what would this job actually be doing....

Soldato
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applied for a lot of jobs lately and got a letter back for an interview for one, but im not actually sure what it is this job would be doing...

IT helpdesk technician

does that mean id be sat on a phone all day? any one have that title and can explain better what it includes?

will be my first ever proper interview (not like the supermarket ones)
 
Soldato
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They call them "helpdesk analysts" at my old work, problem is they never analyse anything, quite insulting for most technical people really.

Yes you'd be stuck giving advice on unblocking mouse balls and telling people to reboot thier machines to see if the fault goes away like a magical techie-fairy.
 
Soldato
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Well, thats my job, I work at a HE/FE college, and I do a monthly rotation with 2 others, 1 month sat at a desk answerring calls and logging jobs, 1 month dealing with faults in student environment, and 1 month dealing with faults in the staff environment.

While the month on the desk can get very tedious, dealing with faults is great fun, and can be almost anything; helping students recovering lost work, fixing hardware, organising software rollouts, unjamming printers, rebuilding servers, configuring telephones....

Pretty much anything ICT related in fact.

As someone else said, it depends on the company, but this is what I do, and I love it!

especially when i get hot students begging for password resets =P
 
Man of Honour
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Helpdesk Technician is my exact title, and I do pretty much exactly what Haggisman does (although it's mainly for staff - student calls get escalated to us if the IT centre bods can't handle it). It's not glamorous but it's fairly simple and interesting work with minimal responsibility. I certainly won't be here forever but it's convenient for me, easy if you have the knowhow and, essentially, gives experience in my chosen field.
 
Associate
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I used to be a system support consultant LOL

Pretty much just took calls, disregarded information passed from the call centre or other teams and worked out how to fix various problems.

It depends on the company really. I dealt with a wide range of problems from the comical my mouse doesn't work, my printer has XYZ lights flashing etc... to resolving software faults, contacting comms providers blah blah

It got boring every now & then so I pushed to get myself promoted up the ladder. Went up a couple of grades (with decentish pay increases) took over all training for the department then eventually left support and now work as part of a small team managing an enterprise server farm for the same company.
That only took me 2 years and I've almost doubled my starting wage (been here over 3 years now)

Wouldn't say it's a bad start for anybody really.
 
Caporegime
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If it's in a school, then just say no. In between the kids destroying things and teachers with their "LOLZ I NEED THIS CRAPPY SOFTWARE ON EVERY PC IN THE SCHOOL BY NEXT LESSON!!!" it's just not worth the money they pay.
 
Soldato
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Belmit said:
I certainly won't be here forever but it's convenient for me, easy if you have the knowhow and, essentially, gives experience in my chosen field.

Good point, while I do enjoy this, I don't want to be doing it forever, but its my first proper job, and they gave me it straight off my course(woulda thought they'd had enough of me as a student!), and of course, the experience is invaluable...first step on the ladder is always the hardest.

vonhelmet said:
If it's in a school, then just say no. In between the kids destroying things and teachers with their "LOLZ I NEED THIS CRAPPY SOFTWARE ON EVERY PC IN THE SCHOOL BY NEXT LESSON!!!" it's just not worth the money they pay.

oh so true...

but then

kami said:
actually if it's in a school say yes, if you can handle that you can handle anything people throw at you, even graphic designers
 
Soldato
OP
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i would actually enjoy being a school IT techy, however sad this sounds me and a mate used to know our school techy quite well and helped him out a lot of the time, i reckon id enjoy that sort of job

Everyone needs to start somewhere!

true but id much rather start somewhere else :p
 
Soldato
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I also work as IT helpdesk support at a 6th form college. I can't see me being there forever, but im really quite enjoying it at the moment. Its fairly easy work, and gives me the all so important experience. Work are also paying for me to do a compTIA A+, so thats not too bad either.

What are you doing at the moment mrbios? If your unemployed or working a rubbish job, then you'd be stupid not trying to get this job. I mean, whats the worst that can happen.... you don't like the job after 6months or so, so you can apply for more jobs having gained extra experience and the knowledge that its not the line of work for you.
 
Associate
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All the helpdesk people at ours seem to love it which must be saying something as the pay here is rubbish.

Generally just hear stories about them all getting hammered and boffing one another!

Not a bad little promotion from supermarket work! Most go on to more senior or more technical positions within about 18 months.
 
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