Categories: TECHNOLOGY

A Day in the Life of a Tech Support Representative

As I’ve mentioned before, I used to work as a tech support representative. For anyone who has ever thought about working in tech support, I have written this article. I hope to share the horrors and benefits or working in such a field. I warn you though; you may decide that a position as a tech support representative isn’t worth the pay after reading this article.

My day would usually begin by getting up, taking a shower, and slipping on my favorite pair of jeans and a t-shirt. The company I worked for didn’t have a dress code. We were allowed to wear what we wanted. After all, customers never see tech support representatives. I would then get in my car and drive 30 miles. Yes, that was a long ways to go for a job, but many tech support companies pay their representatives very well.

Once I arrived at the company, I scanned my badge and entered the building a little before 12pm. I was a lucky tech support representative because I didn’t have to share a work station with anyone. Some tech support representatives had to share a work station, which meant they would have to wait for the previous worker to pick up their belonging and clear out before they could begin their shift.

I would log-in to the computer system and then clock in, which was also done on the computer. As a tech support representative, it was important that I went over my email before signing into the phones. There would be messages telling us about known problems and their solutions, if there was one. I would also log into my ICQ account, which was used to communicate with other tech support representatives and my supervisor. This came in very handy, because we didn’t have to put customers on hold and run across the room trying to find an answer. Trust me, most tech support representatives are not fully trained and have to rely on other tech support representatives from time to time.

Once my email had been looked over, I would sign into the phone system. I would quickly ask my friend what problems were coming in for that day, so that I would be halfway prepared. Though I have to admit, I always dreaded every call. Even though I could handle computer related problems easily, I would receive calls that revolved around other issues that I was not trained to handle. I worked for a tax software company, and none of the tech support representatives were trained to handle tax questions. This meant that when a customer called tech support and asked about a certain form, we would have to fight to find that form on our screen. This was beyond frustrating.

But, before I could even begin to work on these frustrating problems, I would have to ask the customer for their information so I could log into their account page on our tech support system. Sometimes messages would come up with alerts on how to handle certain customers. There would also be messages telling us not to help certain people because they had stolen the software from one of our clients. Once this was done the problems would begin. Some problems could easily be handled by any tech support representative with previous computer experience, but not all the calls were so simple.

At around 4pm, I would take my lunch break. I have to say that I enjoyed the hour long lunch breaks. This gave me time to work on college assignments, which brings me to another benefit to working as a tech support representative. When things were slow we could basically do what we wanted, except surf the internet. One tech support representative had ruined that for us long ago. But, we were still able to play music, eat at our desk, and read or work on homework. Some tech support representatives even worked on crafts.

Most days were pretty good. I would normally take around 20 or so calls, but not all days were this simple. Once tax season rolled around, there would literally be one second in between calls. You may not think this is a big deal, but it was. You had to log everything that took place on the previous call; this was hard to do when more customers were calling in. This is why many people get snapped at by tech support representatives. The stress is simply too much at times, especially when you consider the hours during tax season increase from 40 to 60 hours.

At 9pm, my shift would finally end. I have to admit though; the drive back home seemed so long. By the time I got home, I was simply exhausted. I hope this information helps you the next time you decide to take a job in tech support. There are ups and downs, but to me the downs far outweighed the good times.