IT Support Technician

IT Support Technicians help to find and fix software and hardware problems, or any incident that is disrupting the IT systems or services that business users depend on. Usually they will work on incidents that have been escalated from front line support on the service desk. Crucially the systems are live, and so the issues usually need prompt attention. Being able to stay calm and work under pressure is vital.

Duties are likely to vary from one organization to the next. Alongside incident resolution, IT Support Technicians may assist with other jobs including administration, monitoring and maintenance of systems, and installation and upgrades.

IT Support Technicians need a wide knowledge of the systems they are responsible for, the problems they tend to have and how to fix them.

Maintaining IT for a large organizations often requires a dedicated staff with specialists, in for example, networks, databases or servers. Specialization offers a route for career progression for IT support technicians.

Typical Tasks

  • Identify software and hardware problems and repair
  • Perform regular maintenance on hardware and software components
  • Run diagnostic programs or use test equipment to locate source of problems
  • Communicate effectively with end users and customer management
  • Maintain security and functionality through application of program temporary fixes.

Potential Next Steps

Application Support Specialist, Network Support Specialist, Hardware Support Specialist, Incident Manager.

How to get there

AXELOS professional certifications are recognized worldwide by employers as an indicator of your skills and commitment as an ITSM professional. 

The following certifications are aimed at practicing IT Support Technician and will support your development into more senior ITSM roles:

Service Operation / Operational Support and Analysis

  • Support service components
  • Execute operation control activities to manage and deliver services
  • Maintain user satisfaction with IT services
  • Determine the appropriate control action for events
  • Ensure actions for events are communicated to the appropriate functions
  • Automatically detect incidents before an outage occurs
  • Enhance business perception of IT through use of a professional approach.

Learn More About Service Operation

Learn More About Operational Support and Analysis

Continual Service Improvement

  • Identify opportunities for improving services, processes and tools
  • Reduce the cost of providing services
  • Ensure that IT services enable the required business outcomes
  • Identify what needs to be measured, analyzed and reported for improvement.

Learn More About Continual Service Improvement

ITIL Practitioner

  • Apply the nine ITSM guiding principles in a real world context
  • Apply the Continual Service Improvement (CSI) approach as a way to structure improvement initiatives
  • Enhance continual service improvement activity through:
    • Organisational Change Management
    • Improved communication
    • Better use of Measurement and Metrics

Learn More About ITIL Practitioner