Any Desktop Support Analysts here?
- Thread starter Guru
- Start date
Associate
- Joined
- 19 Oct 2005
- Posts
- 528
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
AD is easy peasy at the sort of level that job is talking about. The hardest things you may be required to do are reset passwords, edit information or possibly add users to permission groups. Just read up some stuff on the internet.
AD is easy peasy at the sort of level that job is talking about. The hardest things you may be required to do are reset passwords, edit information or possibly add users to permission groups. Just read up some stuff on the internet.
I've worked in a desktop support role for the past four years. During this time I've worked for various different organisations and sectors, these have included in chronological order - A finance company - 300 users (on-site desktop and helpdesk support), A county council - Helpdesk, remote and on-site support work, a large multinational credit referencing company - 2nd/3rd line support performed remotely and on-site.
During this time, my wage has gone up about 10 K, into the early 20s.
Not a great wage by any means, but nevertheless half respectable, allows me to afford a house in a pleasant area, a nice car, holidays, plenty of nights out with the mrs, and to buy various gadgets and toys when I want to.
I'd like my next move to be a dedicated server engineer role. Not sure I'll get the opportunity to make such a move in my current job though.
Once you have some half decent server experience, you can earn up to £40-£50K a year if you get a job with the right company.
One thing to bear in mind when going for jobs, is to make sure that you sell your communication skills and not just your tech skills. The days of Computer engineers being uncommunicative geeks are long gone. Even if you are not going for a user facing role, you will still need to be able to work with and assist colleagues. Managers will always look for someone who can communicate effectively within the business environment.
During this time, my wage has gone up about 10 K, into the early 20s.
Not a great wage by any means, but nevertheless half respectable, allows me to afford a house in a pleasant area, a nice car, holidays, plenty of nights out with the mrs, and to buy various gadgets and toys when I want to.
I'd like my next move to be a dedicated server engineer role. Not sure I'll get the opportunity to make such a move in my current job though.
Once you have some half decent server experience, you can earn up to £40-£50K a year if you get a job with the right company.
One thing to bear in mind when going for jobs, is to make sure that you sell your communication skills and not just your tech skills. The days of Computer engineers being uncommunicative geeks are long gone. Even if you are not going for a user facing role, you will still need to be able to work with and assist colleagues. Managers will always look for someone who can communicate effectively within the business environment.
Last edited:
HaX said:
We manage to scare the rest of the company off in my dept - its always nice when someone apologises first before bothering you
Its not that we are uncommunicative... we just dont like conversing with lower beings (such as customer support... IT support... networks operations... windows admin... etc). 
Did you get an interview at all? If so, any feedback from it?Guru said:
don't give up though. You can get something positive out of every experience. Use this to further your knowledge on active directory and anything else that you may have been needing in order to do this role. Use your time effectively.
I had practically no experience and it took me around 6 months to get an 'IT' Job. During thsi time i self studied. Got my hands on some training material related to AD/windows/networking etc and went to town on it.
Also, don't spread yourself to thinly. When i was applying for jobs, that was a job in itself. I was at the computer sending out cv's pretty much all day.
paradigm said:
Use VMWare workstation and go through building a DC and some clients tbh, it's what I did years ago and it stood me in good stead along with getting me a job in a "jack of all trades" role after I got made redundant from my job with a telecoms carrier. You could use the MSCE windows server book for this. It's really quite easy to get to grips with once you understand the topology of AD.
You will most likely need to be good with office products too. Skills with Excel formulae, pivot tables etc are also a great bonus to have (any VBA will be too).
Do desktop support for a year or so, get annoyed at the idiot lusers who kick their power cords out (after insisting that it's plugged in over the phone), get their start bar "stuck" to the side of the screen, select the wrong domain for login or various other stupid things.... then move on tbh
Last edited:
I'm a support analyst for a desktop team, whatever that's supposed to be Been doing it for 4 years now, approx 1600 users.
Started off 1st and 2nd line support, then moved into projects. We're an odd "desktop support" team as the 1st and 2nd line fault fixing side of things is almost like something on the side to most of us (i.e. covering the helpdesk for a week is seen as a week off ) as we're all running projects designing and implementing new sytems.
Been doing it for 4 years now, approx 1600 users.Started off 1st and 2nd line support, then moved into projects. We're an odd "desktop support" team as the 1st and 2nd line fault fixing side of things is almost like something on the side to most of us (i.e. covering the helpdesk for a week is seen as a week off
) as we're all running projects designing and implementing new sytems.
Last edited: