Support Technicians

So our size has grown past our ability to keep our same support model. Hiring help seems to be the answer. Has anyone gone through this process? What is the going rate for a Non-Dell support representative and what are thier typical expectations in a software production environment?

Support representatives pay scale is based on a variety of factors including, but not limited to:
- Location (City/State)
- Education
- Experience
- Skills
- What exactly their job is to entail

Also some companies may even factor in how many hours they work a week... for example, I know a couple companies that pay someone ~$15/hour if they work 20-30 hrs/week, $18/hour if they work 30-40 hrs/week, and $20/hour if they work 40+/week.

Would it be more important to find another developer who could handle these kinds of things and help out in support or just go for the support guy?

Without background on what you do and his role to the company, I can't accurately answer that. If this developer is at the bottom of the food chain, then maybe you'd just want him to handle both. But if he's your top developer(the person making you tons of money), then keep him where he is and hire someone else.

Also depends what your current levels of support are, if there's enough to keep someone busy full time then you may as well get a dedicated support guy. If there are going to be really quiet periods for him, then finding someone who can do at least low level development and support would obviously be more beneficial to you.

Thank you for your help. Our support typically comes right after release, then slowly dies down as everyone gets used to the system. I think that is typical anywhere really. Perhaps we could find an all around awesome person who could do sales, support, and some development.

I think etechsupport.net has such support model, you may wish to check them through live chat.

One thing I don't believe was mentioned specifically is outsourcing. If you're looking for a temporary solution, it might be worth your while to strike a deal with an outsourced support provider. This would save a lot of overhead in the long run, though there are extra risks associated with it.

Yep there potential risk involved in outsourcing but one can go for outsourcing of selective area for initial phase and later can extend the part of their different outsourcing needs once they get assured about the reliability & capability of the providers.