I Went From Support to Programmer. Here’s My Story

Photo by Janita Sumeiko on Unsplash

A long time ago The Secret Developer worked in support which means that if the drive failed on your Dell laptop, you’d have a young and grumpy The Secret Developer come to help you out. 

“You’d certainly get a grumpy version of me. IIRC you’d need to repair someone’s 5-year-old laptop and fix it with a smile. 
Hated that job.
Got fired. 

Obviously.”

This article is about what the reader can learn from The Secret Developer’s experience moving from support to programming.

The article by The Secret Developer explains why they think all software engineers should work in IT Support before moving to programming.

“Hey. I still class myself as fun and young. You should do that too.”

The Power of Support Jobs

Most freshers out of college don’t know anything and are put into the world of work without the real skills or abilities they need to make a difference in their first job.

“I already knew how to use a Dvorak keyboard so I thought I might be ready for the world of professional software development. 

Unfortunately, the world was not really ready for me and instead, I got offered a role in IT support. I felt this might be a good opportunity to start my career (and get paid) so I thought why not? 

Here is the advantage of taking that type of job. Working in support is relevant experience for developers as you are getting involved in tickets and understanding customer needs. It didn’t happen to me (for obvious reasons) but you can begin to develop relationships to work your way to the job you eventually want to do. 

For me personally, support isn’t the best role. Working with other people was a mistake for me (I never want to work with clients again, even internal customers). Oh, I hate hardware as well as I oftentimes break things I’m meant to be fixing (plus losing screws). 

Yet even I got experience working with other people. Working in a corporation and started to understand how to get things done in a real company.”

Getting Those Transferable Skills

Most developers know that communication skills are important. However, many seem to have limited experience in working with people and how communication works up close and personal.

The Secret Developer gained some communication skills, and more in their stint in support.

“I’ve found out that people who call devs things like `web developer resources` do not develop relationships with their colleagues. If you are dehumanized, you might well not go the extra mile to get things done. For me, if you don’t know me by name, I’m not going to work a second of overtime for you. 

As a member of the support staff, I gained some skills about how to manage up as well as manage down. That means I have some knowledge of how to speak truth to power (tell people I’m not doing that without just exiting the gig).

I know many people think I’ve learned nothing but imagine how I’d be without the experience of working in support and dealing with people.

Working in support helped me to become self-sufficient in my working life. I know how to get along in a company and the type of people to ignore and those to listen to. I think there’s another blog post in those ideas, alone.

Working in support? Worth it so you know how to communicate with other people.”

Getting to know customers

When you are a software engineer it’s easy to forget that there is an end customer, and The Secret Developer worked in support to get to know their customers.

” Even now I often forget that there is someone on the other end of my screen using the software I produce. I’m someone who helps other people live their best lives.

Rather than being a software developer who doesn’t really care about what they do and who they work with, I worked in support and saw my customers every day. When you’ve worked in a job where you see your client, you’ll never forget that they exist (because of the complaints and the angry emails about my performance, but that’s another story).

I did begin to learn by the end of my stint in IT support about how important feedback is. Customers who speak to you and tell you about how you’re performing. This means you can act on the feedback and get better. Sound familiar software developers? If you’re not familiar with feedback loops you should be, and a good way to learn about that is to work in IT support.

I know not every developer cares about this. I know a backend developer who says this: 

‘I make machines SING so what is a customer to do with anything?’

So perhaps they need a quick stint in support to understand what real work really is. “

Setting career goals

“I do not doubt that you have a plan to get where you are going. Working on LeetCode challenges to make sure that you get the best job you can possibly get.

To do the best in your career you can, you need to have a plan. If you’re thinking of sticking to the software development track that’s fine, but you’d still be well advised to understand what other jobs are available.

A good place to get that information from is by working in IT support.”

Expand Your Skill Set 

The best developers know more than just software development.

“I know something about the business I work in. The fact they are leaking money and need ‘cost reduction’ is obviously something I need to know about as well as the condition of the wider software development market. Some of my knowledge is from working in IT support.

When I think about it, support staff who know something about development are fantastic. I’d love it if I didn’t need to tell every support tech about the permissions I need, and they knew already what needed to be done. They’d be the best and probably get promoted quickly.

I’m telling you that an increased skill set makes you beneficial to the wider team. Those people are worth a great deal to their company.”

Seek additional opportunities

Many developers believe that IT support roles are easy. This isn’t a viewpoint The Secret Developer shares.

“You lot aren’t even good software engineers, probably. 

Now I know that some support techs don’t work that hard. It’s like any job really. However, if you have a job that is not that challenging that is a good opportunity to sharpen your skills. I’d love to be able to commit to another degree. I’d love the time to become a better software developer. If I couldn’t work as a software developer full time I would work as something like an IT tech and use every second I could to be able to sharpen my skills.

IT support can be a good way in! You can use the position as a launchpad to apply for software engineering positions.”

Conclusion

“Many people are sniffy about IT support. I have a friend who said that they would only work in support if they failed all possible software development interviews. 

For me that simply isn’t true. That is because I can see that the skills you learn from working in IT support can really help you develop as a person.

You know what? I wish some of the developers I worked with, worked on developing themselves, as that might go a long way to making my working environment better. What do you think?”