My new job is not what I expected...

I thought I would be working help desk, but this is definitely not a help desk job. I think it's more networking. I get tickets assigned to me and I have to go out and analyze and evaluate the problems. I actually got the internet up and running again after it went out for a small building.. about 20 people. I do a lot of tracing cables, making ports live and troubleshooting a host of problems. I spend a good amount of time in IDF roons. I'm so busy I don't even have time to take a lunch on some days, but I don't mind cause I want to absorb any and everything I can.

What type of job would you say I have after reading the description I just gave?..and what should be next career move or step? Also, I have my Bachelors in I.T. Management, but no certs just yet.

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pinkydapimp

New2ITinCali wrote: »

I thought I would be working help desk, but this is definitely not a help desk job. I think it's more networking. I get tickets assigned to me and I have to go out and analyze and evaluate the problems. I actually got the internet up and running again after it went out for a small building.. about 20 people. I do a lot of tracing cables, making ports live and troubleshooting a host of problems. I spend a good amount of time in IDF roons. I'm so busy I don't even have time to take a lunch on some days, but I don't mind cause I want to absorb any and everything I can.

What type of job would you say I have after reading the description I just gave?..and what should be next career move or step? Also, I have my Bachelors in I.T. Management, but no certs just yet.

Congrats. Be happy you are getting that exposure in a help desk role. Many people dont get that opportunity. Learn everything you can. Get some certs. And in a year re-evaluate where you are and where you want to be.

srabiee

Did they misrepresent the job description/duties or something during the interview?

New2ITinCali

srabiee wrote: »

Did they misrepresent the job description/duties or something during the interview?

No, I just thought it was Help Desk because in the job description it states help desk and it's entry-level. Maybe I was just under the assumption it was because of it's entry-level.

pinkydapimp

New2ITinCali wrote: »

No, I just thought it was Help Desk because in the job description it states help desk and it's entry-level. Maybe I was just under the assumption it was because of it's entry-level.

TBH job descriptions mean nothing. Helpdesk in one place can be totally different to help desk in another. i know folks who do app support and its entry level. I know others who get paid $120k doing app support.

gbdavidx

sounds like a network techinican/admin role - we would need more information on what you do on a day to day bases level - sounds better then "help desk" or hell desk - help desk is more resetting passwords - troubleshooting printers, mapping drives, ms office help desk tickets and escalations

N2IT

This is your classic field technician role. Some networking, some servers, some desktops, some whatever is asked. However from what you described more of a networking lean.

I wouldn't worry about certifications at this point in time, keep sucking up all that experiencing you are getting and besides good for you to get the IT Management degree. That is a big one to have. Honestly you are in a good place from what I can tell. Keep it up and once you start to refine your likes and dislikes then make a decision if a certification can help or not.

Aimlessly grabbing certifications is a complete waste of time and money IMO.

E.G.

You find out you want to be a manager, certifications at this point don't make a lot of sense, but a Masters however might.
You find out you like networking, then maybe a Juniper Certification for an example might make sense.
You find out you like Windows Server, then the MCSE might make sense.

Good luck and congratz you jumped over help desk that can be a good thing.

cyberguypr

Agree, titles mean different things to everyone. I gotta say, everywhere I've worked IDF cabling, port activation, and other lower level tasks fall under the help desk/desktop team, never under the network guys. Is that all you do? No other tasks? What did the job description said? If you can provide more details we could try to assemble the puzzle.

New2ITinCali

cyberguypr wrote: »

Agree, titles mean different things to everyone. I gotta say, everywhere I've worked IDF cabling, port activation, and other lower level tasks fall under the help desk/desktop team, never under the network guys. Is that all you do? No other tasks? What did the job description said? If you can provide more details we could try to assemble the puzzle.

I honestly do everything including, troubleshooting printers, password resets, configuring laptops (BIOS, antispyware, setting up employees into our domain,etc.) , but I spend the majority of my time tracing cables, installing drivers so the computer can communicate with the access points, making drops/ports live and basically evaluating if I need to escalate the problem up to the Network Engineer, who is the next step up from me. Here is a little from the job description:
- Identify problem sources to resolve software and hardware malfunctions/ failures.
- Documents problems relating to sotware and hardware.
- Troubleshoot and resolve desktop issues.
- Provide specialized user support services including the timely diagnosis of problems.

gbdavidx

cyberguypr wrote: »

Agree, titles mean different things to everyone. I gotta say, everywhere I've worked IDF cabling, port activation, and other lower level tasks fall under the help desk/desktop team, never under the network guys. Is that all you do? No other tasks? What did the job description said? If you can provide more details we could try to assemble the puzzle.

your right - at my hospital i believe our data center or computer ops position pays less then help desk (computer operator) not sure why even though it seems more difficult to get into

New2ITinCali

pinkydapimp wrote: »

Congrats. Be happy you are getting that exposure in a help desk role. Many people dont get that opportunity. Learn everything you can. Get some certs. And in a year re-evaluate where you are and where you want to be.

Thanks and Yes, I'm very happy I got this opportunity. I think I just might do that! I'm also thinking about going back for a Masters.

New2ITinCali

gbdavidx wrote: »

sounds like a network techinican/admin role - we would need more information on what you do on a day to day bases level - sounds better then "help desk" or hell desk - help desk is more resetting passwords - troubleshooting printers, mapping drives, ms office help desk tickets and escalations

LOL, Why do you call it "hell desk"? I've never assigned tickets so I haven't actually worked the typical help desk job. I do feel like I'm more of a field technician cause I go out on calls everyday. I'm the first line of defense for basically everything. The Network Engineers are higher up and they work on projects all day. If I need assistance I call on one of them.