IT Helpdesk Typical Duties

[MrJimmyX]

Hi everyone,

I am new to the IT field as I started my first job in it.

I am hired as a helpdesk technician and wonder what the typical of duties are of IT helpdesk professionals from everyone's experience currently or in the past as working as one.

For example today I had a user had a question about setting up outlook to make a signature for their emails. I didn't take me a long time but I managed to get it done but it disrupted my train of thought when completing my other tasks. If a task just has the user to google it should I even help them? I can't tell if the user is helpless or just being completely lazy. Does anyone have any tips as to how to differentiate between the two?

Thanks in advance.

 

[ssddx]

how to setup an outlook signature is a very valid question in the professional atmosphere. not everyone is an expert and the majority only know what other people show them and do not try to figure things out for themselves since it confuses them.

the correct response in most cases is not to tell the user to google it. if i ever had an IT guy tell me that then we would have words. even if it seems rather basic to you, the majority of users are not all that knowledgeable on computers even when working on them every single day.

also i wouldnt jump to conclusions and state that they are lazy or helpless, that will not bode well for you. some users just are not that proficient with computers despite being around them and despite being told certain things multiple times just do not seem to get it and likely never will.

now there ARE of course some users which ARE lazy or inept.... but i dont find that particular one bad.

also, IT gets calls all the time from users who need help. this is part of your job and you need to get used to it. you cannot let it disrupt your thoughts and need to find a way to work around it as this will happen alot. you will get calls dealing with everything from basic tasks like above to computer failure to virus infections to computer bugs.

dealing with the end user in a helpful friendly and timely manner will make everyones life easier and will make you popular at the company. i know that there were certain IT professionals that i always liked dealing with and others which i did not.

of course i almost never called them since i'm tech literate. i only needed them for admin-only changes, program installs and computer failures.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

+1 to everything ssddx said. The key word in helpdesk is HELP, that is first, last, and everything in between what you are there to provide, period. If you view assisting someone as intruding into your other tasks then I'd advise that you immediately find another job, because you are not going to last long at this one.

 

[ewok93]

The thing is that people capable of using google WILL use it. When people contact you, they've tried everything else. Generally the last step in trying to fix a problem is calling technical support, so if this person knew of an easy answer, like searching for it, they would. Just remember to be friendly, this person may not know a thing about computers, but they may be the world's top neurosurgeon. It doesn't mean they're dumb or lazy if they can't use a search engine, and it gets difficult after a while, so you need to find a way to remind yourself to be kind. Telling somebody to Google something is the worst thing you can do, unfortunately, no matter how much time and effort it will save them in the future.