Jermiah Robinson
October 24th, 2025
Old Dominion University – IT Help Desk
CYSE 368 – 15101
I made it to the 200-hour mark for my internship and have done many training sessions and even shadowed our new technicians for the IT Help Desk. As part of my role as a Student Lead for the IT Help Desk, training is part of my tasks to train our new employees for the Help Desk. From my training, I covered everything that we do at the help desk which includes our services and even our tools for troubleshooting and handling tickets and calls. Once training is complete, my next task is to shadow them and watch what they do when doing tickets or calls.
We received four new trainees who needed preparation for the job ahead of them. With our custom course in Canvas, I was able to walk them through how to use ServiceNow, 8×8, our cisco phones, and other crucial devices at work. I also informed them about their staff accounts and how to log in and use them. Lastly, I went over putting in Timesheets and showed how to submit them when extra time if needed. With day one complete with training, I had the employees learn how to manage and use ServiceNow to handle tickets that we get at the Help Desk. I first started them off by having them watch me do tickets and slowly got them familiar with templates and ServiceNow overall. After doing a couple tickets and explaining how to research certain incidents that require more critical thinking, I had the trainees try their own hand at solving tickets with basic scenarios before having them try password resets. They struggled for a little while when attempting to update and use templates, but afterwards, they were able to solve password resets successfully that didn’t require a call. I then had them do actual password resets which require us to call the user to proceed with the password reset. They were nervous and struggled during the calls, but I affirmed them and kept them going at it until they finally felt comfortable. I lastly had them do more complex tickets that require a lot more than just googling the answer. Certain tickets that require the use of our knowledge base to respond were a bit tougher for the trainees, but they managed to push through again.
I worked with the other Student Leads to get their training complete. Once their training as finished, all trainees took an exam. We expect at least above 70% on the exam or we would need to train further. All the trainees, however, reached above that threshold and were able to proceed further to shadowing. Shadowing requires us to watch the trainees doing normal work while at the Help Desk. They’re able to sit at the front desk and use our equipment to log in and aid with their work. During shadowing, I organized a zoom call with the two trainees on shift and tracked their activity while they handled tickets for me. I walked them through certain tickets that were tougher, and even certain tickets that required my access to Banner to solve. Lastly, both trainees handled their first walk-in and hotline call. The walk-in went well, and I barely had to step in to assist the user with their computer issues. I informed the trainees that what happened here was just a WLAN driver missing and that all they had to do was walk the user through downloading the drive while connected to the ethernet. They were able to handle it well and the user left the Help Desk satisfied and thankful. Lastly, the trainees handled their first hotline calls. Both were at Constant Hall and required us to dispatch out Classroom Central team to assist. I walked the trainees through using our radio and the procedures with gathering information. Both did well and were able to dispatch our team successfully. There was a minor hiccup with using the radio, but I assisted them with using it and putting it back in its proper place on the charger.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I used my skills to assist new employees with the help desk and guided them through our many procedures and services that we use here. I was able to assist them during shadowing as well and was even able to help them with their first hotline calls and in-person walk-ins. The trainees are now fully part of the IT Help Desk and are set to work by themselves without us constantly watching over them.