MCDST & HDI Help/Tips

Joshua312 · 07-17-06, 01:23

Hello, alright here is the situation I am currently 19 years old and a university here in West Michigan. I just recently decalared my major as Computer Information systems with a web design specialty. My main interest is in Help Desk Support. I would love to get into a position with a business helping departments out with software and desktop issues via the phone, email, and in person. Looking at the current options in my area after completing my degree I want to get into a program locally to certify myself and put me a step ahead of other possible candidates. I was just wondering if anyone has any input on the Help Desk Institues program for training for A+, MCDST, and HDI certifications. While it will pack on more of a bill than just a bachelors degree; I believe it will be worth it in the long run. Now that I know what I want to do...Im dying to get done with all the school-work so I can start a career

Here is a link to the program I am looking into:
New Horizons Computer Learning Centers - Help Desk Certification

Anyone working in a position in Desktop/Helpdesk support...Does my plan look good? Is there anything else I should do; or can do currently to help prepare myself and learn more?

Also, has anyone ever completed training at New Horizons Computer Learning Centers? Could you share your input?

Thank you to everyone who respond!

docker · 07-17-06, 02:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua312

Hello, alright here is the situation I am currently 19 years old and attend Davenport University here in West Michigan. I just recently decalared my major as Computer Information systems with a web design specialty. My main interest is in Help Desk Support. I would love to get into a position with a business helping departments out with software and desktop issues via the phone, email, and in person. Looking at the current options in my area after completing my degree I want to get into a program locally to certify myself and put me a step ahead of other possible candidates. I was just wondering if anyone has any input on the Help Desk Institues program for training for A+, MCDST, and HDI certifications. While it will pack on more of a bill than just a bachelors degree; I believe it will be worth it in the long run. Now that I know what I want to do...Im dying to get done with all the school-work so I can start a career

Here is a link to the program I am looking into:
http://www.newhorizons.com/content/c...=96&coll_id=14

Anyone working in a position in Desktop/Helpdesk support...Does my plan look good? Is there anything else I should do; or can do currently to help prepare myself and learn more?

Also, has anyone ever completed training at New Horizons Computer Learning Centers? Could you share your input?

Thank you to everyone who respond!

Most of my IT background has been in building and/or running large Help Desks and Service Desks. I love your initiative and interest in providing IT customer service, and think your plan of attack is a good way to get the certs and background that should be appealing to IT management.

Now, another thing to consider is going after an ITIL Foundations certification. ITIL is a framework of IT/IS best practices of processes (Incident, Problem, Change, Capacity, Avaibility, etc), how to integrate them, and how to implement. While your plan of attack will give you hands-on experience and expertise, an ITIL approach will give you a "how everything should run", in terms of effecient processes and procedures.

You can learn more at www.itsmfusa.org. Also, there are tons of training vendors that have info on their site. www.itsmacademy.com is a good place to pick up additional info as well. I have my PMP, ITIL and some other designations and also teach certification classes for the tech consulting company where I work. Oh, if you are interested in ITIL, then at the 2nd site I mentioned there is a real good book that will help you prep - Foundations of IT Service Management Based on ITIL. Or, New Horizons probably can assist you with ITIL, but at a higher cost.

Joshua312 · 07-17-06, 02:57

Thank you very much for the information!! I visited that second site and it has a wealth of information! Im looking at the the book you mentioned and it looks interesting, I might just have to pick that up! For $50 it can help me decide whether to take the foundations course at New Horizions or not. I was also wondering, are there any books out there that talk about common problems and how to deal/fix them? I know I will probably learn about them in my courses...but Im always looking for a way to get ahead to get a little more knowledge before I get into the classroom. I'll have to stop at Barnes and Noble and see if they have any good helpdesk books as well. Thanks again for the help!

Docker: Is it correct for me to assume that in the Help Desk field in IT there is a high demand and it is growing? I would love to get in internship/job right after my certification if possible...or do you think it could be a little bit just waiting for a positon to arise?

Joshua312 · 08-05-06, 07:30

If anyone is interested in learning more about Help Desk and Troubleshooting I would highly reccomend Microsoft's Self Paced Training Kit geared towards DST's The book is very interesting, teaches you how to deal with end users, what steps to follow, questions and answers. It is meant to use for an exam prep but I am finding it very useful for getting a head start on researching the career I want to get into, as well as understanding the job tasks. I am currently reading the "Supporting Users and Troubleshooting Desktop Applications on Windows XP" the other book they have is on Troubleshooting Operating Systems. I can't put this book down...if you're a computer nut I give it

paradigm · 08-05-06, 08:14

Quote:

teaches you how to deal with end users

hehe...sorry...that quote made me laugh. i work in IT (on a HD for 4 years...now network engineer) and thought of some end user stories while reading this.

yes, ITIL is definitely becoming more and more prominent in the HD area. many of the people on my company's HD are working on and/or finishing up varying levels of the ITIL certs.

my .02 for you would be to first decide if you want to shoot for management quickly, or a technical role first...THEN move into management. i've always felt that good managers (of any field) need to be experts of what they are managing...not just of people. i'm sure some will disagree, but i feel it helps a manager understand what is going on, etc.

SO, with that said, it may be of more benefit for you to focus on technical training in order to get into a company that will give you experience (A+, Security+ from CompTIA, MCP, MCSA, etc). once you're in a company they will hopefully provide some type of training budget that pays for the other add-on certs you want. perfect world is you are getting experience and more certs ON THEIR TIME AND MONEY.

good luck!

Joshua312 · 08-05-06, 08:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by paradigm

SO, with that said, it may be of more benefit for you to focus on technical training in order to get into a company that will give you experience (A+, Security+ from CompTIA, MCP, MCSA, etc). once you're in a company they will hopefully provide some type of training budget that pays for the other add-on certs you want. perfect world is you are getting experience and more certs ON THEIR TIME AND MONEY.

good luck!

Trust me I wish I could find a book teaching me the techincal side, unfortunately I cannot find one so I have to wait until my classes start back up. I can't wait until I can go through the certification process. I want to get my certification with MCDST and A+ for sure!

This book however is keeping me busy while Im waiting for those classes to start. It talks a little bit about the basics of what I can do to solve basic problems etc..but I want to know more. If you cant tell I really want to get a head start haha

I plan on working Help Desk for a couple years, then if it allows hopefully moving up to management. Do you know of any other books that may prove useful to keep me busy? Thanks!

Back to reading about Msconfig

paradigm · 08-05-06, 08:41

go to http://www.microsoft.com/support and look for topics that interest you...there will be more than you will ever want to read there. white papers, how-to's, troubleshooting, etc. (same applies to most major companies...Microsoft, Cisco, etc)

for general overview books you may want to try the "For Dummies" series. nope, i'm not kidding. i read MANY of them when i was starting out and they are great for getting the big picture of various technologies and a little in-depth on some. "Networking for Dummies", "Windows 2003 Server for Dummies", "Windows XP for Dummies", etc.

now, if you want to jump right in and get to it...check out the technical books by Mark Minasi. i love his writing style (not dry...throws in a joke here and there, etc). many refer to his "Mastering Windows 2003 Server" book as the bible. hehehe. Amazon has tons of books by him. oh, and the books are usually well over 1,000 pages. that'll keep you busy!

another idea for you. get two or three pc's set up so you can use them as a test lab. as you go through the books make sure to PRACTICE what they are describing. best way to learn, IMHO.

Joshua312 · 08-05-06, 08:48

Thanks for the help, I will look into those books you talked about, and that website was just discussed in the last chapter I read along with Microsoft's Technet website. Im going to do a search on Amazon and try to find some of Mark Minasi's books. I just had a computer die out on me this past weekend so maybe if I can get that up and running it can be my test computer, heck...even without an internet connection to it I could do a lot of testing with the applications and operating system....Thanks for the help!! Do you think if I run a chkdsk /F on the computer it might fix whatever got at it?

ifoam · 08-05-06, 09:14

joshua, what's your problem? chkdsk /F might not fix it, but it wouldn't hurt to try

Joshua312 · 08-05-06, 09:22

Well my sister came to me telling me that the computer started typing numbers instead of letters, so I just thought she maybe had something selected she wasnt suppose to. Well I go down there and the computer is typing by itself and then when I tried to look at files to see if I could find anything the computer shut itself off, I booted back up and it did the same thing. I unplugged everything from the wall and just told my mom to get a new computer for cheap since my sister only uses it for the internet. The last time we had our computer looked at because of a virus it costed us $150, so instead of dealing with it we just bought a new one. I'll try to connect the computer tonight without giving it internet connection, however I dont even know where to start to keep it from doing more damage or to find out where my problem lies. I doubt the chkdsk will do anything as the problem is probably greater than fixing it by doing a simply scan/fix command.

ifoam · 08-05-06, 09:33

boot up in safe mode and see if it still happens in safe mode.

since your saying the keyboard is typing numbers instead of letters, i would say maybe the keyboard got water in it? try to change it out with a known working one.

next, i would use the file signature verification tool (sfc /scannow)

next, i would run hijack this! and post the log here

Joshua312 · 08-05-06, 09:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by ifoam

boot up in safe mode and see if it still happens in safe mode.

since your saying the keyboard is typing numbers instead of letters, i would say maybe the keyboard got water in it? try to change it out with a known working one.

next, i would use the file signature verification tool (sfc /scannow)

next, i would run hijack this! and post the log here

We tried a different keyboard and same situation

Is hijack this! a command to enter in run?