Help Desk Techs -- Do you feel stuck?

C

COKE CAN

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 12, 2006
Messages
391
I know I do...

I live in Southern VA and currently have an AS in Network Security. I love the people I work with and make a decent sum of money. But I am not doing what I want to do. Network Tech/Engineer/Admin all seem to require 5+ years with a Bachelor's, or 7-8 with out a BS with similar experience.

Now, I am enrolled in school finishing my BS in Internetworking Technologies and plan to have my Net+, Sec+, and CCNA by the end of the year (BS should be done in 2 years). I just feel like what I am doing now, even with certs and working on BS, will not be enough experience.

I am looking at moving to NYC after I finish my BS, any input as to how the job market would welcome someone with a Secret, Net+, Sec+, CCNA, MCP, and a BS with 3-4 years of experience?
 
Yeah, southern VA is pretty stale when it comes to the IT market. My sister lives in southern VA and when she was applying for IT jobs, she only got calls back for helpdesk positions for a while. Finally she ended up getting a job for the govt doing sys admin after some persistence (she has top secret).

Also, if you don't have any actual experience in networking, you probably wouldn't be able to get a network engineering position. I would look at network technician, admin or a sys admin. Around where I live, northern VA/DC, I've seen plenty of network admin positions with around 3 years of experience as a requirement. In addition, your secret clearance would be handy up here in DC with all the government orgs... not so much in New York I would think (plus there's that "mysterious odor" lingering around Manhattan).
 
versello said:
(plus there's that "mysterious odor" lingering around Manhattan).
Click to expand...

Didn't you hear, they found out what the stink was... New Jersey.

I ended up having to get a job as a help desk tech, and prove myself through that for about 4 years, so when a position opened up, I was there to fill it.

Seems like that's the way it always works though, just checkout the Old Spice commercial about "it". Most people want someone that has proved thier competence at another place, or proved themselves at another job before giving them the controls.
 
The odor was a natural gas leak if I am not mistaken.

But yea, the contract I am currently on doesn't show any potential as we are on NMCIs network and well, I used to work that contract and they don't pay jack. Plus it was an hour long drive...

I guess we shall see where the road leads. I wouldn't mind moving to D.C. but the fiance doesn't want to.
 
DC is good but if your fiance doesn't like the idea of living in the DC metro area, try looking at Annapolis or the surrounding areas. Tech is decently hot there too with emphasis on government work. As an added bonus, living near Annapolis would allow easy access to DC, Silver Spring, and other hot areas. Look further north east at Aberdeen, MD as the area should be ramping up over the next few years to support the BRAC. (Base Re-Alignment and Closure.)

Or, if you don't mind south... look at NC.

But to answer the OP's question - I felt stuck when I was in that situation years ago. I felt stuck even once I finally moved into engineering. Unfortunately the only way to move up in many of these fly-by-night tech organizations is to leave. Also, remember to be confident yet honest with interviewers!
 
DC is the shizzlebomb! I've visited NY a few times, but I would never want to live there.

Have you tried looking at the resume thread? There is some useful information. I spent a lot of time studying others' resumes and crafting mine, which was able to land me a sys admin job after doing help desk for a year, and from there move up the chain to network engineer.
 
Coke Can,

Here's what I recommend... It's not a particularly short path, but it WILL get you there.

First, make sure you have A+. I know it may not really be that useful, but a lot of manufacturers certifications require it. Having your MCP in XP does not hurt either.

Sign up with a large, possibly multi-national, IT Services company that contracts it's services to large corporations to provide their IT support.

You are NOT after a Help-Desk position. You are after an on-site Service Engineer position. You are the guy the tickets come to when the Help Desk fails to resolve an issue. You are the guy that goes to the users desk and fixes the computer.

Once you get in, push like hell. Work harder than others. Ask more questions than others. Take more courses than others. Learn more than others. Don't be there just for the paycheck. Care about the customer and their needs. Understand the customers needs. Be professional with the customer.

Yes, you may move from company to company as your IT firm as their contracs start/finish. That is fine. They ALL help on the resume. You'll know you're being noticed/appreciated when:

1. The IT Services firm wants to keep you for the next contract.

or

2. The Company you were providing support to for the contract wants to hire you from the IT services firm when the contract ends.

or

3. The Company you were providing support to for the contract specifically asks the new, incoming IT services company to hire you on so you can continue working there (sometimes a necessity. #2 isn't always possible (at least for a period of time) due to contract requirements.

If you do this, and you are GOOD, you will eventually work your way up from working the building, to managing a group of techs at a site, to managing an entire program, and even possibly to managing an entire reqion of contracts. You could also branch out to the networking specialty if that is your wish.

I firmly believe that to really grow in IT these days, you have to transition yourself away from help desks/consumer area's and into the corporate market. I personally believe starting with an IT Services company (and NOT their help desks) is a pretty darned good way to go.

-Larry
 
almost 5 years in CS and IT now, good info above, going to remember that for myself.
 
Wow, I am the exact opposite of the situation you described.

I'm one year out of college where I worked for two years as a Help Desk Dorm Consultant, meaning I went out to student's dorms and resolved the issues that the HD Consultants couldn't (mainly spyware, adware, some viruses).

Halfway through my senior year, I got a job through a friend of mine as a Systems Support Specialist in a small, up-start real estate investment company.

The department was only 5 people, and there was a move approaching, so they needed all the help they could get. Getting in the door, I got myself involved with almost every facet of how things were done, and slowly but surely, I became part of the decision making process.

My title hasn't changed, but I'm doing the work of Systems Administrator / Network Analyst and even Network Engineer in some cases, taking on projects like SAN design and implementation, Virtualization implementation.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that as far as qualifications go, it has almost all been on the job learning... key in IT field: learn quickly

Its really quality experience that will get me far. The only problem is, the money sucks... to the point where take the number that you just imagined and subtract about $10k

I mean SUCKS

but experience is everything and I should eventually come out of here with tons of it.
 
TechLarry said:
...great info...
Click to expand...

It's very difficult to find that here. You have companies like EDS with the NMCI contract which is a great start, but the pay was not there. I didn't make enough money to live. I was working with Tier II, the NOC, and Base Operations on an every day basis, even had my Tier II and Blackberry Server rights but they would not move me to Tier II. Then you had to be on the contract under help desk for 18 months before you could move off of the help desk. I had the most knowledge on the help desk with Blackberry Servers and was supposed to take a friend of mines spot when he went to the NOC. That never happened. But they put a guy in Tier II that never knew what AD was until I trained him 3 months prior.

Sorry for the rant. But my resume has been sent out to every other compnay; Titan, SAIC, Ferguson, Northrop-Grumman, eSI, and many others without even a call back. But EDS keeps calling asking if I want my job back making $13.50/hr. No thanks! I spent $400 in gas going to work each month. I own a house know, I would not even be able to pay my mortgage!

Gah, I digress. I just worry about being stuck...
 
versello said:
If they're not calling back, then your resume must not be up to snuff...
Click to expand...

Most of the places want 5+ years of experience for anything not Help Desk. So of course I can assume that's why they aren't calling back.
 
I've always had a strong background in writing. I still do occasional tech articles or product reviews just to keep myself sharp. With that said, I think that resume writing is an absolutely crucial part of getting a job you actually want. The problem is that I've found that a lot of technologically inclined people don't write very well; you need to bring a certain creative flair to your work that some people just don't have.

Does anyone think it'd be a good idea to strip all of the company names / names / addresses out of our resumes and maybe see what we can do to help each other out.

Just a thought.
 
My problem is I currently am the "IT Manager" for a small (~1200 students) school district. I'm coming up on 3 years in the job. I have A+ certification and a pretty good looking/well written resume, but I'm not sure how well my experience in the public sector will translate into the private sector, at least on paper.

That and I have trouble actually finding jobs that would interest me. I like network design and administration, I don't like just sitting and monitoring servers all day. Once I get something up and running I want to move on to the next project, and I've got things running so well here that I'm bored. I need to find some kind of job where I can fix networks that are badly broken, then move on and let someone else keep them up and running.
 
sully127 said:
I've always had a strong background in writing. I still do occasional tech articles or product reviews just to keep myself sharp. With that said, I think that resume writing is an absolutely crucial part of getting a job you actually want. The problem is that I've found that a lot of technologically inclined people don't write very well; you need to bring a certain creative flair to your work that some people just don't have.

Does anyone think it'd be a good idea to strip all of the company names / names / addresses out of our resumes and maybe see what we can do to help each other out.

Just a thought.
Click to expand...

There is a huge thread that you can contribute to some where in this forum. Search "resume" in this forum only.
 
Goatbert said:
My problem is I currently am the "IT Manager" for a small (~1200 students) school district. I'm coming up on 3 years in the job. I have A+ certification and a pretty good looking/well written resume, but I'm not sure how well my experience in the public sector will translate into the private sector, at least on paper.

That and I have trouble actually finding jobs that would interest me. I like network design and administration, I don't like just sitting and monitoring servers all day. Once I get something up and running I want to move on to the next project, and I've got things running so well here that I'm bored. I need to find some kind of job where I can fix networks that are badly broken, then move on and let someone else keep them up and running.
Click to expand...


Ever see the movie FIREWALL? That's the job I want
 
Goatbert said:
I need to find some kind of job where I can fix networks that are badly broken, then move on and let someone else keep them up and running.
Click to expand...


Damn shame my company couldn't hire you; we'd have enough problems to keep you busy for the next decade or so. To find examples, read any whitepaper by Microsoft or any other vendor and do the opposite when implementing.
 
Just to add a small story to the tier I II III that was mentioned above - one of the tier II/III guys where I work is getting bumped up to the NOC. If the company is big enough, help desk/user support can be a good way in and up to better things.
 
You got PM.

I've noticed, especially in my company which is one of the world's largest outsourcers, that the desktop support is where you want to start; they're generally the lowest echelon but the lower you are, the higher you can go! And the Help Desk are usually considered inept, especially by the managers I know. Even if you are good, the rest of your apathetic team will tarnish your image. I've seen this happen to a lot of good people. :mad:
 
Blitzrommel said:
You got PM.

I've noticed, especially in my company which is one of the world's largest outsourcers, that the desktop support is where you want to start; they're generally the lowest echelon but the lower you are, the higher you can go! And the Help Desk are usually considered inept, especially by the managers I know. Even if you are good, the rest of your apathetic team will tarnish your image. I've seen this happen to a lot of good people. :mad:
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
Only problem is, you gotta be able to survive with help desk money until you get there :(

-Larry

Malk-a-mite said:
Just to add a small story to the tier I II III that was mentioned above - one of the tier II/III guys where I work is getting bumped up to the NOC. If the company is big enough, help desk/user support can be a good way in and up to better things.
Click to expand...
 
I live in manhattan and am employed as the lead DBA for a boutique MSP. My company does have a small helpdesk of about 15 guys. It's a pretty tough deal for them; nobody will pay over $25-35k or so for such an entry level job, but $35k seriously doesn't cut it in NYC, so they have to commute for over an hour or live with multiple roommates. They're so broke they buy tobacco and roll their own cigarettes.

I would suggest northern virginia. Get a secret classification and work for the government or a government contractor. Pay is about the same, but cost of living is way lower. And do your damndest to get off helpdesk as soon as possible-- I would suggest applying for junior sysadmin positions instead. Helpdesk is a soul draining horrible job, the work isn't rewarding, and the hours are both long and variable.

Goatbert, if you like feeling productive every single day and don't want to sit on your butt doing nothing, let me suggest a MSP. With so many different clients to service, there's a forest fire 4-5 times per week. It's stressful, but never boring.
 
schizo said:
I live in manhattan and am employed as the lead DBA for a boutique MSP. My company does have a small helpdesk of about 15 guys. It's a pretty tough deal for them; nobody will pay over $25-35k or so for such an entry level job, but $35k seriously doesn't cut it in NYC, so they have to commute for over an hour or live with multiple roommates. They're so broke they buy tobacco and roll their own cigarettes.

I would suggest northern virginia. Get a secret classification and work for the government or a government contractor. Pay is about the same, but cost of living is way lower. And do your damndest to get off helpdesk as soon as possible-- I would suggest applying for junior sysadmin positions instead. Helpdesk is a soul draining horrible job, the work isn't rewarding, and the hours are both long and variable.

Goatbert, if you like feeling productive every single day and don't want to sit on your butt doing nothing, let me suggest a MSP. With so many different clients to service, there's a forest fire 4-5 times per week. It's stressful, but never boring.
Click to expand...

The problem is, it goes Helpdesk to positions that require 6+ years of experience. There is no in between...

I am supposed to do an intern thing where I work for a SysAdmin position. I will be doing Mid-Tier/DBA/Architecture type stuff. I won't be exactly doing one thing, atleast that is my understanding. But that isn't to say that I won't. We'll see. They like me so much on the HD they're scared to lose me. In all honesty, if they hired anyone with a half of a brain, they would be as good as me as well.
 
schizo said:
I would suggest northern virginia. Get a secret classification and work for the government or a government contractor. Pay is about the same, but cost of living is way lower.
Click to expand...

If you have secret classification and are only making $25k/year in the IT field you might want to find a new job.
 
Aside from Help Desk , Computer Operator (IBM Mainframe) is another entry-level job. At least herr in Seattle.
 
Right, that's why you get the secret class, it comes with great pay and even better job security in an area with low cost of living. I get frequent job offers from headhunters to move to northern virginia with a 25-35% pay hike. But all my friends are here, I like the city, I like my job, etc.

We hire junior SAs for the NOC with 2-4 years of experience. The helpdesk is basically kids right out of school.

Computer operator means "data entry", right? Jesus, it's better than flipping burgers, but thats all you can say for that.
 
Glad I never had to spend a day as a helpdesk tech. There's ways around getting stuck in the helpdesk world and getting to the level where you're negotiating your own salary with the company president (in my case over 6 figures, quarterly and yearly bonuses, and 100% covered health benefits) rather than humoring a hiring manager who is tossing quarters at you. I've yet to see anyone mention how it's done. TechLarry is slightly warm while the rest are cold.

BTW - I'm just a simple Network/Systems Engineer/Ops Specialist with a loud mouth
 
I got a job as a very small private school. Only 385 students. There are only 2 of us in the Technology department. Because of that we both basically do everything. I do everything from working the help desk, managing the servers, managing the network, purchasing and installing equipment, on and on. So I am getting experience in every aspect of IT, from the most basic tasks to deciding the future of our schools laptop program. On top of that I have student workers that I manage.

I have only been in the IT sector for 3 years and I am already starting to get a lot of calls out of the blue from my resume online for people that want me to work for them. They mainly want me because I am the only person they found that has experience in everything that their position needs. I only have my A+ and MCP, but I do have a BA in Biochemistry and Chemistry which seems to really help for some reason. :confused: I am going to stay at this job until I hit the magical 5-6 year mark, then I am going to start looking around for another job.

My current title is Technology Specialist, but I am acting as the temporary Director of Technology until we can hire another person. They aren't even going to start looking until this summer, so I will be the "director" for at least another 5 months. I'd keep the position, but I can't stand having to do all of the paperwork associated with being the head of the Technology Department. :(

So I guess my advise is get a job at a small company that even though your main job may be help desk, they are going to need you to help with other projects.
 
Ahem, Northern Virginia ain't no bargain, especially Fairfax County :)

Houses that were $150,000 13 years ago are now going for over half a million. Trust me, I know :)

And higher housing costs bring rental rates right up with them.

-Larry

schizo said:
I live in manhattan and am employed as the lead DBA for a boutique MSP. My company does have a small helpdesk of about 15 guys. It's a pretty tough deal for them; nobody will pay over $25-35k or so for such an entry level job, but $35k seriously doesn't cut it in NYC, so they have to commute for over an hour or live with multiple roommates. They're so broke they buy tobacco and roll their own cigarettes.

I would suggest northern virginia. Get a secret classification and work for the government or a government contractor. Pay is about the same, but cost of living is way lower. And do your damndest to get off helpdesk as soon as possible-- I would suggest applying for junior sysadmin positions instead. Helpdesk is a soul draining horrible job, the work isn't rewarding, and the hours are both long and variable.

Goatbert, if you like feeling productive every single day and don't want to sit on your butt doing nothing, let me suggest a MSP. With so many different clients to service, there's a forest fire 4-5 times per week. It's stressful, but never boring.
Click to expand...
 
TechLarry said:
Houses that were $150,000 13 years ago are now going for over half a million. Trust me, I know :)
Click to expand...
My 1 bedroom apartment cost over $600k. It's 750 square feet. And I got a pretty good deal, I live in the west village.

Northern virginia is expensive compared to, say, Wyoming, but it's NOTHING compared to new york city. If I lived in NoVa I'd have a frickin' palace.
 
I live in Roanoke and life sucks for IT people here. Unless you can get to the top of some major company here in town (Anthem, Roanoke College, Hotel Roanoke, a realtor office, etc) you are out of luck.

Alot of companies are hiring small IT and consulting companies as part time techs for their needs instead of having a full time IT guy that they would be paying to sit on his ass when everything is working right.
 
I live in Lynchburg, and the company I work for *read huge international electronics company* got rid of all the IT guys save one at my peticular site. Good thing the guy they kept knows his stuff, and gives me someone to talk to about computers :p
 
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