I am applying for an internship. I meet all of the reqirements for the position, except they want someone who “has experience setting up internet connections”. I don’t think that this is something that I wouldn’t be able to pick up fairly quickly, but I just really haven’t had to do it ever. I’m planning on submitting my resume for this position tonight, and if I were to get an interview I’d like to know as much about setting up internet connections as I can, so that even though I may lack actual experience doing this, I could still convince them that I could do it if I had to. This is only an entry-level position, so I really don’t think they would expect me to do anything too complicated right away.
How can I quickly learn/practice setting up internet connections? Are their any online resources I could use to study this? Any other resources or suggestions?
The ad isn’t specific as to what type of internet connections. Here is what the ad says:
Like I said, I really haven’t had any specific experience setting up any internet connections, at least none that I can think of off the top of my head. I still think I could pick it up fairly quickly, especially if I could find some resources to study or somewhere to practice. To be honest, I don’t have much networking or email system experience either, so I could use some help in those areas as well. I don’t know if I’d be able to get this position, but I’d like to prepare myself as much as possible in case I do at least get an interview.
Now, if for some reason you still want to go through with it…
Get an external modem. Borrow one or get a 33.6 one for cheap. It doesn’t have to be fancy.
Hook it up to your computer. Go through the entire process of installing the drivers and creating a dialup connection. Make sure you can get it to connect to your ISP reliably. Sorry I can’t go through all the details of this, but you should be able to figure it out.
Then take it to a computer with a different version of Windows. Go through the same steps, noting what has to be done differently. They’re all basically the same, but Microsoft likes moving things around here and there.
Now the fun part. Hook it up to a friend’s computer, then go home. Call them up and talk them through the process. Don’t quit until they get online. This is a lot easier if they have two phone lines.
Then try doing it with your grandmother.
Whoa, whoa, put down the baseball bat. That wasn’t what I meant, honest.
Hasty rephrase: Find someone who has never used a computer before and talk them through setting up a connection. Go slowly and take them through every single mouse click. This will be tedious and frustrating. Be tolerant of their mistakes and remember how clumsy you were when you tried using a computer for the first time.
This should give you a good grasp of what the job entails. There are a million little things to learn but don’t panic. Everyone else in tech support is still learning too.