A stepping stone to engineering.
Pros
-Your duties are not monotonous and there is much to learn about service provider networking, SIP, PRI, and so on. -Company provides certification assistance training with bonuses* -Occasionally there will be food provided by management -Health insurance and 401k coverage is generous with no probationary period -This position is not as micromanaged as other similar job titles (no QA, etc) -There are many advanced positions open within the company that you can move to* -Assigned shift scheduled/breaks hardly ever change and you leave your work at work. It never comes home with you. The customers we work with (Enterprise customers) are usually individuals with a high level knowledge of IT and networking. You will hardly ever have difficulty with explaining our products and their concepts to our customers. -You will generally have many different shifts to choose from. Most technicians work one weekend day and 4 weekdays. -Company provides generous PTO, personal time, and sick days -Job security -- you have to either be a very stubborn or malicious person to be fired from here.
Cons
-Recent increased workload. -Recent micromanagement. -Documentation exists but in many many different databases, causing frustration. -Every different manager has a different story about how to move up in this department. -Company makes pushes for ETS technicians to acquire certifications but you must stay with the company for another year or pay back the cost of training and whatever bonus you get if you leave within a year. -The level of support/help you receive from leadership and management is largely based on how well you are liked. -Management does not have their technician's backs for any complaints, regardless if you followed documentation and standard operating procedures. -Interfacing with sales support and engineering is near impossible. Engineering departments will often refuse to do their jobs and have very little respect or patience for techs. -There is no open line of communication between management and employees. -The pay is not competitive in the current market. -Company/management does very little to make employees feel appreciated or valued. There are no team building events, inside or outside of the workplace. -There is very little accountability in the department and in the company, with two different support centers that do the same job in very different ways.