What does "Tier 1 Help Desk" mean?

[quantass]

Hi there,

I got a job offer that has in its description: "Tier 1 Help Desk".

Can someone explain in an indepth way what this means?

Thanks very much

[mireland]

Originally posted by quantass
Hi there,

I got a job offer that has in its description: "Tier 1 Help Desk".

Can someone explain in an indepth way what this means?

Thanks very much

I think it means, that when people call YOU will be the first in line to do as much troubleshooting as you can, I think if issues can't be resolved at your level they go on to tier two and so on...

[SnomanJack]

Very much what Mireland said, you are the 1st line in the troubleshooting call. Depending on the mentality of the particular help desk you may (1) be only a call answerer where you get the problem and person's info and hand it to a tech for resolution or (2) be able to spend the time and resolve the issue then and there. If it's a #1 type of operation be careful as the bottom line may be more in line with how many calls you can answer and not the actual assistance you can give the person (therfore your service quality is forgotten, you are only pushing numbers).

[Peter M]

Yep, that's frontline services. Customers get you first. Typically, you go through a list of predefined questions and their droid answers , and if customer not happy, you either curse at them, hang up and get fired, or escalate the call to the next higher level of support workers.

[Rob R.]

Tier 1 is going to require that you know the product they're supporting well and can determine where a problem lies (and you will likely need to know Windows really well). You will need to use deductive reasoning to troubleshoot and be a very patient person. If the company is contracted to support another companies products, you can guarantee it will be exactly like Peter M described it as an extremely controlled environment where you go through the motions on every call.

Before accepting an entry level technical support position, you need to researh the company and make sure it's somewhere you want to work for a while. These jobs normally have potential to move up in the company but don't offer a skillset that is easily transferrable.

[Cyan]

Originally posted by Rob R.
Tier 1 is going to require that you know the product they're supporting well and can determine where a problem lies (and you will likely need to know Windows really well). You will need to use deductive reasoning to troubleshoot and be a very patient person.

Could've fooled me.

us: "we ran out of drive space on the shared drive, we need to allocate more"

tech 'help': "Once you fill up the drive that's it, you can't ever get anymore or change it, you'll have to save everything to floppies"

Actuall conversation in my office, on 7/04/04

that's right, he said floppies.

[quantass]

Hahaha...ALL of you guys/gals are HILARIOUS!!!


Always a big thanks to each of you on your always insightful expertise!!

[sm8000]

I recently phone-interviewed for a customer tech support job with Visiontek (I start Monday). I asked if the position was Tier 1 support, and I was told "It's the only tier of support."

[mireland]

I worked for a place that was tier 1 and had a tier two..but was basically told I'd be fired if I didn't solve everyones problems within 5 to 10 minutes of each other and not to screw up the call que, was yelled at for going to the bathroom a couple of times, weren't allowed food or drinks at the desk..I quit and/or was fired....


Got a pretty good job now by the way...