Helpdesk team lead - what to expect?

stevebaxter23

Hi all

I'm currently out of work 4 weeks now, coming from a desktop support background. I worked on helpdesks over 15 years ago and was glad to leave them.

Does anyone know what it's like to be a Helpdesk team lead? I was thinking of applying for a position but am not sure. Salary is good (18k increase over my last job), the problem is I think it might be a step back for me and I really don't know if I could go back to helpdesk work. I hated the constant calls/stats/management breathing down your throat that went on. Being a lead would I still need to man the phones and take calls or would I just lead the team?

Any advice? Should I steer clear and look for something else?

Atlantic Dawn

It's a fairly stressful environment to work in, coupled with shift work and high staff turnarounds. The team lead will have to report in to managers with team stats and have to maintain certain levels of performance, you will also have to mentor your team and take calls from irrate customers. It could be something you could do for 6 months or a year to see if you want it as a permantent career, I think having the experience on your CV would serve you well in other roles so no harm.

stevebaxter23

Cheers for that Atlantic Dawn, a stressful environment is not what I'm looking for. Might give it a miss, life is too short and all that

seamus

What Atlantic Dawn says.

Team Lead will also often serve as Tier 2 support for more difficult calls (either technically or because the caller is difficult), and jump on the switch during particularly busy periods, but often isn't required to do so all the time.

Most of it will be managing the mundane stuff like rosters/holidays/etc, SLA reporting and small project management, as opposed to general technical troubleshooting stuff.

stevebaxter23

Cheers seamus, thanks for your insight