Use social media to your advantage. Definitely not a Helpdesk trait. I love that you can indulge your interests in weird cat memes as … I think I agree with cranky on this one, it's an important skill as one progresses in their career; but, probably not one which is learned at the helpdesk level. If there's no business value, IT is pointless. Managers and supervisors want to see what you’ve accomplished. You don’t need to quit your job search entirely, or even take a months-long hiatus, in order to give yourself a break from job searching.Even taking just a day off every now and then can recharge your batteries so you’ll feel ready to jump back in, refreshed and ready to go. If you’re a real go-getter, then you can add Linux to the mix. They simply don't have the breadth of knowledge and insight about the company to make those decisions.As the techs move up to team leads or sysadmins, they absolutely need to be taught this skill. Apply to Help Desk Analyst, IT Technician, Customer Service Representative and more! Document everything. Hell I pulled down damn near 60K on a help desk for several years. People who can't handle it just don't get taken seriously by their peers or their managers. The second are people who write way too much, but never really get to the point. Some in-demand fields today are mobile, networking, data security, cloud products, healthcare and advanced server hardware. Ubuntu is a fine choice. Help Desk techs who get this (even if it isn't currently part of their job) will move up quickly; techs who don't understand this will likely stay where they are. Maybe you can phrase it better, or get to the root of what I'm trying to say. Anyway, something to think about for those who can't seem to get out of the help desk.. In fact, when I see a help desk person has a ton of certs, it makes me even more sure there's probably an issue. Filter by location to see Help Desk Manager salaries in your area. Congratulations. What’s more important is your ability to stay calm under pressure, be sup… 47,164 Help Desk jobs available on Indeed.com. Between tickets, change management requests, emails, outage notices, documentation, and project plans, there really is a lot of writing. Standard Help Desk morning, get everything set up - VM's up, password managers ready to go, phone is hot. Cookies help us deliver our Services. You may also want to include a headline or summary statement that clearly communicates your goals and qualifications. This is particularly true on the help desk, where most customer touches are related to a fault or system failure. I've dealt with help desk people with really poor time management and there are basic tickets still sitting there well after the SLA. It's brilliantly simple and is great advice. The resulting 27 roles pay as much as $267,020 a year, and while we can't promise you'll never have to sit a desk and fill out a report, for the most part you won't be staring at … Can't get a job anywhere in IT, nothing at level one, help desk, just.. nothing. Office jobs are stifling and soul crushing in a way those jobs aren't. I was curious what web server you guys manage here" will be considered someone who is curious and they'll be willing to tell you more about what they know. For example, when a user has a question, the help desk technician must be able to diagnose the IT issue, identify a solution and then explain it to the user. Reddit communities reflect how varied, sprawling and ever-changing we are as a society, and as people. So frustrating to explain. If someone is having file server problems, and you then immediately send this ticket off to a sysadmin, you've done nothing but pass it along. You do get angry users, sure, but I haven't spoken to that many. No big deal, but he's not super savvy with tech and what should be 5 minute process is taking 35. Maybe even manage a help desk and make good money. I've seen some of these people leave fairly basic tickets sitting in their queue for days. What's the problem that needs to be solved for this business? Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Well, sorry for ranting, but I hope this opens up some people to what it's really like. Often times if something is concisely written and presented to upper management/your team as a plan, it'll have to be explain in different ways to different people. 2. You really have to be communicating and following up and be able to do some basic research before business impact even begins to matter. Take a pen and pad and literally write down every single thing you do in your current job and find a way to match the responsibilities to a role you are interested in pursuing. 13,935 Part Time Help Desk jobs available on Indeed.com. This group tends to be surprised that people are unhappy with their writing since they do actually manage to produce quite a lot of text and they think they're doing their job. Not understanding how to learn how to learn. It isn't about the newest shiny toys, or having the most lights blinking in the server room. They only care how it will either make the company more money or save money. Tell me about a time you went the extra mile. The help desk technician is the first stop for almost anyone that is having trouble with their IT assets, printers, laptops, desktops, email, passwords, printers, printers, printers (ok, you get the gist). The infamous IT Helpdesk Wheel of Responses (hat tip: reddit/ITdept) 1. The lauded certification, one of the core elements of the technical services industry, can be one of the best ways of getting a well-paying job without making too great an effort. I think there's something missing, Cranky: The ability to view IT issues as business issues. Been applying for more than 6 months and not a single interview. Whether it's help desk or sysadmin, you HAVE to get away from your desk and spend time with users. To meet the qualifications for upper-tier support jobs, it doesn’t hurt to specialize. I have done servicedesk work now for just under 10 years and I am finally movin to our companys server team (Been 3 years in this company). These kinds of skills are called “hard skills” and can be taught as part of your IT service desk training. The first are people who write the minimal amount possible. The help desk guy who goes around asking "how do I become a linux admin? No one likes angry people, and most service desk workers are less inclined to help someone that's called them a complete nincompoop (or stronger words to that effect). When writing your resume, be sure to reference the job description and highlight any skills, awards and certifications that match with the requirements. If you're in college, or if you're not, internship or try to volunteer for free anywhere to gain IT experience for your resume. 5,937 Level 1 Help Desk jobs available on Indeed.com. Learn about what they do and what their department does and then how all the departments make the business run. If you can’t fix it […] But when I was in helpdesk, I very quickly rose beyond it because when my boss (and his boss, the CTO) came to me with an issue, my first question was, "Okay, how is this affecting the business & how would you like to see it resolved / improved / worked on?" Reddit 101 The basics to help you get started Using Reddit Information to better understand Reddit Rules & Reporting Information on Reddit policies, reporting, copyright, and more 14. A help desk technician must have both hard and soft skills because the position requires a strong technical understanding as well as the ability to communicate clearly with others. I just finished a master's program whose slogan is "delivering business value through IT." Help Desk Support staff are responsible for offering technical assistance to customers on the phone or via email. Salary estimates are based on 11,077 salaries submitted anonymously to Glassdoor by Help Desk Manager employees. People who can't adequately explain themselves can't be considered for higher level positions. Knowing how to do this is critical. When interviewing I had to stop myself visibly cringing if a candidate immediately answered the CEO without giving it any thought. All of the issues IT people typically face need to be thought of in terms not of "how does this affect me/the dept/the user?" So after 1.5 years in a service desk and 1.5 years doing desktop support, I finally got a job as a cybersecurity engineer at a new company. Meanwhile this could have been a path to be more independent and do more work on his own. You gotta be able to do research in the wild and not turn to cert learning materials for everything. Job boards and recruiters aren't helping here. Job market is extremely rough. After six more months though, I'm starting to feel the drain. Few folks outside of IT care about the speeds and feeds of the new hardware or software you're proposing. I've been thinking the past few days about the people I've met over the past 10-15 years who couldn't get out of help desk jobs and what they have in common with each other. Job market is extremely rough. Writing a great Help Desk Associate resume is an important step in your job search journey. The site may not work properly if you don't, If you do not update your browser, we suggest you visit, Press J to jump to the feed. By Tyler Regas . There are certain skills that you will need to have if you want to be a successful IT service desk agent. Yes you can stay help desk your entire career and do quite well. If you have an office job where you sit hunched over a desk, clicking away at a computer most of the day, you need to take steps – literally – to reduce your sedentary habits. Can't get a job anywhere in IT, nothing at level one, help desk, just.. nothing. Your job is to take a business problem and apply a technical solution. 797 No Experience Front Desk jobs available on Indeed.com. 100% correct. Not based on what an article in a trade magazine says; rather, what does the business need to do (or need to do better, faster, cheaper) that technology can implement? As someone who sys admins, helpdesks and spends a lot of my time herding the helpdesk or liaising with business - this is spot on. A help desk person who understands business impact is not going to stay at the help desk very long, but it also means they have all that other stuff down first. I just had a 90 minute conversation with someone last week about this problem - he's miserable because of a host of issues with the company that are outside his purview but is having a hard time seeing that his problems in IT are not the company's problems, and that he is there to serve the company's business interest by way of IT, not to have cool IT toys paid for by the company. Communication in written form is more important than most people know. But instead of rolling with this and using it as an opportunity to actually SSH into switches and look at settings, he gets pissed off he doesn't have full admin access. And, just like a bartender, you need to be friendly while you listen. Help desk staff, especially Tier 1 workers, need to be able to deal with unhappy people and diffuse difficult situations. how do I do it too? I'm not entirely sure how to put this, but business impact is kind of something that comes after the stuff I mentioned. You guys seem to have such a cool job? Somehow he can't grasp how to research this alone which wouldn't take that long and feels like he has to get an entire Windows cert to learn about it. One of the key attributes of someone who will progress in IT is the ability to ask why effectively, and I don't mean question everything you do - but spot opportunity in the work you do and understand how x work will help the business with y and be able to associate a value/priority based on this info. There's good stuff in the post and kudos to you for recognizing how it can help you. Sixty-one percent of workers in non-desk jobs said they have felt burned out at work compared to 57 percent of workers in desk jobs. Workers in desk and non-desk jobs were equally likely to experience high stress levels at work (30 percent and 29 percent, respectively), but workers in non-desk jobs had a somewhat higher tendency toward burnout. Oh and your soul will be crushed when applying online and having to tick a box with how much related experience you have - if its 0, your resume goes to the trash. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. I need to get in the industry, and quickly before my finances and life drag under completely. Apply to Help Desk Analyst, IT Technician, Receptionist and more! Here are some tips from the helpdesk experts on Reddit that can get you headed towards that first raise and promotion. Far, far too many techs do not understand this and get hung up on the right "IT" way to do things or whatever else. The odd hours, always on call, and customer's poor attitudes don't help, but where I am there isn't really a way … The advice a lot of people on here seem to dole out to each other is "get more certs" but that's rarely the issue. Can’t Find a Job? What they're up to is anyone's guess. Apply to Front Desk Agent, Scheduling Coordinator, Administrative Assistant and more! Looks like you're using new Reddit on an old browser. I was learning new things, and had new responsibilities. Get training. Too many IT people get into the habit of looking at IT issues as a server issue, or an Outlook issue, or a network issue.