15 Top IT Technician Skills to Succeed in your Career

This post provides exhaustive information on the major IT technician skills and qualities individuals working in that career need to develop to be highly effective in their job.

Please, read on:

The world has become quite digital and is now a global village, considering that a lot of activities now take place remotely between people across different regions of the world.

So, to stay relevant in today’s world, it is imperative that you get some good knowledge of how things work in the digital world.

One set of people that need to step up their IT knowledge are technicians in different fields.

An IT technician needs to be IT inclined to be able to catch up with demands from clients on daily basis.

Who is an IT Technician?

An IT technician is charged with the responsibility of installing and maintaining software and hardware devices and ensures usability of various components of the computer.

So from this, you can see that an IT technician have a whole lot to do.

To succeed as an IT technician, below are some good skills you need to know and work with:

Here are important IT technician skills and qualities to develop to increase your effectiveness on the job:

Computer skills
Critical thinking
Troubleshooting skills
Communication
Inspective skills
Proper documentation
Strategic planning
Problem solving skills
Data collection
Interacting with computers
Consultation
Advisory skills
Goal oriented
Software knowledge
Basic hardware knowledge.

Computer skills

This should be the number skill in your resume as an IT technician. Your computer skills should be top notch if you really wish to excel in your job.

An IT technician should be a guru in the computer world and not a novice.

He/she should be conversant with anything that has to do with computer starting from the software aspect of computer and the hardware aspect of it.

He/she should be able to exhibit satisfactory knowledge of the use of different software and hardware tools.

This is the first and the foremost skill because it paves way for other skills that will be explained after this.

This is compulsory and not something to baulk on. You should be up to date with latest computer technologies and not just what you were taught.

Critical thinking

A good IT technician must learn to think deeply through problems at hand and that will lead to popping up with the needed solutions.

This is an important skill to have as an IT technician. You have to think and not just see things the way they are.

Remember that this is one way to improve your problem solving skills. An IT technician is a critical thinker because the job description demands that this skill is used on daily basis.

There are lots of issues to think about when handling computers because it is a complex machine.

Sometimes, you have to critically examine the cause of some sounds, abnormal heat emissions, and other anomalies.

Like stated earlier, the computer is a complex device that you have to critically think things through before engaging in any operation on it.

Troubleshooting skills

There are many things that can make a computer malfunction. Sometimes, you may not be able to detect the cause of these problems except you engage in series of tests within the computer system to ascertain what the problem is.

This is what we call “Troubleshooting”.

Troubleshooting is one skill you should have if you really want to get to the root of the problem in question.

You have to run series of tests and sometimes you can visit some websites to get ideas and help from experts who might have meaningful advice on the problem you are experiencing.

To be a good troubleshooter, you have to study the various components of the computer and know the various sounds they make whenever they are faulty.

This will help you become more effective in troubleshooting problems related to computer operation.

Communication

An IT technician should be adept with communication and communication channels.

You have to relay your findings during troubleshooting and also offer helpful advice to your clients as to how best to operate their computers and what to do when it breaks down.

Also, the IT technician should understand basic computer languages to be able to decode some codes put forth by the computer when it is malfunctioning.

The producers of the computer have programmed it to give out error codes when some components are not functioning well.

So, the IT technician should be adept with some of these codes and should be able to interpret them.

This is the first step towards being an excellent troubleshooter. You have to study the codes as well as know what the computer suggests.

Inspective skills

Before using a computer, it is important to inspect the cables, the connections, and other things to make sure that everything is in place.

This will help prevent unexpected malfunctioning of the computer to an extent. You have to be critical about this.

Also, you have to inspect the state of the computer during operation.

You have to monitor sounds and the performance of the software and hardware during the computer operation.

This will also help in curbing the malfunctioning of the computer.

Lastly, you need to inspect the state of the computer after usage. It is a bad practice to ignore this.

You should be able to detect if the computer is overheating or somehow malfunctioning after usage. This will help you maintain the computer better.

Proper documentation

As a technician, you have to document your activities, especially when it has to do with any job you are doing with a computer.

You have to put it to writing and make sure that it clearly states the procedures of certain operations.

On this note, it means that you will need to have your personal note or diary to help you or someone else know what you are doing and the stage you are in your job.

Try to be detailed enough in your writing and let there be clarity without ambiguity.

After this, archive the document.

It is for future purpose and referencing.

When you are embarking on any form of technical work on a specific computer, try to document your work so that anyone else that may be interested in the job can know what to do.

Strategic planning

Before handling technical works on a computer, you have to make sure you have a definite and a well detailed plan and guideline on what you want to do.

You have to state clearly what you want to achieve and how you intend to achieve it.

This plan should be strategic in the sense that it should not disrupt work for a long time.

This means that you have to plan your way in such a way that you take up the job, plan it, and execute it without disruption to the timetable of your client.

In strategic planning, you will be able to manage time and make sure that activities go on as scheduled.

This will help you manage time and deliver an excellent job for your clients.

This is an important skill you need to have in your job.

Problem solving skills

The essence of troubleshooting is to know the root of the problem you have noticed in the operation of a computer system.

You find out the problem either through interpreting the error codes or discerning the beeping sounds you hear and also going online to search for information regarding the problems.

The next thing is to source for solution to the problem discovered by you or the client.

This is the time that your expertise or professionalism comes to play.

You have to employ your wealth of wisdom and previous work experience to bring about a lasting solution to the problem.

Understand that any computer related problem you are able to solve increases your wealth of experience.

So, don’t be scared to take on challenges and doing your best to get the job done.

You have to give it your best shot.

Data collection

Data is a very important aspect or element in the computer or digital world.

This should be understood and taken seriously by you the IT technician.

You have to gather data about computers and know how to work with those data you gathered.

This brings us to data collection.

Sometimes when working on a computer system, you need to gather some data about the system and compare them.

That’s an aspect of troubleshooting you don’t have to ignore for any reason.

Sometimes, there are error messages shown on the screen, copy the messages down and research on them.

You can also try to have them documented and make reference to them when the need arises in the future.

Interacting with computers

Since the inception of Artificial Intelligence, it is no longer impossible for humans to interact with computers and vice versa.

Communication between humans and the computer has been one challenge that computer experts have been able to overcome over the years.

So what does it mean to an IT technician? It’s simple; you have to learn computer languages and computer codes.

This by implication means that you have to understand the principle of basic programming with different programming languages.

Also, you should be conversant with computer sounds or error codes. This is a way the computer interacts with you and the programming codes you know is a way you interact with the computer.

You should be able to understand the computer error codes and sound while you can also interact with the computer through program codes.

Consultation

This is important. As more technologies, software, and hardware are pushed into the market, there is every possibility that you may not know how to use some of them.

It doesn’t mean you are not competent in your job as an IT technician.

What it means is that you need to make effort to learn more software and know how they work.

This is where consultation becomes important to your job. It is necessary to consult some more experts to help you solve some problems you are not conversant with.

Also, you have to consult the original manuals of the computer, software, and hardware components that you are working with to know how best to use them.

Some problems associated with computer damage are the problem of wrong usage.

So, consult manuals in order to decipher problems associated with system use.

Advisory skills

One of your major duties as an IT technician is to advice computer users on how to get the best out of their computer systems and you need to have good advisory skills to effectively do this.

You have to teach them on basic computer skills they need to make sure they overcome some challenges relating to the use of computer.

Understand that it is not enough to intervene when the system goes wrong but you have to help your clients to know the dangers of wrong use of computers and related hardware.

This should be done on regular basis as part of your post problem solving skills.

From time to time you have to check up on clients to know if they are actually adhering to the advice you give to them. This is certainly a way to endear yourself to your clients.

Goal oriented

To be goal oriented is not just for those in business. Being goal oriented is also helpful for anyone who desires to excel in his/her job.

So this applies to IT technicians to too, you need to have a sense of direction.

What does it mean to be goal oriented as an IT technician?

It means what you intend achieving at the end of the day or in the long run.

This means that before you set out of your house, you have a specific thing that you have in mind to achieve.

In seeking to achieve your goals, you have to work hard and smart too.

You have to be intentional in your actions and make deliberate efforts to improve yourself daily.

This will help you achieve your goals sooner or later. You have to make sure that you improve your skills also.

Software knowledge

Software programs control the activities of the computer. Without software the computer is just a mere metal.

So, software programs control the activities of the computer, ranging from the system software to the special purpose software.

As an IT technician, you need to be acquainted with sufficient knowledge of how software tools work.

This is necessary for you to be a good troubleshooter.

You need to update and upgrade your knowledge in the software department of your skillsets.

This will help you know what software tools are harmful to the system.

Some computer problems can be traced to software issues, and when you investigate them you might be able to come up with ideas on why they occur on a particular system, for example system freezing.

Basic hardware knowledge

As an IT technician, you are basically an engineer and you need to see yourself in that light.

As an engineer, you get things done through systematic approach. This applies to dealing with IT related issues and that is your job.

You need to have sufficient knowledge about how hardware components work.

Hardware components are integral parts of a computer.

When the hardware components of a computer system are not used properly or when not used in good condition, there can be problems to the entire system.

To be able to deal with hardware related issues, you need good knowledge of hardware operation.

This is a major part of your job and you need to be good enough on that front.

So, a good IT technician should be conversant with what he/she works with.

IT Technician Skills for Resume

If you are an IT technician writing a new resume or CV, you can apply the skills and qualities highlighted above in the skills or core competence section of your resume/CV.

This will help to show to the recruiter/employer that you have the right skills and qualities to succeed as an IT technician in their organization.

Conclusion

Being an IT technician is quite tasking and something that demands you being at the top of your job.

It requires a lot of skills and fortunately enough you have those skills and qualities discussed on this page.

All you need to do is to work on yourself to develop these skills and qualities and become better on your job as an IT technician.