Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.

[hiroe.livejournal.com]

I'll admit, i'm a hack. I was wondering how many other people here fall into that category, although i've tried to structure this to be a little more encompassing.

Poll may be limited in scope.

[Poll #1171599]

Editary:
Er, yes. Poll-edit feature get.

Comments

[deusmetallum.livejournal.com]

I'm actually a supervisor for tier 1 and 2 support so I see quite a lot of crap escalated to me.

On Monday I actually start hell desking again for a smaller company doing tier 1 and 2 and I can't fucking wait.

Supervisors get more crap than the agents, believe me.

[azurelunatic]

At my company, I got told that we phone monkeys (this was when I was on the phones) don't have to put up with the customer swearing at us. We're not paid for that. The supervisor is. Of course, we can't berate the customers. The supervisor is given considerably more latitude...

[kizayaen.livejournal.com]

I would be remiss if I didn't note that the presence of a degree, even in one's field, has absolutely no relation to how much they know.

[hiroe.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah. That's pretty much a given.

[azurelunatic]

I had some in-house training as well.

While my department is technically Tier 1, the fact that only seasoned representatives are accepted and we're not working realtime makes it into more of a Tier 1.3, although absolutely not Tier 2.

[kageneko.livejournal.com]

I'm a senior level engineer doing support for specific software products my company makes (data protection/endpoint security/encryption.

[bamatone.livejournal.com]

I tried to write this in the freestyle section but didn't have enough space: "I don't hate the users so much as the software I support sometimes."

[bitterfun.livejournal.com]

I'm a Service Delivery Manager for the Call Center, Desk-side Technicians and Asset Management... I have to take the escalated shit from users and get to be the asshole that takes away their three extra computers they had under their desk. While my degree is for IT, it doesn't apply to the act of shit-shoveling, so I consider it irrelevant.

[hiroe.livejournal.com]

I have to take the escalated shit from users and get to be the asshole that takes away their three extra computers they had under their desk.

While not necessarily coming in from the same angle, i have much the same responsibility (and latitude) where i work: If it plugs in or is made of electrons, i get to fix it; with the trade-off that i get to swipe stuff from around the company and add it to the treasure ball in my office. (If someone squawks about it, i can usually cook up a reasonable explanation as to why it belongs to me now.)

[crazdgamer.livejournal.com]

I answered the first question assuming that computer science and information technology are not related.

[mattcaron.livejournal.com]

To my mind, they are generally not. Typically (at least, from a Uni setting, and in my experience):

Computer Science is taught out of the College of Arts and Sciences and is useful.

Information Technology is taught out of the College of Business and is useless.

Now, this could just be because, at my Uni, 3/4's of the IT folks were CS washouts.

[psychotwinkie.livejournal.com]

*elaborates the freestyle* My hubby kept linking me to here ages ago (when he still worked at the tech counter of CompUSA), and I enjoyed reading the rants, thus wound up joining/subscribing. I have little to no working knowledge of computers and i admit that xD

[lissrac.livejournal.com]

I am a Phone support supervisor and answer Tier 1 and 3 calls.
My degrees is completely not related.

[adamjaskie.livejournal.com]

I do helpdesk support in a computer lab full of mechanical engineering students at a public university, for which I do not get paid (it's volunteer; I used to get some nice benefits from it, such as early registration for classes, but now it is at best resume padding; I'm too apathetic to quit, though).

I have done paid helpdesk support in the past; I gave that up to do web development, burned out on that, and gave it up to have more time to sit on my ass and procrastinate homework by reading humorous livejournal communities that have only a slight relevance to my life.

I am myself a computer science student, graduating this semester, after which I will start my job "providing IT solutions" at a large software company in south-east Michigan.

[mrs-whiskerson.livejournal.com]

I've no qualifications and have so far received no training in anything, but have given it.

My last job was vms admin + reporting (powerhouse) + coding (basic). The one before that was writing an access database app. The one before that was secretary. Now I'm supporting anything and everything: linux, windows, desktops, servers, helping all and sundry with any apps they ask for help on, irrespective of whether or not they/we have had any training/instructions, unjamming printers, swapping out toners, explaining how to work out percentages, how to use one's common sense etc.

Amazed I'm trusted with admin rights really! Exposure to quite a range in quite a short space of time though, lots of fun :)

[bitchtude.livejournal.com]

Although I have a degree (BS) and A+ cert, I just recently got them. I basically wasted $$$ and didn't learn much, LOL! That's not to say I know everything, or even know a lot. I just know more than the people I have to help ;-)

[superbus.livejournal.com]

They're good for getting in the door, but if you're in the door, then you don't need them, simple as that.

I think my certifications have expired by now. I have no intention of renewing them.

[azleaneo.livejournal.com]

I took a cisco networking course in jr college but didn't finish it. Most of my knowledge is home grown. I got into IT (Helpdesk) after being a lowly customer service representative, and my company sent me to be certified in the phone system software that we use. Also, since I worked at RadioShack, I got chosen to take care of the blackberries as well.

My business card reads Help Desk Coordinator/ Phone System Administrator.

I make less than most people in the company. (Still more than the CSRs though)

[arabwel.livejournal.com]

Tier1 monkey wo drpped out of local requivalent of high school here... with a bit of a self taught hack thrown in.

In general i know I know ack, but I;ll be damned if I let it stay that way.

[random-c.livejournal.com]

I technically don't support anything any more, as we now have an entire department in wales for that, though anything they can't (be bothered to) figure out gets escalated to me, and I get reports of the rest in case it means I need to change some doco, but because I wander round with hardware a lot - usually taking it back from whoever decided to nab what they needed from the Sacred Kit Shelf while I was away from my desk, despite the obstacle course of packaging, carnivorous case parts and murderous cables, the 'touch anything here and the kitten gets it' sign, and Minion, who seems to be modelling himself on the desktop support guy and attempting to never speak, but who's at least there more than I am - and as I'm known to have screwdrivers, I get all the jobs that people know the desktop guy won't deal with (mostly the 'have you got a bit that'll open this router?' sort, rather than the 'it came off in my hand' sort) and because the people in wales are really for live units only, I actually support all the endpoints in the office (and in testing which is 150 miles away, and in the other office, and random content dev's offices and houses and customers head offices and such) as well as all the proof-of-concept and demo stuff.
Which is just as well, as I'd be really bored otherwise.

[japester.livejournal.com]

gigantic hack, who has learnt 99% of everything on the job.
The only reason I have any certs, is because work has paid for them.
CCNA, and in progress of the SCNA.
oh, except the 3 years out of four, of a mechatronics degree. which the government has been letting me pay back for the last 7 years.

currently, a system engineer, which means a lot of project related design and deployment.

[10001110101.livejournal.com]

I went to school for a few years, but it was for music, so I don't think that quite counts. In any case, now I'm in Tier 3, and I still think some days that someone made a mistake putting me there, but I get the job done, and I get paid, so whatever.

[4ti3k4t35.livejournal.com]

I couldn't code my way out of a paper bag, but I'll get a computer working by hell or by high water.

My education is mostly in linguistic anthropology and biopsychology, which has very little (but more than you might think) use in my current field. :P

[celyste.livejournal.com]

I'm with you! *L* honours deg in medical sciences... which basically translates to being stubborn beyond all belief. *L*

[cjkline83.livejournal.com]

I provide service and support for computers, cash registers, and peripherals for our customers: restaurants, home users, doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants; in the WV, MD, VA, and PA area.

Fuck, does that sound like a mission statement?

[celyste.livejournal.com]

After getting an honours deg in medical sciences at uni, I started to work to pay off that loan and go back for a master's deg. Fell into a tech support call center. 5.5 years later, I'm a supervisor for tier 1, 2, and 3, phone, chat, email support. I love that it's logical stuff, so i can pound away at it quite happily until it works.

[billysapphire.livejournal.com]

I have no degree. I went to "school" for a year with an Electronics Engineering start but left it when the funds went dry.

As for experience. I have 9 years on various types of helpdesks. My main specialty is IBM Point-of-Sale hardware. Within that, I specialize in restaurant systems (i.e. touch screen based registers, kitchen video systems, kitchen "line" printer systems, setup and routing, etc.)

My current position has me working with the registers still but I have expanded to include diagnosing and repairing Dell PCs over the phone, remote and in-house. (They ship it in to me when it really goes belly-up) I also handle Ricoh/Savin Multi-functions and Hp Network Laserjets. Essentially, if it plugs into a wall, I have something to do with it. The exception would be servers. My boss doesn't really tell us too much about the servers and internal infrastructure. He says that the reason he doesn't is called job security.

I handle locations across the US and a couple in Canada

[deaddoloreshaze.livejournal.com]

i was hired off the streets to do tech support for vista. i knew dick about shit. i don't know how i got the job, to be honest. i was a terrible technician. 15 months and three contracts later, i consider myself a competent technician. there's still a bunch of shit i don't know dick about, but i can usually fake my way through it.

[ptstech.livejournal.com]

Got two degrees (BusAdmin and CompSci), then took off to fulfill a service obligation. Back to the real world (just in time for the bubble to go "pop"), then onto a couple of phone jockey jobs. Moved on to Deskside Support, with a stint repairing units for SMELL Computer Corp.

Now working as a Support Lead/Jr. Admin, with duties similar to what jecook said, and also doing break/fix and builds on the side. Doing the cert thing mainly because you can't get past the HR drones without them.

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

When I was working as a Tier I phone monkey I had a BS and an MA.

There are many people still in the Tier I jobs there (which have devolved to ticket-writing positions as they are generally not permitted to troubleshoot anymore) who have masters' degrees in various fields.

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

I have most of a degree in astronomy. I didn't finish because of burnout and depression. I like to say I have forty-five arcminutes. ;)

I support an astronomy-related software package on multiple operating systems, for academic, professional, and amateur users.

I guess my computer skills are all self-taught; the astronomy knowledge partly comes from the degree and partly from years of being an amateur astronomer myself. The guys who have done this job before me don't all have education in astronomy -- some of them are pure amateurs.