me assure you, yours will not be the worst they see. You won’t be wasting anyone’s time by trying. You couldn't imagine the applicants I had applying for a tech position.

Good point. And I should try to avoid taking a pay cut right?

ptilsen

Pay cuts are almost never worth it. Unless you are truly overpaid and truly stuck, a pay cut doesn't make any sense.

Slowhand

W Stewart wrote: »

Another thing. Most of the jobs I see require at least a year of experience. Do you think I should apply for those jobs as well?

Often times, job-listings are more of a wish-list than anything else. As SouthSeaPirate said, if you think you can do the job then apply. Every job I've held in IT has "required" a Bachelor's degree, and I don't even have an Associate's yet. My roommate had no experience at all and he was hired by a large corporation for a desktop support job that "required" 1 - 3 years of experience.

W Stewart wrote: »

And I should try to avoid taking a pay cut right?

It's an odd thing, but how much you're paid matters in more ways than just how much of a budget you have. As was the case for some of my other colleagues, I found that I had trouble getting my foot in the door back in the early days of my career. I wasn't particularly well-paid, even when I was just a PC-tech, and I just assumed that it was that I lacked experience. As I moved up the ladder, though, there was still a bit of resistance when I applied for some jobs for which I was perfectly qualified. Then, during my time as a sysadmin for an MSP in my area, I was told by one of my bosses, "You know, we almost didn't hire you. You weren't being paid very much by your last place, so we didn't really have high hopes that you would be at the level we needed you."

Suffice it to say, it came as a shock to me. My prior position had been no less difficult and involved no less responsibility, but I had been paid significantly less. Apparently, (and I checked with a few other managers at other companies to confirm this,) it wasn't an unusual thought-process: if you're being paid well, you must be good. Apparently, the converse was also true. It sounds like a really unfair bias, but how much you're paid can affect your ability to get hired elsewhere, people with competitive, (or bigger,) existing salaries may be taken more seriously or be considered more qualified by default. (Although, I suppose this could explain why there are people who don't know a server from their own butt, are working high-paid tech jobs, and never seem to get fired.

)

Never take a step backwards unless you're out of work and out of options. Look at what you're being paid now, do some research into how much the kinds of jobs you're applying for currently pay, and go from there. Since you're already working, you don't have to feel as pressured to accept lower pay than you're worth, and you're certainly in a better position to ask for a competitive salary than someone who is unemployed, (another bias, all to itself.)

W Stewart

Slowhand wrote: »

Often times, job-listings are more of a wish-list than anything else. As SouthSeaPirate said, if you think you can do the job then apply. Every job I've held in IT has "required" a Bachelor's degree, and I don't even have an Associate's yet. My roommate had no experience at all and he was hired by a large corporation for a desktop support job that "required" 1 - 3 years of experience.

It's an odd thing, but how much you're paid matters in more ways than just how much of a budget you have. As was the case for some of my other colleagues, I found that I had trouble getting my foot in the door back in the early days of my career. I wasn't particularly well-paid, even when I was just a PC-tech, and I just assumed that it was that I lacked experience. As I moved up the ladder, though, there was still a bit of resistance when I applied for some jobs for which I was perfectly qualified. Then, during my time as a sysadmin for an MSP in my area, I was told by one of my bosses, "You know, we almost didn't hire you. You weren't being paid very much by your last place, so we didn't really have high hopes that you would be at the level we needed you."

Suffice it to say, it came as a shock to me. My prior position had been no less difficult and involved no less responsibility, but I had been paid significantly less. Apparently, (and I checked with a few other managers at other companies to confirm this,) it wasn't an unusual thought-process: if you're being paid well, you must be good. Apparently, the converse was also true. It sounds like a really unfair bias, but how much you're paid can affect your ability to get hired elsewhere, people with competitive, (or bigger,) existing salaries may be taken more seriously or be considered more qualified by default. (Although, I suppose this could explain why there are people who don't know a server from their own butt, are working high-paid tech jobs, and never seem to get fired. )

Never take a step backwards unless you're out of work and out of options. Look at what you're being paid now, do some research into how much the kinds of jobs you're applying for currently pay, and go from there. Since you're already working, you don't have to feel as pressured to accept lower pay than you're worth, and you're certainly in a better position to ask for a competitive salary than someone who is unemployed, (another bias, all to itself.)

You guys were right. I applied and it turned out I was marketable after all. I've moved on from basic computer troubleshooting to linux tech support with some sql and networking involved.

alxx

Congratulations!