Current market situation (3rd level support)

[the_duderama]

That is very true and there are still jobs out there it's just that the technical stuff is centralised and what used to be a genuine support role is nothing more than a PC portering and a bit of patching these days.

ITIL has destroyed the fun of fixing things.

It's a centralised NOC that i work in, and we manage stuff all over the UK, and yep, it's all ITIL. We have guys that attend site but they are nothing more than a pair of hands.

I used to do the desktop side of things when i first started 10 years ago, and you are right; I actually helped develop a way of automating desktop deployments and allowing self service for the end users. Started moving toward networking after that, plus i hated dealing with the end users.

The desktop infrastructure i now use needs no supported apart from delivering the hardware. The users can re-image and install everything themselves. I've been here for 2 years an only seen a desktop support guy 3 times, and all they were doing was swapping hardware.

[gingerjedi]

It's a centralised NOC that i work in, and we manage stuff all over the UK, and yep, it's all ITIL. We have guys that attend site but they are nothing more than a pair of hands.

I used to do the desktop side of things when i first started 10 years ago, and you are right; I actually helped develop a way of automating desktop deployments and allowing self service for the end users. Started moving toward networking after that, plus i hated dealing with the end users.

The desktop infrastructure i now use needs no supported apart from delivering the hardware. The users can re-image and install everything themselves. I've been here for 2 years an only seen a desktop support guy 3 times, and all they were doing was swapping hardware.

I wish someone had told me... I was beavering away on MoD legacy systems for 3 years before being exposed to the full neo private sector slave trade.

I knew it was coming but didn't expect the changes to be so rapid, my first contract after the MoD was outsourced by the first tier outsourcer within the first month of starting. On googling the new outfit I came across their marketing bumf which claimed they could offer support for as little as 2 euro a month per user unit.

I know for a fact that certain gov departments are paying £150+ to their first tier whilst this is being passed to a second tier supplier for peanuts, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out what this is doing to the poor support guys.

HP/EDS are nothing more than parasitic pimps in this arrangement.

[expat]

I wish someone had told me... I was beavering away on MoD legacy systems for 3 years before being exposed to the full neo private sector slave trade.

I knew it was coming but didn't expect the changes to be so rapid

It happens very fast. One day you are adding value by using your skills and knowledge, the next day you have become a cost to business rather than an asset.

[trsisko]

any desktop support work going in the SC environment?

[gingerjedi]

any desktop support work going in the SC environment?

NO!

[DieScum]

I know for a fact that certain gov departments are paying £150+ to their first tier whilst this is being passed to a second tier supplier for peanuts, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out what this is doing to the poor support guys.

That's quite interesting. I wonder how much that happens.

When people are talking about public sector cuts that is what needs to be cut... thing is you'd probably need a team of good people to make those cuts... and they probably don't have the skills internally...so would probably need some management consultants