How to get your foot in the door in tech support?

[Wyndru]

Tell him to stop trying and get into development. IT is the world's worst job. You hear nothing but problems all day, and it's up to you to solve them. I've been in it for 20 years and am just now getting out of it.

Web and app developers are where's it's at now. They make good money, get to be creative, they're in demand, and it's satisfying work.

It probably depends where you are at. In my area there aren't any entry level web/app dev jobs available either. Companies are taking advantage of the unemployment numbers and only hiring people with previous experience. The last few dev positions I've seen advertised paid $14-$16/hourly and required at least 3 years working in a team environment.

We have too many tech schools in my area just cranking out programmers, the market is saturated with them. 🙁

 

[amdhunter]

Started in the Work Study program at my local community college, in the "computer room." I didn't know crap except how to restart the printer and/or computer when it didn't print. If there was a problem with the Internet, we just called a number and someone came in.

Now I do the same exact thing for 700 desktops. 🙂 It's crazy when I think about it, but I have 15+ years of helpdesk experience. I really have no motivation to move beyond that. I actually enjoy helpdesk work.

 

[SagaLore]

He got his A+, but he's still having trouble finding a job.

What's with this love of A+? That cert is worthless. Any number of simple microsoft certs focused on the windows platform would get you a MCP and more practical knowledge.

If he's really having that much a of a problem getting a job in tech support, I strongly suggest he go to Plan B. Do something else, anything else.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

What's with this love of A+? That cert is worthless. Any number of simple microsoft certs focused on the windows platform would get you a MCP and more practical knowledge.

If he's really having that much a of a problem getting a job in tech support, I strongly suggest he go to Plan B. Do something else, anything else.

People are fooled into thinking it's worth something or getting it prepares them for something, which is why I consider it somewhat of a scam.

 

[Wyndru]

People are fooled into thinking it's worth something or getting it prepares them for something, which is why I consider it somewhat of a scam.

It's because most websites offering A+ testing state the following:

What is CompTIA A+ Certification? CompTIA A+ Certification is a vendor neutral testing program that certifies the competency of entry-level (6 months experience) computer service technicians.

I don't know if this has ever truly been the case, but after my first job I took it off my resume after a career assistance rep told me it was just taking up space, and shouldn't be there since I now had more than 6 months exp.

 

[dougp]

My A+ got me my first support job, which got me in the door and on my path now. Don't knock it, but most major companies and recruiters will ask for something like that, not for the technical aspect but because of the troubleshooting base it provides for you.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Hmm let me see. Call Tech Support or use Google.
mmm really tough choice unless its a woman with a laptop

 

[alent1234]

To each his own. I started out in coding back in 99 because of Y2k and COBOL but got into support and love it much better. I could not stand looking at code all day. Looking at 5000 lines of code and trying to find where you might have mistyped a comma or whatever else is not my idea of fun. Most coders these days just maintain code and are not really creating something new. Even if they do get on a project to developed something new they end up supporting it with nothing else. Most companies will hire contractors to do the development work because it is much cheaper to hire high end developers for 3 to 6 months and not have to pay the benefits and much easy to get rid of then when done.

I would say the contractors are the ones getting most of the work these days to develop.

in 2012 the IDE's automatically warn you of syntax and other errors, safe to come back to coding