Get to Know Your Help Desk – Aksana Barodka

 

This month we thought we’d shake things up a bit and interview a member of our Help Desk instead of a Network Engineer. Our Help Desk is our first point of contact for troubleshooting and they work hard to ensure a high level of customer satisfaction.
 
How long have you been in the IT business?
 
I’ve been working in IT field for the past eight years. I first came into this field as an Intern, became a Help Desk Engineer, and eventually moved up to a Help Desk Manager.  I came to Alliance with the acquisition of Computility, so I’ve been working with some of our clients for as long as I’ve been in the IT industry. Even though I am a Help Desk Manager, I still play the role of a Help Desk Engineer and provide support to clients when needed. 
 
What unique challenges does Help Desk face?
 
The biggest challenge we face at the Help Desk on daily basis is the huge variety of technical issues we must support. Our business is unique because we provide technical support to over 3,000 users with companies whose networks are as unique and diverse as all of our customers. We may start our day troubleshooting a printing issue and end our day diagnosing a server crash. We’re expected to understand all those issues, so we need a wide knowledge base. We also are expected to be a calm voice on the other end of the line and reassure clients that everything will be okay while coordinating the action plan with the field technicians.  
 
Why do you like helping people with their computers?
 
I like knowing that I help people with their PC problems so they can get back to the important work that they need to do.    
 
Tell me something interesting about you.
 
I was born and raised in Belarus (former Soviet Republic). When I was in high school I came to the U.S. through an exchange program and ended up staying to continue my college education. I have two bachelor degrees, one from UNI in Management Information Systems and a second from Hamilton College in Network Administration. I decided to study IT after I crashed my first PC and encountered a world that I didn’t understand. I wanted to prove to myself that I could understand it. The more I learned about IT the more it interested me and now I don’t see myself doing anything else. 
 
My husband and I make a true International family. He is from El Salvador and we proudly say that Des Moines brought us together. We love to travel and have a goal of visiting all 50 states. So far we explored 27 states and look forward to new trips and new discoveries.
 
Thanks, Aksana!