I notice that many IT environments use the Tier 1, 2, 3 structure for their environments. In theory it seems to work ok, Tier 1 is the help desk, Tier 2 is essentially desktop support, and Tier 3 is more specialized support or a project driven layer. The trouble with the Tier system is that most employers pay people in Tier 3 more than Tier 1 and 2, Tier 1 and 2 are viewed as a step down from Tier 3, etc. Most likely if you change the structure, you’ll always have a helpdesk – Tier 1, but to keep good Tier 2 people, you’re going to have to pay them like Tier 3 people and view them of equivalent merit, or they will all leave and go elsewhere or try to do everything they can to get to tier 3. The structure just breeds instability and just plain doesn’t work. I’ve been in IT 15 years, and I’ve never seen it work well yet.
comments?