I've been hired by Geek Squad

I would like some input on what certifications I can get that would not only be related to moving up in Geek Squad, but also what kind of certifications should I look into to prepare myself for other job opportunities?. How many years of experience should I have before I start considering moving on to another company? Unfortunately a degree is not really an option for me at the moment. I would like to make the most out of this opportunity. I heard plenty of people have used Geek Squad to build their IT careers. I just need a bit of help seeing the bigger picture so I don't find myself getting stuck in retail for the next 20 years.

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LordQarlyn

Hey congrats on the new job!
Well, first decide which direction you mainly want to go; network engineering or system engineering. That is, do you like working on switches and routers, or do you like working on servers? Once you determine your knack or preference, start the cert chain there. It also won't hurt to look into getting some cloud certifications, particularly AWS, security certs won't hurt either. And if you go the server route, look into VMWare certs too, as increasingly servers are being virtualized.

N7Valiant

The basic CompTIA certs (A+, Net+, Sec+), then move to Help Desk, an MSP or both.

I personally think moving up in Geek Squad is the steepest climb there is, mostly because the technology you work with will be very much limited to consumer products. You might move up faster if you get in a managerial position, but how long would that take? How many years? And is that more of a management role than a technical one? Do you prefer to manage people or technology?

Whereas 6 months into the job I'm already touching servers on many levels from expanding the schema, creating and managing OUs in Active Directory, creating Group Policy Objects, some basic scripting(Powershell, MS-DOS, Bash), uploading Bitlocker Keys to AD, automating Windows 10 installation so all you have to do is boot into a USB drive and it will install a clean OS for Windows 10 1803 with a predetermined account and password, automating notification emails on a monthly schedule, setting up Task Schedules that will configure power settings so laptops don't go to sleep on AC power during patch windows but go back to defaults (sleep after 30 minutes) after the patch window is over.

If you don't want to get stuck in retail, then have a plan to get out of retail ASAP. If you want to move up fast, you'll have to be prepared for a 200% commitment.

MeanDrunkR2D2

I'll be honest here and it's a hard truth but you need to hear it now and not find out in a year, 2 or longer. Geek Squad will be a dead end. There is little chance to move up internally into a more technical role unless you live in Minneapolis and are close to their headquarters. Lacking a degree may hurt in that endeavor as well. Now, what you will do at geek squad will be fairly simple fairly scripted tasks. Your MAIN job will likely be upselling customers into having more services done that are honestly pure profit for Best Buy and almost taking advantage of the less technical out there with computers that may not know if something is actually worth having or not.

That said, what can you do to work up into a more technical and engaging role? Without a degree entry level IT will be what you are going to look for. What Geek Squad does is considered "Pre" Entry level by many of us in IT. What you should do is find helpdesk roles, even if it's in a mind numbing call center. Why? You'll have opportunities to grow your knowledge and in a year take that to another company where you'll do less scripted work and be able to find more complexity. Now, what role do you take after your first Helpdesk job? It depends what you enjoy in IT. If you want to be a super Cyber Security Stud making 6 figures like every other new entry into IT wants to do, well, hold on there bud. It will take time to get into that role. I won't go in much depth but honestly a good Infosec person will have a wide variety of knowledge from networks to systems and an understanding on policies and why they are in effect.

MSP's can be great for someone with little IT experience and may not 100% have a definite path they want to head down as you'll likely see a bit of everything so you can find something you like. The experience you gain there will also be huge as you'll be exposed to many different technologies and tasks. They generally don't care as much about degrees (some will care about certs if they are a partner with MS or Cisco) so that will be better for you. What won't be great is that pay wise they will be quite a bit lower than corporations for similar types of roles. But that is fine at this point in your career because you are learning and getting that ever important experience which will set you up for future roles. Many will work you hard and long and expect you to "bill" the clients a certain amount of time a week and you'll want to hit those targets. It can be stressful at times because every bit of revenue is highly important to those smaller companies. After a year or two, you then jump again to a larger company as one of their internal people doing whatever it is that you like. Pay will be better. They will offer better benefits. They may even pay towards you getting a degree (And you absolutely SHOULD get one eventually).

TLDR. Geek Squad is a dead end. Get a helpdesk job and work on improving your skills and get certs that help you get to the next level. And even though many of us here love certs, they aren't required by any means to be successful.

shochan

Stay & get some experience, but start applying for other IT jobs. All they do up there is re-image systems, so they don't let you troubleshoot the issues that are brought into the store for very long. But yeah, go after your A+, knowing your hardware/software skill sets is a must.

DatabaseHead

Like others have mentioned I think A + or N + are good ones to start with. Good professor messer he has some free material last time I checked.... You could go into windows operating systems as well if that is more of your thing...

You are getting experience even if it's not much, it's most certainly better than none. Congrats on the new position!

scaredoftests

and have good customer service skills..soft skills

DatabaseHead

scaredoftests wrote: »

and have good customer service skills..soft skills

Exactly. If these aren't part of your toolbox, you could develop them working this job. Nothing to thumb your nose at.....

jeremywatts2005

Congrats... I was a Special Agent for Best Buy for Business back in 2005 in Chicago. Not sure if they still have that role that was when Geek Squad was just being acquired and they were heavy on branding. I did servers and server planning for business. They wanted us to be MCSE 's at the time so I had to go to classes to get certified. At one point I was fast tracking at was up to take over a stand alone precinct as a Chief. I got tired of the whole gig and went to help FEMA with hurricane Katrina. Back then the special agents not double but special agents had to wear the uniform to the letter and be a walking advertisement for Geek Squad. If they still have the same model CIA, Double Agent and Special Agent then you would need the basic A+, Net+ and so on for the in home traveling Double Agent. Special Agent would be MS Certs. Been awhile though

stryder144

I worked for Geek Squad when I was moving into the IT space in 2013. Here is my advice: get your A+, Network+, and Security+ certifications. They will help you a lot when it comes to understanding what the customer needs, from a technology perspective. Also, complete all of the training that they offer, up to the Gold if you can. You can mention in your resume that you reached gold status (or whatever it is called), which will let a future employer know that you work to build a better you.

Is Geek Squad a dead-end? Only if you plan to make it such. The Apple store across the street from the Geek Squad I worked at tried to hire any and all Geek Squad agents who had at least one year of GS experience. Hone your customer service skills and highlight the fact that you had to deal with technical issues affecting a wide assortment of customer types (young, old, different cultures/ethnicities/races). Hiring managers will like that diversity (rightly so). Plus, if you haven't punched someone during your tenure at GS, the employer will understand that you can work reasonably well under pressure.

Dakinggamer87

Congrats!! Best of luck cert up and use it as a lunch pad to bigger and better things in the future

yoba222

Doesn't Geek Squad reimburse something like $4000 a year for college? Go to Baker College on their dime. Can do online if need be.

TechGromit

MeanDrunkR2D2 wrote: »

I'll be honest here and it's a hard truth but you need to hear it now and not find out in a year, 2 or longer. Geek Squad will be a dead end.

I'm inclined to agree, now that you got a job at geek squad, your job now is to get out of geek squad. For a techs wages top out at around $17, for a managers $28 a hour. Those are starting wages if you have some experience with a large employer. Setting up and configuring servers? Maybe an small office server, it's hardly the same thing as an enterprise server running VM's supporting 100's or thousands of users. Setting up network? A dumb switch and some patch cables isn't the same thing as managed switches with patch panels, running on a LAN or WAN with routers. Removing malware? Standard practice for most organizations is to nuke the computer and reimage, don't have your files backed up to the network storage drive, tough luck. Don't get me wrong any computer experience is valuable, but low end consumer computer equipment is hardly the same as commercial grade business equipment and practices.

mikey88

TechGromit wrote: »

I'm inclined to agree, now that you got a job at geek squad, your job now is to get out of geek squad. For a techs wages top out at around $17, for a managers $28 a hour. Those are starting wages if you have some experience with a large employer. Setting up and configuring servers? Maybe an small office server, it's hardly the same thing as an enterprise server running VM's supporting 100's or thousands of users. Setting up network? A dumb switch and some patch cables isn't the same thing as managed switches with patch panels, running on a LAN or WAN with routers. Removing malware? Standard practice for most organizations is to nuke the computer and reimage, don't have your files backed up to the network storage drive, tough luck. Don't get me wrong any computer experience is valuable, but low end consumer computer equipment is hardly the same as commercial grade business equipment and practices.

+1 Get a couple of certs (A+, Net+) and get out of there fast!

AvgITGeek

Congrats on the new job!

I personally know someone who started at Geek Squad and got their A+, N+ while there and moved onto one of our larger customers as a full time level 1 analyst. It is doable but get those industry standard certs and then look to move on. Experience holding down a job in IT is a must as everyone you will ever talk to will say.

Once you have those certs, you will probably start finding those areas in IT that you really enjoy. Then apply for internships, MSP and even let a recruiter find you a position where you can begin broadening from residential type hardware to commercial and have a team to really mentor you with advanced technology.

ps.89

Congrats on the job!

Like others have already stated, to answer your question, it really depends on what you want to do in IT and how much experience you currently have in IT/computers. But that being said, if you don't have much experience in IT, it'll be hard for you to determine what you like and don't like.

Because you are working in Geek Squad, I am just going to assume that you don't have much IT experience. I really do agree that your next move should be to move into a "real" IT job. With the A+ certification and 6 months to 1 year experience at Geek Squad, you shouldn't have a problem finding a help desk job at a small, local MSP. You probably won't be paid much - maybe the same as Geek Squad - but by working for a small MSP, you'll learn many aspects of IT including servers, networking, security, virtualization, customer service and troubleshooting. This type of experience will help you determine what path you want to go into and what certification you'll need to get there.

Syntax

I worked for GS for almost 4 years, about 10 years ago now. I was able to quickly become a "full-timer" and got to use their tuition reimbursement benefit, which helped me get my Bachelor's degree. The schedule was flexible enough to assist with that as well. I worked a lot of weekends so that I could have weekdays off to go to class, take exams, etc. I also met some great friends there that were in the same situation as me, trying to start their IT careers.

It's definitely not a place to stay if you're trying to build up experience to land your ideal IT role. I had to do a lot of jumping around post-GS to get to where I'm at now. However, it's at least a step in the right direction if that's all you can get at the time. Take the time to get your entry-level IT certifications, pursue a degree, etc. The end goal is to move on from there when you can.

limpylegs

I just logged back in after a week,and I must say I'm relatively impressed by the community thus far!
I wasn't expected so many great responses in such a short amount of time. A lot of great advice, hopefully I'll be able to actually use it in the future. I guess it's time for me to hit the books.

PsychoData91

I will say that Geek Squad often gets little or no respect on IT interviews, but it's still a step in the right direction. I would encourage you to take the NEXT step as soon as you can to get things moving. Not saying drop GS and quit today, but start applying.

when I was applying to Geek Squad positions, fully certified in the Best Buy's department certification (At that time it was on Learning Lounge, you could get certified in various departments through the trainings, as well as going up from Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum level certifications, and they would then issue you pins to wear showing your level. dont know if that has changed any since a few years ago) they were more interested in someone who would tow the party line.

when I was applying I mentioned that I was already trained in many of the tools they used through Learning Lounge, and familiar with Computers from my completed college degree on them, and personal experience, as well as three years working for the store supporting users in Best Buy Mobile, and selling the Geek Squad plans/services in the Computers department. Instead they hired a high school girl who by her own admission knew nothing about computers to be an advanced repair agent.

Having worked with people from Geek Squads before, I have VERY little respect for people who aren't training in computers outside of the Geek Squad Tools. Also, keep in mind, in geek Squad you do very little outside of the MRI Toolset, and in the real world it is literally illegal to use MRI on anything that isn't a Geek Squad service. In fact you aren't supposed to have it outside the precinct unless you're an in-home agent.

I would HIGHLY recommend a helpdesk or MSP role as soon as you can over Geek Squad. A+, Net+ and you're in a pretty solid experience and knowledge for a general Helpdesk role. Beyond that, there are other certs that might be useful at a slightly less base level, like Sec+, CCENT, an MCP( which goes toward an MCSA), or other security certs. Kind of depends what direction you want to go, but A+ and Net+ are great entry certs and will be easy to maintain the Continuing Education (CE) on as you progress in other certs or just normal IT Work

PsychoData91

yoba222 wrote: »

Doesn't Geek Squad reimburse something like $4000 a year for college? Go to Baker College on their dime. Can do online if need be.

This was actually Best buy in general, I believe, but only for full-time employees. The rules for full time employee were an employee designated as such (basically department heads and managers only, even if you worked 50 hours a week on regular sales), AND anyone who had worked more than 2080 hours in the last year of their employment. well, the trick there is that unless you were trying to work part time, you were often full time, I know I was, but you couldn't get any of the benefits until you had worked those 2080 hours in the last year, essentially meaning you had to have worked at least a year before you could opt-in to those benefits.

TechGuy215

Definitely get your CompTia Trifecta: A+, Net+, Sec+. This will show you have a good foundation in IT, and can help you get your foot in the door for an entry level help desk or sysadmin job. Then just keep building experience, taking on new responsibilities and learn from your co-workers. I'd also recommend taking advantage of tuition reimbursement if available, if your endgame is an executive/leadership position a degree will go along way. That being said, congratulations on the job and good luck in your career.

DatabaseHead

I'm not sure I would do the shotgun approach. I would get A+ and then reevaluate. A+ still has some good rep and can help get you on the desk etc.....

Ashenwelt

As someone who has done a lot of hiring at an MSP... Geek Squad is something I look at. It is introductory experience in my book. The key however is that it is experience.

So before going further: congratulations on your first position in an IT Career. This is a great first step!

As for certs, get your CompTIA Certs. At least one. More is preferred. Then look into vendor certifications. I will tell you I value one MCTS higher than A+ with Network+, and I am not the only one. But this job will help you decide a path to go down. Learn and move on to things you want to learn. Just don't take boiler plate from anyone and make it your future.

As for length in GS? Leave when you are no longer gaining something from it... Though I would at least do a year or two.

Good luck and welcome!

NetworkingStudent

limpylegs wrote: »

I would like some input on what certifications I can get that would not only be related to moving up in Geek Squad, but also what kind of certifications should I look into to prepare myself for other job opportunities?. How many years of experience should I have before I start considering moving on to another company? Unfortunately a degree is not really an option for me at the moment. I would like to make the most out of this opportunity. I heard plenty of people have used Geek Squad to build their IT careers. I just need a bit of help seeing the bigger picture so I don't find myself getting stuck in retail for the next 20 years.

I agree with everyone else.....Get your A+ cert at the very least.

Check the Compassion Geek You Tube website for customer service ideas.
Here's a good play list from that site:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY0YVj4LroU&list=PL58D8B118DED1097A

Pc Simplest - Good Videos on getting into IT
https://www.youtube.com/user/PCSimplest/videos

Professer messer - Good free vidoes on IT training
https://www.professormesser.com/

This may help:
Landing your First Tech Job – Without a Tech Degree Part 1
https://blog.itpro.tv/landing-your-first-tech-job-without-a-tech-degree/

Landing your First Tech Job – Without a Tech Degree Part 2
https://blog.itpro.tv/landing-your-first-tech-job-without-a-tech-degree-part-2/

To sum tings up:

As far as jobs go, I agree with everone else. Stay at geek squad a year or two, and then move on. Geek Squad is suhc a big name that people would think ahh he fixes computers. I worked wih a guy in the same spot as you. Super mart, but no degree and he worked at Geek Squad. We did a project together, and he was working at geek squad and the project. I would do the following.

Study for the A+, and get the network+, and security+.

After 1 year starting look to see what's out there. Check MSP and other help desk jobs. It would be good diea to utlize recuiters.

Looks like best buy does pay for tution. You might want to look into this.
But that’s not all. We also have an excellent employee discount at our stores (so you can use all the super cool technology we sell), generous time-off programs, tuition and adoption assistance.
Best Buy Careers: Benefits

NetworkingStudent

scaredoftests wrote: »

and have good customer service skills..soft skills

Yes!!

The book how to win friends and influence people would be a good read for the OP.

Moon Child

I am Jealous

Congrats

I have tried several times getting hired into Geek Squad, but my application has always been turned down. Geek Squad is very hard to get into, not many job openings for Geek Squad in my area so your very lucky your getting the experience and chance many people with computer degrees and certs are never given.

MeanDrunkR2D2

Moon Child wrote: »

I am Jealous Congrats

I have tried several times getting hired into Geek Squad, but my application has always been turned down. Geek Squad is very hard to get into, not many job openings for Geek Squad in my area so your very lucky your getting the experience and chance many people with computer degrees and certs are never given.

I truly hope that you are being sarcastic in your reply. Not to knock OP, but anyone with a degree, and looking at your list of degrees/certs I would hope that you'd be shooting for a real IT job that will grow a career. It's basically a slightly techie retail job where certs and knowledge don't matter, but the ability to upsell someone into a service/product that they don't need is important.

The reason why they would shoot you down is that you are WAY over qualified for that position and they don't want to invest any time with someone who would jump once they get a real IT job. Set your sights higher.

BrandonT2610

Hey its a step in the right direction! I started by pulling cable on construction sites a few years ago. You could debate that's lower than being on geek squad. I'm now a DC eng... just keep learning.

MeanDrunkR2D2

BrandonT2610 wrote: »

Hey its a step in the right direction! I started by pulling cable on construction sites a few years ago. You could debate that's lower than being on geek squad. I'm now a DC eng... just keep learning.

I agree that it's better than nothing, but honestly it's so easy to get a helpdesk job that will be vastly more relevant for an up and coming IT worker to make strides in their career. Working on home computers is nothing like working on a corporate PC/server. Especially when one is using tools that would never exist outside of BB and geeksquad.

I personally think a cable puller is more relevant to be honest because you are working on the parts that are in use by IT and the systems. The one I replied to up there has a couple of degrees, and many certs, yet cannot figure out why Geek Squad won't hire him/her. They really don't want anyone with an education because they know that they won't do things the way they want.

If I had those degrees and certs I'd definitely be shooting no lower than helpdesk if not desktop/deskside support roles to start with. I started in the helpdesk and 6 months later I was in a desktop/sysadmin role.

Ashenwelt

MeanDrunkR2D2 wrote: »

I agree that it's better than nothing, but honestly it's so easy to get a helpdesk job that will be vastly more relevant for an up and coming IT worker to make strides in their career. Working on home computers is nothing like working on a corporate PC/server. Especially when one is using tools that would never exist outside of BB and geeksquad.

I personally think a cable puller is more relevant to be honest because you are working on the parts that are in use by IT and the systems. The one I replied to up there has a couple of degrees, and many certs, yet cannot figure out why Geek Squad won't hire him/her. They really don't want anyone with an education because they know that they won't do things the way they want.

If I had those degrees and certs I'd definitely be shooting no lower than helpdesk if not desktop/deskside support roles to start with. I started in the helpdesk and 6 months later I was in a desktop/sysadmin role.

Ok. Here I actually disagree. I think that home support builds a very good basis to success in a help desk environment. It is different, but it gives you a chance to deal with the weird and exotic and work on empathy for your client. I have been doing this for years and I actually LIKE an applicant with GeekSquad on their resume. There are always pros and cons on every resume. There are however very few bad things (unless the resume is a lie). Do not undercut the value of learned customer service with some of the worst customers you will face ... non-business customers. For an MSP, if I was hiring a Technician I, I would prefer GeekSquad to for example, Structured Cabling as a position. Better would be both. For a Technician II, GeekSquad is something I would add to their time as a Technician I as time in industry. I would not normally add Structured Cabling (ie what you should call cable pulling lol).

Now as someone who has pulled over a 100k feet of cable... I know the value. But in the MSP world... it is limited. In a corporate single staff member it is valuable as can be. But MSPs tend to short cut the value of Structured Cabling because customer service is more important. Sad but true.

I am speaking from an MSP prospective. I have owned an MSP and currently work for an MSP.

WafflesAndRootbeer

For Geek Squad, IT certs (CompTIA, Microsoft, etc.) are pretty much on the business services side, which you may or may not be working, depending on your location. The depot/service center techs all have to be professionally certified too, with CompTIA/OEM repair certs. On the store-facing side, you don't need any certs per-say and they aren't required by the company, apart from in-store corporate training that you have to do in front of a computer, regarding one thing or another. If you are a special snowflake, they might send you off to HQ for corporate training or somewhere else, but that rarely happens unless store and regional managers are actively involved in GS stuff, which they tend not to be. Most of the GS work is done via remote access by others, though you will get your hands dirty every now and then working on drop-off upgrades/repairs that require a HDD or RAM swap. As for advancing your IT career, it's generally not regarded as a real IT job because of the low standards and general bad reputation of the company and it is thoroughly mocked - I speak from personal experience - by those who are working private-sector IT jobs, though you'll certainly find people coming in to chat you up for hiring, which may or may not be a good thing, as many of them are scammers trying to harvest your ID information and even the legit ones don't have greener pastures to offer you in most instances. In all likelihood, you'll make better money at GS than you will doing the GS-type work around here, so I would recommend staying there instead of pushing forward hard to go elsewhere, if you end up with a good store. The upside is that the job is relatively easy and simple, once you know how things work. The downside is that you have to put up with corrupt/inept management, in-store/company politics, and bad customers. I worked for the company shortly after it was acquired by Best Buy and I don't have fond memories of it, but they seem to have far more support from the owners now than they did for a long time after the ink dried on the purchase agreement. I'll just end this by saying that all the horror stories and rumors you have heard are true and that I had experienced much of it first-hand during my employment.