You did it. You landed your first job working help desk. Way to go! Here’s what you can likely expect: you never know what the next call will be like. If you’re working for an MSP, your company likely supports a LOT of other companies, all with different configurations of servers, software, PCs, mobile devices, etc. You don’t know if the problem will be complicated and above your head, if the caller will be upset, if they’re in a panic, or maybe they’re super nice and non-pressuring with an easy fix. Anxiety-inducing, right? It was for me, too. I’m going to give you some advice that will hopefully alleviate some of that anxiety and get you into a relaxed mindset.
Your job is to gather information about a problem and attempt to fix it. Use what knowledge you have, give your best effort to troubleshoot, and if you can’t figure it out, you escalate the ticket WITH NOTES. If you didn’t solve the issue, you at least eliminated some possible causes and gathered information that is useful for whomever picks up where you left off. That’s it. Try, document, and communicate.
Here’s a hard truth that I don’t mean as a slight: you’re only helpdesk. By that I mean, you are new and your job is handling tier 1 tickets. Be ambitious by trying to solve every problem and soak up all the knowledge you can but you will make mistakes, you will fail to solve problems, and you may be embarrassed you didn’t see the obvious solution. But hey, you’re helpdesk. You are expected to make some mistakes and need time to learn so don’t be so hard on yourself. If you don’t like hearing that, push yourself to grow and you won’t have to hear it for long :).
More to come in the future including setting yourself up for success, keeping your composure on the phone, and how does one actually troubleshoot.