Anyone In Tech Support

[agentx]

Hey guys, I'm sure some of you here would be working in a tech support kind of role. I've completed a Bachelors in IT around a year or so ago ... been working in a call center as a sales agent and then a team leader etc etc for quite a while now. I quit that job a month ago to get into my own field. I think tech support would be the best way to get into it? I haven't officially worked in IT till now although im pretty good with computers and can touch type etc but nothing "official" . I was looking around on seek and most tech support / desktop support jobs require experience as well ... any ideas on how i can get into one? Where did you guys start?

Thanks for any help/tips!

Cheers

[gfunkk]

when i finished school i did work expriance in an office, after 2 weeks of that they could see that i was "l33t" so they hired me full time on trainee wage

then i started studying on the side to get qualifications

[inark]

well... what type of support role are you looking at? The normal entry level into IT (the one i took) is ISP Help Desk.

Before i did that i was a panel beater and then a warehouse admin person.

Did that for 3 years before moving into the role im in now which i have been in for 4 years now.

All of my mates used ISP help desk as a stepping stone. One is the Manager of the ISP Help Desk, the other is a Trainer, one is a network engineer and one is a CISCO engineer.

Most ISP help desk jobs dont really require any experience because they train you on the job.

[R31Nismoid]

Yup - Hell Desk, they only place to start for that really.

[DogKnight]

ISP Help desk. Or you can try places like Harvey Norman, Dick Smith, etc. I worked as a Harvey Norman comp tech for a year to get some experience.

[Redback]

depends on what you after. Helpdesk support or a bit more hands on.

i did work for a lil service agent and nexwork admin for a magazine company.. started off as work experiance and then was hired... as most people do. 5 years later im here in melbourne looking after the ecommunications of Vic Health..... so yeah came up in the world.... no uni required... took me as long though .lol

[agentx]

thanks for the replies guys ... we'll eventually i would like to go to be a sys admin but you have to start somewhere. I would PREFER the role to be hands on thats why i wasn't really looking at the ISP helpdesk roles. Is it worthwhile doing MCSE before going in or?

[inark]

hoenstly ISP help desk is the best place to start... its easy to get into and not hard to move into other positions once you have a year or 2 under your belt and because of the flexible hours of most places you can do your courses etc and work at the same time.

MCSE is a starting point if you want... most help desk support teams prefer just knowledge and experience with things like MCSE as a nice to have. Every monkey and their dog has the MCSE so without experience it isnt going to get you looked at ahead of someone without it if they already have experience.

[R31Nismoid]

You wont get a more hands on role without expierience.

I wont give the nod to hire anyone into this area that doesnt have a good 4-6 years behind them.

As you cant let someone be "hands on" if their hands have never been used

Go the help desk @ a IT firm/ISP etc.

[Redback]

thought of doing MSCE... not worth it... well it looks good.. but doesnt compare to experiance as said in other posts... get out there to a service centre and do some experiance... if there happy with you they will most likely keep you on. if you stay focused you can get places really quick.

[DogKnight]

Harvey Norman was good from the practical sense. You got the customers machine is, had to troubleshoot it, hardware or software, perform repairs, liase with suppliers and customers. Was very good experience and teached you a fair bit in regard to workload management, customer relations and hands on troubleshooting.

[paulr33]

as most of the guys have said, start at the bottom and work you way up, thats how most progress

also be sure you are interested in IT and the computer industry, not just doing it for good $

if you are genuniely interested then start playing around with things at home

setup linux at home, get a cisco switch at home, use vmware on your pc

and play with windows 2000 server, windows 2008 server, linux etc

play around with networking, active directory, build your own domain controller

have a play around with cisco router emulator and so on...

when i hire guys i always look for guys who are actually interested in IT and computers

not just doing for it $, they are pretty easy spot. guys who play with the technology

at home, have a good interest and willingness to learn. thats a key component

also teachs you problem solving, and trying to learn/understand things that might be out of your current scope

theres always someone who can help, shed advice, point you in the right direction etc.

[agentx]

as most of the guys have said, start at the bottom and work you way up, thats how most progress

also be sure you are interested in IT and the computer industry, not just doing it for good $

if you are genuniely interested then start playing around with things at home

setup linux at home, get a cisco switch at home, use vmware on your pc

and play with windows 2000 server, windows 2008 server, linux etc

play around with networking, active directory, build your own domain controller

have a play around with cisco router emulator and so on...

when i hire guys i always look for guys who are actually interested in IT and computers

not just doing for it $, they are pretty easy spot. guys who play with the technology

at home, have a good interest and willingness to learn. thats a key component

also teachs you problem solving, and trying to learn/understand things that might be out of your current scope

theres always someone who can help, shed advice, point you in the right direction etc.

Thanks for this, I actually agree with you and i do REALLY enjoy working around computers, otherwise i was set to become an ops manager etc at the call center. I have a bit of networking done at home, my pc case is always open as i assembled it myself and keep tweaking it. I'll install linux and make mine a domain controller for the other 3 i have in my house and start looking for a job on the phones as tech support.

Thanks alot for the guidance people, appreicate it

p.s. Could anyone please give me the download link for the correct version of linux that I should be getting? Also, any good e-books that you have come across?

Cheers

Edited May 19, 2008 by agentx

[adznight]

Don't do it, just run now. It will ruin your life....

No but on a serious note a Traineeship/Apprenticeship is a good way to go, the only problem is the money. I've taken on 3 trainee's since managing my office here and they'll all been very good. One still works with us today.

The problem I see with IT work is that there are far too many cheap and nasty providers out there so it can be difficult to find a good place to do a traineeship without them using and abusing you at a cheap labour rate.

I started as an apprentice 9 years ago and I’ll be part owner of the business at the end of June so that proves it a good path

[agentx]

Nice. I think rather then doing an apprenticeship, i'll enter the isp tech support role and do some courses on the side and practice at home as well ... can't really "afford" being an apprentice right now

[paulr33]

there are many different versions of linux - your local ftp mirror will have all of them, you should read up on a few before you go ahead and install

and to make it easier try and get another pc, like an old junker, linux will run on virtually anything, pentium 300mhz is plently.

redhat linux

gentoo linux

slackware linux

debian linux

read up and pick one of those, i use slackware and it works well, nice and easy

redhat is the common enterprise used linux as it has commercial support and supported software updates etc

ftp.mirror.aarnet.edu.au will have all of them pretty much

if not check out its.monash.edu.au as it will have them too

lastly, if you cant find them goto google and put in public ftp mirrors

there should be at least 5 or 10 in australia that will have iso copies of those linux versions

[agentx]

kool thanks, i have decided to install ubuntu as thats that easiest to transition to from windows from what i've read haha. I'm techy enough to figure out how to dual boot ( i think ) haha. shouldnt be that hard. I want to be able to choose between linux / windows 2003 server & windows XP in the end. Should have this all setup in a few days. Then i'll finger around with vmware and make the other computers in my house run domains etc etc. time to nerd it up.

[paulr33]

dont bother with dual / mutli boot, waste of time and no-one uses it

and youll risk trashing your pc too, its much easier on another shit old pc cos then you can still use your normal pc if you trash linux

trust me, youll trash the install more than once, and its good practice, to trash a well known working install to see if you can rescue it yourself

also id recommend going into the deep end with linux, pick one of the harder text style linux's, youll learn a better methodical approach instead of windows based linux like gentoo

slackware was prefect for that i found, everything you had to do yourself, and you had to understand why and how before you could do it, you cant just click next next next

[agentx]

hmmm. well i'm gonna back up everything i need before i start. I dont really have the space/resources for another computer right now. I know its not a huge task but i'll probably give dual boot a go and see how i go with that first. Although I will look around for slack ware and see what the go with that is.

Going to be getting windows server 2003 as well on the side.

[Nismo Racer]

Seek and you shall find

Brush up you l33t skill by doing a short course at TAFE to back up ur Uni degree is the way to go