IT Helpdesk Technician

The  IT Helpdesk Technician Certificate of Achievement is designed to provide students with knowledge and skills required for a variety of entry level positions in the field of IT support. The program includes foundation courses that align with industry certificates and a wide range of skill-builder courses.

Program Learning Outcomes

• Students will install, configure and support computing devices and software.
• Students will connect, maintain and support computing devices on a network.
• Students will advise and support users in their IT needs.

Career/Transfer Opportunities

Career opportunities include the following: Computer User Support Specialist, Computer Network Support Specialist, Network and Computer System Administrators.

Of the 3 core courses, here are the estimated enrollments.

• CIT011, 2 sections per year, total enrollment: 50
• CIS012, 4 sections per year, total enrollment: 100
• CIS045, 4 sections per year, total enrollment: 100

Some of the students in these classes are transfer bound or may seek other certificate or degrees. 

Estimated number of Certificate of Achievement in IT Helpdesk Technician awarded annually is: 20

The goal of the Certificate of Achievement in IT helpdesk technician is  to provide students with knowledge and skills required for a variety of entry level positions in the field of IT support. The program includes foundation courses that are aligned with industry certificates as well as a wide range of skill-builder courses.

This 18-20 unit program is designed to provide students with the basic knowledge and skills required for a variety of positions in IT support.

This certificate is an interdisciplinary certificate with courses from multiple departments including CIS, CIT and Business. This certificate will provide students with the technical and soft skills needed for an IT support position.

Course	Title	Units	Year/Semester (Y1 or S1)
CIT011	Introduction to Computer Hardware and Software	4	Y1/S1
CIT012	Introduction to Networking	4	Y1/S1
CIS045	Linux Essentials	4	Y1/S2
BUS021L	Intro to Business Computer Lab	1	Y!/S2
BUS078B	Business Communication	3	Y1/S2
WRK300GW	Work Experience	2-4	Y1/Summer

IT support is one of the essential services in any organization. There is a stable demand for jobs in the IT support field. During the industry advisory committee meeting, industry partners confirmed the trend and the need for this program. They also reviewed the goals, objectives and program requirements.

Most community colleges in the bay area and in California offer certificate programs in different focused areas of Computer Information Systems. Some of the colleges already have similar programs. The Education supply based on the LMI report from Centers of Excellence (attached) shows the following: There are 11 community colleges in the Bay Region issuing 53 awards on average annually (last 3 years ending 2018-19) on TOP 0702.00-ComputerInformation Systems. There are three colleges in the Silicon Valley Sub-Region issuing 15 awards on average annually (last 3 years) on this TOP code. Based on the data included in this report, there is a large labor market gap in the Bay region with 7,859 annual openings for the IT Help Desk Technician occupational cluster and 91 annual (3-year average) awards for an annual undersupply of 7,768 students. To our knowledge there will be no issue of overlap within our region.