# Internship



## DiogoMatos (Apr 12, 2010)

Hi there.
I'm currently in an internship program in an university's IT support team. We basically solve any problems that faculty and workers come across.
Thing is, the tech that's supervising me has taught me lots of stuff, and has reminded me of stuff i've forgotten over the years (I sort of lost touch with IT over the last two three years) but he says that i should try to be pro active and tell him what i want to learn. Which i sometimes have some difficulty with. I have been learning exponentially since i started, but you always get the feeling i could learn even more. What i wanted to ask you guys, was if there are stuff you can think of, which you think might be useful for a young future support tech. I have a very strong desire to learn, which has been really useful, so if you remember anything, don't be shy  i'm open to all sort of ideas
Thanks in advance


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

do you have any IT certifications? if not look at compTIA A+,N+ and Microsofts MCDST.

You should get a basic idea and practice of all areas of IT, i.e software and hardware plus with the experience you are getting once you have those certs and a bit more IT experience then you can progress and by then you will have a better understanding of where you want to specialize in.

You may find that at some point you are really interested in networking and once you have experience you could be a network administrator and go for a cert like the MCSA and then you may progress to supporting servers in a networked environment and could get the MCSE or you may find that doing a bit of everything is what you like best so getting thhe MCTIP would be a good idea once you have the experience.


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## Madcatz (Apr 15, 2008)

If he's willing to teach and your looking to be like a desktop support or help desk person, then ask to learn about the different kinds of OS installs, like Sysprep, RIS images, and unattended installs. Also a good thing to learn is Active Directory, alot of help desk people deal with user accounts in AD and sometimes resource permissions for users.

Add this with what greenbrucelee said about certifications and it will help you a ton in taking the certification tests if you plan on going that route.

As for areas you could get involved in and use the experience your getting now, desktop support tech, help desk, network engineer, network admin, virtualization (VMware), and possible network security.


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## DiogoMatos (Apr 12, 2010)

Thank you for your replies.
@greenbrucelee: No, at this moment I do not have any certifications, however I am strongly considering following that path. Can you tell me out of those you mentioned, which one would be best to begin? Networking is probably what I would like to pursue.
@madcatz: Following your advice, I have been getting myself familiar with AD, and like you said, it's an important item in my "job".
Also I've been learning about the different kinds of installing OS. Next thing I'll do is probably ask about VMware.

Once again, thank you very much for your help


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## tlhoward2 (Apr 20, 2010)

The Comptia's A+ certification is a great first cert. It will teach you the basics of the hardware of a computer and then go some about the operating systems. Knowing how everything works is the first step to identify a problem. 
You can then move on to network + (another comptia cert) which will go into depth of computer networking. If you are starting out I would recommend getting an old computer that you can break down and actually "play" with it, without damaging a working one, if you have never got to break apart a computer. 
Good luck on your newly chose path, career, and/or hobby.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

what he said ^


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## DiogoMatos (Apr 12, 2010)

At highschool (I live in Portugal) my course was IT. Which means some general subjects such as English, Portuguese, Math, Physics, and some other more specific. We had a whole year of Databases (SQL, Access), a semester of Autocad, C, Visual Basic. We had some fun projects such as preparing a room for network access. So I'm kinda used to assembling/disassembling computers, in addition to having some other computer skills. Nothing too advanced though. Wiring ethernet cables, assembling computers (like I said above), configuring Windows, and sorting out basic problems on my own. Which is what I have been doing since I started the internship.
But like you probably have picked up from this thread, I want to turn it up a notch. I am currently finishing a University course in a totally unrelated path (I have since regretted enrolling in this course but I'd like to finish it anyway) and right now my goals would be to gain more experience in IT and also landing this job (If all goes well I hope that in a few months this internship will become a real job)
So from my understanding, comptia is a good start. Should I look at Microsoft certifications in the future as well?
Thank you very much by the way, you have been very helpful)


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

after compTIA A+ and N+ you can do Microsofts MCDST (microsoft desktop support technician) and the vista upgrade exam but you should not go any further in Microsoft certs until you have proper on the job experience.

Having high level Microsoft certs without on the job experience can damage you career prospects.

You can actually start looking for jobs before you complete any certs, the on the job experience will help you progress in your certs faster.


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