Hello all,
Thank you for joining me in this journey as I take on my first role in the world of IT. I wanted to touch on my experience so far with the training process, as I get used to the duties of my first IT job. Please keep in mind that due to strict NDA agreements, I cannot disclose certain information in this overview. However, the goal of this blog post is to be a focal point on what to expect if you’re in similar shoes or unfamiliar with what the training process looks like with a standard employer.
First, let me just touch a little bit on my pre-employment experience. With my specific organization, everyone I met was very kind, cordial, professional, and helpful. I’ve had nothing but a great experience and continue to be satisfied with the management at my workplace.
My first day was interesting because it happened to be the first day back from holiday, (July 4th), in addition to a hurricane hitting and causing some power outages for some employees. With that said, learning about the systems they use was engaging and I’m very excited to be able to start using them proactively throughout my role. I’m especially curious to see how well my typing speed improves my work, as I will be able to find pertinent information with a customer on the line, and hopefully keep them engaged while I spend little time typing a question on google or searching an internal resource.
During my first lunch break, I realized the most difficult parts of the day were definitely going to be after lunch, around 2p-3pm. I was definitely starting to feel a bit tired, but it helped to have a 32oz coffee at my side, where I could proactively sip on it to stay perked up. I also have a visual desk timer which has come immensely in handy for keeping track of breaks and helping me keep motivated since I can easily see how much time is remaining of a break.
The rest of the days were quite much similar to the first. However, on day 1 I was a bit nervous to ask too many questions, it was more along the lines of wanting to get acquainted with the environment. The remaining days of the week, I made it a priority to ask insightful, thought provoking questions. My goal with this was to help out the team as I would think of potential scenarios where things could have ambiguity when it came to resolution. I also wanted to find questions that were a little less obvious, so I would pay attention to very specific details.
The questions I asked definitely helped me build rapport and confidence with the supervisor training us. Again, a very friendly individual and, since there will be a time where I will deliver phone support, I will have to shake away certain nerves regardless, so it was a perfect opportunity to do so.
Lessons Learned
It might be a bit of a feeling like jumping into cold water, but if you have a question in front of 25 people, ask it. If you have a question in front of 500 people, ask it. What I learned and have to be reminded of, is that there will be times where you want to ask a question, and you miss the opportunity, and then, asking it later is more difficult due to a lack of context.
There are also times where other people around you are actually hoping you ask the question and bite the bullet for them. The reason I know that, is because often times, I also was personally hoping to hear more engagement from people around me, perhaps answering a very question I was going to ask. When I didn’t notice my questions being asked from other people, I realized nobody could read my mind, and it’s empowering to be able to come up with your own unique questions, as they can lend a unique perspective on your thought process and how you think.
That also reminds me that asking questions during an interview can play up to that same effect – it might seem like an additional component of an interview, but I definitely think it’s a test to pulse how well you can think of questions, engage in extemporaneous situations, and come up with insight that others in the team can benefit from.
Thank you for reading this post, and have a wonderful day! Today when I am writing this, it is a beautiful Friday morning.
David