Helpdesk jobs have long been seen as a stepping stone to other positions, but that perception is somewhat dated. Today's help desk professionals are taking more complex work, and they are in high demand. The growth in this occupation is due to technology changes and greater skill demands.
A service desk professional should have a high level of technical skill to minimize the cost of training them. Working in technical support is a good stepping stone if you want to move towards various other areas, such as programming, IT training, professional sales, or system administration.