Program Notes
Program fees include student manuals and all other course materials. Financial assistance may be available to those who qualify.
Graduation requirements: In order to obtain a diploma, students must obtain an overall average of 75% or better, with no final course mark below 60%.
Career Opportunities
Careers in the world of information technology and software quality assurance are increasingly growing. They include, but are not limited to:
- Computer network/network support technician
- User support technician
- Hardware installation/support technician/analyst
- Help desk technician/analyst
- Systems and technical support analyst
- Software or technical sales representative/specialist
- Information systems analyst/consultant
- Software QA analyst
- Software tester
These and similar career paths can be realized through the employment with businesses and organizations in a variety of industries, not limited to just the IT industry
Duties & Responsibilities
In this area, duties and responsibilities may include, but are not limited to the following:
- Provide phone, e-mail, and hands-on technical support
- Provide hardware and software support for desktop, network, and peripherals
- Administer Microsoft, Mac OS, and Linux-based systems
- Assist Systems Administrator in managing IT department resources and supporting active directory, mail, remote desktop, VNC, and VMware
- Meet with managers and clients to discuss system requirements, specifications, costs, and timelines
- Inspect and provide design support during the manufacturing, installation, and implementation of computer and LAN/WAN hardware
- Review and contribute to test plans, as well as analyze, review, and assess requirements and design specifications
- Monitor testing and testing environments, often using tools for this task and gathering performance metrics
- Identify failure patterns, research bug fixes, and implement solutions
- Install, configure, test, and maintain clients and thin clients, LAN/WAN equipment, and related services
- Set up front-end (client-side) tools to access servers in Windows, Linux, UNIX, SAP, and Salesforce
- Set up desktops for users, administrators, and managers, deploying all required software remotely
- Utilize tools such as Windows terminal service, SAP GUI, SSH
- Moving transports from development to quality and then to production systems per team requests
Admissions Requirements
- Grade 12 or equivalent or Mature Student status.
- Courses are open to any applicant who possesses a good command of the English language and is able to follow instructions.
- An admissions interview will be administered to determine if the applicant has the required interest, motivation, and entry-level skills to take this program.
- Students must attend the required hours and times per week per the course schedule.
Required Skills and Personal Attributes
- Strong desire to pursue a career in information technology
- Previous background, experience, and/or knowledge in computing, MS Office, and Windows desktops
- Regular user of computers in professional settings
- Excellent analytical and technical problem solving skills
- Excellent English communication skills (written and oral)
- Collaborative team player with a positive, self-motivated, can-do attitude
- Self-motivated
- Detail-oriented
- Ability to effectively manage time and stress due to competing priorities
Competencies Upon Completion Core Courses
- Understanding of how IT departments in large enterprises with multiple OS environments and ERP software work
- Desktop and server hardware architectures
- OSI model importance and application of knowledge of systematic network troubleshooting
- Access control and security methods used in LANs/WANs
- Best practices and a systematic ITIL-compliant approach to a functioning computer network
- Support for users working in various virtual environments
- Resolve and direct issues with user authentication to SAP, Salesforce, Windows, Linux, UNIX, Citrix, VMWare, Cisco
- Support users using thin clients
- Set up VPN connections
- Prepare software test plans and cases
- Prepare proposals for application quality improvement
- Support operations of information systems and electronic data processing departments and companies
- Co-ordinate with design teams in the development and integration of information and communication system architecture, hardware, and software
- Maintain and support LAN/WAN equipment and services
- Set up and support common workstation applications
- Identify, diagnose, and resolve user problems
- Perform anti-virus protection activities
- Assist System/Network Administrators and developers in solving issues that arise in IT departments
- Create and maintain comprehensive documentation for implemented tasks
- Solid knowledge of quality assurance concepts and strong core experience in various phases/types of testing, including functional, integration, regression, and performance testing
- Advanced knowledge of test strategy development, test planning, defect reporting, and test case design techniques for initiatives in varying levels of complexity
- Strong knowledge of testing methodology within SDLC
- Strong documentation skills as well as written and verbal communication skills
- Good understand of incident management and change request management