I've resolved problems for customers for over twelve years. In that time, at least eight out of ten times, when a co-worker has asked me for help with a problem, that co-worker, and maybe even the customer, didn't understand the problem.

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Every company will place differing levels of importance on prioritization factors, but most of the factors are the same.

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Customers typically call when they have issues and something isn't working like they think it should. You need to get a problem description. "It's not working," isn't very helpful, but sometimes people are emotional. Sometimes people don't know the product that well and don't understand what you need to help them. This is how to navigate the call.

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Ticketing systems and Customer Relationship Managers (CRMs) are tools with different purposes, but they have some overlapping features. Both systems work with existing customers, store contact information, and store the communications history. Some CRM systems offer basic ticketing functionalities and vice versa. However, dedicated systems often provide more advanced features.

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Many companies try to use objective measurements when it comes to performance review time. For the technical support engineer, these metrics can be related to speed, knowledge, and customer satisfaction, among other categories.

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Technical support engineers play a crucial role in keeping users happy and productive; however, the type of user supported can vary. Some engineers assist the company's external customers, while others focus on the internal needs of the company's employees. There's also the possibility of handling inquiries from both groups. What's different about supporting internal and external customers? What's the same?

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It was the middle of the week, a Wednesday. I had started this technical support job two and a half weeks prior, and today was the day.  I had learned the basics of the products I would support and I had shadowed on other engineers' calls. I knew how to work the ticket management system. I knew where to look for answers I did not know. I knew that my teammates would help me if I asked them. I answered my first support call at that company, and I had no clue what the answer was to the problem.

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Remember the scene in the Matrix where Neo is over Cypher's shoulder and Cypher is looking at monitors filled with ones and zeros? Cypher tells Neo, "All I see now is blonde, brunette, redhead." I think of that scene frequently when I look at log files. Even though I have the full ASCII set in the logs, I can't make much out of a typical log file.

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George, who is new to unix, just learned about hidden files. Filenames that start with a period don't show up in a normal ls and are called hidden files. George had an idea. He'd put all his passwords in a file called .passwords, and since they are hidden they'd be safe. Right? ... Wrong. There are a few problems with George's idea. Firstly, an ls -a will show hidden files. Secondly, George needs to make sure the file's permissions protect it. If a malicious co-worker can look at the file, that co-worker can get all of George's passwords. George's password file needs to have the permissions set correctly.

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