How To Become an Application Support Specialist

An Application Support Specialist is an indispensable member of the IT workforce, who maintains and supports software applications for their organization. The Application Support Specialist is the first point of contact to resolve any technical issues for business applications in order to minimize disruption with business as usual.

Application Support Specialist responsibilities include troubleshooting errors in applications, monitoring application performance, interfacing with development teams to resolve bugs, and providing end-user support and training where required. The Application Support Specialist will also assist in installing updates, managing configuration, and documenting solutions for others in the future. The Application Support Specialist is critical in ensuring that business software is dependable, efficient, and congruent with user expectations.

What is application support?

An Application Support Specialist is an IT professional who is key to working with internal and external users to run a company’s software and applications effectively. An Application Support specialist is the first contact when applications are not working properly, have questions about application functionality, performance, or usability, and need assistance. Their job facilitates service for resolving software problems, encompassing troubleshooting, diagnosing, and fixing the software, or telling users how to remediate or facilitate troubleshooting steps.

An Application Support Specialist typically works in teams with other IT professionals like developers, system administrators, and other teams to minimize the impact of repetitive issues, includes bug reporting and issues with updates and patches. Application Support can also monitor application performance, maintain the documentation, and training users, as well as monitor the service level agreement.

Support can typically be provided to corporate clients, departments in the organization, or to individual users. This means the type of application and client base for the company identifies if the apps are for individual users, departments, or b2b. By maintaining and demonstrating organizational and technical communications and customer service abilities, the individual minimizes downtime, maximizes user satisfaction, and improves overall organizational productivity.

What is an application support analyst?

An Application Support Analyst is a professional in the Information Technology area of expertise who is accountable for maintaining and supporting the business-critical software applications. The Application Support Analyst's main objective is to ensure that the applications run as designed, provide regular updates, and meet operational requirements from users. The application support analyst will review, analyze, troubleshoot, and resolve application-related issues delegated from end-users or monitored by a monitoring tool.

The application support analyst will also, in addition to the application support duties, assist with software deployment, system configuration, performance tuning, and/or user training. It is common that Application Support Analysts interact with development teams, IT operations and business 'stakeholders' to document defects, suggest improvements and ensure cross-platform effective functionality.

It requires technical skill, analytical thought, and excellent communication with end-users to understand how the software fits within the business and determine if it is successfully enabling day-to-day business operations.

What does an application support specialist do?

The Application Support Specialist is vital in helping end-users—whether internal employees or external customers—successfully use an organization's software applications. The specialist's job is to respond to a call, an email, or a chat message from a user that is having difficulty. The specialist distinguishes themselves by becoming familiar with technical issues through listening and communicating. They focus on soliciting detailed information so that they can make sense of the user's experience.

Once the issue is identified, the specialist will analyze the root cause of the problem, which includes deciding on how best to proceed. It may involve walking the user through a series of steps to correct the problem, making corrective changes remotely as the user watches, or escalating the issue within Tier 2 or Tier 3 technical teams. In certain scenarios, Tier 1 specialists engage other experts such as developers, systems administrators, and network engineers to find a feasible solution that is also timely.

The specialist will implement technical solutions such as software reconfiguration, applying patches to affected software, or resetting user accounts. The specialist should demonstrate the ability to troubleshoot technical issues and use diagnostic tools and logs to diagnosis issues and verify the issue has been resolved.

How to become an application support specialist

Consider the steps below to learn how to become an application support specialist:

1. Determine if it's the best career for you

The first step to becoming an application support specialist is figuring out if it's the right job for you. Application support specialists can be expected to be sitting at a desk for a long time while speaking with clients, so perhaps you will enjoy this career if interacting with people is enjoyable for you, and you don't have the energy of needing to be active. If you enjoy working in a fast-paced environment while helping others, then you're likely someone who is suited to the position of application support specialist.

2. Obtain a technology bachelor's degree

To be an application support specialist for a company, they likely will require you to have a technology bachelor's degree in a relevant field. Obtaining a technology bachelor's degree will also give you some of the technical knowledge that you can use when assisting clients. Some relevant courses that you might think about are computer science, information technology, or programming.

3. Gain technology and customer service skills

Having good customer service skills and technology skills as an application support specialist is vital to being successful. Consider completing internships or obtaining some experience by working in entry-level positions before pursuing a position as an application support specialist. You can typically gain customer service skills on the job in a service job, such as a grocery clerk.

4. Apply for application support positions

You can use an online job board to find open application support specialist positions and apply to them. Thoroughly proofread your resume and cover letter before submitting them for consideration to improve your chances of receiving an offer. Consider practicing information technology interview questions before you meet with the hiring manager to form your answers and develop confidence.

Average salary and job outlook for an application support specialist

How much an application support specialist can earn depends on where they work, their education, and performance. The national average salary for an application support specialist is $56642 per year. Other factors, like location, can also affect how much application support specialists can earn. For example, the highest-paying city in the US for application support specialists is Chicago, where they can earn an average of $ 91792 per year. According to the report, employment opportunities for computer specialists may increase by 9% from 2020 to 2030, which may result in an additional 72,200 positions in the field.

Important skills for application support specialists

Application Support Specialists require a variety of technical skills, analytical skills, and communication skills to properly assist users and support the software application they're responsible for. In this section, we'll detail the skills most relevant for an individual working in this category:

Technical Skills

Troubleshooting and Diagnostics: The ability to quickly identify, analyze, and resolve software and system issues.

SQL / Database Knowledge: A familiarity with querying databases to figure out or resolve application issues.

Operating Systems: A knowledge of Windows, Linux, or macOS environments.

Application Monitoring Tools: Application monitoring experience with applications such as Splunk, New Relic, or Nagios, which help monitor for performance issues, errors, etc.

Basic Networking Concepts: A basic understanding of TCP/IP, DNS, and firewalls will help when working through connectivity issues.

Scripting (optional, but useful): A general familiarity with some scripting languages, such as Python, PowerShell, or Bash are helpful, and allow for the automating of tasks while providing application support.

Soft Skills

Communication: The ability to communicate technical issues to customers in a clear manner, especially when they do not know technical terminology or jargon.

Customer Service: Ability to show empathy and be patient when dealing with upset users who are very frustrated.

Problem-Solving: Being logical when troubleshooting unexpected issues and resolving the issues in high-pressure situations.

Attention to Detail: Being precise when identifying the sources of bugs or application failures.

Collaboration: Ability to work directly with developers, QA teams, and other IT staff to resolve issues quickly and efficiently.

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Business & Analytical Skills

Incident Management: Knowledge of various ticketing systems (JIRA, ServiceNow, etc.) to log and manage support cases.

Documentation: Ability to maintain documentation of user issues, resolutions provided, and system changes.

Understanding of Business Applications: Knowing ERP, CRM, or other enterprise systems can help support specialists approach solutions from the perspective of the organization's business needs.

Source: https://sites.google.com/evisiontechnoserve.com/onjobtraining/blogs/application-support-specialist