Jobs in Tech 101
Support
Do you want to be on the front lines helping customers or colleagues diagnose and solve their problems so they can get back to work again?
Support
Support might be the field for you if:
Support professionals have respect for all clients and team members, and enjoy engaging with people via phone and email to help them solve problems. They are able to effectively prioritize tasks and reliably meet deadlines, while applying their knowledge to novel situations and tasks. They have strong reasoning and analytical abilities, and may have a desire to eventually move into an IT role. Support can also be a path toward IT or customer success.
Alex Schrameyer, Senior Signature Engineer at Genesys
“As a Technical Team Lead, I assist in mentoring, managing, and providing technical guidance to a group of systems engineers within my skill area, as well as resolving customers’ technical issues.”
Sound interesting? Here are some occupations in this field:
Help Desk Analyst
Help desk analysts provide technical support for any aspect of the information systems department, including computer hardware, operating systems, applications and networks. They support all of the applications and software of a business and resolve hardware and software problems as quickly as possible.
Computer User Support Specialist
Computer user support specialists provide technical assistance to computer users, such as assistance concerning the use of computer hardware and software, including printing, installation, word processing, electronic mail, and operating systems.
Customer Service Coordinator
Customer service coordinators often work for employers that serve customers by phone or on a walk-in basis. Their responsibilities include handling customer questions or requests, processing phone orders, entering data into a computer, preparing invoices and providing the status of product orders or services.
A Technical Support Manager's day might include:
8:00 AM
Bring in the team to the training room for a quick session on a new customer issue we need to solve
Escalate a certain enterprise customer issue to management and assist with the follow through to solve the problem
Join a conference call with a customer to hear about their experience using one of our new products
12:00 PM
Take a break for lunch and meet with a member of our technical team to learn about a new technology we are using
Manage a customer challenge and their expectations with our internal team -- if this is a big priority, it takes precedence over my scheduled afternoon
Prepare a report for our leadership team that identifies ways the support teams can better affect customer success and client retention
8:00 AM
Bring in the team to the training room for a quick session on a new customer issue we need to solve
Escalate a certain enterprise customer issue to management and assist with the follow through to solve the problem
Join a conference call with a customer to hear about their experience using one of our new products
12:00 PM
Take a break for lunch and meet with a member of our technical team to learn about a new technology we are using
Manage a customer challenge and their expectations with our internal team -- if this is a big priority, it takes precedence over my scheduled afternoon
Prepare a report for our leadership team that identifies ways the support teams can better affect customer success and client retention
You could work at a company like:
Meet Alex Schrameyer, Technical Team Lead at Genesys
Alex's father worked in the tech industry, so he was exposed to emerging technologies and the support field from an early age. He started his career as a PC Technician before moving into technical support.
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Meet Lynanne Gible, Director of Support and Professional Services at Scale Computing
Many years ago a friend of mine was working for a tech company and they were looking for a manger for one of their Tech Teams. She reached out to me and said, “LG we are looking for an untraditional tech manager to coach, mentor and build a solid Tech Team. We need a people manager, and that’s YOU. You teach people how to manage people and build teams everyday. Apply!” Which I did and the rest is history!
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Meet Amanda Shields, Senior Signature Success Engineer at Salesforce
It was an "Introduction to Informatics" class that led Amanda down the path to a career in tech rather than music. Despite her passion for music, IT and it's daily puzzles was a more fitting field.
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Meet Blake Rodier, Technical Support Manager at Scale Computing
Blake really enjoyed gaming, so getting into building his own PC was one of his first entries into tech. He knew pretty early on that I wanted to pursue a career in technology.
Read More
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Associate’s degree or bachelor’s degree may be required, but some organizations accept experienced high-school graduates.
Jobs in Tech 101
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