(IT) Field Engineer jobs

tk123

Hi guys. Is anybody working as a field engineer? I'm thinking of moving on from my current job (sys admin) and would interested to hear the pros/cons?

delly

I was an IT field engineer 10 years ago and have now moved into the management side of the company. We generally employ people who don't necessarily have qualifications, but more so have a good IT working knowledge. This can be hit and miss on occasion, but there are tonnes of capable people out there who don't have that magic piece of paper behind them. This however is the exception rather than the norm in the industry I would say.

Pay can be anywhere from €25k to €40k depending on experience and position applied for. Off the top of my head advantages would be having a company car or van, disadvantages being after hours support or a high amount of travel.

Standard Toaster

Looking at a field service engineer role myself.
Salary 30,000.00 - 45,000.00 EUR per year.

At least 3 years experience an added advantage
Excellent experience in a break/fix environment that would include but not limited to:
• Good working and repair knowledge of HP Printers (all models) and / or 3rd party printers (line printers, OKI, etc)
• Good troubleshooting skills and working knowledge of PCs (all manufacturers), Servers (all manufacturers), laptops (all manufacturers), Epos systems, scanners, tape drive units (internal and external) and the associated drivers on a Windows platform
• Good working knowledge and excellent troubleshooting skills using Windows OS desktops, Windows 200x Server
• Ability to repair an OS using Windows repair tools, reinstalling an OS from base level and configuring
• Excellent networking skills, a thorough understanding of networking and an understanding of connecting PCs to networks
• Ability to ghost desktops, install desktop based applications, configure Outlook and troubleshoot networked desktop issues
• Strong communication skills with our clients.
• Ability to work on alone or in a team
• Excellent documentation skills
• Ability to take responsibility for calls issued, resolve, follow through until a resolution is found
• Full Drivers License required

Is that the going rate for a Field Service Engineer of that experience?
delly, were you 24hr support & weekends too?
I do love my weekends off!

Jumpy

I would recommend against it unless you like working alone.
Its a very lonely job. I did it for years.

ntlbell

it's odd tk because people usually go from field to in house sys admin/net admin.

In dublin it's a pain as you spend a lot of time in traffic etc.

it really depends on who you work with and what sort of clients they have.

it can be pretty ugly at times and i would pick an inhouse sys admin role over field 7 days a week

delly

The_Edge wrote: »

Looking at a field service engineer role myself.
Salary 30,000.00 - 45,000.00 EUR per year.



Is that the going rate for a Field Service Engineer of that experience?
delly, were you 24hr support & weekends too?
I do love my weekends off!

Seems about right. Looking at the spec, your going to be dealing with point of sale technology that would probably be unique to that customers contracts on retail sites. Its not too far from my field tbh.

Regarding the after hours work, I did 9AM to 9PM one week in every five. You could be called out 10 times on a Saturday or you might be lucky and not have to go out at all, 'tis the luck of the draw.

Standard Toaster

Thanks for the responses. I may just fire the cv over and see what vibe I get of them if I get as far as the interview stage.

Where I am at the mo I feel there's no room for promotion and the training is, well, non-existent to an extent.

I'm used to jumping through hoops to keeps clients happy.

ntlbell wrote:

it can be pretty ugly at times and i would pick an inhouse sys admin role over field 7 days a week

Have you any brief examples of it being ugly?
Most IT jobs can have an ugly side I guess.

I'm thinking I may like the being alone aspect....being your own "boss" so to speak.

Standard Toaster

delly wrote: »

Regarding the after hours work, I did 9AM to 9PM one week in every five. You could be called out 10 times on a Saturday or you might be lucky and not have to go out at all, 'tis the luck of the draw.

The 1 in every five is not too bad I guess. All depends on the company I suppose. 10 times on a Saturday....ouch! :eek:

ntlbell

The_Edge wrote: »

Have you any brief examples of it being ugly?
Most IT jobs can have an ugly side I guess.

I'm thinking I may like the being alone aspect....being your own "boss" so to speak.

I guess the ugly aspect is a personal thing.

an example is being called to a site were for the last year you have had 20/30 different engineers working at different times changing things no documentation etc no one knows where anything is or what something does and the whole thing just escalates and gets messy.

When you cofronted with these situtations every day it starts to grind on you.

at least in as your own sys admin you have more control over these things and get to keep your "own house" nice and clean

delly

Whether it be field or in-house IT work, it can depend on the company you work for and the workload you have. I myself loved the fieldwork and found it quite enjoyable especially in the Summer months. Hanging about in St. Stephens Green waiting for calls while enjoying a 99 didn't happen too often, but I didn't complain when it did.

cronos

Training for field support isnt really going to be any better than in house job id say personally. Have you ever considered doing the CCNA and finding another sys admin role.

Standard Toaster

I've done CCNA but I'm lacking in the other usual MS certs. I have to pull the finger out in that respect.

The Field Service Engineer job I seen advertised just caught my eye this morning and I seen this thread and thought I kindly hijack it. (Sorry tk123!)

I hoping with something like the field support it might offer me something new/fresh and more hands-on. I'd say a year or two at it would look good on my cv

tk123

ntlbell wrote: »

it's odd tk because people usually go from field to in house sys admin/net admin.

tbh I'd be looking at it as more of a stop-gap. I hate my job atm - there's no chance of me progressing and I've just had enough of crappy pay, no benifits and just being taken advantage of etc.

Standard Toaster

tk123 wrote: »

tbh I'd be looking at it as more of a stop-gap. I hate my job atm - there's no chance of me progressing and I've just had enough of crappy pay, no benifits and just being taken advantage of etc.

+1

delly

The good thing about field work on a CV is that it shows you can work on your own and think on your feet as you wouldn't last long if you couldn't fix problems or cope with the pressure of SLA's.

Jumpy

Its soul destroying. I would highly recommend against it.

fasty

I did it for 18 months before I moved into software development and it was decent enough. You have to be pretty level headed though, being either stuck in traffic for hours at a time, or on customer sites, quite often having to think on your feet to solve problems.

I think it's more challenging than IT sysadmin which ends up being a right bore. That said, I wouldn't go back to it now.

joePC

I enjoyed my time in Field Sevice - you gain alot of experience depending on the clients. I hated it in the end as every job was a rush, botch, get to the next job ASAP etc... Maybe it was the company I worked for.

6 months after I left I found out the team of 6 engineers all quite, they lost aload of big contracts and had a Chinese and Iranian doing the rounds.

Great potential, crap management.

Raekwon

joePC wrote: »

Great potential, crap management.

Unfortunately there are too many companies like that, especially in regards to IT.

nogoodnamesleft

Working in it myself at the moment and as another poster said it fairly lonely work and your the only person thats on the ground. Bit of pressure involved but that depends on the sector your in really. Im working abroad most of the time and that brings with it certain challenges in itself. Getting Transport, local customs, local language, time difference incase you need support from the office etc.

You do get very good experience though and develop professional, traits, contacts and skills that will stand to you as you move up the ladder.

rymus

I've been a hardware field engineer for the last 6 years roughly.. It's not bad, all depends on what youre supporting. Place I'm working in at the moment started by supporting servers, PC's and networking kit (along with their basic application). Now since the application got 'upgraded' the software support side of the job has completely gone off the rails. For every 20 stupid software queries I answer, I get one hardware. Moral of the story is not to work for a company that tries to develop their own software...

Possibly moving on to another field engineering job in the next month or two though. Back to basics; Hardware and networks. Go for a field engineering job, just as long as you don't mind driving!