Oct. 22, 2023, Post by Curtis
If you are looking to get an IT career and you don't have any IT experience or a college degree in something computer related, getting a Help Desk job is the best way to get started. Help desk jobs are easy to get, give you the experience that you need, and get paid to learn instead of paying to learn. It's not all good though, let me tell you what you're in for.
Pros
Cons
Doing a good job at the Help Desk should lead to a better job. IT jobs are in high demand and always will be. Experience and good references will go a long way to getting you a better IT job. If you study on the side you will be in a perfect position to keep moving up the ladder.
There are a lot of open Help Desk positions. The qualifications are very few and easy to achieve. If you have 1 IT certification or have any tech experience, you should be able to get a job at the Help Desk. Even if you don't have these simple qualifications, if you interview well, you will probably get a job.
This job is in high demand, but not very many people want to do these jobs. Hiring Managers have a hard time keeping the Help desk fully staffed
If you've never worked in IT before, you will learn so much working at the Help Desk. All Help Desk jobs are different, but typically you will get broad exposure to the entire tech stack. Most of this exposure will not be very deep, but you will get to see how all of the different sections of an IT Department fit together to keep a company running.
Even if you're already tech-savvy, there is still a lot you will learn in an entry-level tech job. IT is not just about tech. Working with frustrated users, being part of a team, creating "how to" documentation for procedures, learning to be accountable, etc. There is so much to learn at your first IT job. Take notes about everything and know that you are building a foundation that will help you through the rest of your IT journey.
Getting paid to learn instead of paying to learn just makes so much sense.
I feel like college is just a list of cons.
Cons:
In IT you'll always be learning new things. Learning how to learn on your own will serve you well throughout your career. That's not to say you shouldn't take courses or pay to learn, but there are a lot of great resources on the internet for that and it's only getting better.
There is a lot of satisfaction that comes with helping people. You will also form relationships with the people you help. The people you help may end up being the connection that gets you into a better job. You will at least end up with a lot of friends on Linkedin.
Although you won't be on the phone with the company's customers, as that is more of a Call Center job, you will be on the phone with internal users, which is still a type of customer service job. You will be on the phone with frustrated and sometimes rude users. Even if you are someone who loves talking to people, you will have some unpleasant calls.
Most Help Desk jobs don't have you on the phone all day, there are plenty of side projects that get tossed to Help Desk. An average Help Desk job will have you doing tickets 1/2 to 3/4 of the day.
Desktop Support is another entry-level IT job that is similar to the Help Desk, but instead of working with users over the phone, they can go to the user's office to work on the problem. This is somewhat easier than trying to solve a problem over the phone. You will find these jobs in companies where all the employees work in the same building. But, most businesses large enough to have dedicated Help Desk staff will have satellite offices, where most support will be done over the phone.
I've known people who thought the Help Desk was an easy job. These people were either highly intelligent, loved solving problems, or loved working with people. However, most people that have had a Help Desk job will tell you that it is a stressful job. Help Desk can be stressful for the following reasons:
If you'd like to know more about just how hard the Help Desk is, read my article How Difficult Is Help Desk?.
Most of the skills you learn at the Help Desk are low-level. Most of the technical skills you learn at the Help Desk can be learned with a few quality courses and a fair amount of labs.
You will also learn a lot of soft skills, but chances are if you've ever worked in customer service or worked as a part of a team, then you already have these skills.
If you already have a college degree, valuable certifications, or have experience in a tech or IT role, you may not need to start at the Help Desk. There are jobs like Jr Sysadmin, Jr Network Admin, and all different types of Cloud Practitioner Jobs that don't require too much experience.
There are so many different types of jobs in IT. When looking at job openings, contrast what you're qualifications are in comparison to the qualifications that the job is requiring. If you meet at least half of those requirements you are probably capable of getting that job. Most job listings are overstating their qualification requirements.
If you don't have any experience, college, or certifications, your quickest route into IT will be to start at an entry-level position.
There are other entry-level positions in IT other than the Help Desk. These jobs are not as plentiful as Help Desk and may not be as easy to get. You may have to apply to a ton of jobs and your interview skills will probably make all the difference. Many of them won't give you as broad of exposure to typical IT networks and systems as Help Desk will, but it's a start and if you study on the side, you can avoid the Help Desk all together.
Most people look at the Help Desk as a stepping stone into a future in one of the best career fields, IT. So many careers put up a 4 or even 6-year degree as a barrier to entry. We are lucky to be able to get into IT with little to no experience and then climb into even better positions. Even most high-level IT positions don't need a college degree. Some companies will require it but others won't.
Conversely, some people love working at the Help Desk. If you love helping people and solving problems, you can make a career out of Help Desk. If you make it to a Senior Help Desk role with a good company, you can expect to make up to $100,000 per year.
Help Desk is a worthwhile endeavor and no matter how much you want to take another route into IT, I would start in Help Desk anyway. If you work hard and study on the side you will not need to stay at the Help Desk for much more than 1 year. You'll be making a decent living while gaining experience. Help Desk is the most efficient way into the wonderful field of Information Technology.