I was perusing through the
info tech class catalog for the City College of San Francisco, (my new home-away-from-work-and-home for the immediate future,) and I came across
a very interesting course that I have never seen at any of the other community colleges I've been to:
CNIT 105: IT Customer Support
Overview of the concepts and procedures associated with operating a technical support center or help desk call center, with particular emphasis on technologies that can facilitate the work and generate statistics. Extensive simulated and hands-on experience, role-playing and problem solving to practice good customer service and communication skills.
There's even a
lab.
CNIT 105L: Computer Technical Support Lab
Introduction to hardware diagnosis and troubleshooting, and software maintenance, upgrading, and problem-solving; including the opportunity to work with real Help Desk software to log calls, and, at times, real end-user problems; and to work with a variety of real hardware problems in a simulated Service Center. Designed to provide hands-on practice with hardware and software, techniques and procedures covered in CNIT 105. Teamwork will be emphasized.
And while I'm sure other schools offer similar courses, I've never personally seen one in the wild before. It's a refreshing thing to see that CIS students get at least a little bit of hands-on experience not just with the technologies they'll be working with, but also the end-users and real-life operational situations they'll be dealing with. How many of us had to learn those soft skills in our first tumultuous few weeks or months on the job, and I can't tell you how confused I felt the first time I was expected to do things like document my work in tickets and log my work hours.
