IT jobs for anti-social people!

[FoxEye]

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

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?

 

[FoxEye]

IT support is very much a customer facing role. if you don't like people you need to change to more specialist roles.

My last role was 2nd line support, which I did for about 4 years 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

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

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

All I'm asking is which branches of IT care primarily about your skills?

 

[FoxEye]

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 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

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

 

[FoxEye]

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.

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.

 

[FoxEye]

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.

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.

 

[FoxEye]

Contributing to open source projects is a good way to build experience and a portfolio.

Anyone can do this? I assumed the project curator would vet the experience of potential contributors before letting them make changes, or committing them.

So basically I need to teach myself proper coding and find a project to add some bugs contribute to.

What kind of projects or languages would be a good starting point for a newb?

 

[FoxEye]

Before you leap into training to work in a dark room by yourself, I think you're reading far too much into that question.

You need to understand their problem, fix their problem, and don't try to make them feel bad. If you can actually manage a bit of human conversation in the middle of this bonus points, but it's not important. No-one wants to talk to you, you're not their friend, they just need you so they can do their job.

And that's basically what I put on the application forms. Only to be told that I didn't focus enough on my customer service skills. How I should have related an experience where I gave exceptional customer service. Where I turned a "frown into a smile."

Frankly I'd have to make something up. Because in all the years I did 2nd line, I just turned up, fixed their problem, and left. Never had a "thank you"; never expected one. Did my job as efficiently as possible and moved on to the next one. Was polite but didn't hang around making small talk.

But that isn't good enough any more.

The feedback I've had from several employers, who didn't even give me an interview, was that I spoke too much about my technical skills, and didn't show them how I was the most customer-focused techie the world had ever seen. Which is, apparently, more important than techie skills.

More important than getting the job done.

 

[FoxEye]

It's down to whether you are self-motivated to learn, have the enthusiasm for programming, and whether you have the necessary brain power. Everything you need to learn programming is available free online. Look at the job vacancies to see what skills are requested.

It can be learnt and enthusiasm will get you a long way. However, it can be quite challenging and you do need a fair amount of brain power to be really good.

I know the (very) basics in a couple different languages. Coded in Pascal when I was in college, made some crappy Windows board game

I've used Javascript too for making a crappy browser board game But the stuff I know is the stuff you can learn in a month or two.

I've even got some assembler under my belt too, having used IDA Pro and the like to disassemble and modify old '90s games.

But I know that basic hobby coding and commercial development are chalk and cheese. Without a lot of learning about software patterns, modern methodologies, etc, I would be very reluctant to actually apply for even a junior development job.

As for brain power, well I've mastered colouring inside the lines

Have you considered software testing? People with Asperger's typically find it a good fit, although that doesn't directly correlate to anti-social.

I don't have Aspergers, I'm just a git

If you've had the same feedback from several people you really ought to have adjusted how you approach these things based on that feedback. I mean if it was one application then I wouldn't worry but if completely different people are independently highlighting something they perceive to be a problem then you probably do need to address it.

The only way to "address it" would be to lie on the application form. Because like I said, saying that I'm polite to people and aim to get the job done as quickly as possible does not cut it.

They want examples of how I "made a customer's day" or nonsense like that. Or an example of how I gave amazing customer service.

The only way to satisfy that kind of question in my case would be to make up a fictitious situation, and I'm just not prepared to do that. The only way I give amazing customer service is by doing the technical aspects of my job well and within SLA.

If they want more than that I have to lie to them :/

 

[FoxEye]

OK, here's some feedback I got from one employer:

"You focused too much on your technical skills. You didn't tell us that you understand the customer needs, the customer requirements, the customer's perspective or the cusomter's experience."

Their needs: they need their **** to work, ASAP
Their requirements: they require their **** to work, ASAP
Their perspective: erm, they would like someone to come fix their ****?
Their experience: generally, if their **** gets fixed promptly, and the engineer didn't drop his pants, steal their phone, crap on their desk... it's a good experience!

But if you dig deeper, that's when they tell you "you should have mentioned a time when you were able to give excellent customer service, told us how you apply your customer service skills to increase customer satisfaction". And frankly I'm at a loss here.

 

[FoxEye]

You can be the most technically astute analyst going, but if you haven't understood what the customer's requirements are, that may not matter. Or to put it in your terms, you may be great at fixing **** but if you fix the wrong ****, or if you fix **** and it still doesn't solve their underlying/primary issue, they won't be happy.

I'm not sure how you'd fix the wrong thing tho? It's never been remotely possible in my previous jobs.

The customer phones up, tells you the problem, how would you manage to fix the wrong problem...?

I mean, give me an example of how you'd manage to fix the wrong problem after the customer told you what the problem was. "I can't mail merge." "I've fixed your PC's date/time setting!" That doesn't happen!

I'm genuinely trying to think of a situation where I could have fixed the wrong thing, and it's never been a possibility.

And if the issue the customer described is still present after you're done, then you haven't fixed anything. So you're reply doens't make sense I'm afraid. The customer can't be upset because you fixed **** and her problem is still there. That just means you /didn't/ fix ****.

Again, this has never happened to me. Maybe I wasn't dealing with issues that were completely ambiguous, or I never had a call where it wasn't clear what the customer's problem was, from their point of view. "I can't type" doesn't identify the problem from a technical standpoint, but it makes very clear what the problem is, and what you would consider to be a fix for that problem.

It's a real stretch to think you could take that problem, and fix something not related to their ability to type... it just wouldn't happen, would it...