Let’s be honest for a second. When someone says, “I work in IT,” most people picture a Cloud Engineer: hoodie, multiple monitors, Kubernetes dashboards glowing like a sci-fi cockpit, sipping cold brew while they “orchestrate” infrastructure at 3 a.m. during a production outage that only they can understand. It’s cool. It’s respected. Recruiters chase them. Salaries are awesome.
Now picture the person who answers the phone at 8:07 a.m. on a Monday when Karen from Accounting can’t open her Excel file because she “didn’t do anything, it just stopped working.”
That person is Tier 1 Support.
And they are the actual backbone of every organization that isn’t a 12-person startup running on vibes and AWS credits.
Tier 1 isn’t glamorous. It’s the opposite of glamorous. But it is, without exaggeration, one of the hardest jobs in technology.
A Tier 1 technician starts their day knowing they will be lied to, yelled at, gaslit, and occasionally threatened, all before lunch. They will reset the same password seventeen times for the same user who swears they “never forget it.” They will explain, calmly, for the 400th time, that turning it off and on again actually does fix most problems. They will spend 45 minutes on a screen share with someone who calls their mouse a “clicky thingy” while trying to locate the Wi Fi icon that is literally labeled “Wi Fi.”
They do all of this while the rest of the organization treats them like the IT equivalent of the DMV. Necessary, but not always appreciated.
Now contrast that with the Cloud Engineer.
They are writing PowerShell or Python automation scripts, debating whether something should scale up or scale out, and getting praised in Slack for “saving the company $47k a month by rightsizing instances.” Their biggest human interaction might be a polite “thanks” in a retro after resolving an issue that most people never even knew existed.
I am a Cloud Engineer. Most days, I don’t do Tier 1 work.
But over the past month and a half, I have been helping one of my clients with tasks outside our typical scope. Their primary Tier 1 support resource is out on paternity leave, and his manager, another Cloud Engineer like me, has been stepping in to cover. I’ve been helping where I can.
And I have a new level of respect for the work this one individual is doing, someone I’ve never once heard complain.
Tier 1, Desktop Support, IT Helpdesk, whatever label you use, these roles are foundational to how businesses operate. They are the front line of employee experience, productivity, and issue resolution. When they succeed, the business runs. When they are overwhelmed, everything slows down.
So to everyone working in Tier 1 support: my hat is off to you. Much respect and thank you for doing the work that keeps everything moving, even when it goes unnoticed.
Where RBA Shows Up
At RBA, we believe great consulting is not just about strategy or architecture. It is about showing up where our clients need us most.
Sometimes that means designing cloud infrastructure or implementing AI-driven solutions. And sometimes, it means stepping in to support Tier 1 operations to keep the business running.
Our teams are built to be versatile, pragmatic, and client-focused. Whether it is high-level strategy or hands-on support, we meet organizations where they are and help them move forward.
Because at the end of the day, impact is not defined by the type of work. It is defined by the value it creates.
About the Author
Alan Leppala
Cloud Infrastructure Engineer
Alan has over 15 years of IT Infrastructure experience working in several different areas. Multiple years spent as an IT Instructor led to work as a systems administrator. Areas of expertise are Active Directory design and management, Azure IAAS, and Office 365 Administration. Automation scripting and designing solutions for customers based on their unique needs. Recent areas of expanding skills include: Automation solutions incorporating AI, Python scripting, and Azure Funtion App design.