IT jobs for anti-social people!

FoxEye

FoxEye

FoxEye

Caporegime
Joined
17 Feb 2006
Posts
29,263
Location
Cornwall
I've been declined for a couple jobs in my comfort zone recently. Not citing lack of technical skills, but a lack of customer focus in my application.

"IT is a service industry - customer is king!"

And one question, "How would you turn a customer frown into a smile?"

My comfort zone is 2nd line, although I've done retail sales too (and hated it). Plus I've done a fair bit of scripting/ automation. But my idea of putting the customer first is just doing a good job in a reasonable time frame. I'm not a stand-up comedian, or a clown, or an agony aunt.

I enjoy problem solving, learning stuff, getting the job done... much, much more than "banter" with the customer or colleagues. Hell, you can shut me in a room on my own for all I care :p

But that's not IT today (I'm told). There are "hundreds" of people with techie skills, so now you have to be everybody's best friend, able and willing to spend hours on the phone comforting the customer and reassuring them everything will be OK.

So either I get out of IT and become a truck driver, or I find some field in IT where questions don't include, "How would you make a customer feel special?"

Are there any IT jobs out there still that don't revolve around customer service skills? Or am I boned?
 
Have you thought about programming / development / coding? Depending on the company/project, you would still need to work with your colleagues/in a team, but you don't need to be all friendy friendy about it.

You'll have to get involved with customers if you want to work your way up in the development world, but it's not customers whining at you because they don't know how to restart their machine or can't print.

IT support is not for you.
 
Last edited:
It depends what you mean by IT, but it sounds like you mean IT Support, which by definition involves people.

If you don't like the Support element, then move into something like coding or server administration or network administration.
 
Diagro said:
IT support is very much a customer facing role. if you don't like people you need to change to more specialist roles.
Click to expand...

My last role was 2nd line support, which I did for about 4 years :p But you're right, I need to get out of it.

I'm not saying that I'm unable to interact with people, it's just that the selection process these days is all about talking about fantastic experiences you had with people, and absolutely nothing about how you would fix a computer :p

I've always been polite, if quiet, and gone about my business in a professional manner. I've had my fair share of ranting customers, and I've found the best way to deal with them is just to fix their problem as well as you can :p

But I'm not even getting interviews because you have to waffle so much about these mythical encounters where you turned a complaint into a "thank you", and if you don't BS your way through you just won't get the job.

And I'm tired of this kind of selection process, so I want to work somewhere where I don't have to pretend to be the most charismatic man that ever lived :p

All I'm asking is which branches of IT care primarily about your skills?
 
You should be asking yourself the question whether turning into a hermit and avoiding people is going to really benefit your career? It's not difficult (unless you have an actual condition) to get into the habit of treating people nicely and putting them at ease, it's just another skill you have to work on.

FoxEye said:
I'm not saying that I'm unable to interact with people, it's just that the selection process these days is all about talking about fantastic experiences you had with people, and absolutely nothing about how you would fix a computer :p
Click to expand...

That's because pretty much anyone these days can be taught basic IT support skills, unless you're at a high level in support most of it is GCSE level stuff.

If you want to showcase how good you can be in computing then something like programming or network engineering would be better suited.
 
Last edited:
FoxEye said:
Are there any IT jobs out there still that don't revolve around customer service skills? Or am I boned?
Click to expand...

yes, there are loads - maybe become a developer instead

plenty of techie type jobs - IT security, networking, DBA, sys admin stuff etc..etc..

basically just don't do consulting, sales, client service or product management if you're not keen on being a people person - in fact you'll have to avoid any sort of management really (though some people still end up in management roles when they lack people skills and it sucks for everyone involved)

alternatively you could perhaps take some steps to resolve this issue, maybe there are some underlying issues like anxiety etc.. that are stepping in the way here. Though if it just the case that you're simply just happy being left to it then chose a technical area and become highly skilled in it.
 
Last edited:
How would you break into development?

I've written the odd thousand-line /script/, but I've never done real coding, and certainly not commercially.

As it stands I'm 35, no degree, and no advantage over a freshly graduated youngling :p So although I'll give anything a shot, I'm struggling to see how I'd get my break in that industry. With my employers hat on, there's no way I'd give myself a job in anything other than support :p

Willing to try, but not seeing how to do it, currently.
 
FoxEye said:
But I'm not even getting interviews because you have to waffle so much about these mythical encounters where you turned a complaint into a "thank you", and if you don't BS your way through you just won't get the job.

And I'm tired of this kind of selection process, so I want to work somewhere where I don't have to pretend to be the most charismatic man that ever lived :p
Click to expand...

unfortunately the way a lot of companies select candidates is cringeworthy, unless your skill is in high demand you'll have to suck it up and learn to deal with the BS

these videos might be useful, she's quite easy on the eye too :)

http://careercake.com/free-careers-advice/careercaketv.php
 
FoxEye said:
How would you break into development?

I've written the odd thousand-line /script/, but I've never done real coding, and certainly not commercially.

As it stands I'm 35, no degree, and no advantage over a freshly graduated youngling :p So although I'll give anything a shot, I'm struggling to see how I'd get my break in that industry. With my employers hat on, there's no way I'd give myself a job in anything other than support :p

Willing to try, but not seeing how to do it, currently.
Click to expand...

could be tricky, first make sure it is something you'd be keen to do not just because it doesn't necessarily have to involve interaction (in fact some dev jobs do require plenty of collaboration with others and aren't so great for working from home etc..)

I'd be tempted to try some of the MOOC offerings and contact smaller firms after you've got a few small projects etc.. under your belt to show them. Maybe something like the udacity nanaodegrees could help too (these do have a fee btw but you could always watch the various courses for free before registering to do the coursework).
 
It depends, at times this kind of feels forced.

I was speaking to someone on the phone yesterday about my car insurance. Whilst waiting for payment to go through, he indulged in some small talk "So, how's things down there. Have a good evening? How was work?" ect. I assume he's been told from the top to not wait in silence whilst waiting for the system, but it was apparent it was forced and that he's not really interested (and to be fair, why would he?).

Just seemed a bit odd all in all.
 
dowie said:
unfortunately the way a lot of companies select candidates is cringeworthy, unless your skill is in high demand you'll have to suck it up and learn to deal with the BS

these videos might be useful, she's quite easy on the eye too :)

http://careercake.com/free-careers-advice/careercaketv.php
Click to expand...

You have to play the game I'm afraid. It's all this is. You can play these answers if you're quick thinking off the top of your head by having a select few saved up for generics. They want to see a number of things; customer handling, problem solving, communication etc.
If you're clever enough, memorise the job description "key words" they're looking for and you can drop them back into your answers.
 
Kuros said:
It depends, at times this kind of feels forced.

I was speaking to someone on the phone yesterday about my car insurance. Whilst waiting for payment to go through, he indulged in some small talk "So, how's things down there. Have a good evening? How was work?" ect. I assume he's been told from the top to not wait in silence whilst waiting for the system, but it was apparent it was forced and that he's not really interested (and to be fair, why would he?).

Just seemed a bit odd all in all.
Click to expand...

Yeah frankly I can't stand this. Had a double glazing salesman call the other day, and the first thing he said was, "Hi, hope you're having a good day, how are things with you lately?"

I was not impressed in the slightest. It's so blindingly obvious that a random cold calling stranger does not care how my day has been, any more than I care about his.

It's not just forced, it's fake. It's just meaningless words; a waste of my time and his.
 
Kuros said:
It depends, at times this kind of feels forced.

I was speaking to someone on the phone yesterday about my car insurance. Whilst waiting for payment to go through, he indulged in some small talk "So, how's things down there. Have a good evening? How was work?" ect. I assume he's been told from the top to not wait in silence whilst waiting for the system, but it was apparent it was forced and that he's not really interested (and to be fair, why would he?).

Just seemed a bit odd all in all.
Click to expand...

I would agree with this but unfortunately it's just part of our culture now.

It's funny seeing how things are handled in different countries, particularly places like Sweden where things are very much straight to the point and small talk is rare.
 
randomshenans said:
You have to play the game I'm afraid. It's all this is. You can play these answers if you're quick thinking off the top of your head by having a select few saved up for generics. They want to see a number of things; customer handling, problem solving, communication etc.
If you're clever enough, memorise the job description "key words" they're looking for and you can drop them back into your answers.
Click to expand...

So you end up selecting for people who are good at playing the game.

Frankly, there are plenty of people who can play the application game, and then aren't so great at the actual job. Have you not encountered this any place you worked?

When a few people go for a job (eg promotion), you know them all well. You know a couple people could be awesome at the job, they have the right skills. But in the end, somebody totally unexpected gets it, because they "played a blinder". Sometimes it works out, unexpectedly. Some times it's obvious that the wrong candidate got the job, and everybody loses.

But then there's no point in moaning about things that you can't change and aren't likely to change, is there.
 
You've got to fake it to make it as they say, either that or sit there in the job you hate but at least your smug self satisfaction of never trying to sell something you're not will keep you warm at night :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom