Help Desk Technician: The First Step on Your IT Career Path

You can work on both simultaneously with a foundational online course like Google’s Technical Support Fundamentals. You may already have some qualifications to become a help desk technician today. For example, if you’ve worked in customer service before then you have a solid foundation, but you may need to build your technical skill set. The courses in software development at Herzing University prepare you for this type of work and put you on the fast track to your next job in software development.

• Help desk engineers work in a variety of industries, including IT, healthcare, finance, and government.
• For example, they could start out with a role such as systems administrator, progress to a title such as information technology manager and then eventually end up with the title information technology director.
• Master the Help desk position by working smarter and boost your career opportunities…
• They help in solving the technical difficulties the customers face with their products or services.
• Rasmussen University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, an institutional accreditation agency recognized by the U.S.
• We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for help desk engineers.
• Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume.

Working in a help desk role can give you an opportunity to learn more about the options that await. LaShana Lewis, a former help desk worker and software engineer at  MasterCard®, says people new to the field have an excellent opportunity. Some great schools for help desk engineers are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual’s specific job, company, or industry. As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you’ve taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a help desk engineer can determine their career goals through the career progression.

Essential skills for help desk technicians

For additional information about Licensing and State Authorization, and State Contact Information for Student Complaints, please see those sections of our catalog. “Take advantage of your relationship with other departments in the IT sphere,” she urges. “Being in a help desk [role] is a good way to view what other, more intense positions do within the IT help desk engineer field.” It also gives you a chance to either choose to delve further or make a career move elsewhere, Lewis adds. While not every IT help desk role will have the same soft skill growth opportunities as Adams’ experience, he certainly values the chances he had. That’s why we connected with IT professionals to find out just how valuable this experience is.

• Desktop support specialists tend to make the most money working in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $53,933.
• That cross pollination of sorts can be a ladder for you as you look to move forward in your career.
• A senior infrastructure engineer specializes in designing and developing systems and infrastructures based on client preferences and industry standards.
• For example, 7.7% of help desk engineer resumes contained troubleshoot as a skill.
• For additional information about Licensing and State Authorization, and State Contact Information for Student Complaints, please see those sections of our catalog.

Master the Help desk position by working smarter and boost your career opportunities… Get the skills you need to pursue an entry-level position as an IT help desk technician… Help desk engineers often get their degrees at University of Phoenix, DeVry University, and Strayer University. Here are the most common colleges for help desk engineers in the US based on their resumes. Some states are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a help desk engineer.

You’ll add necessary soft skills to your repertoire

He researches and writes student-focused articles on a variety of topics for Rasmussen University. He is passionate about learning and enjoys writing engaging content to help current and future students on their path to a rewarding education. “Once you’ve established yourself at a company, you can ask your manager if they’d be willing to talk to a higher-level engineer or that engineer’s manager to possibly set up some time to shadow them,” Adams says.

For example, they could start out with a role such as systems administrator, progress to a title such as information technology manager and then eventually end up with the title information technology director. 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. To write an effective helpdesk engineer job description, begin by listing detailed duties, responsibilities and expectations. We have included helpdesk engineer job description templates that you can modify and use.

Help Desk Engineer skills and job requirements

Interestingly enough, desk support technicians earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $50,316. Whereas help desk engineers have higher pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $67,498. Help desk engineers and desk support technicians both require similar skills like “troubleshoot,” “help-desk support,” and “technical support” to carry out their responsibilities. Your experience and skills developed in a technical support role can be a springboard to a new career path in software development. There are a growing number of exciting, well-paying jobs in today’s tech industry that do not require a traditional college degree, an one of the hottest areas with high demand is in IT customer service and support.

Here are four ways working as a help desk technician can help prepare you for the IT career of your dreams. A help desk technician’s role can actually do you—and your career—plenty of good. There are also many online help desk engineer courses to help get the education required to be a help desk engineer. You can gain the qualifications you need to become a help desk technician with the following walkthrough. Senior infrastructure engineers average a higher salary than the annual salary of help desk engineers.

Helpdesk Engineer

Completing a Professional Certificate or other types of education can be worthwhile. For example, IBM offen IT Support Professional Certificate that you can use to gain vital IT skills and experience. Additionally, those who complete this certification course receive an IBM digital badge and access to exclusive job placement resources. A Desktop Support Specialist is focused on troubleshooting different software packages, hardware devices, and other peripherals. Customer service is the process of offering assistance to all the current and potential customers — answering questions, fixing problems, and providing excellent service. The main goal of customer service is to build a strong relationship with the customers so that they keep coming back for more business.

A help desk engineer provides technical support to end-users, both remotely or in-person. They are responsible for troubleshooting and resolving technical issues related to hardware, software, and network systems. Help desk engineers work in a variety of industries, including IT, healthcare, finance, and government. They communicate with clients, identify problems, and provide effective and user-friendly solutions over phone, email, chat, and ticketing systems.