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I am starting a help desk position and this is my first real I.T. position. Does anyone have any advice and/or tips for working a help desk and any other helpful career moves? Thank you.

3 Spice ups
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Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you get stuck. The community is a valuable resource for that. As far as career progression goes, I would recommend getting as many certs as you can. A+, Net+ first. CCNS and Microsoft certs next.

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Oh ok. Thanks. What would tia help me progress to?

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I have a new IT person starting tomorrow, and here is my advice: Learn, learn, learn. Get the A+ certs, and you’ll start to figure out what you like to do. IT is a huge field – desktop, server, software, SQL, networking, cabling, programming, security, VOIP, etc… The list is endless. You need to find something you enjoy doing, and then work on learning and obtaining certifications in that area. If you are truly passionate about something and learn everything about it, you’ll be set.

2 Spice ups
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You’ll find that the kind of questions you receive in the help desk may give you some guidance as to where to start deep diving on topics. Even though it may not be your passion, but you may find yourself having ticket after ticket on the same topic, which would prompt you to learn more about what’s breaking in order to prevent future break. Such research can lead to you finding IT interested you didn’t know you had.

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Keep a open mind. Remember that a cert in linux+ might be what are interested in but a network+ might get you the job that allows you to have side projects and enable you to make IT yours. I started off at a help desk and got every cert. i could. Never used half of them. Ten years later, I am the head of IT at my company and the more certs you have the more likely you will be hired by me!

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My advice is to absorb everything you can, learn to document, take directions well, know that there are more than one way to do things, and in my opinion; provide great customer (user) service. Don’t be the helpdesk guy that everyone hates.

1 Spice up
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Caution: If you know what the resolution is great apply it, if you do not then document, document, document what you do to fix the issues (step by step).If things blow up you know exactly what to reverse, and if you need to call on peers they know what happened in detail.

Maintain Perception (internal/external customers): Remember that to the client you are interacting with, the perception you present to them is what they will remember from their experience. Even if things are going horribly wrong, if the client perceives you are going above and beyond (even if you are not) that is what they will remember. Always try to direct their perception of the encounter in a positive light.

Learn: As other have said Learn, ask questions and take directions. Find what you like in IT, start with basic certs then specialize.

Ask Questions of peers: I would rather answer the questions first, then clean up messes later. It is better for the client experience, you learn (and wont ask the same question three times ) and I do not have to clean up in Isle 8.

1 Spice up
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There’s a certain passion that cannot be learned. I think you need to be a problem solver at heart. If you have a true curiosity about how things work, then it will feel like you’re getting paid to watch an episode of “How It’s Made”.