Top help desk technician skills needed to get the job.

What are the top 3 traits or skills every help desk technician must have to excel?

Can you suggest any tips or insights to develop your help desk technician expertise?

Hi everyone i was looking forward to have more information on Help desk technician right now i am enroll in Kaplan College i will be graduading on June 2009 please if you can help me on how to get started in a career with help desk technician i will appriciate it!

Genesis Jimenez in Moreno Valley, California said: Hi everyone i was looking forward to have more information on Help desk technician right now i am enroll in Kaplan College i will be graduading on June 2009 please if you can help me on how to get started in a career with help desk technician i will appriciate it!

Get out of Kaplan as soon as possible, the school has a
very bad reputation. I have heard so many negative things
about that school. Trust me, i went to a Kaplan school. They don't care
about their students, they just want your money. All they will
give you is bad training. They lack educational ethics.

Former Maric College Student in Evansville, Indiana said: Get out of Kaplan as soon as possible, the school has a
very bad reputation. I have heard so many negative things
about that school. Trust me, i went to a Kaplan school. They don't care
about their students, they just want your money. All they will
give you is bad training. They lack educational ethics.

So true.

Maria said: So true.

I got screwed over by Maric College in Palm Springs, now Kaplan.
They are the worst privately-owned vocational school out there.

L.J said: I got screwed over by Maric College in Palm Springs, now Kaplan.
They are the worst privately-owned vocational school out there.

So did i and many other students. Especially in the Medical Administration/Insurance Specalist class, now Medical Office Specialist.

Those are ALL worthless responses!! Clearly you all have bigger problems than the school you chose. Keep in mind you all are just demonstrating your ability to make good choices if you truly feel that. So sad.

To really answer the question:

1-The ability to troubleshoot real-life PC problems (AV/Malware infections, printer problems, and when to cut your losses and know when an OS reload is the best use of time)
2-The desire to help others. Patience without feeling the need to teach the user how to use their computer. They just need to get their job done.
3-Being creative. This will get you far. Only after years of experience will you know close to have the answers to your problems before you do research. In the meantime, being resourceful and creative will make up for it.

I hope that helps!

skaufmann said: Those are ALL worthless responses!! Clearly you all have bigger problems than the school you chose. Keep in mind you all are just demonstrating your ability to make good choices if you truly feel that. So sad.

To really answer the question:

1-The ability to troubleshoot real-life PC problems (AV/Malware infections, printer problems, and when to cut your losses and know when an OS reload is the best use of time)
2-The desire to help others. Patience without feeling the need to teach the user how to use their computer. They just need to get their job done.
3-Being creative. This will get you far. Only after years of experience will you know close to have the answers to your problems before you do research. In the meantime, being resourceful and creative will make up for it.

I hope that helps!

Nah, the number two is a degree in IT or having several years experience doing the job already. It's catch 22, if you haven't done help desk before they don't want you, but that's how it is with most jobs, especially right now. Competition is fierce so you just have to hang in there. Number one trait for getting the job, persistence. Number one here is NETWORKING. Talk to EVERYBODY you know, let them know you're actively seeking such a position, you may find somebody who's cousin is a higher up at local company seeking some IT help. Keep applying as listings come up, send your resume back out every two to three months to each relevant company. If you don't have documentable experience(aka freelance or hobby) but have good references, such as people you did work for, eventually you should get something that bites. All my friends were hired this way and now are doing fine. All those other skills come once you've got the interview and they are realistically considering you for the position. Getting your foot in the door is the hardest part.

You ask anyone who hires for help desk techs (entry level) and they wont care a flip what school you go to or what your degree is in. Just get a degree. Experience will trump all that. You can gain experience by working on campus small break/fix shops for low pay while in school. You can afford low pay while in school as the experience is more valuable.

I've staffed a remote support help desk facility over last last 3 years and my best hires have been the ones with customer service skills. You can teach technical skills but its much harder to teach soft skills such as customer service skills.

Go into the nursing or health related fields. There are so many toolbags out there advertising they'll fix any computer problem for $19.99 it's crazy. Most companies treat IT as Facilities with a keyboard. They treat you as simple overhead since your not out there in Sales making money for the company. Google is your best friend. There are tons of people more smarter than you, just google the answer.

Really Pman?!... you must have missed the recent news on the release of robert Half's 2011 salary guide. While in 2010 it was said IT salary was going to stay flat, in 2011 they are expected to increase.

My advice to every one is get your head out of the old school thinking of IT. There is exciting and innovative stuff happening in the field (managed services) and new technology that is really changing the IT landscape.

Yes you can JFGI but alot of people out there will pay you good money to JFGI.

Former Maric College Student in Evansville, Indiana said: Get out of Kaplan as soon as possible, the school has a
very bad reputation. I have heard so many negative things
about that school. Trust me, i went to a Kaplan school. They don't care
about their students, they just want your money. All they will
give you is bad training. They lack educational ethics.

Hello,

I have a 6 to 8 weeks project in Evansville for a helpdesk / desktop support consultant. If interested please email me your resume and rate or forward to anyone you know who would be interested.

Email is info@triperinc.com

skaufmann said: Those are ALL worthless responses!! Clearly you all have bigger problems than the school you chose. Keep in mind you all are just demonstrating your ability to make good choices if you truly feel that. So sad.

To really answer the question:

1-The ability to troubleshoot real-life PC problems (AV/Malware infections, printer problems, and when to cut your losses and know when an OS reload is the best use of time)
2-The desire to help others. Patience without feeling the need to teach the user how to use their computer. They just need to get their job done.
3-Being creative. This will get you far. Only after years of experience will you know close to have the answers to your problems before you do research. In the meantime, being resourceful and creative will make up for it.

I hope that helps!

Great response. The only adult response that I read up to yours. For profit schools do suck, but it was not helpful to rant about that when that was not even the question that was asked. I graduated from Devry and I thought it sucked, but I made the most out of my situation being that I'm an older guy looking for a career change. I had a couple of really good professors there that really helped me a lot. I'm currently working on my A+ certification. A lot of companies are looking for A+ plus people, at least for the type of jobs that I'm looking for. Good luck everybody.

Hello

I have acquired my A+ Certfication and Network+Certification the same year..I have 2+ general troubleshooting knowledge but I dont seem to be able to find that Entry Level Help Desk Technician everyone talks about that we should be able to find.....ALthough most companies REQUIRE A+ Cert. but still not easy to nail that job.

I got my a plus and network plus at the end of 2010. They will definitely open some doors but expect to get crappy jobs at first.
My first IT job was as a field tech for Dell and I was subcontracted to say the least so it paid peanuts after everything was said and done. Then I started landing installation gigs which do pay better but I got those through networking with people. Through one of those projects I met someone who does contracting on the side, It helps extremely to network and be a people person because the new part time job I got through that contractor is help desk related which is exactly where I want to be right now. Every job I get I add to my resume immediately and list down all and new skills that i've acquired. You have to be hungry for it and the more you do the more you learn the more you network people the more you can add to your resume. I apologize that my grammar is bad but I just want to put my experience out there so that people can perhaps take some clues from it so. Apply for a hundred jobs and expect few calls back, work the numbers.

I graduated from ITT-Technical Institute, and like most private vocational schools, it's high rent but my problem has not been finding a job my problem was finding one that paid enough to live on. It took about 8 months after graduation until I found a job that meet the criteria. If I were young and did'nt have a family or responsibility I would've just took what was available when it was offered. It is exhausting looking for work it is at times depressing, I'm thankful that while I was attending school and looking for other work I had a job at a metal factory where i had worked for a total of 10 years. My biggest hurdle during the interviews was not lack of knowledge but rather the lack of being able to convince the interviewer that a gruff blue collar shop worker has the ability and soft skills to get along in an office environment. While no I am not a difficult person to get along with, I felt like at times that having a job on my resume that I worked for over 10 years was actually going against me. I got a job as a remote support specialist through leaning on friends who work at the company. I meet these friends through local networking opportunities like ISSA, Tech Birmingham, Ect. My advice to job seekers is to seek out opportunities to network in your local area and attend them. also look into organizational memberships like ISSA, student memberships are cheap and can be money well spent.