Regime Change

Even before I left for the journey for work on Monday morning, I knew today would be different. There was a sense of anticipation, hoping that my imagination was working overtime and that the day would come out on top. I pulled into the car park, to not a single space available. It was a few minutes past 9am. There was no option, I just had to put up into one of the bays, blocking in two, if not four vehicles. Looking out of my car, I looked across the valley at the picture postcard view. It did not feel the same, as it done, during my first interview. Was this just a taste of things to come? Taking a long deep sigh, I headed into the office.

Overall there was a buzz around my block. The hustle and bustle of people moving into their new working environment. Crates, boxes, and totes were being unpacked, with the majority of the hard labour of the office move (servers & furniture) having taken place on the preceding Saturday. Making my way to my desk, I found some document in a bright blue plastic wallet. Taking a seat, I quickly filed through the paperwork, a car park plan, new details following the office move, including a fine system (which warrants a blog entry in it's own right) and a chain for my access key fob. Yet, what caught my eye the most, was my name. Yeah, I know anything for vanity.

Placing the folder to one side, I booted up my PC, knowing that today was going to be a busy day. With the arrival of the rest of the company (be it the business division) would mean changes. New procedures, everything done by the book, having to conduct yourself in a professional manner. The honeymoon was well and truly over. Results were crucial now, needing to give the performance of a high quality support desk. From now on in, I have to up my game and show them all I am made of sterner stuff.

My previous manger, left only three working days ago but her legacy lives on. She did have big ambitions for the helpdesk. One of these was the purchase of wireless headsets to let us, support analysts roam free around the office and not be tied down to our desks. My original headset with poor audio reception, looked as old as the performance it gave, while taking calls. Although you could just about hear the caller on the end of the line, it was often difficult for them to hear you, even after adjusting the mouthpiece to be within touching distance of your front gums. Finally, a few weeks ago, my manager ordered the new Plantronics devices. Having already been unimpressed with the performance of the Nokia Bluetooth wireless headset at Christmas, I had high expectations for the device. The CS60, which sounds like a name more suited for a Swedish car than a telephone headset. Having now used the product for several weeks, I have to say I, it has surpassed all expectation. At last I have the ability to multitask, like only a man can! :P Taking a call, talking a user through some simple steps, while working on a laptop, in the other side of the office. The freedom, is truly life changing, and my 9 to 5 becomes less of a desk job. I can get up, and chase developers (downstairs) while still having the user on the end of the line. While we have not got the automatic headset lifter in place yet, I am sure once we work out the perfect way to place it under the handset (without the change of the receiver falling off) we will be there. Then, I will be operating completely handsfree. For now, I am enjoying the wireless world.

Don't Nobody Go Nowhere

Moving forward but building upon many of the issues raised in my previous posting, I found myself in a very strange world. Each morning I awake, looking forward to going into the office. Why is this? The people I work with are a crucial factor. In a very short space of time, I feel I have not only become a respected and valuable member of the team, but the technology division of the company. For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed helping people, providing them with the assistance they require. There is nothing more reassuring that to hear the words, "Thank you" after spending an age speaking a frustrated user, trying to get their software to work. Job satisfaction comes two fold, in this arena, from your immediate colleagues but also the sales personnel, managers and head office contacts.

The week began with a site visit on Tuesday over in Oxfordshire. My time working away from the office, gave me the opportunity to come to terms with exactly how the industry operate. Of all our clients, this was one of the smallest teams with a handful of reps covering the whole of the United Kingdom. Size is not everything (no matter what your girlfriend/partner tells you) the experience of visiting a client and meeting representatives in the field, is always worthwhile. Luckily I was accompanied by a developer to ease some of the burden. The task was quite straight forward, installing V2 of our software onto a half a dozen laptops and two desktop machines. The most difficult task was obtaining the passwords to gain access to Windows. Although I had been hoping for a laid back day, the prospect of returning to the office as indeed we did for 3pm was a slight shock. My hopes of visiting a shopping village in the heart of the English countryside, where somewhat dampened.

My working hours have been extended, to provide some relief for a new client, who rolled out in the final week of February. Most of the companies I have worked for, I have gone the extra mile and mucked in with some extra hours. In my last position, this became, not a bone of contention, but barrier to perhaps permanent employment. Back then, my working hours were extended to ten hours and my door to door day was almost fifteen hours. The journey was the killing machine, grinding me down, on weekly basis, especially when there were delays. Now, I have nothing to worry about, with an average journey cost of £2 per day, covering seven miles. Although I will be carrying out detailed research on my exact mileage expense in the coming months. Tonight is a case in point, I came onto the dual carriageway, put my foot on the throttle and cruised at 70, all the way to a stop at Handy Cross. That just would never be the case when I left the office at 6pm on the dot, or if I was working the earlier shift and finished at 4.30pm. Although I have come to realise that as tempting the prospect sounds of an early shift, you never leave at 4.30pm, because the phones are just about to get melt. The late shift, just works for me at the moment. I get to drop off my Mum and sister at their respective schools, and cruise into work with plenty of time to allow for delays building up on the M4. Maybe in the summer, when the weather improves, I will want to make the most of the day. Then again, maybe I won't.

Today was an average day, if there is just a way to describe working on a help desk. Everyday is different and I learn new things almost with every call I take. At times I feel I am overwhelmed with calls, all at sea with no sign of a response to my distress signals. Then there are moments, when I feel confident, in control and actually know more than the people I'm speaking to (as always should be the case). With various technical glitches taking place, as would occur with any major move for a company, I found myself yesterday afternoon and for the best part of this afternoon taking calls on a company mobile. Not ideal, but at times I was frustrated with the situation, with every message I picked up, users explaining their problems, almost pleading for a return phone call. For every call I took or returned, there were another four to six voicemail message left. I only have two hands you know, I thought to myself, staring at the 6310i. Falling into a spell of despondency, I seriously considering, is this truly the job for me?

Instead of continued fire to fuel these negative vibes, I just got on with the job at hand and watched the final few minutes tick away on my Windows system tray. As I locked up and left for the day, the cool breeze hitting my face for the first time, since the morning, giving a small sigh of relief. One of the managers, was also heading for his car for the journey home. After asking how I was, he entered into a quick conversation of how I was finding this on the support desk. His final words, brought a smile to my face. "It's worth sticking it out Andrew, and several doors of opportunity will open for you." For a split second I tried to take in what had just been said, before giving my response, "Don't worry, I'm not going nowhere". Suddenly my meaningless pondering, just over an hour ago, melted away, to be replaced with a warm glow of what tomorrow may bring.

Less Swings More Roundabouts

It has been a while since I posted, finding the process of juggling two blogs extremely difficult. Particularly as my personal blog is the full on, unrestricted experience, therefore taking up much more of my time. Another reason, or rather excuse is the fact that little has been happening at work to warrant a posting. Although, let me give you a quick roundup.

Not only have there been changes in the office location. Personnel are also moving on and that is not a reference to the Human Resources department. It is a sad moment, when an employee decides for whatever reason to leave their job for another. While you always have to respect their decision, the sense of loss is evident from the first day, they are no longer on hand for support. As human beings, I think we tend t to rely on the experience, wisdom and even judgment of our colleagues. Although I am learning a vast amount about the software everyday, the knowledge that there was always a cheerful figure to turn to when the going got tough, was reassuring. Particularly when you have an angry, frustrated representative on the phone. However, we learn to cope without them and move on. With one departure, brings forth the arrival of another, although even I am beginning to believe in the curse of the Help Desk. In terms of the move, my office space, has only been beamed up a single storey, with a new larger desk, 15" TFT screen, new keyboard, and a workspace, in the form of a free desk next to me. Now all I need to do, is convince the IT department to sign me off a new desktop PC. Will keep you posted on these changes, as for it is not until the final week of March that move is finally completed.

Returning the focus back to work. Yes, I do actually carry out some task while in the office. The situation I find myself in now, is difficult to explain. If I was a firefighter, my job would entail constantly putting out small scale fires, while the towering inferno burns in the background. At times, I feel I know less than that people I'm speaking to, which is frustrating. Adding to the difficulty of leavers, as noted above, it is not a simple of case of transferring the call to another member of the support team. On Thursday 17th March, I will not only be the longest serving member of the desk but with that label, the most experienced. Just do not ask me how, I find myself in this double edged sword scenario. While it is great to be at the focal point of such great responsibility, it may be a case of too much too soon. Time is what I need. Time to learn and understand. While this working on a helpdesk, is in itself a learning experience, sometimes I feel tied down to the red tape. Can you name another industry, which is as bureaucratic? Where you create the work for yourself, by physically logging the call on the computer and watching as your open calls, jump from a measly twenty, forty, then seventy, then over one hundred. There is no problem following standard procedure, but at times, there is no documentation, so you are discovering the rules as you go along. Is bureaucracy such a bad thing? Sure, systems need to be in place and the details need to be recorded. Yet, in my current circumstances, with an totally unmanageable call queue, I afford logging yet another call unless it is completely necessary, or I know it can easily be passed onto a colleague. When I try to go through systematically and try and close closes (should that be proactive in resolve the problems) I find the following dilemma occurs. I will close a handful, maybe five old calls on a good days, only to find myself logging at least double that number into my queue. In which Western civilization is that progress?