At Collabrance, a persistent challenge we hear from MSPs is the difficulty of hiring and retaining technical talent. And while working with an outsourced provider can relieve the strain of an understaffed team, it doesn’t eliminate the need to create a positive work environment. Keeping our team of service desk technicians engaged is something I think about a lot in my day-to-day, and I’ve learned a few things about employee satisfaction over the course of my career.
A technician's map to success
About me: I started at Collabrance in 2014 as an entry-level tier 1 technician. Since then, I worked my way through the tech ranks to become a senior systems analyst, and I moved into my role as a service desk mentor in 2022.
The mentor position is a hybrid, part-tech, part-management function. My day is a combination of assisting our service desk techs with questions that come up when solving customer issues, and participating in meetings with our service providers to answer questions they may have about tickets we’re working to resolve for their end customers.
As a mentor helping to guide our technicians in developing the career they want to have in IT, I must continually ask myself: how can I best help this person? What I've had to remind myself over the last year is that not everyone knows what they want to be “when they grow up”. When you’ve been in the IT world (or any industry) for a while, it’s easy to forget the early days of your career, when you may have struggled to figure out your path, too.
I can relate to uncertainty. There was a time I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life and thought IT could be fun. But when I entered IT, I had no idea what I wanted my specialization to be. Fortunately, life led me to enlist in the United States Air Force. The military is quite effective at providing a swift kick in the rear and pushing you to figure things out, and that’s how I found IT networking – diagnosing and troubleshooting computing issues and working to minimize related disruptions. I focused on networking for nearly 14 years (and clearly enjoyed it!) before moving into the more leadership-focused role I'm in today. My days are now centered less on user issues and more on helping our technicians and service providers be successful.
Leadership in IT
So, what do I do to help our employees determine their future?
A simple first step is to make sure every team member has the opportunity to gain exposure to all parts of the organization – especially the more specialized job functions. I find a lot of satisfaction in connecting less-experienced techs with their more tenured colleagues and watching them get a feel for how all parts of the business intersect with each other. There’s no better way to appreciate “a day in the life” of someone else than to sit with them and observe.
Making these connections doesn’t have to be overly formalized. It can be as simple as a 30-minute job shadow or as in-depth as working on a project with a more highly skilled technician. When you give a burgeoning tech exposure to the higher ranks – a networking tech, a server tech, a dispatcher – up to an alerts tech, and more – you can really see the dots being connected. This type of on-the-job learning may not result in someone suddenly having all the answers about what they want to do with their life, but at least they’ll collect information with which to evaluate their choices, instead of sitting in an overwhelming world of unknowns. And when someone does find their path, it’s my job as a leader to provide all the resources at my disposal to help them realize their goals.
My favorite part of mentorship is those moments when I’m in a meeting or conversation with a colleague, and someone brings up a project I know will be perfect for a tech who has expressed interest in learning more in that area. When I can put someone in a position to grow their skills and expertise in a subject that excites them, it’s rewarding. If real-time training and project work isn’t available, helping an employee identify certifications or external training in the field they’re interested in is another great way to help them grow their career.
Related: It’s the Age of the Intern
Conclusion
When considering how best to foster your technicians’ careers, don’t overthink – just ask. No one is better positioned to help determine an employee’s path than the individual themselves; if someone knows what they’re passionate about, great – let them help you help them. Make an effort to learn what your employees enjoy and commit to helping them do more of it. Starting here will lay the foundation for a positive work environment and create an atmosphere team members feel nurtured by and, in turn, dedicated to.