The Practical Help Desk Associate is an entry-level IT support certification that allows people trying to break into the industry a way to practice and demonstrate real-world abilities in help desk duties. A certification is only as good as its assessment of skills and its reputation amongst professionals and those who hire them, so when we beta tested the PHDA we were pleased to invite someone with experience in both worlds.
Richardo Garza is the CIO at Prime Metal Buildings, a building material fabricator and pre-engineered building seller based in Texas. As someone with previous experience in help desk roles and hiring for help desk roles, he was invited by Andrew Bellini to participate in the beta test of the Practical Help Desk Associate certification. The following is Richardo’s own journey in IT and cyber security and his thoughts on the PHDA exam.
I think someone who passed that certification (The PHDA) could come into almost any environment and handle day-to-day help desk tasks. I’d feel really confident hiring someone with that certification…
A Geek Squad to CIO Journey
Richardo’s start in technology began in the army, where he worked with AV equipment and the production of training videos. After his time in the military, Richardo looked for ways to apply some of what he learned to start a career path.
“Later, I moved into consumer electronics, working for Best Buy doing TV repairs. That eventually became part of Geek Squad, their home service division, where I went to customers’ homes to do repairs. I did that for several years, but eventually, I wanted something more from my career. I went back to school and earned my bachelor’s degree in information systems.”
After several years of difficulty finding an IT job with equal compensation to his well-established consumer electronics career, Richardo moved and began working for a home theatre installation company. This incidentally led to his first IT role.
“While doing some work for a bank, their IT person was leaving, and they said, ‘Hey, you seem like someone who could do this job. Want to work in IT?’ At the time, I’d only been with my company for six weeks, so I felt bad about leaving and turned it down.”
//Pause for a collective groan.
“Yeah, I felt bad. But later on, I went back to check in on the guys at the bank, and the CEO caught me in the hallway. He said, ’We’ve still got this job, and we think you’d be a great fit. Would you come in and talk to us?’ I thought, ‘Well, he’s really pursuing me, maybe I should hear him out.’ I went in for an interview, and they offered me the position. That’s how I officially started in IT.”
Richardo spent the next ten years at InterBank, moving from ‘Help Desk’ to ‘Help Desk Lead’ and eventually ‘Cyber Security Engineer’. This position was the highest he could achieve within the organization, so when an opportunity to work at Fidelity Investments as a cyber security analyst came along, he made the move.
“That was during COVID, so I worked remotely full-time. I loved that job and the team at Fidelity. But once they started bringing employees back to the office, the two-hour commute each way just wasn’t sustainable. That’s when I came across the (local) job ad for Prime Metal Buildings. It was posted as an IT manager role. I interviewed for it, but it turned out to be a CIO role. And here I am now.”
When asked about his thoughts on getting started in cyber security, Richardo reiterated a commonly held position about ‘entry-level’ positions.
“Many people say you can get into cyber security at the entry level, but in my opinion, it’s not truly entry-level. You need a strong foundation through self-study or a background in networking, help desk, desktop support, servers, etc. That’s all crucial for understanding how things work in cyber security.”
* You can find Richardo on LinkedIn
Beta Testing the PHDA
Richardo has taken other exams and currently holds a CISSP certification, so he is no stranger to studying for and passing industry-standard exams, so a help desk practical should have been a piece of cake. To be fair, the turnaround on the beta test was tight and so he did not have time to study the Practical Help Desk coursework (which is FREE to all, by the way) that serves as the PHDA preparation material.
When it came to the PHDA exam, Richardo’s previous experience with other certifications colored his expectations to a degree.
“I expected it to be multiple-choice; just power through a bunch of questions in a set amount of time, like other certification exams I’ve taken. Especially since it’s an entry-level cert, I figured it would follow that format.”
But once he sat down to begin, the practical nature of the exam revealed itself. The exam is designed to mimic an eight-hour shift in a help desk position, so that is the amount of time allowed for the exam. Richardo’s experience showed the necessity for the allotted time.
“I came in on a Saturday morning to take the test at work so I could be alone and focus. I had a bit of a panic when I saw the system requirements, like needing a computer that met certain specs and using OpenVPN to connect. I thought, ‘Oh man, this is going to be way more involved than I expected.’ I ended up spending the entire day here. I thought, ‘This is a help desk exam, it’ll be fine,’ but I ended up taking the full eight hours.”
He did pass and was impressed with the level of competency in help desk duties required to complete the exam. Again, other beta testers and those who have taken the exam since it was released have reported that the PHD course adequately covered all of the exam expectations.
Thoughts on Hiring Help Desk Professionals
While the dream job for many who start in the help desk may be working in a cutting-edge SOC or joining the pentesting ranks of their favorite red team firm, there are steps along the way. We’ve previously covered why we think starting in a help desk position is a good place to begin the journey, and we’ve seen an example of how that help desk to cyber security journey can progress. Now we will take a peek at the perspective of someone who has actually hired for a help desk position.
When asked about the challenges he has faced in hiring entry-level help desk employees and what he has seen in the pool of candidates, Richardo had some thoughts.
“One big challenge is finding someone with the right experience who also fits our environment. There just aren’t many qualified candidates nearby, and we require in-office work since we’re not set up for remote. So it’s tough to find someone experienced, local, and within budget.”
While having experience is nice, the help desk is still one of IT’s entry-level positions, so coming in with no background is easier than with other technical disciplines. It just means that those potential candidates will need to be brought up to speed. Richardo continues:
“On the flip side, hiring someone with no experience but a genuine interest in IT is also tough. We can pay them what they need to be paid and train them, but it requires time and effort. That’s what we did with our current help desk employee. He came from a local electronics store. He had an interest in computers, seemed sharp, and we brought him on, knowing we’d need to train him. He’s in school now, too.”
One tip for job seekers is that while you should swing for the fences by applying to your dream jobs, don’t forget to look around for local in-office or hybrid positions. Even if they are not exactly what you are looking for long term, these positions can have less competition and could help you network, sharpen skills, gain that ever elusive experience, and learn from great managers.
Hard and Soft Skills
Experience is always going to be one of the first check boxes that a hiring manager looks for in a candidate, but some less tangible factors are arguably more important and sought after. Soft skills, or people skills, are vital qualities that can generally only be assessed during an interview and can make or break someone’s chances at attaining a position.
“For me, the non-negotiables are more about soft skills. I really need someone who cares about customer service. I feel like help desk roles are essentially customer service roles that happen to be in IT. It would be great if the person had an understanding of internal computer parts and didn’t call the monitor the computer, but we can train someone on the technical side. The soft skills are what’s really important. We don’t need someone who’s just going around making everyone angry or being rude, that’s definitely not what we need.”
When asked about how difficult it is to determine a candidate’s soft skills before getting to the interview stage, Richardo provided some insight into his process.
“I think you can gather some sense of a candidate’s soft skills from previous employment. People who have experience in customer service roles in other industries, like retail or restaurants, where they’ve had to deal with difficult people. If they have that kind of experience, that’s good to see on a resume. But, as you said, you can really only assess technical skills from a resume, whereas you can pull out some of the soft skills during the interview process.”
Another key takeaway for job hunters: Don’t be afraid to put those retail or service industry jobs on your resume. They can be a good indicator of hard-to-gauge people skills that hiring managers are looking for.
A Better Measure for Technical Skills
While soft skills are a large percentage of the necessary abilities of a help desk worker, technical skills are still required to do the job. As Richardo points out, these skills can be trained with time and a learner’s attitude, but it is undoubtedly better if the candidate has at least some grounding in IT before accepting the job. This is better for the employer (who doesn’t have to spend time and money to train someone) and the candidate (who may discover that they don’t actually enjoy the job that they have been hired for).
Assessing these skills usually consists of scanning a resume for certifications or experience, which can be a bit of a shot in the dark until the candidate is in front of an interviewer. With the prevalence of AI assistance, even answers to technical questions during a video interview can be suspect.
The PHDA endeavors to provide a real benchmark of a candidate’s hands-on help desk abilities so that the ‘technical ability’ question can be settled before the interview stage.
“I think that would be the right approach; Having a pool of people who can handle the job technically, and then focusing on finding the right cultural and customer service fit during the interview process.”
The Importance of Documentation
When Richardo reflected on the particulars of the PHDA exam, he was most pleased with the assessment of one of the commonly unsung heroes of IT work: Documentation.
“What really stood out to me was the emphasis on documentation. That’s huge for us. It causes problems when we don’t document what we’re doing or create proper knowledge base articles. During the exam, I made sure to document everything the way I expect it to be done in a professional setting; writing clear KBs and thoroughly updating help desk tickets.”
He went on to talk about some of the challenges of documentation in the workplace.
“The expectation has always been that we document everything properly. We’re still working toward that standard. The issue is that we tend to rush through tasks, thinking we’ll document afterward, but that part rarely happens. We’ll do some work, and then two weeks later, the same issue comes up. We go back and look at the ticket, and there’s just one line: ‘Fixed the problem. All good.’ Okay, what are we supposed to do with this? An ideal candidate would be someone with a background in technical writing or experience in technical writing. That would be super valuable, but even harder to find.”
Documentation is often overlooked, but it saves a lot of time and allows for more refined processes in the future. If a candidate has some technical skill/demonstrable interest in IT, and the ability to clearly and concisely document their process, they are potentially a great find for the help desk and beyond.
Day-One Readiness
There is a certain amount of spin-up time that a new employee needs in order to learn the SOPs and nuances of a particular organization and role, but the nuts and bolts of many help desk positions are going to be similar. Displaying the technical skills to perform some of the organization-agnostic tasks of a help desk professional, with minimal instruction, is a great way to start in a role and show promise for advancement. The PHDA strives to assess and certify those skills, and Richardo was impressed with the process.
“I think someone who passed that certification could come into almost any environment and handle day-to-day help desk tasks: helping people get onto their computers, password resets, replacing equipment when needed, and some basic troubleshooting. After that, they can escalate issues or refer to knowledge base (KB) articles, hopefully ones that are already written. I’d feel really confident hiring someone with that certification, knowing they could handle 85% or more of help desk tickets. I was really impressed by the thought and effort that went into the tickets and the way the certification was structured. I really wish I had access to a candidate pool with people who have that certification.”
Conclusion
No certification will provide a fool-proof assessment of technical skills, but the PHDA is a practical, hands-on test that puts the candidate in the help desk seat for 8 hours. We hope that this certification can benefit both those who are looking to prove their skills, as well as those looking for skilled candidates.
Learn more about the Practical Help Desk Associate certification, the FREE Practical Help Desk course, and the value they can provide to your career journey or in building your IT service team.
About the Author: Josh Daniels
Josh is an avid storyteller and writer who loves learning about the behind-the-scenes of the digital world we live in. While his professional experience is in content marketing, Josh began pursuing a career in cybersecurity in 2022, gaining a Sec+ certificate along with other training from industry professionals and a life long learner attitude.
When he is not writing, Josh enjoys outdoor adventures with his family, watching movies, reading, and an unofficial (unpaid) side gig as a Game Master Consultant for several friends who play table top RPGs. At TCM, Josh has found a home where his passion for storytelling and cybersecurity meet.
“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.”
– Frank Herbert
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