IT Career Guide

Don't Get Trapped in Help Desk

Don’t get trapped in IT Helpdesk Hell

We all know that there are multiple ways to get into IT, but the most common way people know about is to start in a help desk position.

My name is Jubie, co-founder at Yellow Tail Tech, where we help people with no IT background get their first high-paying IT job.

Today I wanna talk about how to not get trapped in help desk hell.

We all know that there are multiple ways to get into IT, but the most common way people know about is to start in a help desk position. This is usually achieved by acquiring certifications like ITF, A+, Network+, or Security +. Basically CompTI certs in general. This is the easiest way to get into the industry, but going that route comes with some limitations.

The first limitation is the type of jobs that are available to you. With these certifications, you typically are limited to positions like help desk or desktop support, field tech, or data center tech.

Secondly, it’s difficult to level up your IT career when you start in these positions because these certifications, typecast you, meaning you will mostly be offered similar jobs in the same type of environment. It’s very important to know how and when to break away from the help desk environment and get auto certifications and training that can help you advance your IT career.

Some of the students who come to us with some IT background understand how difficult it can be to break away from the help desk type of jobs.

Another limitation is that you don’t have enough exposure to new cutting-edge technologies. Help desk and data center tech types of jobs are designed to support high-tech infrastructures but with these support jobs.

Your exposure to the new cutting-edge technologies is limited because you are not expected to design, engineer, or perform any high-impact work and of course, there is a salary issue as you know your salary is always directly correlated to your level of expertise, your level of exposure, and most importantly how critical your job is to the organization.

If you want to position your IT career for future growth, check us out at yellowtail.tech and see what we’re about. If it looks like a good fit, schedule a career strategy session with our team and let’s talk about it.

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Silvana Zapanta

Sil brings a wealth of experience to her writing and editing projects. After nearly a decade guiding college students in research and communication, she shifted her focus to freelance writing and editing. Her passion for education continues through volunteer work, where she empowers others by teaching research and writing skills.

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