Mishandled,
On my experience with user support for small businesses (earlier on my career),
I witnessed the amount of destruction users can inflict on PCs, even when trying
to complete straight-forward tasks.
My experience also showed me that users are often misleading on what is the
problem and what actions led to the problem.
This makes end-user support a task not to be taken when unprepared.
Even if you have solid knowledge on PC computing (from Hardware to Operating
System to applications) it is advisable not to work alone, so you can have someone
to help you with problems for which you can't find an answer.
Besides the technical skills, you must have:
- Tact and diplomacy, especially when working with small businesses. Besides the
"underlings" You will also have to solve problems on the owner's/manager's computer
(and you know how that will have an impact on their continued patronage)
The users will try to "burn" your reputation with the owner/manager when they dislike
you. (Telling a user it was his fault that a problem happened will get the user to
dislike you with a vengeance) Dealing with this kind of situations is quite demanding.
- An insight on how the average user works with the system, in order to understand
how the problem appeared.
I did that for one year, and by the end of that period I was really stressed.
When I become aware that I was arriving home in a foul mood, ready to pick a fight
with anyone, even people I loved dearly, I went looking for another job (and upper
on the IT food-chain).
As an experience, it wasn't a total loss, as it gave me an understanding of how
to deal with end-users, and made me aware that there is an absolute necessity
in user-proofing any system.
And now my shameless plug ...
Does any of you have any idea on how is demand for Unix systems administrators
at the moment (Britain and else where in W Europe)?
The market went bust here (Portugal) and have been looking for a job for six
months with no success
.
Thanks.
CS-DNA