CompTIA A+: Learning to Think Like an IT Pro

“I can’t get on the network,” is another common – and frustrating – issue for end users. Both the cause and the resolution can be one of many – hardware, software, network connections, security issues. Two users could report the same problem and require very different resolutions it certification jobs.

While diagnosing and addressing a network connectivity issue certainly requires understanding hard tech facts, like the difference between TCP and UDP ports and their purposes, there's not a single schematic that tells the whole story to an IT pro doing the work.

Manufacturers build things differently, different device models vary in how they're built and computers can have innate design flaws that cause problems. Approaching network connectivity problems can take a combination of next-gen knowledge and old-fashioned elbow grease to fix. Figuring everything out can take some intuition and some artistry on the part of a help desk pro.  

CompTIA A+ Exam Objective Core 1 (220-1001) 2.0 Networking   

Get Ready to Get CompTIA A+

You have many training options to help you prepare for your CompTIA A+ exam, including self-study materials, virtual labs, videos, online classes and in-person career prep classes. In 2020, CompTIA Tech Career Academy is bringing its IT-Ready Technical Support program to classrooms, so that students get the training they need to earn CompTIA A+ and launch their IT careers on the help desk.

Learn More about the CompTIA Tech Career Academy.

Creative Researching and Knowing Where to Look

No help desk pro has every fact about every computer committed to memory – and not every problem that arises is something you can learn studying for an exam. For instance, if a particular operating system recently received a patch that began to cause conflicts with a software package, that’s a development that no one can really anticipate.

Part of the creative problem solving the help desk does involves identifying what might be going wrong and knowing where to look to find a fix. Knowing which online user community to visit or what YouTube tutorial might hold an answer to an emerging problem is key to implementing the right solution. Help desk technicians need to be resourceful in finding the answers they don’t know off the top of their heads.

CompTIA A+ Exam Objective Core 2 (220-1002) 3.0 Software Troubleshooting and 4.0 Operational Procedure   

CompTIA A+: Learning to Think Like an IT Pro

Whether an IT pro is thinking through the questions an end user is asking, diagnosing an issue or researching a glitch on the fly, these tasks all demand creative thinking as much as they require someone who understands the nuts and bolts of IT.

Tech knowledge is crucial, but it’s knowing what to do with that knowledge that makes IT pros successful. Help desk work can be challenging, but it takes a lot of thinking, and that can mean a lot of fun – and a lot of satisfaction with a job well done.