Desktop Support and Desktop Support Analyst, PC or MAC, Need Some Advice

Currently i'm an accountant, but i wanna change a career and i heard about "desktop support". If anyone here worked as a desktop support please advise how to get in this filed. Do i need any certification. What is more in Demand, Mac Support or PC support. How is the market for this position is right now?
Any advice is greatly appreciated

Whats crackin Rafael. Mac Techs get payed more (Less Jobs). Pc jobs can be found anywhere. Plenty to go around.

Don't change to desktop support try to upgrade yourself to financial analyst. Do you have a Degree in accounting?

king zanj in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania said: Don't change to desktop support try to upgrade yourself to financial analyst. Do you have a Degree in accounting?

yes i have Bachelor of Science in Accounting. How can i "upgrade" to financial analyst?

Rafael in Brooklyn, New York said: Currently i'm an accountant, but i wanna change a career and i heard about "desktop support". If anyone here worked as a desktop support please advise how to get in this filed. Do i need any certification. What is more in Demand, Mac Support or PC support. How is the market for this position is right now?
Any advice is greatly appreciated

Hello Dear Accountant, I frankly tell you that you are better off as an accountant. What is wrong being an accountant? Let me tell you about being a desktop support or desktop analyst. You are literary a door- rug for every department in the company. You have to deal with printer paper jam, frozen computers, user errors, common colds, irate users, managers who want their issues dealt with first and now. Most of the time there are no weekends off. Please diversify your skills by taking a graduate certificate in taxation or finance management and go work in the banking or insurance operations. God bless you.

The advantage you have as an accountant is that the numbers don't lie, they don't argue with you, they don't have irate fits, and they will sit there waiting until you get to them.

Supporting the average corporate user is like teaching a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

And yes, Virginia, there are stupid questions. Some of them fly in the face of natural selection.

As far as demand...if the prospect of working as a contractor and looking for work constantly appeals to you, then have at it. The best money to be had as a Desktop Tech is in Baghdad...

Learn a trade, apprentice as a carpenter,sell hot dogs at the ballpark or learn to play piano and get a job in a house of ill repute.

All of the above options are better then working Desktop Support.

Happy Trails

1 in Lebanon forgets to mention that you need 4 certifications just to be treaded as a door-mat.....

Rafael in Brooklyn, New York said: Currently i'm an accountant, but i wanna change a career and i heard about "desktop support". If anyone here worked as a desktop support please advise how to get in this filed. Do i need any certification. What is more in Demand, Mac Support or PC support. How is the market for this position is right now?
Any advice is greatly appreciated

You will be much more happier and much better off as an accountant. Invest your time and energy to advance yourself in your accountant courier.

You will be much more happier and much better off as an accountant. Invest your time and energy to advance yourself in your accountant courier.

As a Ronin Desktop Guy, I agree, MSCE/CCNA/CS:BS/BA for 13 per hour? Yessir...Stick with numbers!!!

Wow, I've worked as a desktop support for 14 years and wasn't nearly as bad as described above. Only worked weekends very rarely, maybe 5 or 6 times a year and even then was only for half day normally. Um, paper jams, stupid user questions are part of the job, jeez. If it wasn't for stupid people (as far as computer skills go) we wouldn't have a job. PC support is much in demand than mac, although some smaller office might have both platforms and you might have an advantage if you can work with both. Definitely not as bad as a career as described above.

1 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania said: Hello Dear Accountant, I frankly tell you that you are better off as an accountant. What is wrong being an accountant? Let me tell you about being a desktop support or desktop analyst. You are literary a door- rug for every department in the company. You have to deal with printer paper jam, frozen computers, user errors, common colds, irate users, managers who want their issues dealt with first and now. Most of the time there are no weekends off. Please diversify your skills by taking a graduate certificate in taxation or finance management and go work in the banking or insurance operations. God bless you.

Working as a desktop support for a large company i can say that the quote above is right on point! There is not a day that goes by that i don't have to solve some issue or another. It gets really bad at times that i think one day they are going to make me change the light bulbs!!! LOL stay as an Accountant they'll respect you more after all you handle their pay!

Gallego71 in Yonkers, New York said: Working as a desktop support for a large company i can say that the quote above is right on point! There is not a day that goes by that i don't have to solve some issue or another. It gets really bad at times that i think one day they are going to make me change the light bulbs!!! LOL stay as an Accountant they'll respect you more after all you handle their pay!

Amen brother, I was asked one time to look at the circuit breakers because "I knew about computers", um, okay.

Accounting is better than being a financial advisor, investments, or somehwere near that area. Too much anxiety. And if you can't handle pressure or anxiety, best to stay at a career you feel COMFORTABLE with. Of course I wanted to advance in my career, but not at the cost of my self-esteem (handling prima donnas and questioning if you can do the job or not because no one is going to teach u anything) and my happiness.
Well, you're not me. But, please do some research on the field and know if you yourself if you can handle it.

I have 11 years experience in the field of computer support and can tell you that most companies that place hiring ads(staffing/recruitment or direct hiring), place absolutely unrealistic, totally above the head requirements in their ads for open positions, and yet offer a miser compensation. Of course it has everything to do with the fact that people who either place those ads or compose them have no idea about anything in IT technologies and computer support field in particular. As an example: the common requirements are that you should have an experience and certifications in a multiple technologies, each of which requires a years of study and working experience. You can get those only in succession, not at the same time, as they are studied worked with, and specialized separately, one OR another. I am not even saying that the advances in computer technology are so rapid (like not in any other field) that you find yourself swarmed in new information that you have to read and disseminate everyday.

gmajor7th in 13th Colony, New Jersey said: As a Ronin Desktop Guy, I agree, MSCE/CCNA/CS:BS/BA for 13 per hour? Yessir...Stick with numbers!!!

THats Crazy?! 13 an hour?

$16 - $25 depending on the company, the contract, the contracting company, if there is more than one contracting company between you and the client - client -> contracts with IBM big$$$ -> IBM's Sub(usually ex IBMers) -> you. then you pay for health insurance.

client pays top dollar, gets bottom of the barrel or desperate old timers. ;-)

want experience with older skills(lotus notes, etc) yet school requirements(so pay can be low) = high school diploma. yes, if you only have 12 of the 15 "required" skills and certs, you won't get hired. or if you have 12 years experience but no A+ cert and someone with 6 months experience and a cert gets hired to support executives. urine test and back ground checks for every contract.

it's a young person's game. not something someone(especially an accountant) should do, IMHO.

Rafael in Brooklyn, New York said: Currently i'm an accountant, but i wanna change a career and i heard about "desktop support". If anyone here worked as a desktop support please advise how to get in this filed. Do i need any certification. What is more in Demand, Mac Support or PC support. How is the market for this position is right now?
Any advice is greatly appreciated

Please stay in your field. In this economy you have a lot more directions to go in for advancement than I do. I just happen to be a Help Desktop Support tech who likes what I do. Like the others have said here you do not get paid what you are worth. I have 6 certifications including A+ network+ several Microsoft Certs and I also have 20 years of IT experience and I am still making under $40,000 you have an array of directions you can go in accounting. Also like the others said you have more people on the lower end of the totem pole to deal with who dont understand that a printer or pc cant be fix by waving a magic wand or by them yelling I want it fix NOW!! And yes the user complaining comes with the territory but I would much rather be paid much more than 40,000 to be yelled at. If you really insist on going into the IT field , look into network lan security,the money is better and there is not as much user interaction. I hope this helps in your decision.

Big demand for financial advisors, going forward. If you have a degree in Accounting, that's where I'd go. I have a background in Macs/PCs/Servers in Publishing field. Hanging in there. Future, in IT, looks bleak due to virtualization, cloud computing, and outsourcing. Looking to change careers.

You guys all sound really jaded and bitter. I particularly love the complaint about all the "issues" you have to solve every day. Did any of you even read the job descriptions?

there is nothing wrong with being a desktop tech as long as you are able to get a permanent job somewhere with decent pay.

I'm current a desktop support and what everyone said about the career is true. Everyday you are trying to put out fires and people just do it again and again because no one has a clue about computers. They think everything that has electricity is IT related. We gets calls about AC not working, TV not working, and even the refig in the breakroom is broken.

I am currently getting a masters in accounting and I can not wait to switch careers. You will be more respected and also more compensated.

Try to advanced your accounting career by getting a CPA or a MBA. Please do not go into desktop support which is the bottom of the food chain for IT.

12 Years as a Help Desk Analyst myself, 8 with my current employer, same position. I cannot even advance to a Desktop Support role within my organization because I spend all my time triaging problems, resetting passwords and butting heads with the customer base over petty customer service related issues, many of which are not even technical in nature. Hiring Managers are laughing at me when I apply for external Desktop Support roles with 8-12 years of being the siloed first point of contact and not being able to get up and go fix the issue in person. Recruiters call me as late as 9:30 PM on weeknights and weekends to submit me to their clients with openings, then drop me like a rock after a few days with little to no follow up. I did not get into IT to do this for the rest of my life. I am at the point to where I don't want to try anymore, and am ready to give up and bail out on IT anything for a career and morph into a stay at home dad.