About this Professional Certificate
Prepare for a career in the high-growth field of IT, no experience or degree required. Get professional training designed by Google and get on the fast-track to a competitively paid job. There are 340,500 U.S. job openings in IT and a $50,800 average entry-level salary in IT support.¹
Over 5 courses, learn in-demand skills that prepare you for an entry-level job. At under 10 hours per week, you can complete the certificate in less than 6 months. Upon completion, you can directly apply for jobs with Google and over 130 U.S. employers, including Walmart, Best Buy, and Astreya.
Since the IT Support Certificate launched in 2018, 82% of graduates have reported a positive career outcome like a new job, promotion, or raise within 6 months.²
This program also prepares you for the CompTIA A+ exams, the industry standard certification for IT—you’ll earn a dual credential when you complete both.
This program is ACE® certified—when you complete the certificate, you can earn up to 12 college credits, the equivalent of 4 associate degree-level courses.
If you’re interested in building on your IT foundations, check out the Google IT Automation with Python Professional Certificate.
Check out all Google Career Certificates here.
¹Burning Glass: Labor Insight (Last 12 Months: 2/1/20 – 1/31/21)
²Coursera Learner Outcome Survey, all time for Google IT Support Certificate. Data is collected via on-platform surveys or email and is cumulative from 1/18 – 1/21.
Applied Learning Project
This program includes over 100 hours of instruction and hundreds of practice-based assessments, which will help you simulate real-world IT support scenarios that are critical for success in the workplace.
The content is highly interactive and exclusively developed by Google employees with decades of experience in IT.
Through a mix of videos, assessments, and hands-on labs, you’ll be introduced to troubleshooting, customer service, networking, operating systems, and security — foundational IT skills required for an entry-level job.
Your skills will include: Network protocols, cloud computing, Windows operating system, Linux command line, systems administration, encryption algorithms and techniques, and more.
Learn concrete skills that top employers are hiring for right now.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
- Gain skills required to succeed in an entry-level IT job
- Learn to perform day-to-day IT support tasks including computer assembly, wireless networking, installing programs, and customer service
- Learn how to provide end-to-end customer support, ranging from identifying problems to troubleshooting and debugging
- Learn to use systems including Linux, Domain Name Systems, Command-Line Interface, and Binary Code
What is a Professional Certificate?
Build the Skills to Get Job Ready
Whether you’re looking to start a new career, or change your current one, Professional Certificates on Coursera help you become job ready. Learn at your own pace, whenever and wherever it’s most convenient for you. Enroll today and explore a new career path with a 7 day free trial. You can pause your learning or end your subscription at any time.
Hands-On Projects
Apply your skills with hands-on projects and build a portfolio that showcases your job readiness to potential employers. You’ll need to successfully finish the project(s) to earn your Certificate.
Earn a Career Credential
When you complete all of the courses in the program, you’ll earn a Certificate to share with your professional network as well as unlock access to career support resources to help you kickstart your new career. Many Professional Certificates have hiring partners that recognize the Professional Certificate credential and others can help prepare you for a certification exam. You can find more information on individual Professional Certificate pages where it applies.
There are 5 Courses in this Professional Certificate
COURSE 1: Technical Support Fundamentals
This course is the first of a series that aims to prepare you for a role as an entry-level IT Support Specialist. In this course, you’ll be introduced to the world of Information Technology, or IT. You’ll learn about the different facets of Information Technology, like computer hardware, the Internet, computer software, troubleshooting, and customer service. This course covers a wide variety of topics in IT that are designed to give you an overview of what’s to come in this certificate program.
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to: ● understand how the binary system works ● assemble a computer from scratch ● choose and install an operating system on a computer ● understand what the Internet is, how it works, and the impact it has in the modern world ● learn how applications are created and how they work under the hood of a computer ● utilize common problem-solving methodologies and soft skills in an Information Technology setting
COURSE 2: The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking
This course is designed to provide a full overview of computer networking. We’ll cover everything from the fundamentals of modern networking technologies and protocols to an overview of the cloud to practical applications and network troubleshooting.
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- describe computer networks in terms of a five-layer model
- understand all of the standard protocols involved with TCP/IP communications
- grasp powerful network troubleshooting tools and techniques
- learn network services like DNS and DHCP that help make computer networks run
- understand cloud computing, everything as a service, and cloud storage
COURSE 3: Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User
In this course — through a combination of video lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on practice — you’ll learn about the main components of an operating system and how to perform critical tasks like managing software and users, and configuring hardware.
By the end of this course you’ll be able to: ● navigate the Windows and Linux filesystems using a graphical user interface and command line interpreter ● set up users, groups, and permissions for account access ● install, configure, and remove software on the Windows and Linux operating systems ● configure disk partitions and filesystems ● understand how system processes work and how to manage them ● work with system logs and remote connection tools ● utilize operating system knowledge to troubleshoot common issues in an IT Support Specialist role
COURSE 4: System Administration and IT Infrastructure Services
This course will transition you from working on a single computer to an entire fleet. Systems administration is the field of IT that’s responsible for maintaining reliable computers systems in a multi-user environment. In this course, you’ll learn about the infrastructure services that keep all organizations, big and small, up and running. We’ll deep dive on cloud so that you’ll understand everything from typical cloud infrastructure setups to how to manage cloud resources. You’ll also learn how to manage and configure servers and how to use industry tools to manage computers, user information, and user productivity. Finally, you’ll learn how to recover your organization’s IT infrastructure in the event of a disaster.
By the end of this course you’ll be able to: ● utilize best practices for choosing hardware, vendors, and services for your organization ● understand how the most common infrastructure services that keep an organization running work, and how to manage infrastructure servers ● understand how to make the most of the cloud for your organization ● manage an organization’s computers and users using the directory services, Active Directory, and OpenLDAP ● choose and manage the tools that your organization will use ● backup your organization’s data and know how to recover your IT infrastructure in the case of a disaster ● utilize systems administration knowledge to plan and improve processes for IT environments
COURSE 5: IT Security: Defense against the digital dark arts
This course covers a wide variety of IT security concepts, tools, and best practices. It introduces threats and attacks and the many ways they can show up. We’ll give you some background of encryption algorithms and how they’re used to safeguard data. Then, we’ll dive into the three As of information security: authentication, authorization, and accounting. We’ll also cover network security solutions, ranging from firewalls to Wifi encryption options. The course is rounded out by putting all these elements together into a multi-layered, in-depth security architecture, followed by recommendations on how to integrate a culture of security into your organization or team.
At the end of this course, you’ll understand: ● how various encryption algorithms and techniques work as well as their benefits and limitations. ● various authentication systems and types. ● the difference between authentication and authorization. ● how to evaluate potential risks and recommend ways to reduce risk. ● best practices for securing a network. ● how to help others to grasp security concepts and protect themselves.
Institution:
This Course Offered by Google
Google Career Certificates are part of Grow with Google, an initiative that draws on Google’s 20-year history of building products, platforms, and services that help people and businesses grow. Through programs like these, we aim to help everyone– those who make up the workforce of today and the students who will drive the workforce of tomorrow – access the best of Google’s training and tools to grow their skills, careers, and businesses.
