Skills needed for a entry level help desk/desktop support gig?

I just had a discussion with one of my professors and classmates, discussing the skills needed for a entry level help desk/desktop support gig. I was under the impression that all was needed in most cases was knowing how to image computers, anti-virus, vpn, printer, a little knowledge of Active Directory, and your basic Windows and MS office support. Am I right? If not what am I missing?

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Polynomial

The personality and ability to intelligently articulate your ambitions to pass an interview.

tjb122982

I would hope I posses both of those.

dpsmooth15

There is a difference between "knowledge" and experience. I could read a book on how to build a F-18 Fighter Jet, that is "knowledge" …Experience is actually Documented PROOF that I actually did it or can do it satisfactory. Basically the resume will get you a job, and have experience or experience+certification (s). And quite a bit of jobs i have came across want Certifications SPECIFIC certifications to get past that stank recruiter. If I put what i had "knowledge" of in my resume it would be 10 pages long. If i put experience.if would be a lot shorter.

tjb122982

With this being said, it would be advantageous for me to seek out a internship that would allowed me to work with AD and some more advanced skill sets, correct?

stryder144

Yes. Take any opportunity, especially internships, that will help you build experience. Experience, ultimately, is king in IT.

NetworkingStudent

One skill that you're missing is customer service. Without customer service skills, the tech skills won't matter. You don't want to just meet customer expectations ,but you want to exceed them!!! Here is a good video on customer service skills:

Customer Service for IT Pros Webinar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ArHywZT3

Also, I found a blog about help desk topics:

here: About - Square Logics

There is a podcast as well:

Podcast - Square Logics

I hope this helps.

tjb122982

I am sorry I should had mentioned that before I went back to to school, I was a AT&T Wireless rep who handled first tier tech issues such as data connectivity, setting up and email client on a smartphone and things of that nature.

cyberguypr

One of my biggest pet peeves with support techs these days is the lack of networking knowledge. I mean, some guys have no idea what a local loopback is, and don't even get me started about APIPA. Heck, I've even seen "system administrators" that can't do networking at all and then wonder why things don't work properly.

Make sure you understand how DNS and DHCP work. No need to be an expert, but make sure you know what devices do: switch, router. firewall. Understand the purpose of subnetting, etc. Extra points if you can tell me how to use ARP, Netstat, Traceroute, NSLookup to troubleshoot. Security is a hot topic. If you can show knowledge in this area you'll have another point in your favor.

You can get away with just imaging and light AD work but widening your skill set will set you apart from the bunch.

White_Wolf

Usually a cert or degree to get you in the door. Then you should be very familiar with the technology you are dealing with. It's pretty evident in an interview if your knowledge is based on cramming for exams or with hands on experience.

tjb122982

cyberguypr wrote: »

One of my biggest pet peeves with support techs these days is the lack of networking knowledge. I mean, some guys have no idea what a local loopback is, and don't even get me started about APIPA. Heck, I've even seen "system administrators" that can't do networking at all and then wonder why things don't work properly.

Make sure you understand how DNS and DHCP work. No need to be an expert, but make sure you know what devices do: switch, router. firewall. Understand the purpose of subnetting, etc. Extra points if you can tell me how to use ARP, Netstat, Traceroute, NSLookup to troubleshoot. Security is a hot topic. If you can show knowledge in this area you'll have another point in your favor.

You can get away with just imaging and light AD work but widening your skill set will set you apart from the bunch.

Would I be able to acquire all of this knowledge from studying and passing the Network+?

devils_haircut

Make sure you also have the 3-5 years experience and a deep working knowledge of Unix servers necessary to land an entry level job.

No joke, I just got contacted about a job that is specifically titled "Entry Level", but they want 2-3 years experience working with HP-UX. I can't help but laugh (and cry).

tjb122982

devils_haircut wrote: »

Make sure you also have the 3-5 years experience and a deep working knowledge of Unix servers necessary to land an entry level job.

No joke, I just got contacted about a job that is specifically titled "Entry Level", but they want 2-3 years experience working with HP-UX. I can't help but laugh (and cry).

Oh I think I might be screwed because I'm in Indiana (Terre Haute) and I wanted to look for a gig in Indy. If every "entry-level" job is asking for this, I am really screwed!

Also, if I installed Windows Server on a VMware machine (such as my desktop) and work with it, would that qualify that as "experience"?

amigo23

Guys,

Since I don't have work experience in IT do you think these skills will look good on my resume for a help desk, IT Support job entry level?

Windows XP/7 Configuration and troubleshooting.
Malware removal, and Windows OS backup.
3 [FONT=&amp]years of experience in customer service[/FONT].

beaucaldwell

for a help desk job you only need customer service skills these days sadly... hiring managers are more concerned with how you can interact with the customer than your technical ability for HELP DESK roles... most of the stuff you would be doing is password resets or working an issue from a knowledge base article anyways so you wouldn't really be doing any critical thinking at 90% of help desks. You can talk your way into a help desk job... however, if you were to get anything, it would be an A+ cert. you'll need that knowledge to get out of the help desk rut and into something like deskside support or a remote tier 2 group (those mostly deal with software installs/troubleshooting). learn your way through outlook ASAP, that will be a big chunk of what you'll be dealing with. learn about PST's, shared calendars, etc.

tjb122982

beaucaldwell wrote: »

for a help desk job you only need customer service skills these days sadly... hiring managers are more concerned with how you can interact with the customer than your technical ability for HELP DESK roles... most of the stuff you would be doing is password resets or working an issue from a knowledge base article anyways so you wouldn't really be doing any critical thinking at 90% of help desks. You can talk your way into a help desk job... however, if you were to get anything, it would be an A+ cert. you'll need that knowledge to get out of the help desk rut and into something like deskside support or a remote tier 2 group (those mostly deal with software installs/troubleshooting). learn your way through outlook ASAP, that will be a big chunk of what you'll be dealing with. learn about PST's, shared calendars, etc.

Honestly, this sounds a hell a lot like my old job; aka the one that made me realized I needed to go back to school.

What would I would go after I got the A+?

amigo23

Some folks say that the A+ is expensive (only 3 years), irrelevant today; but it seems like in my case with a IT degree, but with no experience whatsover, the A+ will probably weigh more than a Windows 7 cert on the resume, just to enter the IT industry. Am i wrong?

Theegg911

I believe A+ and Windows 7 MCTS is worth about the same. Neither will gain a company much by hiring you. But it will show them (If you are entry level) that you are willing to study and learn in order to grow. Now having an A+ AND a passed microsoft exam will be excellent for starting. Cuz then you have A+ and MCP (You get the MCP title for passing any Microsoft technical exam).

tjb122982

Theegg911 wrote: »

I believe A+ and Windows 7 MCTS is worth about the same. Neither will gain a company much by hiring you. But it will show them (If you are entry level) that you are willing to study and learn in order to grow. Now having an A+ AND a passed microsoft exam will be excellent for starting. Cuz then you have A+ and MCP (You get the MCP title for passing any Microsoft technical exam).

May I assume I should only worry about Windows 7 and not worry about Windows 8?

techwizard

tjb122982 wrote: »

May I assume I should only worry about Windows 7 and not worry about Windows 8?

I think there are two (possibly 3) schools of thought on this:

1) belief that one should go with windows 7 and ignore windows 8 because rollout for win 8 in the corp world wont be for a while, if ever. win xp end of life is in April, however, MS has been generous enough to extend "Microsoft security essentials" for an extra 3 months (July). Either way, most companies will be forced to upgrade to either windows 7 or 8 very soon. (Windows Vista is technically an option, but end of life support for Vista is in 2017, so that makes it not a very viable option). I am not sure what the "end of life" expectancy is for windows 7, but it is a 5 year old OS at this point.

2) belief that one should simply get the latest certification for latest version of operating system. The reasoning here, is that if a tech has the latest cert for Win 8.1 or whatever it is on the resume and if you are in a position where you are trying to get hired for an IT position, you are showing HR/Potential employer that you know the latest/greatest OS regardless of what platform they are currently running or migrating to, even if they go to 7, they will "assume" you are on "top of your game", its mostly psychological. Windows 8.1 is a 1 year, 3 month old OS as of this writing, I am going to assume "end of life" expectancy will be slightly longer then windows 7.

3) belief that you could skip both Win 7 and 8.1 client exams altogether, and go for a server exam such as Windows server 2012. The reasoning here, is that if for example, you have MCSA Windows server 2012 (exams 410, 411, 412) HR/Potential employer makes an assumption: you already know windows client 7 or 8 even if you don't have those certs, again its a psychological thing. However, I wouldn't do this if you have very little to no experience with windows 7 or 8 to begin with.

Personally, I am going to go with the Windows 8.1 client exam 70-687 route and then do Windows server 2012 (410, 411, 412). At that point I could do 2 more exams and be MCSE if I wanted to, and I might. My thought on this is that Windows 8.1 client cert will have a slightly longer cert shelf life then windows 7 client exam (an assumption on my part, I could be wrong about this) I am willing to wait the extra month or so to prep for the Windows 8.1 exam content, and then dive straight into Windows server 2012 right after that.

Windows 8, lame metro interface withstanding, is actually not a bad OS imo. It has some improvements over win 7, better security, file copying enhancements, account synching, and a pretty cool OS reset feature that is not present in windows 7, there are a few other enhancements/improvements not listed here, but you can look them up yourself.

amigo23

techwizard wrote: »

I think there are two (possibly 3) schools of thought on this:

1) belief that one should go with windows 7 and ignore windows 8 because rollout for win 8 in the corp world wont be for a while, if ever. win xp end of life is in April, however, MS has been generous enough to extend "Microsoft security essentials" for an extra 3 months (July). Either way, most companies will be forced to upgrade to either windows 7 or 8 very soon. (Windows Vista is technically an option, but end of life support for Vista is in 2017, so that makes it not a very viable option). I am not sure what the "end of life" expectancy is for windows 7, but it is a 5 year old OS at this point.

2) belief that one should simply get the latest certification for latest version of operating system. The reasoning here, is that if a tech has the latest cert for Win 8.1 or whatever it is on the resume and if you are in a position where you are trying to get hired for an IT position, you are showing HR/Potential employer that you know the latest/greatest OS regardless of what platform they are currently running or migrating to, even if they go to 7, they will "assume" you are on "top of your game", its mostly psychological. Windows 8.1 is a 1 year, 3 month old OS as of this writing, I am going to assume "end of life" expectancy will be slightly longer then windows 7.

3) belief that you could skip both Win 7 and 8.1 client exams altogether, and go for a server exam such as Windows server 2012. The reasoning here, is that if for example, you have MCSA Windows server 2012 (exams 410, 411, 412) HR/Potential employer makes an assumption: you already know windows client 7 or 8 even if you don't have those certs, again its a psychological thing. However, I wouldn't do this if you have very little to no experience with windows 7 or 8 to begin with.

Personally, I am going to go with the Windows 8.1 client exam 70-687 route and then do Windows server 2012 (410, 411, 412). At that point I could do 2 more exams and be MCSE if I wanted to, and I might. My thought on this is that Windows 8.1 client cert will have a slightly longer cert shelf life then windows 7 client exam (an assumption on my part, I could be wrong about this) I am willing to wait the extra month or so to prep for the Windows 8.1 exam content, and then dive straight into Windows server 2012 right after that.

Windows 8, lame metro interface withstanding, is actually not a bad OS imo. It has some improvements over win 7, better security, file copying enhancements, account synching, and a pretty cool OS reset feature that is not present in windows 7, there are a few other enhancements/improvements not listed here, but you can look them up yourself.

I think we need to wait more than one month for the win 8 exams/books..

techwizard

amigo23 wrote: »

I think we need to wait more than one month for the win 8 exams/books..

Yeah, you are right, it could be more then a month. I am waiting on the windows 8.1 content update exam prep. I have access to the labsim/testout library suite. They currently have the course exam prep for Windows 8. I sent an email to labsim the other day asking when the course will be updated for the windows 8.1 content, they replied that it will be updated soon after Jan 28, with no firm date of an update. I am assuming that means it will be sometime in late Feb or sometime in March. In the meantime, I am going to work on getting CompTIA Healthcare IT certification, because there are a lot of medical clinics and hospitals in my area, and having that cert wouldn't hurt, and I will also attempt to retake the SSCP exam as well, while waiting for the Windows 8.1 content update and Windows server 2012 R2 content update.