Google IT Support’s first course titled “Technical Support Fundamentals” starts with an explanation of the need for IT Specialists and what the course offers. Our tutors are;
- Kevin Limehouse (Support Specialist)
- Victor Escobedo (Corporate Operations Engineer)
- Cindy Quach (Site Reliability Engineer)
- Devan Sri-Tharan (Corporate Operations Engineer)
- Gian Spicuzza (Program Manager in Android Security)
- Marti Clark (Technical Operations Manager)
- Rob Clifton (Program Manager)
- Phelan Vendeville (Systems Engineer)
Week One
Week one is titled “Introduction to IT.” Kevin Limehouse explores what and who an IT Specialist is; he introduces us to the history of computers, making us understand what binary (1 and 0) is and how the computer uses it in communication. He explores bytes and character encoding.
Week Two
Week two is titled “Hardware.” Devan Sri-Tharan helps us explore the different computer peripherals and internal circuitry of the system unit, explaining the different parts found in it (the computer memory, the power supply, the motherboard, the hard drive, etc.); he tutors us also on transfer speeds, basic input output system (BIOS). He takes us through the process of putting a system unit together by installing the diverse components, connecting the peripheral devices, and booting it up the computer system.
Kevin Limehouse also explains the hardware of mobile devices, their batteries, and repairs.
Week Three
Week three is titled “Operating System.” Cindy Quach takes us on this topic. She speaks on different operating systems, including macOS, Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS. She shows us a little about remote connection using Secure Shell (SSH) by using PuTTY (an open-source software) to remotely connect with another computer system. She explicitly explains the components part of the operating system, which are;
- User Space
- Kernel Space (comprising process manager, memory manager, file manager, and the input and output manager)
She also takes us on what a GUI (graphic user interface) and a shell is all about; the importance of logs, and the booting process. Cindy explains to us what a virtual machine is (which allows running multiple operating systems on a single personal computer) and takes us through the process of installing Windows and Linux operating systems. This week ends with the introduction of Qwiklabs, which allows for simulation of the Linux and Windows operating systems. Kevin Limehouse comes in to explain mobile device operating systems.
Week Four
Week four is titled “Networking.” Victor Escobedo takes us through the basics of networking. He makes us understand that the internet is the interconnection of computers around the world. He explains and differentiates the internet from the web. He goes further to explain how the internet works, the use of TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) and the MAC address.
Gian Spicuzza comes in to speak on the history of the internet, IPv4 and IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version Six), Network Address Translation (NAT). He further speaks on the internet of things (IoT, which is the communication between devices), and the need for greater security and privacy as tech improves, to prevent cyber attacks.
Week Five
Week five is titled “Software.” Phelan Vendeville explains to us the concepts of coding, scripting, and programming. He speaks on commercial and non-commercial software (open-source), and the different types of software (firmware, system, and application software). He brings to understanding the concept of software versioning, assembly language, compiled programming language, and interpreted language. He also takes us through the process of installing, updating, and removing software on Windows and Linux Operating Systems.
Week Six
Week six is titled “Troubleshooting”, Marti Clark helps us understand the importance of communication with customers facing technical issues, the need to ask questions, show empathy and sympathy, and how to handle difficult situations. She takes us through various scenarios an IT Specialist could face in real life, how we can effectively handle such problems. She also guides on isolating an issue and using the quickest step first to solve the issue when there are multiple ways to go about solving the issue. She brings to light how documentation of solved issues helps in saving time and helping coworkers who are faced with solving similar issues.
Rob Clifton comes in to advise us on writing a resume, preparing for interviews and things to expect, studying the values and mission statement of the company we apply to, and preparing our elevator speech.
The technical support fundamentals is an overview of what we are to expect in the remaining four Google IT Support courses.
Through the course’ videos on the tutors, personnel, and learners’ career paths and stories were featured to motivate learners.