Offerred IT support but really looking for a Business Analyst/QA Testing type role.

pauliebdub

Im currently in the latter stages of a part time IT degree, expecting to graduate with a decent grade late next year. I currently work full time in a finance function and have had limited exposure to software testing and business analysis through my work, areas which interest me greatly particularly business analysis, though I have enjoyed testing software and files, running scripts etc. I have also performed testing on mobile apps and websites in my spare time also.

With this in mind i have had discussions with managers at work about how to progress within the company and i have been offered the chance to work as a Technical support analyst, as its my first IT role. While it would be a varied role from which I will learn a lot, it's not something im particularly passionate about and I would be fearful of getting stuck in this type of role and find it impossible to move into the areas I want to work in.

Can anyone offer some advice? Im trying to see a progression path to put myself in a good place career wise over the next 5 years but Im afraid of making the wrong move. Would it be better to look externally for junior positions in the areas i want to work in, opportunities are quite limited here though i like the company im with?

Many Thanks.

Mr. Loverman

Although you can move departments in companies, it can be hard to get off a career path.

I'm inclined to advise you to wait for the role you want.

pauliebdub

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Although you can move departments in companies, it can be hard to get off a career path.

I'm inclined to advise you to wait for the role you want.

Thats what I'm thinking of doing, I dont know of too many people within the company who have moved to roles that are very different from what they have been doing before.

Is it hard to get these type of roles as a graduate with limited experience?

Mr. Loverman

I've hired graduates for QA roles in the past.

I'm not sure about BA.

Kinet1c

Technical support analyst is quite vague. Do you know what you'd be doing from day to day? Is it just a fancy title for help desk?

I know in a prior company a few of the people they put through their graduate programme were put in to BA roles afterwards but not straight out of college.

mitresize5

hi

You'll be very very lucky to get a BA role as a graduate, in fact I've never heard of it.

A BA role comes with experience - both technical and the business processes around the industry your working in. That should be your medium term career goal.

A tech support role will give you a good understanding of the IT processes around your company/industry so would be a better place to start with the aim of getting a BA role down the road. Software testing to BA would be more of a leap

InReality

A lot of accenture graduate roles would include "business analysis" work as part of a technical team of developers.

Stheno

InReality wrote: »

A lot of accenture graduate roles would include "business analysis" work as part of a technical team of developers.

Yes but very very heavily mentored and with very strong process behind it.

@ OP, I started out in IT in an even lowlier role than tech support, I did end user support for pcs.

I now work as a project manager, moved roles in the first company I was in, and built up experience and quals through other roles.

If your company tend to pigeon hole people this will not work.

Mrs OBumble

mitresize5 wrote: »

hi

You'll be very very lucky to get a BA role as a graduate, in fact I've never heard of it.

Agreed (though I have met some silly managers who did hire graduates for BA roles - it almost never worked out) - but the OP has some work experience in Finance.

OP, I'd say go for it - but once you're in the job, be learning as much as you can about applications rather than hardware. A good starting place is the ticket-management system that your company uses for incidents - get really expert on the workflows associated with it, how changes to them are tested and made.

You may need change companies within a short time to get a full BA role, but some time in the trenches of IT support will help you understand more about how an IT department works and how things fit together.

cob1

it sounds like they are offering you a helpdesk/IT support role. you will not learn anything about software development lifecycle in this type of role if that's what it is and you've said you are not passionate about this. i would say move on.

once you graduate find a job in QA, preferably for a software development company (not a consultancy if possible), preferably one that does agile development where testing is a first class citizen of the software development process. good testers with an aptitude for it are worth their weight in gold and you should be able to get a role like this as a graduate with real work experience too.

pauliebdub

Kinet1c wrote: »

Technical support analyst is quite vague. Do you know what you'd be doing from day to day? Is it just a fancy title for help desk?

I know in a prior company a few of the people they put through their graduate programme were put in to BA roles afterwards but not straight out of college.

Solving trouble tickets raised by company employees would be the main tasks, id also be involved in implementing upgrades/new software etc.

Mr. Loverman

I worked part-time in a tech support role throughout college and it was good training. It thought me how to think in a very step by step way, and really fine tuned my problem solving skills.

But tech support is probably at the bottom of the IT food chain. I would avoid it if possible as you do not want to get stuck in a support role.

Heisenberg88

It really depends on the company on what you would be doing in a helpdesk or service desk.

Some companies it is truly awful. Other companies you get tons and tons of experience doing Level 1 support and Level 2 support and you build up an excellent knowledge.

Really depends on the company to be honest and its stupid to think all helpdesks are the same.