PC Technician Street Smarts is a lab manual so the content doesn't focus on most of the conceptual areas of the A+ exam. Instead, the exercises in the book walk the reader through nearly 100 different tasks that are commonly performed by a PC or Desktop support technician working in an IT department.
What's unique about these tasks is that they're based on actual trouble tickets received by PC technicians in a production environment. Most PC repair or A+ related books present a series of “canned” exercises to help the new technician acquire basic hardware and software related skills. Unfortunately, these exercises rarely relate to “real world” scenarios. “PC Technician Street Smarts” offers tasks that are all “real world” specific, so performing these labs is the next best thing to working on the job.
Organization
The book is organized into four sections or phases:
Phase 1—Installing Hardware and Software presents common tasks recommended for most projects involving the installation of hardware and software components on a PC or laptop.
Phase 2—Maintaining and Documenting Computer Systems gives you tools to enable you to provide routine maintenance of computer hardware, operating systems and peripherals as well as generating the required documentation.
Phase 3—Networking Computer Systems shows you how to perform a series of basic networking tasks in a computing environment.
Phase 4—Troubleshooting and Restoring Computer Systems provides real-world computer and network problems for you to solve. These tasks are derived from the trouble tickets acted upon by PC technicians in an actual production environment.
Each task in this book is organized into sections aimed at giving you what you need when you need it. The first section introduces you to the task and any key concepts that can assist you in understanding the underlying technology and the overall procedure. Descriptions of the remaining sections follow:
Scenario—This section places you in the shoes of the PC support technician, describing a situation in which you will likely find yourself. The scenario is closely related to and often solved by the task at hand.
Scope of Task—This section is all about preparing for the task. It gives you an idea of how much time is required to complete the task, what setup procedure is needed before beginning, and any concerns or issues to look out for.
Procedure—This is the actual meat of the task itself. This section informs you of the equipment required to perform the task in a lab environment. It also gives you the ordered steps to complete the task.
Criteria for Completion—This final section briefly explains the outcome you should expect after completing the task. Any deviation from the result described is an excellent reason to perform the task again and watch for sources of the variation.
"PC Technician Street Smarts" promises to be a unique guide to help the aspiring technician learn the necessary skill sets to be successful in a production IT environment. It is a book that is equally useful to someone studying for the A+ exams or a newly certified A+ technician who needs to hone their “on the job” abilities.
The Author James Pyles welcomes your questions and comments. You can reach him at his website www.wiredwriter.net
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