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"Thank you for calling Traffic Schools 'R' Us...this is *generic name here*...how may I help you?". This is my mantra. Everyday. As much as I do not like to admit it at parties and various unwelcome conversation starters...I work the help desk...at an online traffic school. To be honest, however...it really is more like technical support than customer service representative. The majority of our time is spent assisting students in adjusting their internet options to suit our various programs, guiding them through software downloads and installation, and any other technical fixes that are necessary to help get them through the program from start to finish. With this being said, help desk could be thought of as a prep school for IT college.

Internet options seem to be the first barrier for online students. Most people have no clue what internet options even are...much less HOW to set them. Though opening up the preferences and clicking stuff might be fun, it still requires a thorough knowledge of the consequences of those changes. Everything is interconnected and one click could keep media from playing, cut sound off, or even prevent web pages from displaying at all. This is where experience with the inner workings of the internet, familiarity with the compatibilities of software, and working knowledge with multiple platforms and operating systems is essential in this line of work. Additionally, hands-on experience with hardware is crucial as well.
Familiarity with different processor speeds, the characteristics of dial-up connections versus DSL, and the changes between operating systems is extremely important when assisting a person, over the phone (which, in itself, is difficult enough), who has no idea where the start button is on their screen.
The ability to judge actions by listening to what the student is doing through the phone is absolutely imperative when guiding a person through troubleshooting their programs. Quite often they are in their own world, clicking on random buttons while you are trying to fix their problem. Being able to pinpoint the mistakes they are making by listening to what they are clicking on hones in your skills to be able to problem solve IT issues that have not yet materialized to the naked eye.
Working day-to-day at the Help Desk of a technology-reliant company creates a rich learning environment as well. Inevitably there will be at least one major inter office crisis every day; whether it be software-based, crashing servers, or hardware malfunctions. Learning how to handle these problems quickly, cheaply, and successfully could earn you an express ticket on the IT train.

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