Ongoing tech support training?

Can anyone tell me what kidn of ongoing training/updating skills does tech support person need in business environment? No need to go into much detail, it would be enough to state e.g. learning new networking software or need for use new languages/versions of languages. does Vista require the tech in-house support engineer to update his skills in order to support a user - how much time would one need to learn it? what about evolving networks in terms of installing new hardware or allowing laptops to connect wirelessly?

Sorry but I don't know anything about a tech support job in general, let alone anything specific so I might have not put this question in best possible way.

How would you implement aprescribed IT support system, are there any logical steps or order to go through, to make sure that legal oblications are observed?

 

if you want a good job, id suggest going thru a quality customer service course. they go REALLY in depth of how youre supposed to deal with your customers and represent the company you work for.
any kind of tech support is going to require training in whatever kind of support youre giving. and i can almost guarentee you if youre working with people and you have a quality certificate, youll get looked at better by a potential employer.
but of course you should ask what are some of the prerequasite...(excuse the spelling) certificates/trainign most people are getting for the position. a lot of it is stuff that looks good on a resume.

 

Thanks King Steve. I understand that it obviously depends on where you have landed your job, but taking into account technological advances - both soft- and hardware - what kind of skills would you need to update once you have landed that job. For example if you work in medium size business taking care of their network and end user machines. They might even ask you to create a tutorial or give basic tuition for a new software or software update?

What about learning new network languages, how often would you have to learn a new one or different version of the same? What about server or networking software, how often they would get updated in business, e.g. because of network gets larger or wireless hardware access is needed?

 

I don't think i really understand what you're asking. If you're trying to become a systems admin, you need to go to college and take a 2 year computer networking course and get a degree to even be looked at by a serious company. theres no way youll get a network admin job without a degree. if you do, let me know cuz im paying a lot for college.
as far as languages go, ive been learning VBScript. not really necessary though, but automation is great if you're a busy admin. yay for scripts. these languages dont really have "new versions" that you need to know to write good and useful scripts.
become familiar with all cisco equipment. its what is used in most business situations. get your Net + certificate, A+ is good to get, but if youre good, your employer probably wont care about that. i think you kinda need an A+ cert. if youre working with hardware. if you dont, the guy that has it will get the job before you. other certificates come later as they really require hands on experiance. your CCNA you can get(though its not easy) after you take a routing/switching course.

if you just want a helpdesk job or something like that, you might not need a degree, but someone with a degree will very possibly be ahead of you in the resume pile. in helpdesk, you wont be touching the network. you wont need to know any scripting.

but thats just off the top of my head. the very best thing to do when youre looking for your job is to ask what youll be doing. most job listings will tell you what you need to know.