RE: CISSP Question

["David Gillett" <gillettdavid () fhda edu>]

David Harley wrote: 

> > I received the enclosed notification of a certification 
> that combines 
> > the Help Desk Institute and Microsoft. My background being in call 
> > centers and support for many years I find this interesting. 
> Has anyone 
> > any thoughts on this and possibly its value in the Help Desk arena?
>
> Looks promising. When I was in network/apps/systems support, 
> years ago, the help desk rota was mostly considered an object 
> of dread: at best a distraction from real work. Personally, 
> I've always admired people who can combine a range of 
> knowledge broad enough to meet the first-line informational 
> needs of a varied customer population with the necessary 
> people skills. Service desk issues are considered a vital 
> component of ITIL Service Management, and quite rightly so.

  My belief is that at least some of the widespread dissatisfaction
with IT in general and helpdesks in particular is that so many of
the people working in these positions have been Computer Science
grads with little experience or business training, who are only
working the job until something more like programming opens up.
  The fact is, applying IT to business and supporting business 
users are evolving into actual careers/disciplines, if not yet
professions in the strictly legal sense.  It seems to me that
pursuit of certification in these areas can, at its best, be an
indicator that someone is serious about making a career of it,
as well as a way of covering some of the business background that
an academic degree might not have included.

David Gillett