jhorton
08-03-2005, 12:09 AM
I am hoping someone(s) can help me out. I am looking at taking a course to help me get my A+ certification with funding through HRSDC. For my research to get the funding I need to get some questions answered by people that have A+ certification. Ideally I am working to get into a computer support/repair, techhelp position. If you could help me out by answering about 15 fairly straightforward questions please reply here or email me at jwhorton6@rogers.com
I would greatly appreciate it.
Lesley
08-07-2005, 01:19 AM
Why don't you post your questions here, a bit of typing for you to do but I suspect you'll get more help that way.
jhorton
08-07-2005, 01:36 PM
Ok, thanks here are the questions I have to ask. Again I am looking to get into a computer repair/support, tech help position.
Questions
1. How did you (would I) get into this type of work?
2. What does a computer repair/support person do in a typical day or week?
3. How long have you been employed in your current position or field?
4. What are the major responsibilities of a computer repair/support person?
5. What do you like best about your job? Why?
6. What do you like least about your job? Why?
7. What skills and personal characteristics are necessary for a computer repair/support person to do their job well?
8. What training or education do you recommend?
9. Where can I get this training or education?
10. What is the future employment outlook for this occupation?
11. What other preparation do you recommend for this occupation?
12. What is the entry-level position for this job in this organization?
13. What is the typical career path in this occupation?
14. What is the salary range (from entry level to advanced) for this job?
15. My strongest skills are my customer service and computer background. Where would they fit into this occupation or organization?
Mindfield
08-09-2005, 12:28 AM
Ok, thanks here are the questions I have to ask. Again I am looking to get into a computer repair/support, tech help position.
Questions
1. How did you (would I) get into this type of work?
Any computer store (or department-type store that has a computer department) that has on-site technicians.
2. What does a computer repair/support person do in a typical day or week?
Diagnosis primarily of Windows and hardware related problems. In practical terms, probably 90% will be running virus, trojan and spyware scans, registry and file integrity scans (sometimes involving hard disk surface scans), etc. And of course, fixing all of these problems. Occasionally you'll perform spring cleanings -- defrags, scans, etc. Hardware problems are also a frequent issue, especially with half-baked DIY upgrades and system assemblies. You'll also be handling a lot of phone calls -- most people wanting free tech support, especially with software installations that are completely outside your purview -- but also people with genuine problems you'll have to talk people through on the phone.
3. How long have you been employed in your current position or field?
On and off, two and a half years.
4. What are the major responsibilities of a computer repair/support person?
Two different fields, though there's some crossover on the repair side. Computer technicians are primarily responsible for the diagnosis and repair of PC-related software and hardware problems, with phone work on the side. Technical support is a rather broad field though -- it's all about the same thing of course, but the subject matter varies wildly depending on the company you work for and what they do. Sticking specifically with computer repair, you'll be doing the phone portion of what techs split their time doing -- phone work in helping diagnose problems and suggesting courses of action.
5. What do you like best about your job? Why?
I like technical challenges. Taking something that doesn't work properly and making it work the way it's supposed to has a certain satisfaction -- a mastery of man over machine, you might say.
6. What do you like least about your job? Why?
The vast majority of people who buy a computer have absolutely no idea what it does, except that it can surf the web, balance their checkbook, do up their resume, E-Mail friends and family, use Instant Messenger, play games, and so on. It doesn't matter that they have absolutely no idea how to actually do any of those things. That's what you inevitably end up being for: Fielding questions like, "I click on the little picture of a duck but it doesn't do anything! Can you tell me how to open the duck? And also I put a DVD in my CD drive and it won't play."
And you'll be answering those questions and a million like them about twenty times a day. It's definitely not for the impatient.
7. What skills and personal characteristics are necessary for a computer repair/support person to do their job well?
Technical aptitude, a good head for logic and deductive reasoning. Significant use of memory. A good eye and head for model numbers, being able to identify parts on sight, knowing your way around a motherboard, knowing what pieces work with what boards, how everything works together, intimate knowledge of the inner workings of DOS Windows -- a familiarity with Mac and Linux derivatives will also help -- good troubleshooting skills, and so on. But no matter how much you study and learn in courses, the larger part of A+ and A+net is really experience -- learning by experience what is and is not compatible with what, what works best with what, what doesn't work at all, what is likely to cause issues with Windows, and so on and so forth.
8. What training or education do you recommend?
Honestly, any A+/A+Net course will do. The testing is standardized and will be administered by any CompTIA-certified testing facility. I can, however, reccommend a really good CD-ROM A+/A+Net electronic course by Course Technology. It features really good sections with pre- and post-study prep tests that really help prepare you for the real thing.
9. Where can I get this training or education?
Anywhere that teaches IT subjects. There are tons all over the place; just crack open a Yellow Pages.
10. What is the future employment outlook for this occupation?
There will always be a demand for technicians and, in the broader sense, IT professionals. This is a computer world, and computers need IT people, and lots of them.
11. What other preparation do you recommend for this occupation?
Practise. Lots of practise. Study, learn, then offer to help friends and family if they have any computer problems or want upgrades done. First-hand experience is invaluable and is really a necessary compliment to course material.
12. What is the entry-level position for this job in this organization?
PC repair technician. Don't expect high salaries out of it to start with; Canada is horrible for IT wages. But it's good for experience and paves the way to broader IT positions.
13. What is the typical career path in this occupation?
Depends on how much education upgrading you want to do. The career path for people who are strictly technicians and don't wish to be any more than that is pretty short. You can migrate to senior technician, or technical supervisor or whathaveyou, but that's pretty much that. If you want to go further you'll have to branch out a little bit. Right now the best option is to take a networking course, and while you're at it take a network security course; the two compliment each other nicely. Standard LAN and WAN is an absolute must of course, but with the emergence and growing popularity of wireless technologies, learning to set up, secure, run, and maintain such networks is going to put you in serious demand.
14. What is the salary range (from entry level to advanced) for this job?
For entry level, don't expect too much more than $20-30k -- possibly even less if you take a job at a place like Factory Direct just for the experience. (They pay $8/hr, believe it or not) With time and experience, you'll be able to take what skills you built at an entry level position and parlay it into $30-40k jobs. Without branching out though you'll probably cap out around there.
15. My strongest skills are my customer service and computer background. Where would they fit into this occupation or organization?
Yes. Customer service is always a large part of any technician's job, particularily if you're helping to man the help desk. Computer background does help, especially if your background extends back far enough that you have a good foundation not only on how to use computers, but how they work as well. With me, for example, I've had a computer since 1985, in the days when it was almost mandatory to have some idea of how they worked in order to be able to get the most out of them. Heck, you had to know at least a few commands in BASIC to use many of the machines of the day. Upgrades in thoe days, too, consisted of actually replacing, desoldering/resoldering, or even piggybacking ICs in order to perform the upgrade you wanted -- a little more involved than simply plugging in a PCI card and installing driver software.
jhorton
08-09-2005, 12:42 AM
Thank you. I sent you a pm!
The industry is flooded - make sure that you have something to fall back on if you can't get a job.
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