1st Line IT Support -

rIcK said:
Id like an honest opinion off some of you guys. I was doing a degree in computer games programming, completed my first 2 years and then due to some silly issues managed to screw up my third year ( which was ashame because i had done majority of the work )

I finished my course and was awarded some useless Diploma of Higher Education. Now i wish to actually get a job within IT, particurly in networking and server based roll. I am however happy to start at any level and just wish to get my foot in the door.

1) Should i look at returning to uni and finishing a Course in computer Science?
2) Should i look at doing some network training courses CCNA type stuff?
3) Or should i look for a job and train whilst im in work?

Any opinions good bad or otherwise are greatly appreciated!
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As above an unfinished uni degree is going to look bad on your CV. Your going to have a hard time explaining it in any interview and trying to avoid people making the snap judgement it was because your a lazy **** and dismiss you. You need to try and come up with some reason to give in an interview that doesn't come across as excuse making and sounds genuine.

To get around this you could indeed go back and finish your degree if your able to financially

Thing is you won't go straight into network / server support. Most of the graduate schemes will be taking you into other forms of employment such as development, project management etc..

If you want to do server / network support. Just get in somewhere and work your way up.
 
NeoNemesis said:
What I don't understand is why people seem to think support is the only way to get into IT?
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i got into IT support because thats actually the only form of IT i enjoy

When i was 17/18 i thought i wanted to go into development.

Went to uni and discovered that actually .... i hated programming. I like my hardware and i like fixing things (like a lot on here being an overclockers forum) and support was the best way to feed that.

I didn't want to go into consultancy, driving around the place talking about IT but not actually doing anything with it. Neither did i want to go into management. I've got crap people skills and i'm too soft. I'd be crap as a manager.
 
MrLOL said:
But from the sounds of what Ev0 was saying, they pay 30k a year to do monkey work !
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I said they do 1st and 2nd line stuff, so all the bumph the OP mentioned in that job spec plus more ;) And that's only when they've done their development plan, which means completing their MCSE/MCITP to pull them up from the low 20s.

My previous work pay their first line around mid 20s.

Anyway my last day there today, am off to work for a big building society as a consultant/pen tester :)
 
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Corporations are becoming more and more dependant on IT. We have all seen it, email server goes down and the whole business stops working and people don't know what to do. When not even 20 years ago they were running perfectly fine without a computer.#

But as first line job in some sectors you do a lot more than monkey work. I have worked on legal documents on multi million pound deals and similar (as a first line monkey). Setting up conferences for top executives where mistakes are not acceptable. A bit more than monkey work.

Oh big woop the third line guy sits on his ass all day and runs some scripts. oohhh elite.
 
MrLOL said:
i got into IT support because thats actually the only form of IT i enjoy

When i was 17/18 i thought i wanted to go into development.

Went to uni and discovered that actually .... i hated programming. I like my hardware and i like fixing things (like a lot on here being an overclockers forum) and support was the best way to feed that.

I didn't want to go into consultancy, driving around the place talking about IT but not actually doing anything with it. Neither did i want to go into management. I've got crap people skills and i'm too soft. I'd be crap as a manager.
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I wasn't criticising anyone's decision to go into support, whatever floats your boat. It's just that there are many other routes into the industry.
 
MrLOL said:
i got into IT support because thats actually the only form of IT i enjoy

When i was 17/18 i thought i wanted to go into development.

Went to uni and discovered that actually .... i hated programming. I like my hardware and i like fixing things (like a lot on here being an overclockers forum) and support was the best way to feed that.

I didn't want to go into consultancy, driving around the place talking about IT but not actually doing anything with it. Neither did i want to go into management. I've got crap people skills and i'm too soft. I'd be crap as a manager.
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Same here apart from the soft thing. I'd be a right Stalin. :D

I just sorta fell into the support side without realising it. A mate helped me get a part-time job in Tech Services at the purple shirt place while I was doing my Computer Science degree (and realised I hated coding). It wasn't planned, it just paid money! Moved to Big Blue doing corporate outsourced support after I graduated on a tip from some ex-Purple Shirt mates and wandered around the UK for a bit. Then came back home and got a public sector job with nice pay and benefits.

I never planned this career path, just fell into it and went with the flow.
 
NeoNemesis said:
I wasn't criticising anyone's decision to go into support, whatever floats your boat. It's just that there are many other routes into the industry.
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This, support is not too bad, but it's certainly not the only way into the industry. I am an apprentice Software Developer, found merely by chance. The only IT qualification I have is a BTEC First Diploma.
 
Not all 1st line support is necessarily bad or involves changing passwords etc...

I currently work at a software vendor, we have our own IT guys for generic office IT type stuff we also have CS/support guys for the products we sell. I don't work in support but I do have some interactions with them. 1st line guys are all on well over £30k basic 2nd line guys are mostly on over £50k.

Essentially the 1st line guys pick up the phone/respond to requests coming in - they need to have some knowledge of the software and be able to analyse and diagnose issues, suggest workarounds etc... Requests generally aren't 'how do I do this' but rather 'X is broken, here are some screen prints'.
The 2nd line guys each specialise in a different part of the system, will assist 1st line guys looking into issues concerning their module and will take over the issue if it becomes too complicated for 1st line. If 2nd line deem something to be a bug then they'll spec it/replicate in a test region and send it to R&D. Some of the 2nd line guys will look at code others aren't necessarily that technical and will analyse from a functional perspective.

Its still 1st line/2nd line support but in relation to specific software rather than generic IT stuff....
 
dowie said:
Its still 1st line/2nd line support but in relation to specific software rather than generic IT stuff....
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From what i can see, they are massively overpaid.

We write our own software that holds medical records. Its built in house from scratch.The 1st line guys are on about 14k a year, and just follow knowledge base articles on how to resolve things. They log incidents, attempt fixes on everything that theres a knowledge base article for.Anything for which there isn't a knowledge base article for, or the KB doesnt work, gets passed on up to the 2nd line or "Problem Team" these guys write the kb articles and are the most knowledgeable staff. They're on about 20k a year (thats starting salary. Some will be on more due to length of service etc..)

The guys on 30k a year are the support developers, the 3rd line guys who would be the technical experts and can drill down to the code and re write the program to fix bugs as and when required by support. Not sure how much they're on, but it seems needlessly wasteful to pay 30k a year to pay somebody to log calls !

For every 1 of those 30k staff, we've got 2 staff sorting the wheat from the chaff and making sure the problem team only get to see genuine problems, rather than just the easy fixes 1st line resolve. Astounds me how much some companies overpay their 1st line staff. Its no wonder so many organisations are outsourcing IT to india etc.. when they've got somebody somewhere in the company advising the board that they can't afford to pay even their most basic of IT staff less than 30 a year.
 
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NHS 1st line support tend to be band 3 or 4, which would put them on £16 - £21K but that's as high as you go and only after several years in house. 2nd line are Band 5 with 3rd line and seniors like myself on Band 6.

When I started off in IT 11 years ago I was on £12K but went straight in at 3rd line.. I was incredibly lucky seeing as I had no IT qualifications an no degree (I was an electrical services engineer!).

I love working in I.T. - not sure why so many people whinge about it. If you don't like it, go do something else! That's why I left engineering!

OP - if you want into I.T. and go for entry level jobs you will get in, it's just a case of it being the right sort of boss interviewing you.
 
From the sounds of what people have been saying about the lack of skill required to get a 1st line support job, will there be any issues with me getting a 1st line support job to start getting some experience even though I have no GCSEs but will soon have finished my OU ICT degree, and will also hopefully have a CCNA by the time I finish my degree too. I know there are some places that would turn you down if you have a PhD but didn't meet the GCSE requirements on the application, I'm hoping that my lack of GCSEs will not be an issue with my degree to show my knowledge.

Also, do many companies offer room for advancement beyond the support roles after advancing to 3rd line support? or do most people after gaining a few years of experience in a crappy support role look for employment elswhere now that they have experience under their belt?
 
MrLOL said:
From what i can see, they are massively overpaid.
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I'm not sure you'd really be in a position to comment given the limited info I've posted. It is financial software and its not exactly simple AFAIK they're paid circa market rate for what they do.

1st line support in this sense is '1st line' as in the 1st point of contact for a service request/ticket - it shouldn't be read to mean that these people are numpties that someone has employed on a silly salary to just pick up the phone. They are expected to analyse/solve issue themselves, not just rely on a knowledge base or some user guides (tbh.. user guides don't necessarily exist for a lot of the software).

Anyway I thought I'd post it as an example that not all 1st line support roles are the same - being the 1st point of contact for a support ticket doesn't necessarily = being a ****. Similarly application support roles in banks can and will pay even more - especially anything within the front office. A bit of business knowledge combined with technical skills can be quite lucrative for these guys.
 
Halfmad said:
NHS 1st line support tend to be band 3 or 4, which would put them on £16 - £21K but that's as high as you go and only after several years in house. 2nd line are Band 5 with 3rd line and seniors like myself on Band 6.
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not sure what trust you're part of but here 1st line and 2nd line are band 3, senior of either are band 4,
3rd line are band 4/5
guess that's just Cornwall skimping again.
 
dowie said:
1st line support in this sense is '1st line' as in the 1st point of contact for a service request/ticket - it shouldn't be read to mean that these people are numpties that someone has employed on a silly salary to just pick up the phone. They are expected to analyse/solve issue themselves, not just rely on a knowledge base or some user guides (tbh.. user guides don't necessarily exist for a lot of the software).
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That's exactly what I was saying about our desktop guys and where I used to work/where my wife is.

1st line is not always script reading and just looking things up in a kb.

Sounds like MrLOLs place is one of those where a first line role isn't a great thing to be doing, but good for a foot in the door :)

imho going on the 2nd/3rd line type roles he's described I'd say his place under pays.
 
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I currently work in a first line Broadband tech support role in Eastleigh, and basically, as long as you have a logical approach to fault finding and have a basic understanding on how to find a fault, PSTN (phone line) Vs boradband then you'll do fine, like most hae said, if you've got customer facing experience within technology or experience setting up IT equipment, then you'll have more luck than somoene with a degree alone.
 
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