Computer Technician Job Description

Computer Technician Job Description - Who will be my clients/users that I will be interacting with on a daily basis?

The computer technician job description can vary depending on what environment you work in. It always helps to know what to expect from the employees of a company you’re hoping to work for.

I’ve had quite a diverse mix in my time, I’ve worked in:

Banking
Government
Small businesses
Pharmaceuticals

Different industries/organisations definitely have different vibes to them, I’ll give you some examples from each of the ones I’ve experienced:

Computer Technician Job Description - Banking

This is the fast lane, the atmosphere is highly charged and there is very little time to stop and think. Probably the most challenging environment I’ve worked in- also my first job.. talk about in at the deep end!

Very exciting and exhilarating, when it came to the equipment and technology no expense was spared. At entry level the computer technician job description is helpdesk, machine builds and most importantly impeccable documentation. We had helpdesk stats monitoring how many calls we were doing and closing, you did not want to be 'the weakest link'!

Working in a bank taught me the ability to hit the ground running. The only faster, higher pressure environment I can think of would be working for stock traders in a trading house. I have no first hand experience of this but from what I’ve heard it’s about as fast moving as it gets.

Your users in a banking environment will be very PC literate. They themselves will be under immense pressure if they cannot do their work. This computer technician job description involves important non technical skills to have in abundance like business awareness, thinking on your feet, proactivity and economic decision making.

As with all businesses Time is money!! That phrase was most probably coined by a banker.

Computer Technician Job Description - Government

Working for the government (British in my experience) is not quite as fast paced as working for a bank. The phrase ”Time is money!!” does not really apply here.

The private sector is not driven by money and this is quite apparent. The sense of urgency when systems are down is not as dynamic as it is when money is being lost in a commercial organisation.

Many of the employees of government offices have been so for most if not all of their careers.

I remember in one instance one extremely high ranking, long serving and well established executive who point blank refused to use a computer to do his work. His internal emails were written on a piece of paper and hand delivered by his secretary.

Some folks just don’t get the whole computer ….thing and have no desire to start learning now. They are however experts in their fields, work hard and do and fine job of what they do.

These users find it hard to come to terms with technology and just want to get on with what they do best. They experience frustration and sometimes anger at having to deal with what they see as a hindrance to their productivity.

9 times out of 10 they will take it out on the support staff who get called out to go and visit them time and again to see to their issues. The computer technician job description in this case will comprise of the usual support but also so very good people skills and patience.

To support these users you have to make friends with them. Too many times I’ve seen barriers formed by ongoing bad communication between computer support departments and supposed difficult users… “Mr. Bolshy, logged a call again who’s turn is it to go and see him this time?”

Here’s where you learn to communicate technical problems in non-technical terms. I like to do this by drawing comparisons. For instance, imagine you’ve used a map to plan a route to get somewhere. You’ve mapped out all the street turnings you need to take and you’re all set.

Half way through your journey you reach a one-way system that completely throws off your planned route. This is an unexpected set back that means you have to rethink your strategy and compensate.

I used the route analogy once to relate a technical problem to a very non technical user. It worked like a dream, they completely understood what I needed to do and let me get on with it.

You can’t have communication barriers between yourself (or your department) and users whom you are there to support. You have to work around it and build bridges.

Typically your first encounter with them will be hard, they'll be frustrated and take it out on you. Some people don't deal with this properly and very little is accomplished on either side.

Part of your computer technician job description is to be able to bite your tongue and take the intiative to find a resolution. You have to make it very apparent to the user that you are there to help them and that if progress is to be made you need to work together. It's all in the communication.

I’ve had some great drinks at the Office Christmas party with those difficult users and when I moved on they sent me a touching leaving card thanking me for making a difference to their difficult transition to working with technology.

If you can win these guys over you can win anyone over.

Computer Technician Job Description - Small businesses

Small business users can be very demanding, perhaps the most demanding of all the users I have supported -including the “Time is Money!!” bankers!

In banking and other large business environments when a computer problem is impacting productivity and company profits you have the option to just swap the machine out with a spare from the store cupboard.

Small businesses do not tend to have this facility so the sense of urgency is to fix the problem and fix it….quick. Your computer technician job description involves really being able to focus on a problem and find a quick solution - know when to 'phone a friend'.

If you find yourself supporting small businesses you’ll most likely be outsourced to them as they don’t typically have a dedicated IT person on staff.

When I was outsourced to small businesses my tasks ranged from:

Fix a specific problem (site visit or remote control to a server/workstation)
Go for a regular scheduled site visit (they would have the list ready)
Quick response to major incident (virus outbreak or critical hardware/software failure)
Project work (server/desktop/infrastructure rollout).

Because small businesses operate on a very tight budget they want the most they can get for the money they are spending. You will see a lot of legacy hardware and software. Small businesses don’t really do planned rollout projects (unless they have a good outsourcing company that looks after their IT strategy for them).

As part of your computer technician job description you’ll be called in to fix equipment that is on it’s last legs, for the small business owner buying a new piece of kit is the last course of action only to be explored when all hope of reviving that old PII Windows 98 machine have faded (Oh no! But it's got all the accounting data on it and there's no back up.....)

In this environment you have the leeway to make recommendations and exercise all that useful knowledge you’ve gained from doing your certifications. In large business IT departments it takes years to get to the level where you’ll be in a position to have a say on IT strategy. Your computer technician job description wall branch out into consulting from time to time.

Your point-of-contact will most commonly be the business owner or top person of the small business. In my experience they are normally very PC literate and have an idea of the IT strategy that best fits their business model.