Interview with Stefan Gervasi
IT Help desk manager at Old Dominion University
February 16 & 18, 2026
Interview by Tristan L Cole
CYSE 368
Spring 2026
Professor Teresa Duvall
TA Joshua Russell
Reflection #1
Introduction
I chose to interview Stefan Gervasi, who is the Information Technology Help Desk Manager at Old Dominion University. He will be supervising me throughout the time I am working at the ODU Help Desk located in Monarch Hall. Additionally, I will be working alongside many other students and workers who have been doing this before me. Mr. Gervasi’s job is to manage the help desk staff, which includes onboarding new members such as myself. The following questions I asked him are used to help me to prepare for my role and to gain insight into what a future position as a Help Desk Tier 1 employee would look like. I believe these questions will better prepare me for any upcoming tasks I may be assigned to later in time.
Interview
1. How did you get into the field of Information Technology and into the position you now hold? What was your journey?
“I began in Information Technology as a student technician and then moved up to a student lead technician. Afterward I became an hourly technician in a position with the Learning Commons. In 2020 I started a full-time tech position with the Help Desk and have moved up from there to become Help Desk Manager.”
2. What would be the most important knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by someone in this field?
“Some of the most important skills to have would include strong problem-solving
abilities, the ability to research and comprehend added information, and strong
listening skills.”
3. What are some of the ‘soft’ skills you have found to be most important in this job?
“Active listening and critical thinking are the most important soft skills in this position.”
4. What technical skills have you found are the most important in this job/position?
“The most valuable tech related skills would be familiarization with multiple operating systems, a strong understanding of hardware performs, their functionalities, and a grasp on how a user’s needs relate to hardware requirements.”
5. What would be good entry-level jobs for gaining experience to become a Help Desk
Manager?
“The best entry level experience would be starting out as a technician and gaining
the experience of assisting users through remote means and exercising the skill of
being able to troubleshoot issues with a device that is not in front of you. The
ability to walk a user through a process without being in control of the
device is a valuable skill.”
6. What qualities are you looking for regarding full-time employees at your organization?
“The most valuable qualities at the ODU IT Help Desk are mostly
customer service soft-skills, including active listening and critical thinking.
Keeping up with all facets of the issue that a user is having is the most important step in solving the problem.”
8. How do you balance coaching your team with meeting operational demands?
“I use a scheduled approach to coaching by doing monthly performance reviews where I sit
down with each tech and we review any tickets that they may have had issues with and
discuss any feedback that they have received via customer surveys.”
9. How do you prioritize incoming tickets when everything feels urgent?
“We generally use the prioritization scheme of addressing new, untouched tickets first
with a Service Line Agreement (SLA) of about 5-10 minutes. When there are no untouched tickets in queue, then tickets that have received a user response are addressed next with an SLA of 3 days.”
10. How do you ensure consistent service quality across different shifts or technicians?
“I attempt to make sure that all techs have equivalent training from the Help Desk and
encourage the techs to work together on problems that they may need help with so that
ideally all knowledge is shared. That is used in combination with our shared knowledge
base platform.”
11. Can you describe a time you redesigned or improved a help desk process?
“I personally redesigned the process for training and onboarding new technicians by
looking at the current process and finding places that needed to be improved.”
12. What are the most common technical issues your team handles and how do you streamline their resolution?
“The most common issue that we face is users forgetting their passwords. The way that
we attempt to streamline the resolution by providing multiple avenues that the user can
take to reset their password either on their own or with assistance from the Help Desk techs.”
13. How do you stay current with modern technologies that help desk operations?
“Communication with other departments about innovative technologies that they are
implementing is a huge help with staying on top of new things.”
14. What tools or technologies do you consider essential for a modern help desk?
“Obviously, great technicians are the most valuable tool but making sure that techs have
access to recent and innovative technology is helpful for keeping them abreast of troubleshooting techniques.”
Conclusion
For the next few weeks, I find myself learning more about this role and gaining valuable experience I can use towards my future career. Having my supervisor answer the questions I had for him has given me some insight into what I must do to be successful throughout my duration at the ODU Information Technology Help Desk. I am eager to utilize my knowledge and skills to help me with the task at hand which is to solve the issue or at least escalate the issue to the proper channels so that the customer’s ticket can be resolved. I am extremely grateful to have this advantage to move along in my professional development. My plan is to learn by observing, taking notes, asking questions, and providing excellent customer service skills in this arena. At the end of this semester, I will showcase what I have accomplished throughout my internship and will add the tools I have learnt to my toolbelt. I initiate to practice enough to master the job description and have the resources to carry out in a new future roll. Thank you Stefan for your time and inciteful knowledge.
Bibliography
Gervasi, S. H. (2026, Februry 16 & 18). Interview with Stefan Gervasi. (T. L. Cole, Interviewer) Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America. Retrieved February 19, 2026