Technical Support Fundamentals

Course was good overall. I will not take the time to discuss in detail the information taught; it was delivered well and was valuable. However, after watching many many minutes of these videos, it became really redundant for the first 15 seconds of each video to be an animation reminding me of where I am in the course. This is redundant because it is obvious where you are in the course when you navigate to any video.. in any course. The website displays where you are. I do not feel I need to be reminded with 15-20 seconds of silent animations showing me where I am; I just want the video to start. Secondly, it was really frustrating to be failed on the final writing by my peers for the most heinous complaint. We were directed to describe how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to someone who has never seen one before. Because this is all the information given, I have to assume the user has seen some sand-which; just not a peanut butter and jelly one. I do not feel I should have to teach someone how to open a bag of bread. It should be common knowledge that something has to be opened to get it out. I should not have to teach kitchen etiquette and cleanliness. One user who failed me commented that because I did not direct him to set the bread on to a clean plate... that he was confused; and could have mis understood to the point where he placed the sandwich on the floor. Another user said that I should have described how to hold the knife. He did not know if he should hold it by the sharp end, or the handle. One of those users marked me off for not being concise because it did not use bullet points or numbers and that he was expecting a recipe format. Look! I am not here to suppose a user came out of a cave. When you fail me for these types of issues using this logic; that same logic makes me think I should describe how to make a sandwich by growing your own wheat, making grain, baking bread, growing strawberries to make jelly, etc. But I did not go that far! No... I simply re wrote my project and upload to accommodate these 3 users by including that the bread should be opened, how to hold a a utensil, and I even included images of the sandwich so that the user could check their work as it is assembled to ensure the user could make a sandwich in 14 simple short sentence steps labeled accordingly. Well guess what?! My project was graded by another 3 users who complained that it is common sense how to hold a knife and remove bread from a bag and that I should have given them more credit for having some level of food assembly knowledge and I barely passed. I passed by 1 point. Yah, they almost failed me for being too lengthy. Honestly, I only added 3 or 4 short sentences compared to the original. Being graded by your peers gives too brought of feedback in cases like this. If the last 3 users would have graded by first paper, I would have passed. If the first set of users would have graded by second paper I would have passed. Lastly, I got an email upon completion of the first course that said my certificate was ready to print once I uploaded my photo ID (drivers license) along with a second photo of me for validation. Once I uploaded these 2 images; I got a notice that there was no certificate to be given for this particular course. I would not have shared my personal information with you at this point in time if I knew nothing would be available to print yet. That too was frustrating.

Starting from scratch, I feel like I've gained a great basic understanding of IT support. It was informative, and it has motivated me and left me hungry for more. I am pumped to start the next course!

An excellent introductory course. The all around material was well presented, the instructors are doing a great job passing on their knowledge. The weekly assignments were interesting and fun to take.

Great introduction to IT and the different standards that are used in the field. It really gives you an idea of what to expect and the different aspects that you may encounter while you're on the job.

Awesome course designed by google. Thank you very much. Knowledge gained in just introductery leactures started burning desire in me to complete whole syllabus. Every bit of program is worth the time.

Great course for beginners and experts. Easy to understand and a good refresher for those who have been into IT for a long date. Recommend it to everyone looking for a high quality course on coursera.

I am working in IT and wanted to do a refresher on the fundamentals and this course is really worth it. Good job Google and thank you for an affordable solution to getting my refresher and certificate

It was mostly informative, especially the building a PC section. But that same section has two options for the exam, and one of the options will still appear after you have done the other. That makes your progress appear to be stunted on that section, which is confusing.

Not bad for rookie, but a bit too simple for someone of my experience looking to get the certs needed to use my skills in a workplace. I'd advise a test-out option for each portion of the IT Cert course.

This is a great overview of all the basics for beginners or a fantastic refresher for anyone looking to move into a more advanced support role.

If your aim is to be a user-facing IT support staff, and not someone working in the backend of a datacentre, this is pretty essential stuff! The content is kind of dry but it's presented in a good way. I wouldn't recommend this course on its own (as in, not part of the Google IT Support Certification) if you are looking to just work with computer systems or backend duties, however - I think you'd be better off focusing on the more technical offerings from this course!

Currently at end of Lesson 3 in Tech Support FundamentalsThus far the information has been very simplistic. The only challenge I've had, ironically, is one of the main reasons I signed up for this course. I was tired of searching countless websites, help FAQs to find reliable instructional materials. In lesson 3, one of your video modules featured text that varied from video. And the challenge, trying to get the multiple VM instances for assignments to correctly function per your lesson instructions.Your multiple instruction modules for Quiklabs and Linux VM instances, and the Windows instance, could use revamping. Especially since the lesson on Quiklabs is combined with Linux assignment instructions. The Windows instructions, though the Win assignment is first, differ slightly between the various readings and videos. Since I am between above-average and advanced user of PCs and Windows, I was frustrated with the time wasted in setting up VM Quiklabs environment for assignments that would take minutes to complete.I've been methodically pursuing self-education, interspersed with college courses when able, for years. I hoped your Google IT Support courses would provide documentation of my studies, and eliminate sorting through the growing internet flotsam to find educational resources.I intend to give this course another week or so. However if lesson levels remain low, and/or the problems of VM Quiklabs are not easily resolved, I doubt I'll continue.Respectfully, Dawn Volk