IT tasks?
 

I received a sheet at MEPS that described the duties of ITs. But still being a civilian, the lingo used on this sheet are confusing. Will any IT out there kindly dumb it down for me?

Do ITs fix a lot of things or do more operating?

How diverse are the tasks performed by ITs?

And any other information you can give me.

Thanks!

IT's are operators you won't really fix anything. ET's fix all your gear or mess ups.

IT's have a vast area they cover. Communications is the biggest. Depending on the command you get you can be doing comms on a ship or comms for a shore command that goes to the fleet.

Let me start with I am not in the Navy yet, so don't take everything I say as true. This is just what I've read (I spend at least 8 hours a day reading the internet at work). From my understanding there is two sides of IT. System Administration and Radio/Comms. I have no idea which is more common.

System administration is more along what a civilian IT person would be doing. Maintaining the network, ect. I remember reading something that at C school they learn how to load windows onto computers, troubleshooting different computer problems, ect. I here a lot of people talking about being friends with these people on a ship is good when the ships internet is down and such.

I don't really know anything about Comms, but I'm sure its what it sounds like. Operating communication systems.

Also you can earn certifications as an IT that are important if you want a civilian job in network administration. A+, Cisco certification, just to name a couple. I personally already have my CCENT (cisco).

To answer your question about diversity, it depends what size ship you are placed on. You could be responsible for all sides of IT or just one.

This is the job that I'm hoping to snag at MEPS. I've done a lot of research and reading. Most of my info comes from the nice people on Reddit. Hopefully an IT on here can be a little more in depth about what it is they actually do and provide both of us with some insight.

Well today, 6 ITs spent 3 hours trying to figure out why the mouse and keyboard on one of my computers wouldn't work""

Officers.... :clubhead:

It was Chief's desk :wavetowel2:

:rofl: still funny.

I'm currently in CTT A school and go to the same compound as ITs for school. As far as I know they do a lot of work with computer troubleshooting and things of that sort.

Not surprising. Most IT's don't know how to be a real IT. It's kind of irritating because the ET's fix the IT mistakes. I also have 7 years of IT experience and it's funny how the IT's can't do basic stuff like make a CAT5 cable. I had one come up to me about a month ago and asked if we could do it. I laughed and told them to go look how to do it on the internet. Maybe rude but that's basic IT stuff.

That is really disappointing to hear. Even if it was a complex issue I could have figured out the problem within an hour, probably much less time. Fixing can take longer sure, but that is a long time for 6 people to troubleshoot a piece of equipment. Mouse and keyboard stuff can be tricky for someone who doesn't know much because they don't know how to troubleshoot without a mouse. I'll assume that was the case here. Of course the last time I had a mouse stop working at my job the computer exploded 5 minutes later, wasn't much for me to do after that.

This makes me think the training doesn't go past "is it plugged in" and "did you turn it off and on again". I hope this isn't the case. I hope it isn't just bad training. That makes me question if this is a good rate to pursue or not.

It was a slightly complex issue. Basically this computer is the conjoined twins of the computer world (2 hard drives, 2 screens, 1 power source, 1 keyboard, and 1 mouse). The keyboard/mouse would work on half the computer but not the other half.
I don't know what they finally did, but they fixed it.

That does indeed make it more complex. I have not completely lost faith.