Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Best Practices

1) Ask Questions

• Ask good questions to get more information about the problem.
• IT Support is about working in the service of others. Always try to create a positive experience for the user.

2) Isolating the Problem

• Shrink the scope of the Problem by asking good questions and looking at root cause.

3) Follow the Cookie Crumbs

• Go back to the time when the issue started.
• Look at the logs at time of crash.
• Start with the Quickest Step First

4) Troubleshooting Pitfalls to Avoid

• Going into autopilot mode.
• Not finding the Root Cause.

Troubleshooting

The ability to diagnose and resolve an issue.

Root Cause

The main factor that is causing a range of issues.

Customer Service

Intro to Soft Skills

• Build the trust between you and the User.

• Know the Company Policies about handling support request.

  Following are some important features for IT Support.

• Exhibiting empathy
• Being conscious of your tone
• Acknowledge the Person
• Developing the trust

Anatomy of an Interaction

• Learn to say “Hello” in a friendly way.
• Good grammar during text/email support.
• Just be professional, acknowledge the user, and show them some respect.
• Respond to User Questions nicely.
• Just clarify the issue beforehand while going for troubleshooting steps.
• During a remote support session, tell the user when you are running certain commands.
• The last five minutes of the process set the overall impact, so end on positive terms with the user.

  How to Deal with Difficult Situations

• What you face a difficult situation, relax, and think about what went wrong? How are you feeling? What was your reaction? Why did you raise your voice? Discuss with your peers the situation and get their feedback.
• Try to be alerted, when interaction goes sideways, and redirect the conversation.
• Try to see things from others people’s point of view.

Documentation

Ticketing Systems and Documenting Your Work

Some ticketing systems help track the user issues.

• Bugzilla
• JIRA

• Redmine

  Using the ticketing system and documentation is important for two reasons.

• It keeps the user in the loop.
• It helps you audit your steps in case you need to go back and see what you did.

Tickets

A common way of documenting an issue.

Bugs

Issues with the system that weren’t caused by an external source.

System and processes are always changing, so should your documentation.

Always write documentation that is easy to read and follow for your user.

Getting Through a Technical Interview

Standing Out from the Crowd

• Make sure you have a good and updated online presence and fine-grained resume to stand out from the crowd.
• Research about the company you are applying for.

Resume

Your resume is your first introduction to a new company.

• If you are a new graduate, or are still studying, you’ll want to include a few additional details, like interesting projects that you did during your studying or highlight an elective subject that you took. After a few years of professional experience, though, you may simply include the degree, year, and location.
• Functional or skill based resume format works fresh graduates or candidates with limited work experience: The focus of this format is more around your skill set, rather than your work experience. You can include a brief summary of qualifications, followed by a list of skills with examples for each. This format works well for candidates with less employment history, but lots of applicable skills.
• For relevant skills. You want to include the general topics that you are knowledgeable about, as in customer support, networking, system administration, programming, etc. You may list the Operating Systems that you’ve worked with and the programming languages that you are skilled in, but don’t try to list every networking protocol you’ve heard about or every IT tool that you’ve ever used. The noise distracts from the relevant information.
• Regardless of the format you decide to use (chronological, functional, etc.), make sure you keep the format and structure consistent throughout. For example, if you use full sentences for your bullets, be sure to use that format for all of them and include proper punctuation and grammar. Check your font sizes and styles to ensure those are consistent as well.

Tailoring the resume

• Good practice to check if your resume match with the job description.
• Tailor your resume to each job you are applying for.
• Add your relevant experience for the job, no matter where you got if from.

Your online Presence

• Keep your linked-in and other social media up-to-date
• Writing a summary that tell both your current role (if applicable) and your career aspiration.
• LinkedIn profiles are much more in depth than resumes. You can include specific accomplishments from as many roles as you like, but use the same format as your resume (Action Verb + specific task + quantifiable point).
• Adding in personal projects can also be helpful, especially if you have something tangible to show from it. For example, if you’ve created an application, a website, or similar type of product as part of a hobby or school project, include it and provide a link to it.
• Just like a resume, list your skills, your experience and what you are looking for as your next step. Make sure that you include all the relevant background information that a recruiter looking at your profile might be interested in. Make sure you are descriptive, don’t assume the reader will have context.

  Getting Ready for the Interview

• Mock Interview: Pretending that you are in an interview, even if it is not real, will help you perform your best.
• Practice to explain ideas for non-technical audience will make you better equipped for an interview.
• Actively listen to the other person, maintaining eye-contact. Ask relevant questions.
• Don’t try to memorize the answers, just try to practice with different conceptual approaches to get better at explaining stuff.
• You can memorize your Elevator Pitch.

Elevator Pitch

A short summary of who you are and what kind of career you are looking for.

Creating Your Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is a short description of yourself. The name comes from the fact that you want it to be so short that you can deliver it to someone that you are meeting in an elevator ride.

• The goal of the elevator pitch is to explain who you are, what you do, and why the other person should be interested in you.
• In an interviewing context, you want to be able to quickly define who you are, what your current role is and what your future goals are.
• Remember that you want to keep it personal, you want to get the attention of the other person and let them know why they are interested in you.

Examples

• 1) If you are a student, you will want to include what and where you are studying, and what you are looking to do once you have graduated.

Hi! I’m Jamie, I’m in my senior year at Springfield University, studying Computer Science. I enjoy being able to help people and solve problems, so I’m looking forward to putting my tech skills into practice by working as an IT Support Specialist after I graduate.

• 2) If you already have a job, looking for a change. You will include what you do and what different you are looking for.

Hi! I’m Ellis, I’ve been working at X Company as an IT Support Specialist for the past two years. During those years, I’ve learned a lot about operating systems and networking, and I’m looking to switch to a system administrator position, where I can focus on large scale deployments.

What to Expect During the Technical Interview

• A good Interviewer may push you to the limits of your knowledge.
• If you don’t know the answer, don’t say just say, I don’t know; Rather explain how would you solve it by going around it.
• Having a good problem-solving strategy is more important than knowing all the answers.
• If the question is a bit complex, think out loud to keep the interviewer on your thought train, and before going straight into the solution, break into pieces.
• When you mention concepts or technologies, you should be ready to explain them and articulate why you may choose one thing over another.
• It is OK, and even expected, to ask the interviewer follow-up questions to ensure that the problem is correctly framed.
• Take notes when an issue involves many steps, but don’t feel the necessity to write everything during an interview.

Showing Your Best Self During the Interview

• Take a good sleep at night.
• Don’t try to cram information at the last minute.
• Ask for pen and paper for notes during an interview.
• Be sure to fully present for the duration of the interview.
• Be yourself.
• Ask questions about the things that you care about.
• Remember to slow down.