The employer wants to know if you have experience with providing remote support before so that you can comfortably fill that role and have minimal issues adjusting to the work. Each company help desk engineer will have its own standards and metric for how long a phone call should be. This question assesses your approach to customer service and your ability to solve issues efficiently.
The difference in salaries amounts to information engineers earning a $52,559 higher average salary than help desk engineers. Tech professionals need to stay current with the latest trends and technologies. Following the activity of industry leaders on social media or YouTube can be an effective way to keep up-to-date. This practice can help you discover in-demand skills employers are currently interested in. You can also join relevant communities and forums to connect with other professionals in your industry.
Help Desk Administrator
Additionally, a senior infrastructure engineer has the authority to make decisions, train and supervise junior engineers, establish goals and timelines, provide technical support, and implement policies and guidelines. While similarities exist, there are also some differences between help desk engineers and desktop support specialist. If you enjoy solving problems, helping others, and working with technology, you might be interested in becoming a help desk technician. A help desk technician is a professional who provides technical support to users of computer systems, software, or hardware. They can work in various settings, such as offices, call centers, schools, or hospitals. In this article, we will explain what skills, education, and certifications you need to become a help desk technician, and how to find and apply for jobs in this field.
- You can also explore other career paths in the technical support field, such as help desk manager, network administrator, system analyst, or IT consultant.
- In the US, help desk technicians earn a base salary of $48,310 and $2,555 in additional pay per year on average [2].
- For example, both careers require troubleshoot, help-desk support, and technical support in the day-to-day roles and responsibilities.
- Time spent as a system or network administrator will be where you gain the bulk of your experience and knowledge of IT, and it will help you advance to more technically challenging roles later on in your career.
- What I experience in my work now is not what I experienced when I first started 20 years ago, and it’s not just about the technology I was using, either.
- Even though most help desk engineers have a college degree, it’s possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
If you enjoy working with people and technology, this position could be a great fit for you. Read on to learn more about help desk technicians and how you can become one. 51.1% of help desk engineers graduate with a bachelor’s degree, and 6.3% of people in this position earn a master’s degree. While most help desk engineers have a college degree, it’s possible to be successful as a help desk engineer with only a high school degree. In fact, our research shows that one out of every six help desk engineers were not college graduates.
How to become a help desk technician in 3 steps
Take an assessment to learn more about your skills and the careers that might suit you. A wise old man once told me, a journey of 10,000 miles begins with one step…Okay, no one actually told me that – but it’s a good adage to think of as you approach a career in IT. Let’s focus on a couple of different jobs you can do to get off to a good start in your IT career. Senior infrastructure engineers average a higher salary than the annual salary of help desk engineers. Information engineers typically earn higher educational levels compared to help desk engineers.
- A desktop support technician is responsible for assisting end-users with their network issues, grant authorization requests, and create user accounts.
- Some people work for 30 years and don’t get to the metaphorical ‘top of the ladder’.
- In most organizations, when there is an issue with an employee’s IT, they are either going to open a help desk ticket through their web interface or they are going to pick up a phone and call the help desk.
- Someone in a help desk support role, on the other hand, is likely to help users resolve more straightforward matters, such as a forgotten password.
- In this article, we will explain what skills, education, and certifications you need to become a help desk technician, and how to find and apply for jobs in this field.
The fundamental requirement of the Service Support Technician is to deliver support to staff by using this system. Other skills that Service Desk Technicians need to have are accurately recording and updating requests and installing and configuring IT equipment. Click here if you’d like to let us know how we can improve the service.
