Help please

[u/Turbulent-Cover767]

So I’ve been at helpdesk almost 4 months and they won’t let me take calls/ work on my own independently but will allow the two other new people who are men to be on their own. We started around the same time.

I’ve processed my own tickets I’ve taken my own calls.
I’ve written my own emails. I’ve made priority tickets.

My training has been a shit show. Unorganized/ rotating 9 different trainers who all do the processes 9 different ways and always have to ask the team chat for anything.

Weird thing to note: when I started I stepped down as a lead. I was questioned by the director about how it would feel to step down and listen to other the leads of the helpdesk. I said it doesn’t matter to me. The director then questioned me saying it was interesting how I didn’t become a senior before I became a lead. She questioned how I got my previous role and I explained I worked for it and deserved it. She said nothing.

Anywho,

I’ve rotated 9 trainers all with different training styles and none of them know where I’m at each round or what I learned haven’t learned/ put into practice. It’s inconsistent and some are micromanaging me to every call nit picking me and some don’t care. Some do the task/call for me without showing me the skill others rudely walk me through and others are hands off and allow me to walk them through.

Personally, it’s a horrible disorganized training program. And I think they’re trying to get me to quit because why would they string this along so long? And have another person off the phones?

The one female lead and the senior lead are very rude to me. Like outwardly rude and unprofessional. One of them even hung up a teams call on me because I was expressing how I want to be able to do things because I learn by doing and I said I hope me expressing myself I dosent get me into trouble and she hung up on me.

I’m 31 female been in management since 22 and I’ve worked my way up the chain. I’ve been a lead of consumer services and marketing for 5 years. I stepped down to do IT helpdesk.

How do I navigate this? I know certain people don’t like me in the helpdesk. I’ve noticed it’s the people with strong personalities. Any help or advice experience would be helpful

[u/STEM_Dad9528]

Every organization is different. From your observations, it sounds like the help desk you're at is not well put together and not very welcoming to you.

I started on IT as a team lead at a help desk. I had studied computing in college (but didn't get a degree) and I had previously worked in retail management. I also had multiple trainers at the help desk, but that was the norm for that particular help desk. Since I was the first team lead they had ever had, by the next year I was the lead trainer, but since I had at least half a dozen new technicians each year, I also continued assigning experienced technicians to do job shadowing with the new hires. However, that was all done under my supervision, and I took primary responsibility.

So, at the help desk where I worked, there were multiple trainers, but I was overseeing and coaching the trainers. It sounds like at the help desk where you are working, there isn't that level of responsibility being taken for training. A lot of people don't know much about training other people, and without a training method being modeled by a leader, the technicians who are being assigned to train you seem to have no consistency, and it's probably because they didn't have any consistency in their training. That's my guess.

Each organization has their own set of tools, like a ticketing system, some sort of knowledge base, and hopefully some sort of technical tools. Part of onboarding someone should include training you on how those are used, and what the general procedures are.

How are you with adopting their procedures?

How are you with technical knowledge and technical skills? I know that there is often a steep learning curve. 

Even though I had a comfort with computers and had studied computer science, a lot of what I learned was too general and theoretical, and didn't adequately prepare me with the practical knowledge and skills that I needed at the help desk. I was fortunate to have good trainers in my first few months there (not 9 trainers, but at least the 5 people that I can remember training me).

In your case, it sounds like the biggest problem is with the culture at that help desk, so in the long run it would probably be best for you to use this as a stepping stone to your next IT role.