IT Support Technician skills and qualifications

Updated 15 September 2026 · 2 min read

IT support adverts list many skills, but they boil down to a few abilities employers depend on: diagnosing and fixing faults quickly, setting up equipment and accounts correctly, keeping users secure, and treating people well while doing it. This guide breaks those abilities into specific skills and shows how to demonstrate each one, even early in your career.

How this guide was made

Written for this site with AI assistance, then checked automatically before publishing. The topic table, sample questions, worked examples and study plan are generated from this site’s question bank: each worked example is recalculated by separate code, and each sample answer says where it came from.

The guide deliberately states no salaries, grades, pass marks or exam dates. Those change, and they could not be checked here, so take them from the advert itself.

This site is independent and is not affiliated with MIFOTRA or any employer.

Troubleshooting skills

Diagnosing hardware faults in desktops, laptops, printers and peripherals.
Fixing operating system and application problems, including boot failures and crashes.
Removing malware and restoring a system safely.
Resolving network connection problems on wired and wireless devices.
Using built-in tools such as Task Manager, Event Viewer, Device Manager and the command prompt.
Knowing when a problem needs escalating, and documenting it clearly for the next person.

Where to spend your study time

The suggested emphasis reflects what this position works with day to day. It is a study guide, not a published exam blueprint.

Area	Suggested emphasis	Questions in the bank	Practise
Hardware and operating systems	33%	961	Hardware & OS
IT fundamentals and support practice	25%	484	Hardware & OS
Networking fundamentals	17%	2,636	Networking
Public service, customer care and policy	17%	20	MIFOTRA ICT Officer
Cybersecurity	8%	541	Security

Setup and administration skills

Technicians install and configure new computers, phones and printers and prepare them for users. That includes installing operating systems or deploying images, joining computers to the domain, setting up email and collaboration accounts, installing approved software and transferring user data. Many support roles also include creating user accounts and resetting passwords under the organisation's security rules.

Networking and security basics

Support staff need enough networking knowledge to connect devices and diagnose simple faults: IP addressing, DHCP, DNS, Wi-Fi settings and common ports. Security is part of daily work as well. Technicians enforce password policies, set up multi-factor authentication, recognise phishing, keep antivirus and updates current, and handle data carefully during repairs.

Service and communication skills

Adverts for support roles often stress communication as much as technical ability. Employers want technicians who listen patiently, explain without jargon, stay calm with frustrated users and keep people informed. Writing clear ticket notes belongs here too, because a well-documented ticket saves time for whoever handles the next similar problem.

Organisation and working habits

A support technician juggles many requests. Prioritising by impact and urgency, keeping tickets updated, following procedures for changes and asset records, and balancing walk-up requests with scheduled work are all skills employers look for. Reliability matters most of all: arriving when promised and following through on small tasks builds the trust that makes users cooperate.

Showing these skills early in your career

Keep a record of problems you have fixed, even informally, with the symptom, cause and fix. Build a small lab with a virtual machine or two. Volunteer to help a school, church or community organisation with its computers. Study for CompTIA A+, which covers the core technical skills and gives you a structured way to learn them.

Open adverts for this position

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Common questions

Do support technicians need programming skills?

Usually not. Basic scripting, such as a simple PowerShell command that gathers information from several computers, is a useful extra but rarely a requirement.

Which matters more, technical or communication skills?

Both are needed. A technician who communicates well and learns quickly can grow their technical knowledge on the job, while poor communication causes problems however skilled the person is.