Work - Life in Technical Support
"Hi, I wonder if you can help me on this one" "Well I can
try, that is what we are here for - what seems to be the
problem?" "Could you tell me where I might find the "Any Key"?
"I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what you are asking, you're
looking for "Any Key"? "Yes, I'm installing a game on my PC
and it says press "Any Key" to continue and I don't seem to be
able to find it anywhere."
Is this really just an urban myth that a conversation went this
way between a caller and a technical support department? All
urban myths have their base in something real anyway and let's
be honest - there are enough people out there who know nothing
about computers that makes me believe this could be one of the
real ones.
Life in Technical Support can be one of sheer frustration
however it can be one where you have a lot of fun (even with
customers and callers) and not a day would go past when you
didn't have a laugh at something or have something to relay back
to your colleagues. However as with being in computer sales you
need to remember that usually you are in the front line here
when things go wrong and you need to be prepared to speak with
irate customers on the phone and in person when they turn up
with a computer under their arm and demand that you sort things
out immediately for them.
Computers go wrong, sometimes it is a hardware failure - when I
worked in a customer facing technical support role I honestly
believe that computers were a lot less reliable than they are
now.
Sometimes it is the operating system. Those people bought up
with computers since Windows 2000 don't know how lucky they
were. Even those people who first started out with computers
when Windows 95 was the operating system of choice don't know
about the levels of frustration we used to go through supporting
the likes of Windows 2 and Windows 3 - you think Windows 95 -
Windows ME was bad, you try and configure a DOS/Windows 3
machine to have EMS, XMS and Base Memory so all the customers
games and applications would run. We all know just how
frustrating it is when a computer goes wrong, however a customer
will really want to make you aware of the inconvenience you
personally have put them through when their system goes wrong.
You know that a hardware fault is totally beyond your control
and a software fault isn't actually covered by the warranty,
however there is no way you'll get rid of a customer that easy
and if they rely on their computer for business then prepare
your ears and brain to hear words you didn't know existed or if
you did know existed would never by uttered by a meek looking
woman one lunchtime.
In one of my technical support jobs
we were actually allowed to "give as good as you get" with
regards language. Now if any bosses are reading this that
thought probably really worries them, however let me tell you as
a technician it actually helped in a lot of situations. Once a
customer realised that you were not going to simply roll over
and that the language being used sounded so silly and immature
the majority of them would calm down and at last you'd be able
to make some suggestions that might be able to fix the problem
at hand.
Many technical support departments are split
into "lines". The idea is that you have first line support where
the calls are actually answered and your job is to get rid of
the customer as quickly as possible - not necessarily meant in a
bad way. Front or First line support will involve you asking
customers silly questions like "Is it plugged in" and "You have
powered it on?" but you'd be surprised how many people have
forgotten the most simply things when they are in a hurry to get
their new purchase up and running as quickly as possible. Next
comes second line support and this is where a lot of the quicker
issues are resolved. Things that require a quick reboot of the
system, the installation of a patch or a new driver and that
kind of thing. The majority of people in a large technical
support department will work on the second line as this is where
most issues can be resolved. You've got third line support where
the really long calls are routed to - those people that need
talking through a complete OS reinstallation or those people who
have found issues that haven't yet been listed in your company
Knowledge Base and you are having to do some research into the
problem yourself.
To be honest this is the best level of
support to be in because you'll actually have to use your brain
and also your own initiative rather than relying on
pre-determined scripts to find the problem.
Working in a
technical support department is not likely to be something you
plan on doing for the rest of your life and you'll probably be
looking at the role as more of a stepping stone than anything
else.
From general Technical Support you will find roles such
as "Systems Administrator" & "Network Support" a possibility.
You've also got the decision to make on if you want to remain
"public facing" but at a much more professional level where you
become part of a team installing and supporting another
companies IT infrastructure.
Alternatively you may decide to
move to "Internal Support" where you will be supporting users in
a company and the companies actual IT environment. Either of
these new directions will be a lot more stressful but ultimately
a lot more rewarding in both the wages department and also for
further career development. An IT Manager will almost certainly
have worked in a Technical Support department at some point,
however he or she will have moved through much more senior roles
before getting the manager role.
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