Hello everyone,

I'm a 21 year old college student with a sudden and stress-inducing predicament. There is a local law firm in need of an IT guy, and seeing as how I am close to some of those in charge, I have been asked to come give it a try. I suppose I'm more computer literate than the majority of those I'll be supporting, but to be frank, I have no real experience and have only been offered this position because I'm seen as a "good, hard working problem solver". I guess what I'm asking for is any advice that would allow me to actuallly help them out as an IT guy, and what sort of things I can expect.

Gratefully,
Jake

Wow, that's a tough call. While you may know how to troubleshoot a local Windows computer you'll also have to deal with installing software on a server, network/internet issues, rights and permissions, data backup duties, etc.

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Originally Posted by wikkle

Hello everyone,

I'm a 21 year old college student with a sudden and stress-inducing predicament. There is a local law firm in need of an IT guy, and seeing as how I am close to some of those in charge, I have been asked to come give it a try. I suppose I'm more computer literate than the majority of those I'll be supporting, but to be frank, I have no real experience and have only been offered this position because I'm seen as a "good, hard working problem solver". I guess what I'm asking for is any advice that would allow me to actuallly help them out as an IT guy, and what sort of things I can expect.

Gratefully,
Jake

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1. Learn to speak at the client level, people who are not computer 'literate' have a real time understanding computer jargon. So its best to try and speak to them on their level. This can be hard/confusing for you also with people who try and speak the jargon but are not really sure what they are talking about (ie I always hear, "when I downloaded the software", as opposed to "installing the software"). It's a tough balance, on one hand you don't want to talk to them like they are an infant, but on the other you don't want to speak over their head.
2. Be honest if you don't know the answer, let them know. Say something like I am not sure, but will definently find out right away for you. Nothing is more frustrating than someone who says they can fix the issue and no the problem, only to find out 3 days later they have no idea and are struggling with it.
3. Bookmark some good tech sites and read/learn, you will never be finished educating yourself in this field.

Hope these generic suggestions help, they can probably be applied to most positions. This is just what I have always gone by and I seem to do OK in my IT field.

IT covers a lot of territory. I'd say ask them. Networking, software installs, keeping track of licenses, troubleshooting Windows ( We all know how much fun that is), Back-ups, maintaining a server (I's consider a back-up off site), Software troubleshooting.

These are what I can think of for a law firm.