The increasing rise in the usage of technological hardware and software by organization, in terms of complexity and features, demands the experience of individuals and professionals that will provide answers to end users questions. This is the work of the computer support specialist. They are like the “customer care agents” of most organizations, providing help and support to end-users.
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Computer support specialists are experienced and knowledgeable professionals who provide help and advice to computer users and organizations. They tend to respond to the query, questions and challenges of end users of organization’s software and hardware products. It is important to really understand “who a computer support specialist is?” if one is to choose this career path. This is what this guide seeks to provide; to show you all you need to know about the Computer Support Specialist.
What is a Computer Support Specialist?
At one point in time or the other, almost everyone has been fed up in frustration after what seem to be somewhat a million failed attempts to log into their computer system or experienced difficulties, battling with a router to setup a home network. When one decides to eventually reach out on the phone to seek assistance and guide to these issues, the person who typically answers on the other end of the phone is the Computer Support Specialist.
Computer support specialists are professionals who help fix difficulties or challenges arising from the usage of a computer system or network, including operating system and software malfunctions, log-in difficulties, and sometimes even when one needs to fix internal issues, which require opening up the laptop or pc with a screwdriver.
The people in this line of work tend to exhibit high level of communication skills due to the number of emails, phone calls, face-to-face meetings and even chats they engage with customers on a daily basis. The success of each of these conversations and queries depends on how well they answer the questions and respond properly to the customers. They often need to be attentive to details, as they seek to understand customer’s needs and provide succor or relief to these needs or impending questions, through step-by-step guides or instructions. This makes them highly useful in the successful operation of most business and organizations.
The primary goal of the computer support specialist is to provide succor and assistance to customers in a polite and friendly manner, irrespective of the tech environment they are placed to work. This makes them highly useful in a variety of setting, including traditional offices, call center and even in universities. For the computer support specialist, speed and politeness in responding to customer’s questions is core essence. They make customers become attracted to the products and services of organizations and businesses due to the way and manner they respond to them.
Computer support specialists in operation are usually of two categories viz:
a. The computer user support specialist
b. The computer network support specialist
The computer user support specialist is more concerned with providing support and assistance in matters relating to everyday user experience with products and services of organizations, whether software or hardware. They are more interested in responding to Instead to general requests for assistance by end user. They are also called help-desk technicians and aid to provide usually technical assistance to non-IT computer users. They typically respond to phone and email requests from users for assistance. They can also make visits to help solve a problem in person for an end-user, other than providing assistance to them remotely.
On the other hand, the computer network support specialists specialize more in matters relating to computer network and network-related issues. Their work of assistance are more internalized within the organization, rather than the public or customers, often coming from employees within the organization or workplace. They often help to troubleshoot the organization’s computer network to discover impending problems as well as provide constant maintenance to ensure proper functioning of all the components of the network system. This they tend to do in a timely and assistive manner.
Job outlook and Salary structure of Computer support Specialist
The recent rise in the adoption of cloud computing services by organizations has brought a great demand for computer support specialist. According to the America Bureau of Statistics, the growth employment rate for computer support specialist is projected to rise to 9.6 percent between 2018 and 2028. This makes an estimated number of about 83,100 jobs to be projected to open up in this field during this period of time.
This projected increase also stems up from the fact that more support services will be needed by organizations as they upgrade their software and hardware equipment. Even at the moment, a typical computer support specialist often tend to work longer hours than the average occupation as they are needed to provide support for customers within a 24 hour day period. As a result, many of them tend to work nights or weekends.
The salary structure of the computer support specialist is as follows; the median annual wage for computer network support specialists is $63,460. While that for the computer user support specialists is $52,270.
What Computer Support Specialists Do?
The duties of the computer support specialists aside providing aid and assistance to compute users and organizations are as follows;
They provide training services to users to work on the usage of new computer hardware or software, such as printers, email and word-processors.
They aid to test and provide routine checks for existing network systems, to ensure they are working and functioning properly.
They help provide assistance to customers’ descriptions of their computer problem in a polite and friendly manner.
They also engage in asking customers questions in a bid to properly diagnose the problems
They also aid to set up or repair computer equipment and related devices.
They also provide troubleshooting services such as troubleshooting of local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and Internet systems.
How to Become a Computer Support Specialist
Due to the wide range of skills used in different computer support jobs, there are often many paths to coming into the field. Most organizations require a bachelor’s degree from applicants applying for a computer specialist position. However, an associate’s degree or postsecondary classes is just enough for some other organizations.
