Request 1st line support course

[Veora]

I just had flashbacks of giving tech support to Australians when I worked nights in my early 20's, their density knows no bounds...

Personally I would do a service desk analyst course (like SDI), ITIL and maybe a Windows 10 config course and blag yourself into a service desk analyst position, pays more than 1st line and you can just put people on hold and google ****, most of it is just idiots forgetting their passwords as mentioned previously.

 

[PoPcOrN]

@Martyn Check this thread for advice. It helped me but didn't actually commit to anything

 

[NightScare]

@Martyn Check this thread for advice. It helped me but didn't actually commit to anything

Curious, are you still stacking shelves?

 

[PoPcOrN]

Curious, are you still stacking shelves?

I'm a carer in a nursing home. I never commit to it. I started a training program but I was getting migraines from studying too much and ended up packing it in. I still want to do it so I'm trying again but not sure where to start because money is an issue

 

[Omnibus]

@PoPcOrN here is the link for Just IT website.

This doesnt mean you have to get an IT job in London but helped me get one outside.

IT Technician Skills Bootcamps

Fully-funded IT Technician Skills Bootcamps. Start your career in 12 weeks with government-funded learning and career support.

www.justit.co.uk

 

[PoPcOrN]

@PoPcOrN here is the link for Just IT website.

This doesnt mean you have to get an IT job in London but helped me get one outside.

IT Technician Skills Bootcamps

Fully-funded IT Technician Skills Bootcamps. Start your career in 12 weeks with government-funded learning and career support.

www.justit.co.uk

It says you have to be a London resident to join

@PoPcOrN here is the link for Just IT website.

This doesnt mean you have to get an IT job in London but helped me get one outside.

IT Technician Skills Bootcamps

Fully-funded IT Technician Skills Bootcamps. Start your career in 12 weeks with government-funded learning and career support.

www.justit.co.uk

I've sent an email anyway l.

 

[Omnibus]

It says you have to be a London resident to join

I've sent an email anyway l.

Maybe the link I sent wasn't clear.

You can get remote study so you don't have to live in London to do all of their courses.

 

[Karl]

I've got some first and 2nd line support jobs going atm in Gloucester if people are looking

Oh and looking for some experienced devs namely in .Net / UI / PHP and more devops type OKD developers.

 

[Lose]

As well as doing some training courses, actually try and figure stuff out yourself. If you want to get into IT properly then start using it to gain your experience.

- Install Hyper-V (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/hyper-v-on-windows/quick-start/enable-hyper-v)
- Create some VMs..
- Try and host your own IIS website, install PHP etc and add in WordPress and a FTP site. << That will come with it's problems and road blocks, figuring that out will be a good experience for you.
- Setup some Windows roles such as a Domain Controller, DNS Server, DHCP Server and follow online guides which will talk you through step by step. Learning to understand these roles are key to every support role.

You have to remember that most 1st Line Support roles are basically triage or extremely basic, which isn't very demanding in terms of technical understanding. You should aim for level 2 support and ideally focus on server support with it being the most useful to your career progression.

End-user support is a massive overhead to a business and is more of an annoyance to the businesses budget, rather than a customer support or critical infrastructure related role that is more justified to the businesses budget.

You need to be able to figure out problems yourself and tear down problems. The courses will be good at providing you an insight and overview to tech & IT but you still need to have an attitude of getting stuck in as every problem will be slightly different.

 

[Omnibus]

As well as doing some training courses, actually try and figure stuff out yourself. If you want to get into IT properly then start using it to gain your experience.

- Install Hyper-V (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/hyper-v-on-windows/quick-start/enable-hyper-v)
- Create some VMs..
- Try and host your own IIS website, install PHP etc and add in WordPress and a FTP site. << That will come with it's problems and road blocks, figuring that out will be a good experience for you.
- Setup some Windows roles such as a Domain Controller, DNS Server, DHCP Server and follow online guides which will talk you through step by step. Learning to understand these roles are key to every support role.

You have to remember that most 1st Line Support roles are basically triage or extremely basic, which isn't very demanding in terms of technical understanding. You should aim for level 2 support and ideally focus on server support with it being the most useful to your career progression.

End-user support is a massive overhead to a business and is more of an annoyance to the businesses budget, rather than a customer support or critical infrastructure related role that is more justified to the businesses budget.

You need to be able to figure out problems yourself and tear down problems. The courses will be good at providing you an insight and overview to tech & IT but you still need to have an attitude of getting stuck in as every problem will be slightly different.

I have been in two 1st line roles and it was mostly log and send to 2nd line.

Luckily 18 months ago, a 2nd line position came along and already enjoying the project side.

2nd line is the path to progress towards.

 

[Karl]

I have been in two 1st line roles and it was mostly log and send to 2nd line.

Luckily 18 months ago, a 2nd line position came along and already enjoying the project side.

2nd line is the path to progress towards.

2nd line is most definitely the way forward.

But around 95% of all my recruitment for 2nd line comes directly through our first line teams. It's far better to get your foot in the door and show willing, within 6 months if you're good, you'll be stepping up.

 

[Skyline]

You aint gonna get 2nd Line without 1st Line.
So 2nd Line will be your goal, 1st Line is your starting point.

One of the easiest ways to get some sort of experience is with companies such as ISP.
Do the 1st Line there for a short time. Get experience on your CV of taking calls, diagnosing and escalating.

Then start looking for a 1st Line IT jobs.

We have quite a few ISP call centers up here though, not sure if that's going to be as easy for you.

 

[Omnibus]

1st line has a lot of perks. You will be the main point of contact for all IT stuff.

Do allow assistance writing your CV to get you your first IT job.

 

[Karl]

I just want to put this into perspective when it comes to worrying about getting qualifications, as i've alluded to previously, I don't look for them, neither do other heads where I work.

I started working where I work now in 2011 on Frontline answering calls about hosted websites - I had no experience at all in IT other than selling laptops at PC World.
In 2012 I stepped up to answering more technical dedicated server calls, customers (like some of the dodgy people on here who have no right or ability to rent a server! ) who want help with initial setup or troubleshooting problems on their servers.
in 2014 I moved into 24/7 Operations - pretty much a third line role.
in the same year I became a team lead of one of the 24/7 teams
in 2021 I became the head of 24/7 Operations

At no point during that entire time have I needed any kind of qualification.

As a side note, I'd loved to have stayed just doing 24/7 roles because i loved the 4 on 4 off shift pattern and on two of those 4 shifts you are purely reactive so can spend those two shifts doing whatever the hell you wanted - it just came to a point where I couldn't earn anymore money in that role so had no choice other than to become a 9-5er

 

[PoPcOrN]

I've got some first and 2nd line support jobs going atm in Gloucester if people are looking

Oh and looking for some experienced devs namely in .Net / UI / PHP and more devops type OKD developers.

Happily If its remote lol. I'm near Birmingham.


Got an interview next week for 1st/2nd line support.

@Skyline @Karl

Can anybody advise somewhere to learn the basics of the following so I'm prepared,

Microsoft Active Directory

- Exchange

- Basic networking (TCP/IP, ping, tracert etc)


Also got an interview for prison officer if the above goes down the pan. Though I'd much prefer IT due to progression and rises in the salary

 

[zedina]

Happily If its remote lol. I'm near Birmingham.


Got an interview next week for 1st/2nd line support.

@Skyline @Karl

Can anybody advise somewhere to learn the basics of the following so I'm prepared,

Microsoft Active Directory

- Exchange

- Basic networking (TCP/IP, ping, tracert etc)


Also got an interview for prison officer if the above goes down the pan. Though I'd much prefer IT due to progression and rises in the salary

- mainly used for forwarders, shared mailboxes etc
For 1st line you dont need networking knowledge as probably you mostly do a gpupdate in cmd and if laptop is out of domain you pass it to 2nd line who got scripts for bringing laptop back in domain,


Most companies dont hire for 2nd unless you got like 2years or so on 1st.
Most of these managers from 1st promote their technicians to 2nd, and is rare chance for company to recruit from new unless you really good at it and you up for some shitty wage.

 

[Skyline]

Happily If its remote lol. I'm near Birmingham.


Got an interview next week for 1st/2nd line support.

@Skyline @Karl

Can anybody advise somewhere to learn the basics of the following so I'm prepared,

Microsoft Active Directory

- Exchange

- Basic networking (TCP/IP, ping, tracert etc)


Also got an interview for prison officer if the above goes down the pan. Though I'd much prefer IT due to progression and rises in the salary

Google is going to be your best bet.
Just watch a few videos of basic learning in those areas.

Active Directory is easy enough for basic tasks - Add user, disable user, add user to security groups etc.
It's basically one big directory that allows you to manage users and control who can access what.

Exchange is basically an email server.
It's where all emails are stored, distributed, configured etc.
Create mailboxes, disable mailboxes, manage things such as distribution lists etc etc

Basic Networking - Google things like "Ping test"
"Trace route"
TCP/IP
DNS
DHCP
For example:
Ping - Ping a destination (Open command prompt - enter ping google.co.uk). You will see it returns an IP Address.
google.co.uk - This is the DNS
The IP you get back from the ping, is the IP Address assigned to this DNS


Seriously, if you are really interested and keen I recommend scouring the internet for Beginner IT Training. There must be loads of free content out there. A lot may go way over your head, but if you can start learning some of the basics it will really help you.

Get in touch with recruitment companies local to you that specialise in IT Recruitment. Explain your situation, that you are eager to learn and advance in the field. They will then try find something that suits you. They will also explain to the company that you are new but eager to progress etc. Saves you wasting your time on companies that are looking for someone with experience already.


P.S. I have worked in IT for 12 years.
I have managed service teams, done 1st line, 2nd line, 3rd line.
I have zero qualifications.
Experience trumps qualifications.
Getting a qualification is easy, getting the experience is difficult.

 

[zedina]

P.S. I have worked in IT for 12 years.
I have managed service teams, done 1st line, 2nd line, 3rd line.
I have zero qualifications.
Experience trumps qualifications.
Getting a qualification is easy, getting the experience is difficult.

Must be juicy to manage 3rd line, all time asking for infra updates and company doesn't have either the budget or ignoring it totally

 

[Skyline]

Must be juicy to manage 3rd line, all time asking for infra updates and company doesn't have either the budget or ignoring it totally

I work for a Technology Company, so we have some very, very clever guys. The knowledge some of them have is mind blowing really.

 

[Omnibus]

Google is going to be your best bet.
Just watch a few videos of basic learning in those areas.

Active Directory is easy enough for basic tasks - Add user, disable user, add user to security groups etc.
It's basically one big directory that allows you to manage users and control who can access what.

Exchange is basically an email server.
It's where all emails are stored, distributed, configured etc.
Create mailboxes, disable mailboxes, manage things such as distribution lists etc etc

Basic Networking - Google things like "Ping test"
"Trace route"
TCP/IP
DNS
DHCP
For example:
Ping - Ping a destination (Open command prompt - enter ping google.co.uk). You will see it returns an IP Address.
google.co.uk - This is the DNS
The IP you get back from the ping, is the IP Address assigned to this DNS


Seriously, if you are really interested and keen I recommend scouring the internet for Beginner IT Training. There must be loads of free content out there. A lot may go way over your head, but if you can start learning some of the basics it will really help you.

Get in touch with recruitment companies local to you that specialise in IT Recruitment. Explain your situation, that you are eager to learn and advance in the field. They will then try find something that suits you. They will also explain to the company that you are new but eager to progress etc. Saves you wasting your time on companies that are looking for someone with experience already.


P.S. I have worked in IT for 12 years.
I have managed service teams, done 1st line, 2nd line, 3rd line.
I have zero qualifications.
Experience trumps qualifications.
Getting a qualification is easy, getting the experience is difficult.

Tell me what it takes to get to 3rd line. I'm nearly 2 years into 2nd line. Could do with some advice