IT Support Technicians/Engineers - Advice needed

I came in here thinking I could help as the tile seemed to cover my job role, having read other replies it appears not
 
I'm in 3rd line.

Do some investigating into a live issue. Creat a data fix.
Run data fix.
Make coffee
Pointless meetings
Teach 1st line how to do their job.
 
One of my brothers works in 3rd line support at a large hosting company in west London. From what I gather he basically plays chess all day, and in between that does some work activities such as role played dinners.
 
I was under the impression that 1st line = read from a script, ask people the same questions over and over despite the fact they've already done exactly what you asked them several times and it hasn't solved the issue, then "escalating the problem" and promising them a callback just to get rid of them so you can meet your calltime targets.

2nd line = someone who knows vaguely what they are doing and how to fix it, but has no actual power or authority to do anything to implement the fix, and has to escalate it or get authorisation from their manager (who mysteriously is never in the building on the day you happen to phone up).

3rd line = Dave the server room troll (tm) who only emerges at night to feed, and can't communicate with "normals" and so needs 2nd line to translate.

I think I fall somewhere between 2nd and 3rd :p
 
It depends on the company. My last job as a 1st/2nd liner was a lot more involved.

I was setting up VM's, building a BES server was my last thing for a bunch of users. Which requires Powershell knowledge. Exchange stuff, advanced AD knowledge and usage, setting up entire projects from placing the PC on the desk, setting up GPO's and group mailboxes right through to configuration of vectors and pickup groups on the avaya phone system. So hardly anything like a 1st line.

Now I'm in a 'site operations' role paying a hefty amount and I look after my own floor of around 200 users. It's fairly basic stuff, broken screens and stuff like that. So it's much less techy but more pigeon holed on the role. And the face saving £2k a month is a breeze helps as well haha.
 
You've almost described me with that post Agnes.

It ultimately does boil down to what company you're going to be working with, if it's a small company to which IT is outsourced with a varied range of clients you'll probably be doing a wide range of tasks, if it's an IT department within a company then your role is likely to be much more specific and you'll only have to deal with a set amount of technology.

You'll still have to turn it off and on again though.
 
Usually I just log on to the users PC remotely and then it works. Quite often there isn't a problem other than themselves.

Reset passwords and turn it off and on again always occur!
 
edscdk said:
dunno about 1st and 2nd i'm really 3rd so its high level stuff really that you would not understand........
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oggle female members of staff
drink coffee
read the internet
make personal calls
turn up late and leave early
some times advise servers are turned off and back on again
Click to expand...

+1
 
Here is a job spec for a vacancy for the company where i work for legal IT first/second.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:
• A good standard of education with excellent skills in English and Mathematics.
• Experience of working in a law firm as part of an IT Support Team (minimum of 2 years)
• Sound knowledge of networking, messaging and desktop applications
• Essential working knowledge of: Ms Office 2003 & 2010; Windows XP and 7; Exchange 2003; Windows Server 2003+; SQL 2005 or higher; Arcserve / Backup Exec, Anti-virus software; Message Labs / Mimecast; Citrix; Blackberry and mobile devices; digital dictation.
• Familiar with legal applications such as: Filesite; InterAction; Workshare; Laserforms;
• High-level customer service and organisational skills
• Good understanding of SLAs, KPIs and general call management
• Solid understanding of IT support service, functions and skills
• Excellent communication skills at all levels, promoting a positive and professional image of the company at all times

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Accept and log all calls coming into the IT Support Desk using the specified call logging methods/database.
• Ensure all calls received are logged in the correct manner and location in accordance with site KPIs/guidelines, providing 1st rate customer service and support.
• Monitor Service desk mail inbox constantly and log calls as they arrive.
• Generation and regular management of 1st/ 2nd line support calls, change requests and work requests, taking responsibility for the resolution, escalation and closure according to site KPIs, SLAs and guidelines
• Demonstrate ownership of all calls and become pro-active in resolving problems on a daily basis
• Be aware of and set expectations of likely response and resolution times according to agreed SLA
• Ensure all relevant administration is completed on time and to a high standard such as ensuring backups are regularly, monitored and any problems are logged and resolved/escalated
• Configure desktop software and hardware to required standard
• Implement and maintain site procedures where necessary.
• Effectively escalate any outstanding issues which are due to fall outside SLAs according to call procedures.
• Support and assist 3rd line analyst and Service Delivery Manager where necessary
• Advise management where change is necessary.
• Assist with projects improvement programmes to a high standard
• On-site project work if requested by client e.g. weekend overtime, etc.
• Assist managed services colleagues at other sites

WORKING RELATIONSHIPS:
• Conduct delivery of services in a professional and positive manner.
• To perform any other duties as required by the Client and Service Delivery Manager
• Ensure all action and commitments made to the client are fulfilled

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES:
• Promoting a positive and professional image of the company at all times
• Good telephone manner with excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Customer focussed
• Excellent customer service skills and unflappable under pressure
• Clear and Concise communication to colleagues and clients both oral and written.
• Well-developed analytical skills, able to identify solutions quickly
• Ability to work under pressure with effective time management
• The ability to operate on own initiative
• Reliable and adaptable
• Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team
• Excellent administration and organisation skills
• Display a desire to learn and develop technical and personal skills
• Professional manner with the ability to work under pressure, coping with periods of high pressure from users and the ability to prioritise effectively
• Dedicated and flexible (able to work overtime at short notice)

You could just go to job site and steal a job spec from there ?
 
Serious answer, it does very much vary depending on the organisation, so while you may get some ideas from advertised roles, chances are they'll still need a bit of tweaking (e.g. there's no point copying a job spec. for a 2nd line technician that requires Windows experience when you have a purely Linux or Mac environment!). Also depends a lot on the size of the organisation - when I was a "1st/2nd line technician" for a college, I was doing basically everything from replacing toner in printers, to configuring Cisco switches and patching up phone connections, whereas if you worked for a bigger company, you'd most likely find yourself pigeon-holed a lot more, i.e. 1st line would literally just be answering phones and only dealing with the most basic of queries while having to pass anything more "interesting" up the chain.

Generally speaking though:

1st line - deal directly with the customer, check the basics (is it plugged in, have you tried a reboot, etc.) and filter out "time wasting" calls. Probably will have a knowledge-base to refer to and so wont have to do any real thinking or problem solving themselves. Generally the same thing day in day out.
2nd line - deal with any issues that first line haven't been able to solve (either due to lack of expertise/skills, or because it's not within their remit. Day to day again can be very samey, although you may get the occasional more interesting/challenging problem.
3rd line - deal with the "behind the scenes" stuff, like infrastructure, server config/admin etc. Any major issues, projects, also things like maintenance, network monitoring, security etc.
 
I'm technically 1st line support, doing local and telephone support, printer fixing, supply managing, keeping CMDB for UK offices in shape, general computer help eg. Office, phones, password reset/account creation etc. in various domains.

On top of that, though, there's working with Avaya telephony systems on extensions, physical computer repair, setting up and troubleshooting Blackberry handsets/BES, packaging and deployment of software in SCCM 2010/2012, management of VMs in VMWare, backup monitoring and restoration when required, dealing with Exchange issues, sorting out remote access (RSA) tokens, trips to our data centre when required to replace/fix servers, configure Cisco switches with guidance from the Network team. All sorts, basically. Quite a bit is far and away above what I would consider a 1st line helpdesk employee's responsibility. Pity I'm paid for the job title.
 
I think that title is so broad and it is all dependant on what the organisation does and how big the IT side of it is.

For example I work in IT Support in a video game company in which has a rather large IT behind it which you can imagine. But the actually studio I work in is just me catering for 70-80 developers who work on console, PC and iOS games. Meaning my title is second tier but I deal with first and third tier problems over PCs, consoles, iMacs, iOS devices and a lot more. Lots of very specialist software to deal with as well and a lot of support from certain developers who know more about the console issues than IT.

Where as before I worked as an IT Techy at a school which was 1st/2nd line support and the work was far easier and less broader as there wasn't that much special software/hardware to deal with and the focus of IT was based around much smaller support tasks rather than the grander ones I work with now.
 
"Try turning it off and on again"
"Try turning it off and on again"
"Try turning it off and on again"
"Try turning it off and on again"
"Try turning it off and on again"
"Try turning it off and on again"
"Try turning it off and on again"
"Try turning it off and on again"
"Try turning it off and on again"
"Try turning it off and on again"
"Try turning it off and on again"
"Try turning it off and on again"
"Try turning it off and on again"
 
"Is it plugged in??"

"Can you disconnect the power cable and just reconnect it for me."

"A restart should fix it"
 
I'm not sure what my job falls under by I am the sole person responsible for the IT infrastructure at my place of work, so I'd imagine I am 1st, 2nd and 3rd line, basically dealing with everything from simple password resets and account creations, to server builds and configuration.
 
R.O.S.S.I said:
I'm not sure what my job falls under by I am the sole person responsible for the IT infrastructure at my place of work, so I'd imagine I am 1st, 2nd and 3rd line, basically dealing with everything from simple password resets and account creations, to server builds and configuration.
Click to expand...

Your role is 'the IT guy'
 
I've had many a call about "mysterious" boxes appearing on the screen that the mouse cannot close.

A swift "press ok/exit" on the monitor does the trick.
 
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