Sure, it’s great if you’re just starting out and need to get some experience but, expecting to have a lucrative and fulfilling career in it is delusional. IT Help Desk Technicians work with Desktop Support Engineers to adequately provide their clients with satisfactory service, no matter their problem. Desktop Service works in tandem with IT Service, as one needs the other to perform at its best quality.

VARs are constantly engaged in highly technical projects, which can provide you with amazing hands-on experience and new skills. You can also work for a customer and still perform projects, but you won’t get as much experience as you would working for a VAR. Sure, some people choose to stay in entry-level roles (that’s what they claim, but secretly daydream about moving up) for most or all of their careers; nothing wrong with that. But, there are also people who skyrocket through the industry as if they were cruising through outer space.

What is a Help Desk Engineer?

The best part is that if you’re feeling down or maybe even lost, you can get plenty of support. For instance, someone struggling to prepare for a certification or having a bad time at work can simply share part of their story with their community and be flooded with tons of positive messages. This may seem like a triviality, but having the privilege to rely on a supportive community can make a gigantic difference in your career. Service providers provide WAN, Internet connectivity, and other services to customers. Usually, VARs advise customers on which service provider and type of connectivity to use for their specific needs. All these roles have a lot of churn so there should be plenty of opportunities to move up in your company –no need to get your resume out there yet.

• Despite the disadvantages, working at the help desk may be quite rewarding if the proper characteristics and abilities are acquired.
• They must have had hardware troubleshooting experience and be conversant with networking protocols and ITIL.
• To be more patient, keep in mind that your end customers are not as technically savvy as you are.

Earning these certifications expands your career options, as they prove you have the help desk technician skills that employers want. For some companies, certifications are a help desk technician education requirement that you need to have completed prior to accepting a position. You’ll graduate a confident, highly trained computer support specialist. An IT Help Desk Technician is responsible for providing technical support and assistance. They interact with customers by phone or in-person to resolve their computer problems related to software and hardware issues to help them get back up running smoothly again. Community colleges also provide a great way for people to get the necessary training required in order to start working as help desk technicians at entry-level salaries. Although it could depend on the location of the role, an entry-level IT help desk salary can be above $50,000 per year.

But Should You Be a Help Desk Technician?

Now, there might be some exceptions here and there, but if you really want to make it far in the industry, you should treat entry-level positions as a means to an end. They should only be a way for you to break in and start moving up.

Anyone interested in learning and becoming a system admin can check out what’s in store here. There are also preparation tutorials to clear the Microsoft’s certification on server systems to become a system admin. Mike Meyers, the Industry’s leading authority on CompTIA Certifications has created a series of 2 courses on Udemy to help learners pass the CompTIA A+ Certification. Mike has been involved in the computer and network repair industry since 1987 as a technician, instructor, author, consultant, and speaker. He has authored several popular bestselling PC books and videos, and has taught over 2 million people including U.S. senators, U.S. Supreme Court Justices, members of the United Nation, every branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, many branches of the Department of Justice, hundreds of corporate clients and academic students at every level.

Skills to develop to transition to this role

The median annual salary for help desk technicians in $56,000, according to the latest figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Help desk technicians are vital to the IT workforce, as they keep the technologies that organizations rely on to do business up-to-date and running smoothly.

• You’re always looking to get an edge on everybody else, or hunting for the next trend so you can jump on it before everyone else.
• Technical Support Jobs include roles as Maintenance Engineers, Help Desk Operators or Applications Support Specialists.
• During this process, they need to keep their clients abreast of the progress.
• This IT Certificate program also aligns with the objectives covered by the newly updated CompTIA A+ certification.

While in recent years some traditional help desk tasks have been outsourced, there will always be a desire for onsite how to become a help desk engineer within every large company. Help desk support specialists are needed across all industries and can create a niche skillset by learning and specializing more in certain types of technology, systems, or hardware. At its most simple form, a help desk technician performs troubleshooting tasks on behalf of end-users within their company when they run into problems with applications, hardware, or network issues. The best way to train as a help desk technician is through hands-on experience. You will find that most employers are willing to train you on the job, or even provide some work-related training .

When I do interview, I don’t have the “right” kind of networking experience. I have worked as a 1099 IT contractor, replacing networking equipment, running cables and troubleshooting. I would love to get a opportunity to learn more but the card have not been dealt that way. Moreover, with the exponential adoption of mobile devices, there will be a need for more Service Desk Engineers to provide support services. An IT help desk job salary can depend on the company and where you work. Rewarding IT careers often begin on the help desk and the support field is booming at the moment. Many businesses are continuing to expand their operations and need to invest in technology in order to support this growth.