I am often amazed at the amount of information that IT workers need to know, especially in small companies. In smaller companies the IT staff is usually smaller with a lot more responsibility. I think it takes a very bright person to be able to handle the challenge of being an IT worker in a small company. I think you find more specialized roles in larger companies. A Systems Administrator for a large firm may only be responsible for a small subset of the infrastructure. Let’s see if I can list all of the administration responsibilities that I have held at Community Connect.

• Windows 2003 Server
• Windows 2003 x64 Server
• Windows XP Professional
• Windows 2000 Professional
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
• Fedora Core
• Mac OS X Tiger
• Mac OS X Server Tiger
• Windows SharePoint Services
• Exchange 2003
• IIS 6.0
• Apache
• MySQL
• SQL Server 2000
• Mercury Quality Center
• Group Policy
• Symantec AntiVirus
• Symantec Brightmail
• Microsoft SMTP
• Microsoft DNS
• Microsoft DHCP
• Veritas BackupExec
• Microsoft Operations Manager 2005
• Symantec Ghost
• Apple Remote Desktop
• CryptoCard
• Netscreen Firewall
• Netscreen Remote
• Cisco Routers
• T1, T3
• ADIC Scaler 100
• Data Center Builds
• Postfix
• BIND
• Project Server 2003
• VMWare Server
• Nortel Phone Systems
• Good Messaging System
• Palm Treo Smartphones
• HP ProCurve Switches
• Cacti
• RT
• Red Hat Satellite Server
• Mac OS X Server Software Update
• Mac OS X Server Open Directory

46 items so far. There’s probably more but I just can’t think right now from the fatigue.

After working in Information Technology for the past 5 years, I can say that Help Desk Support is probably one of the most difficult positions in the field. No amount of technical training can prepare you for what you will face when you are dealing with users of all shapes and sizes. For instance, we recently received an email to our ticketing system with the following subject line:

Subject: i am still not getting flash believe it or not. can I have a computer that works please?

The two primary help desk support people have been more than patient in dealing with this person. We even had a very courteous response for him:

Hi User,

Flash not loading doesn’t necessarily mean it’s your computer. It could be the sites you are visiting. There are sites that require an old version of flash player and there are sites that require the latest version. Our own sites had the same issues so you can imagine that other sites would have that problem as well. Unfortunately, we cannot install both versions in one computer.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, give your computer some slack. =) In any case, I’ll come over and see what I can do to help you.

Your friendly Help Desk

I’m not sure my employee could have responded with a kinder, more helpful response. He offered an explanation for flash not working and to come over to take a look. A typical user would be very satisfied by this kind of response. But not this user:

No sorry, nice try

I was thankful I was not in the office when his response arrived in my inbox because I would have probably gotten fired. I know that my team had researched the problem of certain flash sites not working and I know that my team was not responding with a canned answer. I do not understand how someone can be so disrespectful to us when he is asking US for help.

We do not run into these types of users often but they do crop up every now and then. This is where the difficulty for any help desk support person arises. Technical training does not prepare you for disrespectful users. I am grateful that my team understands professionalism and patience. Even though we would like to erase all of his email or put ex-lax in his coffee, we perservere and provide the best service that we possibly can.

Our latest response to him:

Hi User,

Please kindly send me the URL of the site you were viewing and I’ll investigate. Thanks.

Your Friendly Help Desk