Getting my foot in the door, IT Help Desk

[Ruby Roundhouse]

If there is anyone here in the IT Industry that can provide some advice, I would be appreciative.

I have been looking to get into IT for some time now and was wondering if doing courses online at Coursera etc will be helpful? What areas should I be learning first, Linux, Windows server etc?

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www.coursera.org

 

[The Lounge Lizard]

I started with Fortran 77 programming language back in 1989 at what is now the University of Technology Sydney.

Did me no good as I was doing an applied chemistry degree.

 

[Parra]

You getting any traction with this one @Ruby Roundhouse? What sort of team do you see yourself being part of? A lot of help desk work is really about customer service first, IT second. This does depend on the organisation, the customers (internal? external?) and the solutions they use. Could be user support (eg How do I do this?) as opposed to tech stuff (eg stuff needs fixing). The experience you need and how you pitch yourself will depend on these sorts of factors.

 

[Ruby Roundhouse]

You getting any traction with this one @Ruby Roundhouse? What sort of team do you see yourself being part of? A lot of help desk work is really about customer service first, IT second. This does depend on the organisation, the customers (internal? external?) and the solutions they use. Could be user support (eg How do I do this?) as opposed to tech stuff (eg stuff needs fixing). The experience you need and how you pitch yourself will depend on these sorts of factors.

Hey I applied for a coding internship as well.

I have worked 20 plus years freight side logistics, a fair chunk was customer service. I just want my foot in the door in IT.

 

[Ruby Roundhouse]

@Parra

Yesterday I learned how to create a server on a virtualbox, domain controller, users in Active Directory, installed 2016 server and win 10 on a user, scripts for passwords etc

I'm really having a lot of fun with this, today I will be doing more AD but I got a couple of girlfriends coming over for mardi gras, however I want to study and learn more.

 

[Parra]

@Parra

Yesterday I learned how to create a server on a virtualbox, domain controller, users in Active Directory, installed 2016 server and win 10 on a user, scripts for passwords etc

I'm really having a lot of fun with this, today I will be doing more AD but I got a couple of girlfriends coming over for mardi gras, however I want to study and learn more.

Love your enthusiasm.

 

[Mr Angry]

It helpdesk is about customer service, you need to know how to log the job, various hd system, but you need to learn who can fix the problem at whatever place you are at. Most calls are peeps doing something wrong, bigger problems you need to know the person who actually knows the system.

For me for the longest time only get calls when more than 50 have an issue, rate thing.

 

[Ruby Roundhouse]

It helpdesk is about customer service, you need to know how to log the job, various hd system, but you need to learn who can fix the problem at whatever place you are at. Most calls are peeps doing something wrong, bigger problems you need to know the person who actually knows the system.

For me for the longest time only get calls when more than 50 have an issue, rate thing.

I'm going to learn ticketing systems (starting with alemba vfire) too. My friend gave me a laptop with unix on it, I'm going to learn about that OS and then have that as the domain controller, get another two cheap laptops to simulate real world situations like controlling them remotely.

When I'm ready, can I send a couple of you guys my resume privately and can you give me some feedback?

My previous industry had customer service roles in it for over 20 years.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Do you love thick people who can’t follow basic instructions and software with persistent issues that devs never seem to fix? Then you’ll love the help desk.

 

[Ruby Roundhouse]

Do you love thick people who can’t follow basic instructions and software with persistent issues that devs never seem to fix? Then you’ll love the help desk.

have you tried turning it on and off again?

look it's just to get my foot in the door and work my way up the tiers then do further study for a better career

 

[Incorrect]

It sounds like you already have as much, if not more, insights than most first level help desk staff. If you're building VM's and playing around with AD, you may as well apply for a role now.

 

[Ruby Roundhouse]

It sounds like you already have as much, if not more, insights than most first level help desk staff. If you're building VM's and playing around with AD, you may as well apply for a role now.

really? I got a laptop with Ubuntu I'm trying to learn that OS and I have not touched on Networking yet either

I feel like I don't know anything

 

[Dogs Of War]

If you know your basic way around computers and have a bit of common sense, I think just apply and you will get in the door pretty quickly at a SD level where really you just learn on the job.

And really from there, it's just about focusing on what you want to do next and trying to build relationships with those teams and get ideas of what you need to learn. No point learning a bunch of stuff that will end up having no relevance to your role.

 

[Parra]

If you are interested in linux and networking the help desk may not be the place to target. Help desk is often user-land problem solving. So understanding what they are trying to do and the applications they are using. With your interests have you considered Azure or AWS certifications?

 

[Dogs Of War]

If you are interested in linux and networking the help desk may not be the place to target. Help desk is often user-land problem solving. So understanding what they are trying to do and the applications they are using. With your interests have you considered Azure or AWS certifications?

SD is a good place to start even if you only do 6mths. Gives you a good idea of how organisations are put together, what they are supporting in each area. Ideas for what you need qualification wise.

And then maybe you can do something like I said to my brother, just focus on the next 3 years of learning as much as you can in a role, and once you believe there isn't that much more to learn in a company, look for the next experience. So really your looking to cycle roles every 6-9mths. At that point you would have expected to gained exposure to a lot of different platforms, environments and company structures.

Also the big company vs small company. Small companies are great to start out in, cause it's likely they will want you to wear multiple hats and you will learn quicker, while big companies are better for long term cause you will just do your role and you can focus on learning that element inside out.

 

[Ruby Roundhouse]

If you are interested in linux and networking the help desk may not be the place to target. Help desk is often user-land problem solving. So understanding what they are trying to do and the applications they are using. With your interests have you considered Azure or AWS certifications?

Trying to get a wide variety of knowledge, but I am installing windows server on the laptop then I will spend time managing everything via my desktop remotely as well learning spiceworks ticketing system. I need to have good windows/365 knowledge as I'm guessing most of the tech support is based around that.

I applied for one job already, my friends say I'm ready but I just don't feel ready.

 

[The Lounge Lizard]

All this is over my head.

Best of luck in your pursuits Ruby.

 

[Dogs Of War]

Trying to get a wide variety of knowledge, but I am installing windows server on the laptop then I will spend time managing everything via my desktop remotely as well learning spiceworks ticketing system. I need to have good windows/365 knowledge as I'm guessing most of the tech support is based around that.

I applied for one job already, my friends say I'm ready but I just don't feel ready.

You never feel ready. But really the first 6 weeks is about learning on the job how they expect you to do things, and you seeing how that works in practice, it's not always the best way, but you can't change the system unless you understand why they do things they way they do. Hopefully, at that point you also start to feel comfortable in whatever the duties are. And you also get to see what your weaknesses are and can spend time ensuring you get better at those areas.

And I'm giving it to you from someone who changed to IT at a later stage. One of the best things is that you have life experience, and that makes all the difference in a lot of roles. You can understand the end user a little more, have diplomacy skills which I find lacking in a lot of IT support roles.

Personally I ended up doing Major Incident Management/Problem Management, but that's cause I hated studying, and things like Networking etc seem to what you to be forever studying. My life skills and big mouth suit that role well, and you get to work on everything in an organisation operations wise. ITIL is a good thing to learn just so you understand how things are supposed to work in an organisation.

Last time I was running a team, I really was looking to hire those that had done other things in life outside of IT. I found those people the best to have as they understood how things fit together much better for the end user and work wise, knew that IT was a pretty cushy job compared to other things you could be doing to earn a living.

 

[Ruby Roundhouse]

You never feel ready. But really the first 6 weeks is about learning on the job how they expect you to do things, and you seeing how that works in practice, it's not always the best way, but you can't change the system unless you understand why they do things they way they do. Hopefully, at that point you also start to feel comfortable in whatever the duties are. And you also get to see what your weaknesses are and can spend time ensuring you get better at those areas.

And I'm giving it to you from someone who changed to IT at a later stage. One of the best things is that you have life experience, and that makes all the difference in a lot of roles. You can understand the end user a little more, have diplomacy skills which I find lacking in a lot of IT support roles.

Personally I ended up doing Major Incident Management/Problem Management, but that's cause I hated studying, and things like Networking etc seem to what you to be forever studying. My life skills and big mouth suit that role well, and you get to work on everything in an organisation operations wise. ITIL is a good thing to learn just so you understand how things are supposed to work in an organisation.

Last time I was running a team, I really was looking to hire those that had done other things in life outside of IT. I found those people the best to have as they understood how things fit together much better for the end user and work wise, knew that IT was a pretty cushy job compared to other things you could be doing to earn a living.

Thank you for the heads up. I have 20 + years exp in freight side logistics, including customer service and key client service.

I was doing temping prior to covid as I was travelling a fair bit, so then when covid hit there was no work. The industry has changed so much and it's changing for the worse.

My passion has always been IT related work, so no better time.

 

[Ruby Roundhouse]

I started applying for jobs and reached out to a recruiter, Clicks

learning C and reading the cisco ccna exam book to get some general knowledge of programming and networking