Article

Michał Bucholc

Category: Expert stories

Key areas of competence for Help Desk employees

Due to the economic situation in Poland and around the world, there have been many fluctuations in the job market over the past few years. Rising inflation has caused many employees to seek better-paying jobs.

However, it quickly became apparent that the market is indeed prepared to quickly and significantly increase wages, but only for those with seniority status, meaning experience and key skills for the company.

Michał Bucholc, Warsaw, 18. April 2023

So, what skills should Help Desk employees possess to increase their market position? Let's take a closer look at selected competencies and ways to acquire them.

 

Essential part of the IT industry

Help Desk, as we know, is a very important part of the IT industry. In general, it can be defined as a department that deals with incident management in systems, such as Jira, reported by phone or email (although the largest companies are now moving away from this method).

Although the eyes of the IT world are mainly focused on programmers, engineers, or analysts, without Help Desk, the IT business simply would not exist. Once considered a department for solving IT problems within a company, today it is often a 24/7 support not only for employees but also for external clients. More advanced Help Desks are often divided into several levels of service, so both strictly IT knowledge and soft skills are necessary for effective task execution for Help Desk employees. Communication skills in different types of environments and under time pressure also remain important.

Michał Bucholc

Michał Bucholc is a qualified employee of the Help Desk team and has been working in the IT industry since 2018. In emagine, he supports the daily activities of a client from the financial industry.

So let's get into the details. What should a candidate applying for a Help Desk position know and what character traits should they possess?

 

Basic technical skills

I have been working in the IT industry for several years and during this time I have learned the needs of employers well. Among the technical skills that matter the most and will continue to matter are:

• The ability to properly categorize problems reported to the Help Desk

• The ability to quickly repair various office applications

• Computer and mobile device configuration

 

Knowledge of operating systems and databases

This is another characteristic worth a detailed exploration, but not from a visual perspective, but from a command line perspective. The CMD and Power Shell command lines allow for actions when a given application or system crashes. Knowledge of the Linux system allows you to make friends with the command line and commands to repair certain faults.

On the same level as Linux, we have the MAC OS X system, only in a different graphical interface. It has yet to be discovered whether there will be an opportunity to change the work environment, i.e., the operating system, at the least expected moment. Windows is a widely used system for which there are more available applications on the market.

A good Help Desk employee also develops their theoretical and practical knowledge about databases. Every company, in order to efficiently manage their data, must have a well-functioning infrastructure. SQL is useful for working with databases. I will use a sentence borrowed from the Microsoft website: "SQL is a computer language designed to work with sets of facts and relationships between them. (...) SQL is used to describe data sets that enable answers to questions."

As with any language, the proper syntax of the query and punctuation are needed to effectively obtain an answer to the query in the database where the data we are looking for or user data are located. SQL can be found in industries such as healthcare, where we have a lot of patient-related data in systems and communication with the National Health Fund. The financial industry and all kinds of rental companies also often use SQL.

Michał Bucholc

Michał Bucholc is a graduate of the University of Technology and Economics in Warsaw. He continues improving his competences in the field of Help Desk support, and is also interested in programming.

It often happens that employees of a company implementing IT projects have to use many applications, to which they log in through passwords. Recently, in order to maximize cybersecurity, two-factor authentication is used, which causes the primary password to be forgotten. The Help Desk employee manages passwords and employee access from the Active Directory platform, where there is the possibility of assigning, editing, and revoking permissions depending on positions. Active Directory is also used for creating access groups, managing user computers connected to the domain.

The ability to move efficiently in this system is a huge advantage for the Help Desk employee. In my work, I practically greet AD when I come to the office and say goodbye to it just before leaving.

Cloud also for Help Desk

Let us remember the knowledge and the need to constantly expand it in the field of the latest cloud solutions, which allows the Help Desk employee to actively support the actions of IT employees working from any place in the world with access to the network. Cloud activities include managing the aforementioned Active Directory (including employee identity management, application and service security, or access to the production environment). Cloud solutions are also an ideal place to create backups of projects and data.

Help Desk becomes a kind of Data Center, which also allows other employees to work stress-free. They do not have to worry about the permanent loss of data, which, thanks to the help of the Help Desk, can be easily restored. All thanks to knowledge and skillful use of the Microsoft Azure cloud service.

 

 

"Although the eyes of the IT world are mainly focused on programmers, engineers, or analysts, without Help Desk, the IT business simply would not exist."

 

Is Help Desk a service team?

Having knowledge of hardware servicing techniques, including warranty policies on corporate equipment, is also helpful for the position. Most companies allow employees to perform minor repairs on their assigned equipment (not to be confused with upgrades or component replacements, but rather installing software or applications).

Sometimes laptops or desktop computers fail to pass POST, meaning they don't display an image, or simply don't respond to the power button. In such situations, Help Desk employees with skills acquired while working as computer service technicians come in handy. An IT employee can only perform their duties with proper equipment, and ordering new equipment takes time. If the Help Desk employee can repair the equipment, their performance ratings within the department will certainly increase.

Teamwork, organization, and other soft skills

The most desirable soft skill for a Help Desk employee is the ability to acclimate to a new work environment. This is due to the fact that the Help Desk, as well as the Service Desk, which is connected to the IT department, both serve as a sort of IT equipment hub: actively supporting the work of all company employees. Here they personally, by phone or email, report any equipment malfunctions or problems with the equipment they are using.

Once again, quick reaction is crucial, ensuring work continuity. Help Desk supports others, prioritizing support based on problem importance or complexity. Therefore, a Help Desk employee is a 'front-line' support - they decide what to do next. In this case, other soft skills such as conscientiousness, dedication, and team collaboration are essential to success in the department.

Michał Bucholc

The most desirable soft skill for a Help Desk employee is the ability to acclimate to a new work environment, says Michał Bucholc.

"Soft skills such as conscientiousness, dedication, and team collaboration are essential to succeed in the department."

 

Will automation replace Help Desk?

Although there are currently applications or websites that help employees solve technical problems with equipment on the market, the future of Help Desk looks bright.

Support from artificial intelligence is a natural step in IT development, but in my opinion, no chatbot can replace human contact. Currently, only simple and repetitive tasks with low variability (such as access requests) are automated, while more diverse and difficult issues are addressed by support department employees. This increases the speed and effectiveness of their actions.

Therefore, support from a Help Desk employee with high technical and interpersonal skills still seems irreplaceable.

Read also:
A key skill set for a Data Scientist

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