Westwood College’s Denver South campus recently held its first personal computer troubleshooting competition, open to Information Technology students who had completed the Desktop Hardware, Desktop Operating Systems, and Technical Troubleshooting courses. The IT students put their group and individual diagnostic skills to the test in pressure-packed situations designed to simulate the most common real-world issues that PC users experience.
Three teams of three students were given operating system troubleshooting issues with similar end-user complaints and a variety of causes. The teams then had approximately 20 minutes to diagnose the symptoms, formulate a likely cause and possible solution, fix the problem, and verify the symptoms had been cleared.
The goal of the competition was to hone the knowledge and skills learned in the classroom and to simulate what a tech support professional may be called upon to do in a real-world situation. Teams were eliminated based on whether they reached the correct solution and the speed in which they reached their conclusion.
In the workforce, tech support professionals must prioritize issues and work quickly to solve problems. IT issues can halt business productivity, and the faster an issue can be resolved, the sooner the business can be back up and running.
After three rounds of heated competition, the team of Triston Stanley, Matt Danner and Alexander Stauch was named the Troubleshooting Team of the Term (T3), and each received a trophy.
In the individual portion of the competition, the winning team members and a fourth participant, Kenneth Byrne, faced off in two rounds of competition. In the end, Byrne was awarded Troubleshooter of the Term. In addition to receiving a trophy, his name will be inscribed on a plaque and showcased at the Denver South campus.
Find out more about Westwood’s Information Technology degree.