After having worked in and around tech through college and afterwards for a few years, I moved to New York City for a post-bac 3 years ago.
I wrote for a popular tech website, but time was tight and money more so, and I eventually worked for tech company doing manual QA testing work and manual data clerical work.
I now work for a very small company that sells electronics equipment (there's a kind of "spy" theme to it) and was good as a tech support representative. I started the job, realized I wasn't a tech support rep, but that I was the tech support rep. I suddenly remembered why I didn't apply to many help desk jobs in the first place.
It took me 2 days to learn all of the products, 2 weeks to get my bearings on manuals, online documentation, and support tickets, and 2 months to figure out that as long as I'm vocal about what I want and need, the company is pretty accommodating and understanding. It's worth not being passive aggressive (like an ex-coworker who was caught stealing after he abandoned his post mid-shift), and not putting the onus on your coworkers to handle their stuff. Being territorial definitely helps, so long as you're nice, understanding, yet direct in the process.
