The Often Underestimated Requirement of a Technical Support Engineer

Superior product knowledge, strong communication skills, patience, and listening skills.  Ability to problem solve and be able to diagnose problems with very little information…

So begins the typical job description for a Technical Support Engineer.  Years of experience dictate the grade level of the position as does the formal education requirements.  Very often missing from the description is the candidate’s ability to troubleshoot.  You might say that it is included in the phrase ‘ability to problem solve and diagnose  problems with little information’.  I would counter that it should be but it isn’t because of an underestimation of what troubleshooting is. It consists of applying logical thinking to create a comprehensive list of possible causes and eliminate each possibility until the true problem is found.   It is impossible to create an accurate list of causes unless you have accurately defined what the problem actually is.  Defining the problem and then applying logic to solve it is absolutely key to proper troubleshooting.  I can’t tell you how many times in my career I have seen smart people waste time problem solving because of this.  It is an acquired skill mostly dependent on experience and mentoring.   Effectively applying this is a significant value add for any organization and from a customer's perspective, is a differentiator between vendors.