A person who earns a certificate or degree in information science, computer science, information technology or a related field may want to know if many tech support jobs involve a lot of traveling. Some people enjoy traveling for their jobs because it gives them a chance to see new places and meet new people. For others, they prefer to work in the same location all of the time for consistency and maintenance of a stable and less stressful home life.
Tech Support Jobs With the Most Opportunities for Traveling
Field technicians, desktop support technicians and operating support technicians tend to have many opportunities for travel. Some of their job duties involve educating end-users of the software; dealing with ongoing customer service problems related to software; upgrading, maintaining and fixing network, software and hardware problems; and determining what software best suits the customer’s needs. They may also be responsible for documenting what they did on behalf of the customer, repairing product failures, ordering replacement software or hardware as needed, training employees and creating updates on tickets as problems are in process or have been resolved.
Typical Job Duties for a Traveling Tech Support Worker
The typical job duties for a traveling tech support worker may be a little different from a tech support worker who does not travel. Those who travel typically engage in specific types of customer service resolutions or repairs to networks, software or hardware. They usually perform a smaller range of services, but their knowledge is more specialized in those areas. For example, a traveling tech support worker who visits the remote office locations of their employer might be responsible for software updates, hardware setup and employee training of software and hardware use. One who visits the clients of their employer might be responsible for handling specific customer support problems, such as observing user problems with a piece of software as those problems happen, then initiating the fix for the problem.
Typical Work Day or Schedule for a Tech Support Worker Who Travels
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a few specialized support technicians may spend a lot of their time traveling to clients to implement fixes for tech problems. These people may spend up to 80 or even 90 percent of their work hours in transit and at the remote location of their clients. There are also tech support workers who may work remotely from home and do occasional travel to their clients. These workers would typically have a job description that states up to 50 percent of their work hours would be traveling away from their usual work location. A person may also want to consider tech support jobs that involve working at a primary office of the employer part of the time and traveling to clients or other office locations of the employer the rest of the time. Keep in mind that tech support workers who have to travel may end up putting in work hours during the evening and on the weekend to accommodate their clients’ and employer’s needs.
Types of Companies That Hire Tech Support Workers Who Will Need to Travel
Large corporations are the entities most likely to hire tech support workers for traveling jobs. This is because large corporations often have facilities located throughout the United States. In this era of globalization of commerce, many companies have international locations. A tech support worker may need to visit the various locations of a company’s offices to solve specific problems, set up software or hardware or conduct training sessions for new hires. Large employers across a wide range of industries may offer these opportunities.
How a Person Could Attain a Tech Support Job That Involves Traveling
A simple way for a tech support worker to travel more for their work is to develop specialized knowledge. According to Business News Daily, a consultant with specialized knowledge will have a unique ability to address problems that a business’s in-house tech support people might not be able to handle. This type of specialized knowledge could allow a tech support worker or engineer to travel the world. They will have to develop specialized knowledge and prove it to others, making a name for themselves within the industry. Once a person has this specialized knowledge, they usually become an independent consultant or a consultant at a firm that specializes in sending out their employees to the locations of their clients.
How Advancing in Tech Support Could Lead to More Travel Opportunities
Earning a degree in computer science or computer engineering could lead to more travel opportunities. The expertise of a person who has a degree in computer engineering or computer science is in high demand, and there may be more options for these professionals to travel if they desire. They could look for a job at a corporation with multiple office locations or with international facilities. Another option is for a tech support engineer to strike out on their own and become a consultant, explains Location Indie. Computer scientists and engineers who work independently as consultants can take on clients in any location and travel to them to provide in-person services.
Although most tech support jobs do not involve a lot of travel, some companies will hire for specific positions that do require considerable travel. A person could search for these jobs specifically, understanding that most of those jobs will be with employers of large corporations with multiple offices across the United States or even international locations. Knowing if many tech support jobs involve a lot of traveling could help a person hone their focus when searching for a job.
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