IBM IT Support Professional Certificate
The IBM IT Support Professional Certificate is a program offered by IBM on Coursera, comprising of seven courses, each with their own separate modules focusing on different aspects of IT support.
These types of roles also act as very good entry-level jobs into cyber security, in addition to their importance in their own right.
What is IT support ?
IT Support
IT support sometimes referred to as technical support, has been around since the first mainframe computers, but is now more largely focused on companies and people, and their various devices which they may need help with.
IT support is crucially important for giving people reassurance that their problem can be solved, often remotely, and in such a way as not too compromise any of that systems.
Anyone working in IT support needs to have a good grasp of networking, cyber security, cloud computing, ticketing systems, a range of software programs, and different operating systems such as Windows, OSX, Linux etc.
IT support will not only cover desk top computers, but also laptops, tablets, smartphones, and all other types of devices, many of which are regularly used by both staff and clients in any organization.
IBM IT Support Professional Certificate Cost and Value
Coursera have a standard approach to the pricing of all their courses including this one, which starts with a seven-day free trial, followed by a monthly charge of £39/$39 for as long as the student is enrolled on the course.
This means that you can have a free seven day period to evaluate the course and see if it is sufficient to meet your needs, and then the overall cost of the course will depend on how long it takes the student to complete it.
It is worth comparing the content of the course with current job listings on the major employment sites such as Indeed, to see if the syllabus of the Certificate matches current job requirements.
IBM IT Support Professional Certificate Syllabus
This certificate is made up of seven different courses each with their own specific modules that feed into the overall learning objectives of the certificate. These are listed below :
- Introduction to technical support
- Introduction to hardware and operating systems
- Introduction to software, programming and databases
- Introduction to networking and storage
- Introduction to Cyber Security Essentials
- Introduction to Cloud computing
- Technical support case studies
These areas of study cover virtually all of the appropriate aspects of modern day computing, and should give any perspective student a very solid grounding and understanding of how they work together.
Jobs in IT support are not just about helping people with their problems, they are also about getting a good grasp of things such as ticking systems, remote working and how to generate a customer-friendly approach to problem solving.