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Technical Support
Crimsonmonkey
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I am planning on applying for a job with a local phone/internet/cable provider here doing a tech support position taking calls from customers regarding internet problems. While I know a fair bit about networking and how the internet works in general, I do not have any formal degrees or certificates related to the field. The posting says that they are looking for some sort of degree/certificate or extensive knowledge. My friend's brother worked in the same position for quite some time and advised that they have hired people with similar job histories/experience as me, but I am wondering, what are some good websites that would have the types of information that would be required in a basic tech support position like this so that I can brush up or learn some new things. While I feel I most likely know at least what they are looking for, I find I have a hard time explaining how things work or how to fix things as I was not formally trained in that sort of thing, this may cause a problem during an interview.
So to sum it up, what are some good networking/internet teaching sites that would be quick and easy to run through. I would just go through wikipedia, but I am not exactly sure what I should be looking for, so if anyone has held a job like this before, please guide me.
So to sum it up, what are some good networking/internet teaching sites that would be quick and easy to run through. I would just go through wikipedia, but I am not exactly sure what I should be looking for, so if anyone has held a job like this before, please guide me.
Crimsonmonkey on
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In all honesty, though, you probably need to know very little. I've done tech support for a few companies in the past and have worked with the poor guys stuck on the phones in more recent jobs. If you know what I consider a fair bit about networking for someone at an entry level then you're ahead of 99% of the people I met while in my helpdesk days even after they'd been doing it for years. It's pretty much all simple problems that are solved by changing a very basic setting in windows, reinstalling some bit of software, rebooting, or resetting a forgotten password. Back when I did tech support for an ISP it was the dial-up days, but easily 25% of my calls and sometimes more than half were forgotten passwords, another good many were people with no dial tone from accidentally unplugging the phone line or from a surge frying the modem, and most of the rest could be resolved by a reboot or reinstalling tcp/ip (not an option in a win xp world, you'll use things like 'net sh int ip reset') or reinstalling dial up networking.
Just generally being comfortable with the OS and being able to talk to people who don't have a clue what they are talking about to coax them into giving an explanation that makes sense are far more important than actually knowing everything. In most tech support jobs there are a few regular issues that are well known, everyone there knows how to solve, and you'll have figured out within a few days and the rest is all about general knowledge and being able to learn on the job.
As to the degree/certificate/extensive knowledge requirements, well, that's almost certainly just a load of crap slapped on by a manager or hr person who doesn't know a damned thing about the job. They almost always say that. I started working support type roles when I was 17. Every one of them "required" a college degree. Obviously I didn't have one at 17 and I still don't now. Don't get too worried about it.