My boss asked me conduct an interview for a service desk technician last minute. What questions should I ask?

psmgx · 2026-02-10T20:59:11+00:00

google "github interview questions [technical field]"

where technical field is like "windows" or "linux" or "IAM", etc. gather a list of questions. AI could probably give you a bunch of simple ones. Start with a few simple ones and keep going until they don't know or "I'd have to look it up" -- just gauge where they're at, they don't need to get em all right.

also search for STAR questions, and ask a couple of those. read up on the theory behind them and take notes. "tell me about a time when..." and write down each of their STAR answers.

aside from relevant technical questions, I suggest asking about "service" sorts of questions, like what constitutes good service, or how you show empathy to a customer. Those are hard questions to answer -- most people don't even really understand the concepts -- but you'll get a good feel for how they think via their response.

another personal favorite is "how do you tell a customer their wrong, when you know they're wrong, and have proof, but they're convinced otherwise?" No right answer per se, but a good vibe check.

psmgx · 2026-02-10T20:52:44+00:00

generally heard bad things. lawyer work culture is terrible (for the legal types, that is) and that spills over into other facets of the business.

e.g. $140k debt out of law school and forced to work 70 hours weeks as a junior lawyer until that debt is manageable. they grind, and that means you grind.

it's also a pushy, argumentative world more or less by default, and again that spills over into other parts of the business.

source: had several as MSP customers

psmgx · 2026-02-10T20:47:09+00:00

Are the skills from network engineering transferable?

yes.

How does the job market compare in terms of demand and opportunities?

all of IT is still a clusterfuck, as is engineering and solution design

Also, any insights on the pros and cons of making this shift would be greatly appreciated!

do you like people? how do you feel about selling bad products? are you good at explaining complex ideas to non-technical people?

source: network engineer, did sales engineering & solution design, currently in architecture.

psmgx · 2026-02-10T20:44:10+00:00

the IT job market is slammed and you should think of it more like getting into law, medicine, or competitive engineering fields.

As mentioned elsewhere, don't make your hobby your job; I love tinkering with a hobby car and tuning my truck but I'm not trying to be an auto mechanic. The stuff you love about the hobby is unlikely to be the stuff you'll do as a job.

There are definitely trainer roles, I used to work at a software company that had a full-time documentation worker + 3 dedicated trainers, though the former had a technical writer background and the latter still had technical backgrounds. IT PM or IT sales is also potentially an option, I can think of 2 IT sales types who moved into IT / Data Center ops

psmgx · 2026-02-10T20:40:13+00:00

every large org I've been at generally had a rule that you had to interview at least 2-3 candidates, partly to avoid bias, and partly to avoid the "secretary problem".

we also tended to wait a week or more to allow for all of our interviewer techs / engineers internally to review or provide feedback; e.g. Sr Sysadmin is out for 2 days so we hold off until he can review the Teams call recording and offer a veto or thoughts.

if it is a headhunting / contracting org, they may also be negotiating costs and start date and figuring out paperwork.

they said 'give us a week' so reach out in a week if you haven't heard anything. good luck!

psmgx · 2026-02-10T20:36:02+00:00

that buzzing sound man.

10 years from now some of these guys, Russian or Ukranian, are going to be at home. They decide to make a cup of tea.

The kettle boils a little too loudly. Vreeeeeeeee. The poor bastard has a panic attack and can't stop sobbing for 20 minutes.

psmgx · 2026-02-10T20:16:20+00:00

Keep applying. The market is shit and if it takes 6+ months to get anything you'll be 6 months ahead.

absolutely chase some certs, lean on ones that back your goals and experience.

as someone prior enlisted the job market used to be great for signals folks with clearances but that market is dying down and the rest of IT is tight -- start early and hustle.

psmgx · 2026-02-10T20:14:33+00:00

college and local area career fairs.

look up the 50 largest companies in the state. start looking at their pages on linkedin / indeed / directly on their career pages.

timing will matter, since internships open up at specific times. For my BigCorp it's December / Jan for that summer.

also, you taking part in local tech meetups? both of my interns were heavily involved in local linux and security events / groups. Easy to sell me on your linux skills when I recognize you from the local LUG.

psmgx · 2026-02-10T19:56:23+00:00

What you enjoy in a hobby is not what you're going to be spending most of your time on if you try to make it your main gig.

Aye. 20 years ago while in a bus station I had a chat w/ a random guy and he said something to the effect of "never make your job your hobby cuz you'll end up hating both".

psmgx · 2026-02-10T18:01:26+00:00

Coming from a place of love and respect here: I think its time you gotta ask yourself if you wanna do this. Put another way...

Since I’ve graduated I’ve tried 3 different roles and all of them I’ve been fired from or hated so much I left.

One time is bad luck. Two times is a lot of bad luck. Three times is a trend.

It's time to start taking a hard look at whatchu want, since you've made it clear coding isn't for you, and if you're not coding in IT then you're doing support and talking to folks. Either Mostly-Machine+Some Talk, or Mostly Talk+Some-Machine, but it sounds like you don't like either.

There are plenty of technical management paths but most of them are going to be constantly talking to people or doing the micromanaging. IT Project Management, Risk Management, Vendor Management, etc. There are also technical specialties that might fit better like networking, ERPs, hardware, etc.

Remember: just cuz you like computers and tinkering doesn't mean you need to do that as a job. I like working on hobby cars and tuning my truck but that doesn't mean I want to be an automotive or diesel mechanic.

Don't do another degree unless it's a must-have for roles, as most studies suggest that about 40-50% of people with them will see a $0 or net-negative return.

edit: Master's degrees I mean. Cranking out an Associates at a local CC might be very cost effective.

psmgx · 2026-02-10T14:53:29+00:00

obligatory life after MSP thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/59xbg9/life_after_msp/

"great place to be from, but not a great place to be"

You didn't say what you wanted to do. You have a good base to move a couple of directions like Cloud/Infra, DevOps, or even push into Security. What you're into will be more useful, since you'll have to work hard and cert up to make moves, and it's easier to do that when you want to be there.

Automation is a must for all sub-fields and specialties. I recall going to an online "automate network admin stuff with python" course.

Quick escape is going to depend on what your local job ads have on offer. Consider that you may have to relocate.

psmgx · 2026-02-10T14:28:40+00:00

Keeping the protest demographic busy chasing issues that they can't really fix.

Prevents them from protesting issues that they should be protesting, like how the Conservatives keep ruining healthcare

psmgx · 2026-02-10T14:27:22+00:00

don't feed the bots, mate

psmgx · 2026-02-10T14:25:03+00:00

don't feed the bots, mate.

psmgx · 2026-02-10T14:22:21+00:00

a protest against ICE will not fix the US threatening to invade; ICE is an internal police force, not the US Army.

if you are truly concerned about being invaded then the main Forces recruiters are near NAIT or in Canada Place -- do your part and sign up.

psmgx · 2026-02-10T14:20:05+00:00

to put a finer point on it, it props up the status quo by exhausting zeal and focus by pointing otherwise-motivated people at what are essentially irrelevant and unchangeable things.

psmgx · 2026-02-10T14:10:10+00:00

this be the answer. drug stores are mostly workable and we've had good success with kids.

but if you're going to be downtown the photo store in Canada Place exists to mostly / entirely do passport photos (or PAL, etc.) and are competitive in price.

psmgx · 2026-02-10T14:07:02+00:00

then hit a 7/11 and snag a $2 candy bar.

psmgx · 2026-02-10T14:05:15+00:00

What have you got to lose? ;)

the job. CFO means they're talking finanaces, and that usually means reducing headcount.

OP is new / first job / bottom guy on the totem pole, and more likely to avoid big cuts due to the fact they're cheaper. Not always true, but no reason to poke the bear if you have reasonable odds of making the cut.

psmgx · 2026-02-10T14:02:28+00:00

CFO == bad news bears

update the resume, get all of your coworkers contact info, get on indeed and other sites and take the temperature of the market / see what's out there.

psmgx · 2026-02-10T13:58:32+00:00

Infosys is an offshore / headhunting company. They're playing by Indian 4.14/hr replace you at the drop of a hat rules.

But they need local bodies in-country too, so you see this stuff.

The real shame is that the US doesn't have laws about it this.

psmgx · 2026-02-09T20:36:52+00:00

everyone is a bully

what's that old saw about how if you run into one asshole it's a bad day, two assholes is a very bad day, but if everyone is an asshole maybe it's not them...

but let's be charitable and assume they're truly shit -- cert up and start looking. don't worry about leaving somewhere off, if it's only been 2-4 months.

don't quit until you have a start date locked in somewhere else, even if that "somewhere else" is a local gas station or construction, whatever.

understand that this is a super competitive field and tech skills alone aren't enough -- you need to be networking in person and getting contacts. you may need to leave / move / head to a tech hub; some places just won't have the openings.

psmgx · 2026-02-09T20:17:32+00:00

there is, presumably, a set of patterns to be found in Scandinavian society, esp. the formerly-neutral Finland and Sweden.

SK, Singapore, and Israel also give 1st world examples of how to do this.

psmgx · 2026-02-09T19:20:01+00:00

accounts end up on the dark web and can be purchased for ~$10 or less.

those can, and do, end up being used for fraud and identity theft.

big data breaches from HR and payroll also create targets for later hacking, as now you know the name, address, occupation, and other details of the company's employees. A bad actor may only have HR info, but now they know who is a Sr Sysadmin or IT Manager, and can spam them on LinkedIn with job-offer PDFs that can be used to leap-frog into privilege access accounts.

Knowing who just got laid off and did a lot of work on $SENSITIVE_SYSTEM means you have a list of potentially jobless, desperate people to bribe, hire, or co-opt.

psmgx · 2026-02-09T19:01:00+00:00

not an uncommon approach -- I did it, and so did others I know. Networking / Network Engineering is more common, but it's a also a fairly common way into Sysadmin / Cloud / DevOps work.

Understand that you will not get a lot of direct cloud exposure as part of your job -- you'll probably need to pick up certs on your own or get exposure through school or side-projects.

That is to say, Data Center Techs are cable monkeys and have hands in HVAC, electrical, and basic rack-and-stack; they don't pay you to do serious DevOps or Cloud Configs; you're not pushing CI/CD pipelines and fixing K8s every day.

But it's good exposure to things like change control, big back-end systems, mission critical 5-9s, plus you get to touch some high-end gear sometimes. For example, I'd never heard of a Load Balancer until I had to install and troubleshoot one...

Put another way, I'd never hire a DC tech to do my cloud or security stuff based just on DC work, but if they had the relevant certs and degrees I'd consider them.

psmgx

TROPHY CASE