Who works as Deskside support or as a Field Tech?

[AgentJean]

I started a new job 3 weeks ago working as a Deskside support tech for a consulting firm. I am stationed at their client's office(the client is in the manufacturing industry). The office has about 120 computers. The Operating procdure for I/T support is, when the user detects a problem they call the help desk(located 1500 miles away) the help desk troubleshoots the issue, if the problem needs hands on work they dispatch me.

So for since I started this job all I do all day is sit at my desk, surf the net, play solitare or watch movies on my PDA.

No, i'm not try to brag that I get paid to do nothing all day. I want to get a feel if this work load is normal. I'm on a 6 month contract subject to being hired permanently. I'm worried that in August they will decide to remove the field tech from this office and kick me to the curb. This project has only been live for about a month so a lot of resource allocation will change, I'm sure of that. Even if they want to keep me on and employ me directly(i'm a contractor right now) I'm almost sure they will never offer me what I want in terms of salary, but that's another topic for another day.

 

[Looney]

Yep, sounds like a job i once had. I literally went out and blew $3k on a new iXPS2 laptop so i could game and kill time.

 

[AgentJean]

Originally posted by: Looney
Yep, sounds like a job i once had. I literally went out and blew $3k on a new iXPS2 laptop so i could game and kill time.

I would so love to do that, but the client has me sitting in the middle of the office floor with high foot traffic so I need to look like I'm busy. I don't think it looks good if I'm playing WOW and tell the user to call the help desk for help with their problem(although that is policy)

I've been thinking about moving my issued laptop into the server room. It's a secured room, only 5 people have the access code to enter it. I'm one of them. But it's too cold in there and the PC repair room/janitor's closet is too hot to sit in for 8 hours out of the day.

 

[Looney]

Well, after a little while i got tired of HL2 and EQ2, so i went back to school and killed time doing that.

 

[Captante]

I've had a number of desktop support jobs & in my experience you will go through long periods of few/no problems & then for a short period the poop will hit the fan for some reason & you'll have more work then you can handle... its just the nature of the job so get used to it.

 

[AgentJean]

Originally posted by: Captante
I've had a number of desktop support jobs & in my experience you will go through long periods of few/no problems & then for a short period the poop will hit the fan for some reason & you'll have more work then you can handle... its just the nature of the job so get used to it.

That's funny because today the lotus server is down world wide. :Q . I bet the help desk wants to slit their writs this morning.

Not really my problem though. 😉

 

[ch33zw1z]

Your description sounds about right. there's slow days/weeks, and there's busy times. 120 computers is not much tho...doubt you'll see much action.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: AgentJean

Originally posted by: Captante
I've had a number of desktop support jobs & in my experience you will go through long periods of few/no problems & then for a short period the poop will hit the fan for some reason & you'll have more work then you can handle... its just the nature of the job so get used to it.

That's funny because today the lotus server is down world wide. :Q . I bet the help desk wants to slit their writs this morning.

Not really my problem though. 😉

Yep. High availability requires high idle time.

/looks at profile
/looks at industry description
/considers calling all Field Techs listed under "Virginia" in his contact list and asking for AgentJean 😉

- M4H

 

[AgentJean]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Originally posted by: AgentJean

Originally posted by: Captante
I've had a number of desktop support jobs & in my experience you will go through long periods of few/no problems & then for a short period the poop will hit the fan for some reason & you'll have more work then you can handle... its just the nature of the job so get used to it.

That's funny because today the lotus server is down world wide. :Q . I bet the help desk wants to slit their writs this morning.

Not really my problem though. 😉

Yep. High availability requires high idle time.

/looks at profile
/looks at industry description
/considers calling all Field Techs listed under "Virginia" in his contact list and asking for AgentJean 😉

- M4H

Well if you do the name is pronouced Agent "John"

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: AgentJean
Well if you do the name is pronouced Agent "John"

Parlez-vous Grenouille? 😉 😀

- M4H

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Captante
I've had a number of desktop support jobs & in my experience you will go through long periods of few/no problems & then for a short period the poop will hit the fan for some reason & you'll have more work then you can handle... its just the nature of the job so get used to it.

yeah, pretty much.

i work support at a company that has about 70-80 pc users. most of the time i sit at my desk and read/post on ATOT or other sites.

some days just about everyone has a problem and i'm so busy, but most of the time its slow and boring as hell.

 

[AgentJean]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Captante
I've had a number of desktop support jobs & in my experience you will go through long periods of few/no problems & then for a short period the poop will hit the fan for some reason & you'll have more work then you can handle... its just the nature of the job so get used to it.

yeah, pretty much.

i work support at a company that has about 70-80 pc users. most of the time i sit at my desk and read/post on ATOT or other sites.

some days just about everyone has a problem and i'm so busy, but most of the time its slow and boring as hell.

Where you making more or less that 40k a year?