In this episode we will look at how to prepare and what to expect on your first day in the IT industry
You been applying to jobs to make that pivot into the IT Industry. After months of applying you finally get an interview. That interview leads to a offer. You accept the offer, and now the day has come. Your first day on the job. On my first day. I remember being nervous, wondering what to expect, meeting my new co workers. An my biggest concern was, what if I mess something up. Or what if someone ask me something technical, and I don't know the answer. My mind was all over the place. If this is you this episode should help calm your nerves.
Make Your First Impression, Your Best Impression
The first thing you want to make sure you do on your first day is, be on time. If you have to be there at 8am I would say arrive around 7:45. This shows that your punctual and dependable. It also gives you a chance to meet the shift that works before you. You can see if they had a rough night do they look stressed. This will give you a feel for how it may go for you on your shift. Then one of the most important reasons to get there while the other shift is there is for the turnover log. A turnover log is a way that team members make the following shift aware of any ongoing issues. This may be through a document or through conversation. Its always good to know what's going on especially in IT. If a system is down or a network is down and someone is looking into it. This should all be in the log.
Onboarding
As a new employee most companies usually have some kind of on boarding process. This process usually consist of completing any paper work for your job. Setting up your direct deposit and attending any training sessions as a new employee. Nothing extremely hard or stressful.
Workspace/System Access
Another task that you should expect on your first day, is setting up your workspace or cubicle. Depending on your position. Some people like to decorate their space and make it their own. If you collect POPs or toy figures you can bring it to your workspace. The goal is to make it as comfortable as possible. This will be your main location whenever your at work.
After getting your workspace or even before your workspace. Your going to want to make sure your able to login the applications that you will be using. This can be overwhelming, because your going to eventually have to learn what each application is used for. Usually after a couple of weeks it starts to get easier then it becomes second nature.
First Task
Most jobs will give you 6 - 8 weeks of training depending on the position. If your starting in networking most of the time you will get 6 months to a year to really learn the network. If its a lower tier job like help desk or ops then 6-8 weeks then your put on your own. During that training phase you will be mostly shadowing someone while they do the job. Then slowly you will start to handle some of the job duties until you learn it. I remember when I was training for ops, we had checklist. A couple days being on the job I took over doing the checklist, or walkthroughs every hour. If your taking support calls in your position Taking that first phone call will forever be burned in your memory. I was nervous stuttering not getting all of the users info and everything. After a while everything got easier and most of the calls after a couple months will be issues you have seem before with the exception of a few.
Tips for your first day
The first tip I suggest, is to take notes. Weather you bring a notebook or you take notes on your pc. My favorite was OneNote, I still use it till this day. Taking notes will help you out on a daily basics. As you learn the systems and applications trust me your notes will come in handy.
My second tip is to ask questions. there is no such thing as a dumb question. Anything that you don't understand don't hesitate to ask about it.
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