Each month, the Lab's computer support Help Desk fields an average of 2,100 requests for assistance. The five people staffing the desk handle inquiries by phone, the Web, email, walk-ins and voicemail. Those calls cover computer platforms from Mac to PC, UNIX to Linux, as well as any number of operating systems for the various platforms. Throw in questions about printers, email, network connections and software applications and the result is a challenging mix of problems. Also, when unplanned outages arise, such as the network and email server problems in October, the monthly call volume goes way up. The 3,367 requests and calls answered in October were a record high. Then there is the ever-changing state of technology to keep up with.

The Lab's computer support Help Desk is staffed by (from left) Kevin Broussard, Cindy Tiburcio-Aube, Henry Couden, Josie Galvan and Nat Stoddard. Photo by Robert Couto/TEID.

Josie Galvan, lead of the Help Desk, realized she needs to expand her personal knowledge base and is going back to school in January to learn more about networking. "We find ourselves having to know everything about computers, and with the increase in remote users, I realized a need to build up my core knowledge of network issues."

Galvan has 12 years of experience, having previously specialized in email, Novell administration and desktop support. "We have to keep abreast of all the new technologies coming out, and with that dynamic, it's hard to specialize in just one area."

Henry Couden has four years of experience on the Help Desk and takes a lot of the calls relating to Microsoft. Most of the questions involve Word, with some Excel and some PowerPoint. A common problem is that a user of a PC is having trouble working on a Word document created on a Mac, or vice versa. One solution that works about half the time is to define and copy the entire text into a new file, he said.

Couden, who worked on the help desk at GTE in Pleasanton before coming to the Lab, is now learning the ins and outs of Linux. He's got a Linux box on his desk, but rarely has time between calls to take it out for a spin. "There never seems to be quite enough time to try it out."

Nat Stoddard is sometimes described as the Help Desk's Macintosh specialist, but he adds that he spends almost as much time dealing with PCs, troubleshooting Windows2000 and security problems. Stoddard said that while not every problem can be solved immediately, knowing where to go to for the best solution "is half the battle." He sees his role as one of being a teacher and is working to create a series of Web pages offering step-by-step instructions for setting up various computer applications.

But he also likes learning, and is brushing up on UNIX to become more familiar with the capabilities of the new Mac OSX operating system, which is UNIX-based. The new OS, he said, opens up a wide range of useful UNIX software and utilities to Mac users. "People are interested in it and we're getting lots of calls," he said.

Dealing with the wide range of computer platforms and operating systems is an aspect of the job that keeps the staff engaged.

"It's a very challenging environment that stretches the boundaries of my education," says Kevin Broussard, who joined the Help Desk a year ago. "I'm up to my ears in systems I'd only heard of peripherally before I started at the Lab."

Broussard said he has a different mindset for each platform and slipping into that mode helps him deal with the particular problem at hand. He's also learning a lot on the job, which is how he got into tech support in the first place. He was working as the returned merchandise manager for a computer dealer when the company realized they had $80,000 worth of returned computers that had sat around too long to be sent back to the manufacturers. His boss told him to find a way to move that inventory. "I set up my own repair shop and taught myself how to work on PCs, Macs, HPs and Toshibas as I went. I fixed them so they would pass performance tests and we were able to sell all of them."

Before joining LBNL, Broussard worked as a computer support contractor for such firms as Chevron, Clorox, Pac Bell and several hospitals.

Cindy Tiburcio-Aube landed a job here when the dot-com company she was working for collapsed two months after she was hired. That was just before last Christmas. Before that, she was a computer technician for Crescent Jewelers, setting up point-of-sale terminals and computers in stores, as well as handling network problems. The hours were long, but the systems were uniform.

"The Lab is much more complex, with many different operating systems just on PCs and Macs," she said. "You need to keep your skills up and keep up with the needs of Lab users. It's a great learning experience."

With her interest in Web design, she is putting together a Web-based knowledge base for use by the Help Desk staff so they can benefit from each other's experience.

Although the Help Desk will be closed during the Holiday Break, Lab employees can still leave voicemail messages or send email to help@lbl.gov and requests will be handled when the staff returns on Wednesday, January 2. For faster help with PC-related problems, employees can also contact PCSupport.com, a trial service that the Help Desk is working with through the end of January. Go to http://www.lbl.gov/help and click on the PCSupport.com logo. Log in using your email ID as both the Userid and the password.