Career Crossroads 3

[tk808]

Hi all,
I am a recent graduate with a non-IT degree with close to 3 years of tech support experience. I am looking at a job at a startup company that offers a decent wage but not as challenging as my current position. Basically I will be investing my time there so I can be there when it explodes into a larger entity. I know that many of you have years of experience, and that is why I feel you all are the best to ask. I will soon get A+ certification, and could probably get a better paying job doing exactly tech support specialists/technicians do.
My near future plans are to get managerial experience, perhaps in the help desk area. And perhaps an MIS. MBA if I feel that I am in a good position to start a business help run one. (I read that managers with IT savvy is hard to come by so there might be a demand for such people).

Now to my question: What are the opportunities for technical support individuals? What positions are open for such people to advance to?

 

[mmorancbt]

My personal advice is to work in smaller entities for a number of reasons. The startup may be good but you must prepare for the risk. I tend to be completely non-averse to risk. Meaning, I would always take the chance because I can always find a J.O.B.

Smaller operations tend to be less focused on roles and more on projects. This means you may have the opportunity to support their technology, help them create solutions in the area of marketing, sales, and company tracking (I don't know what the startup does so I am just throwing ideas out).

You will gain greater exposure and may have the ability to take a more strategic role. This can pay huge dividends down the road - both if the company grows and if it does not. The fact is, strategic business understanding will get you further in a technical role than an A+ cert or any degree.

Also, smaller entities tend to make you less focused on a given technology and less reliant on all the pre-built tools. You may have to - for budget's sake - develop your own utilities and improvise to a greater degree.

Once again, you have to weigh the risk of a new venture and calculate your own psyche in such a situation. If you are nervous or have difficulties finding work (or getting out the door and knocking on some doors) you might not want to go with a startup.

I hope that is helpful.

Matthew Moran

 

[tk808]

Thanks Matthew,
You are right about startup companies how resourceful they must be when it comes to IT. Basically it comes down to being efficient with whatever money they have.

When you talk about strategic business understanding, that's what I feel many employers overlook in their staff. If you look at many job requirements for techincians/support staff, 80% of the time there are certification and degree requirements.

Would my understanding of the ins and outs of a startup company environment really make a difference when I look for a higher level position?

thank you!

 

[mmorancbt]

Your ability to take skills and knowledge from one opportunity and capitalize on it at another is largely an internal/personal perspective.

What I mean is it will depend on how you positioned yourself at the first (smaller) company and how you parlay that into a message that is marketable to the new (larger) company.

If your role at the first company is viewed as purely technical support versus project development/management and closely aligned with the business, it should transfer nicely.

I would be less concerned that your experience was with a startup versus your experience being holistic in scope.

Matthew Moran

 

[tomed]

Keep in mind that the smaller company may never "explode".

I have been in a situation a couple of times where I was told at the interview that they would be hiring additional people in the future and this was a good chance for me to get in and be in a higher position when these new hires happened. I worked at one of these companies for almost 3 years and have been in contact with some people that still work there since I left a couple of years ago and the new hires never happened. Meaning I'd still be in the same position I was when I started if I was still there 6 years later.

I also know a guy who got into a startup tech company pretty early and it looked like this place was going to take off. It's been about 4 years now and he's one of the last employees there simply because they threw a ton of money at him to stay. He's working all sorts of hours and weekends just to keep up and try to keep the place in business.

Just a couple of things to keep in mind when thinking about leaving a good job and taking chances.

 

[Onyxpurr]

In my experience I prefer big companies with a small office. Or medium sized companies. These seem to offer more big company pay and benefits while retaining the flexibility of working in a small office.

Currently I work for a large company with base operations in another state. However I work in a smaller satellite office that allows me to be flexible in my responsibilities.

I currently do business analysis, build reports, do a little help desk, build databases, build the documentation and perform customer meetings for SQL databases and manage some small projects that include, but not limited to, Access front-end with SQL back-end applications. Lots of room to grow!