Associate
My Ghosh this thread is making me feel so depressed! (I work as a 'Helpdesk Analyst/Technical Support Specialist', and I have a degree)
1st Line IT Support -
- Thread starter Slinger
- Start date
Can you ask for feedback on your interview/application to find areas for you to improve on, i.e. was it something you did or didn't do in the interview, insufficient experience or qualifications, etc?
What MCP do you have? I would recommend starting your MCITP if you haven't already. It will bring you up to date with server and Windows 7 which will always be a plus especially if you're looking elsewhere, and a lot of what you learn will still be applicable for XP and server 2003.
My first job was in a desktop support team and the team was responsible for the 1st line stuff.
Out of a team of 16 there used to be 3 of us at a time on the desk, then when you weren't on you were doing 2nd and 3rd line stuff as well as project work.
Generally when you started you were on 1st line regularly, but as time went on the people who were generally able to do more were kept off to do the bigger stuff.
It was by no means a follow the script type job, 1st line there was expected to actually think a bit and really try to sort whatever the problem was out.
It's changed a little since I left, they split the support team up so that 1st and 2nd line were 2 seperate teams, with some dedicated not as technical people on the desk.
After a couple of years of that they've realised it's worse so are bring them all back together again in one team, but will still have the same dedicated 3 people on the desk.
The money the deskies get is still decent, looking at 24k with no prior technical experience required. The company don't care about having people with certs, all the time I was there they showed no interest what so ever.
That's a copmany of around 2000 people, a subsidiary of a ftse 100.
It was an excellent start to my career, learnt a lot and got a lot of experience that meant getting head hunted for my current position.
So finding a job like that which is in support, but not necessarily purely 1st line would be good, although as said their guys who do purely 1st line stuff now get paid a decent amount for the work required. Everyone in the dept starts on the same scale whether you're 2nd line, network support, 1st line etc.
Where I am now our desktop team which is just 2 people (we were around 500 employees) start off on a training grade of around 21k, but once they hit whatever it is they need to do to come off it that's a 9k pay rise
Not a bad wage for handling hardly any calls a day as it's so quiet here, our users are actually really decent and not coming to us with rubbish.
Start my new role next week which is no longer support based (currently I'm what you call 3rd line I guess) which will be a bit of a change.
Out of a team of 16 there used to be 3 of us at a time on the desk, then when you weren't on you were doing 2nd and 3rd line stuff as well as project work.
Generally when you started you were on 1st line regularly, but as time went on the people who were generally able to do more were kept off to do the bigger stuff.
It was by no means a follow the script type job, 1st line there was expected to actually think a bit and really try to sort whatever the problem was out.
It's changed a little since I left, they split the support team up so that 1st and 2nd line were 2 seperate teams, with some dedicated not as technical people on the desk.
After a couple of years of that they've realised it's worse so are bring them all back together again in one team, but will still have the same dedicated 3 people on the desk.
The money the deskies get is still decent, looking at 24k with no prior technical experience required. The company don't care about having people with certs, all the time I was there they showed no interest what so ever.
That's a copmany of around 2000 people, a subsidiary of a ftse 100.
It was an excellent start to my career, learnt a lot and got a lot of experience that meant getting head hunted for my current position.
So finding a job like that which is in support, but not necessarily purely 1st line would be good, although as said their guys who do purely 1st line stuff now get paid a decent amount for the work required. Everyone in the dept starts on the same scale whether you're 2nd line, network support, 1st line etc.
Where I am now our desktop team which is just 2 people (we were around 500 employees) start off on a training grade of around 21k, but once they hit whatever it is they need to do to come off it that's a 9k pay rise
Not a bad wage for handling hardly any calls a day as it's so quiet here, our users are actually really decent and not coming to us with rubbish.
Start my new role next week which is no longer support based (currently I'm what you call 3rd line I guess) which will be a bit of a change.
Caporegime
We're always looking for developers. But unfortunately its usually for our medical software which means C#, SQL and .net framework.
We're one of the big recruiters for IT in leeds. Keep your eyes on
http://www.emis-online.com/work-for-emis
If theres anything that sounds interesting and you'd like to know more. Drop me an email (in my trust)
have a think about what sort of IT career you want to go into. Fresh out of uni the world is your oyster. You can afford to take a low paid job and join an apprenticeship scheme. A lot of us in support have worked our way up and now on double the salaries that these schemes offer, and now with a mortgage to pay etc.. could never go back and do them.
Have a read of www.reed.co.uk and www.cwjobs.co.uk
Both good job sites for IT. Have a look at the sort of roles on there that you would like to do, and then you need to find a company who can train you to get you there.
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Associate
http://h41112.www4.hp.com/jobs/uk/en/graduate.html
I completed this scheme 5 years ago and am now a Technology Consultant and now help to run the entry assessments centres for TCs. This year's intake is full, but applications for next year will be considered.
I had very little experience in IT beforehand, but had a 2.1 degree in Computer Science.
To be considered you need at least a 2.1 in a technical or business degree and a desire to achieve great outcomes for customers through development of bespoke and off the shelf infrastructure solutions. A great technical grounding is good, but we are looking for people with the ability to interact with and work with customers through a consultative process.
Good technologists with good people skills should aim higher than 1st line support.
I completed this scheme 5 years ago and am now a Technology Consultant and now help to run the entry assessments centres for TCs. This year's intake is full, but applications for next year will be considered.
I had very little experience in IT beforehand, but had a 2.1 degree in Computer Science.
To be considered you need at least a 2.1 in a technical or business degree and a desire to achieve great outcomes for customers through development of bespoke and off the shelf infrastructure solutions. A great technical grounding is good, but we are looking for people with the ability to interact with and work with customers through a consultative process.
Good technologists with good people skills should aim higher than 1st line support.
Caporegime
That HP scheme looks excellent. Just the sort of thing the OP should be considering.
Soldato
I got a job in 2nd line with similar qualifications to you, I was 3rd line a year later!
Our 1st line pretty much just reset passwords and logged calls though so dont expect they will have you doing anything with exchange or servers or AD
Our 1st line pretty much just reset passwords and logged calls though so dont expect they will have you doing anything with exchange or servers or AD
While I have a little direct experience, a close friend of mine works in a Level 1 support role for a large solicitors. When he joined at 20 he had no prior IT experience other than 'enthusiast'. He started on a salary of £30,000 pa and enjoys the job very much.
Just because it's Level 1 doesn't mean it's a horrible job. In many organisations I'm sure it is, but it sounds like that's more to do with those organisations than Level 1 as a concept.
Just because it's Level 1 doesn't mean it's a horrible job. In many organisations I'm sure it is, but it sounds like that's more to do with those organisations than Level 1 as a concept.
Soldato
The Systems based interview was really just a test of what I had forgotten over the 2 years I was away travelling. I kind of expected not to get the job as there was someone already established in the company going for it and I was 1 month in to my new job. I just wanted the experience of the interview again for that and to gauge my brain.
The first of the EPOS role interviews I hadn't prepared and was lacking in examples of showing good customer service, difficult problem fixes and team playing. Definitely my own fault for that one. One of my colleagues from the helpdesk got that role.
My second interview for the EPOS role was far better, showed great examples of service, problem fixes etc. When I had the feedback from the manager they had said we were all suitable candidates for the role for the future but had decided to outsource someone for this role. Which kind of ****** me off as we're all more than capable of doing the 2nd line role. Especially as one of my colleagues who had got the opportunity to move up started the same time as me, both had the same backgrounds, both with technical skills, and long term customer facing backgrounds.
I think it was 70-290 - Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment. I might look in to MCITP then.
Caporegime
If your level 1s don't do your donkey work, creating user accounts, resetting passwords, rebooting stuff, logging incidents etc... Who does ? Level 0 ??
Nope, Level 1 as an ITIL concept is exactly that...the absolute bottom rung, basically glorified all handlers that try a few minutes of tech support before passing it on to the big(ger) boys.
Soldato
My role is level 1 and we are allowed to create new store intranet users through the AS400 system and create their basic accounts so they can receive mail to the store mailboxes in AD. But ff there is a head office/field new user all we are allowed do is get all the information, make sure the forms are signed off by authorised users and then pass it to 2nd line team to setup.
Yes, as ITIL isn't the only method by which you can derivery IT support.
Doesn't really change the fact that Level 1 is the general dogsbody no matter what the system used is.
Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Feb 2008
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Caporegime
its the most widely used in Europe.
But anyway, even if you don't follow ITIL (which lots of small organisations don't, because their IT department is only 3 people or whatever) somebody has got to do the dogsbody work.
So if you're on 30k a year in the bottom position, that probably means your going to be doing a bit of everything. Including the dogsbody work. But in that kind of environment theres no room to take time off to go on training courses, no room for promotion, no room for expanding your knowledge and pushing the IT forward. Its all about fire fighting as cheaply as possible.
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Soldato
I'd take 30k doing this job easy but I don't its much less. Sickens me which is why I need to get out
Associate
- Joined
- 8 Oct 2010
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I have literally just come out of a team meeting where a lot of these points were brought up. I have worked in my current role for just over 3 years. The role has always been 1st line support, however the duties have become less technically orientated over time. We have today recieved an email stating that we will be supporting a set of customers who will be raising calls with us when they have faulty handheld radio equipment. We are not required to perform diagnostics of any kind and the calls are then passed to a different team to support. This came as quite a shock for most as we are officially a "technical I.T Service Desk". From reading a lot of posts on here, it seems there is a massive trend with the "log and flog" system that 1st line teams seem to work towards these days.
One thing we have to do is inform our 2nd line team (who also act as our phone supervisors) if we are going to be away from our desks for longer than 5 minutes and the reason for this (yes even for toilet breaks). Despite this, our management strictly say that "this is not a call centre environment"!
The only plus of the decrease in techincal requirment is the fact that I haven't had a drop in pay which means im still payed the same to do less technical work. Personally, I value job satisfaction.
To finish off, 1st line support should only be used as a stepping stone into the company, however in my case it hasn't quite worked out like that.
One thing we have to do is inform our 2nd line team (who also act as our phone supervisors) if we are going to be away from our desks for longer than 5 minutes and the reason for this (yes even for toilet breaks). Despite this, our management strictly say that "this is not a call centre environment"!
The only plus of the decrease in techincal requirment is the fact that I haven't had a drop in pay which means im still payed the same to do less technical work. Personally, I value job satisfaction.
To finish off, 1st line support should only be used as a stepping stone into the company, however in my case it hasn't quite worked out like that.
Permabanned
I have worked in places where the 1st line can not even change a phone number on AD and now I currently work at a place where the 1st line does everything pretty much. From first time fixes, to in depth investigations, stock purchases, weekly meetings, server fixes, backups anything else they can get away paying you as little as possible and getting you to do as much as possible.
You have to be careful with some first line jobs, because they will pay you a 1st line salary and if you are good at your job, you will end up being under paid and exploited.
In my opinion IT support, specifically first and second line support is the most underpaid and undervalued in corporate environments today. The most overpaid and useless jobs are a lot the third line jobs and the supervisors.
I saw this one top five law firm with almost $1 trillion revenue per year, advertising a 1st/2nd line job for £30k, what a joke.
You have to be careful with some first line jobs, because they will pay you a 1st line salary and if you are good at your job, you will end up being under paid and exploited.
In my opinion IT support, specifically first and second line support is the most underpaid and undervalued in corporate environments today. The most overpaid and useless jobs are a lot the third line jobs and the supervisors.
I saw this one top five law firm with almost $1 trillion revenue per year, advertising a 1st/2nd line job for £30k, what a joke.
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Caporegime
Thing is, a service desk is a call centre environment under ITIL.
You employ your service desk staff for their customer communication skills.
You should be doing a bit of logging and flogging and some first time fixes under ITIL.
It sounds like they've got your job exactly as its defined in ITIL.