Options for moving forward from my current helpdesk job 1

[austkain]

Hi guys, I'm Kain, 26 years old, living in Sydney, Australia. I need some help in deciding my future employment options and approach.

My highest qualification:

Masters Degree in Information Technology from Sydney.

Experience:

I'm currently doing full-time Level 2 Helpdesk support job at a well-known Australian company since two years. Before that I was a freelance web designer. And before that I worked in casual part time jobs at hotels and stuff.


Now long story short, I am sick of my current job, the pay is below average as well. I feel I am qualified enough to find a better job in Sydney. I've done some .NET development as well and also some Software Testing but I don't have any professional experience in either of them.

I need some advise in choosing and approaching a better career path forward. I will appreciate any kind of help posted here. <stressed out>

 

[tcsbiz]

It seems to me that a master's degree is for a management track. What are you interested in? A career is always more enjoyable when you're doing something you like to do.

Tom

 

[johnherman]

At a previous company, the help desk personnel also did basic "triage" troubleshooting of network and server problems. If you have interest, you could branch out into Infrastructure support and then maybe into infrastructure design and development.

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Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side because there is more manure there - original.

 

[papadba]

Why are you "sick of" you current job? Usually this is Not primarliy $.

What do you want to do long-term? Telling your management you want something "different" is not as effective as saying something specific you want to be considered for. Whenever any of my people came in to ask about something "better", i alwys advised them that if they would tell me what they wanted to do (or try), i could help them get there. If they "just wanted something different", i told them to come back for another chat when they had a more solid idea.

Keep in mind that you will probably be working for 20+ more years. It is critical that you find something you enjoy because you will spend much of your waking life doing it.

 

[maybeimaleo]

I agree with johnherman above - try and branch out into another area. When I was a help desk tech I showed a huge interst in networking. Eventually that played out into me becoming the network administrator and off I went.

 

[Madawc]

As papadba says, you'd do better asking for some "career development" in your present job. And make sure you get it right, while not neglecting the job you have.

I assume unemployment is high in Australia, like most places. Maybe your work record looks bad and you need to improve it.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK). Using Crystal 2008 with SQL and Windows XP

 

[GarryPonus]

Hey Kain

do you have any interest in doing something for yourself like contracting/consulting? You could potentially try to do a little of this on the side (subject to your current employment contract) - maybe even online - while your current job supports the habit.

For argument sake, you could register yourself on elance.com or odesk.com as a contractor and see what work comes there. You may find it more fulfilling working for yourself?

Regards

Garry
www.topitinterviewquestions.com

 

[austkain]

Hi guys, thanks for your generous advice and responses on my post. I appreciate it a lot.

@tcsbiz, I'll be interested in management but I feel I'll be better off in development or handling technical issues rather than bigger scheme of things.


@johnherman, I'm doing level 2 support for our company's customers. Everything related to security software on their machines, includes troubleshooting, installation issues, malware removal, etc. We develop and sell our own anti-virus package to Australian and US customers.


@papadba, To be honest I'm sick of the amount of pay I'm getting, it's extremely low compared to all other Level 2 Helpdesk jobs I find on the internet. And it used to be just fine until now, but now my bills have gone on par with my weekly income, lol.

I've been spending more and earning less. My management will readily hand me more responsibilities if I ask for it, but they will not pay me much more than what they do now. I know that from other colleagues and developers, testers who work with us.


@maybeimaleo, I agree with your approach and that is exactly what I'm planning to do now, branch out into a different field, but in a different company.


@Madawc, The only problem at my company is that they will not pay me as much as other companies pay their staff. I'm definitely gonna look for jobs in a different company now, I'm done here.


@GarryPonus, I'll definitely register on these sites mate thanks for that.


At the moment what I've decided is to take my annual leave next month and go to meet my parents and brother, get freshened up and then come back to plan career ahead.

 

[tcsbiz]

@austkain,

Congratulations on making a decision. It can be very difficult to do that.
The best of luck to you on your journey.