IT Technician

Zebedee69

Hello,

I ran a search for this but couldnt find anything so I thought Id ask.

What do you need to land an IT Technician job? Is there a specific qualification or is it mostly down to experience? If so how many years and doing what?

Iv seen a job advert and im thinking of applying but wanted to know more first.

Conor_3

Experience nowadays. Once upon a time a MCSE was a guaranteed certificate of employment. Thanks to a raft of people who passed the tests with no real world experience, it became worthless.
If you're not going to software programming/website route, you need a good grounding in networking, ability to fault find hardware problems and to resolve Windows and Office problems. Bespoke software problems are less of a requirement, unless it's the NHS or local authority, as such companies will train you on that anyway.

If you're wanting in with little experience, look at trainee helpdesk.

Reggie_Rebel

Certainly if you are going down the website route, you'll need at least one current site that a potential employer can see

tom9980

I would quite like to know myself right now i have an AVCE in ICT, Comptia A+ certified and got my Comptia Network+ certification yesterday my experience is limited to family/friends and about a year volunteer work refurbishing PC's and Laptops for a charity.

I would expect to be starting at the bottom if i was able to work full time for an IT department for a reasonably sized company or organisation. Experience definitely trumps qualifications but i would expect applicants to have some relevant qualifications.

London_Exile

The Comptia certs have come back into vogue recently, so thats always a good starting point. However, please bear in mind that certs alone will not get you the job. Most interview for a technicla IT post will consist of a technical test, be it in front of a PC or a paper based questionaire.

I would say that there is a whole world of difference from supporting friends and family and then working in a commercial environment. You'll be dealing with different issues; Corporate LAN's, server shares, IP Addressing, etc. Not to mention that you'll be expected to do tresolve these problems to SLA's. But, because you have at least some experience of support it will stand you in very good stead.

And I'll agree with Conor, a junior helpdesk post is always a good way in.

BTW, whats the AVCE? I've never heard of that one before.