An IT Support Specialist provides support to both the internal network of a business and also provides support to external clients who access the internal network via the Internet or through other means. These professionals are usually found in information technology departments in companies. In some cases they will also be located in a third party organization that provides such support for a fee. Most times an IT specialist will specialize in particular areas of computer support.
In most cases a Computer Support Specialist is located in the IT department of a company.
These specialists can be located in different locations as well. These specialists can either work for an individual company or they may work for a larger corporation.
The most important skill for these specialists is information technology knowledge. Most IT specialists will require at least a bachelor’s degree in information technology. Some of the more popular degrees are computer engineering, information systems, computer science, and accounting. It is important that these specialists have core skills in these areas in order to be successful in their position.
There are many different specialized roles that an IT specialist job description may describe. The most common is hardware support. The job description will state that the specialist must help provide information technology hardware that is in need of repair or replacement. In some cases they may also provide hardware upgrades for existing customers.
Other duties that an IT specialist may perform include training and educating others on the use of Microsoft Windows. This includes information technology students who are required to complete a course on using the operating system of Microsoft. This is necessary in order to understand how the program works and how to work around it when it is not functioning correctly. The specialist will also train individuals on how to troubleshoot hardware problems that involve computers with specific components. These technical support specialists are often responsible for training computer system technicians who will be needed once a computer system is fully functional again.
Many technical support specialists will also help with troubleshooting hardware that is more complex.
One of the duties of this kind of professional is the creation of a troubleshooting plan or process. The plan will be used to determine what steps need to be taken in order to correct the issue that a user is having with their computer hardware. For some IT specialist jobs there will even be an entry-level position that can be filled. This position will be a combination of support specialist and an entry-level technical support specialist.
- IT support specialists are also expected to possess some communication skills.
- The way that this job is defined means that it includes a combination of information technology and basic communication skills.
- A support specialist job description will state that it is a job that requires someone to be able to effectively communicate with computer hardware that is under maintenance.
In order to perform this job, the person needs to be skilled in both the basic technical knowledge of hardware and communication skills.
An IT support specialist job can take several forms. For some positions the individual will work solely with end-users on computer issues. On other occasions the IT specialist may be required to work directly with equipment manufacturers or system integrators. Many times a person who is entering this field will learn both disciplines while attending a college that specializes in information technology. Other professionals who have an IT support specialist job title are also likely to have a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, or engineering.