Overview
In this career, your responsibilities may include:
- Providing assistance to computer users and organizations.
- Computer user support specialists help individual users resolve computer problems.
- Computer network support specialists work on maintaining and troubleshooting the computer networks themselves.
Job Titles
In your job search, you may find listings for this career under different titles. You can find some examples of these, as well as more information about Computer User Support Specialists and Computer Network Support Specialists, at Career One Stop.
Academic Requirements
Typically requires an associate degree. Obtaining a bachelor’s degree can make you eligible for careers with greater responsibility and higher salaries in this career pathway, if you do not already have the U.S. equivalent of a bachelor’s degree. Your associate degree might give you advanced standing or transfer credit towards a bachelor’s degree, reducing the time it would take you to graduate.
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Certification
Certification is not required, but could make employers more likely to hire you or offer you a higher salary.
You may be eligible for one of the following certifications:
HDI Customer Service Representative (HDI-CSR)
Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP)
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Licensure
Licensure is not required to work as a Computer Support Specialist.
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Mutual Recognition Agreement
A Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) is an agreement between two or more jurisdictions to accept the educational or professional credentials granted under each other’s authority. This means that if you graduated with a specific degree or earned certain professional qualifications in a country covered under an MRA, your credentials may be automatically recognized here in the U.S.
The Seoul Accord is an MRA between accrediting organizations in multiple countries to recognize each other’s academic qualifications. If you graduated from an accredited computing or other IT program in one of the 8 non-U.S. jurisdictions covered by the Seoul Accord, then your degree may already be declared substantially equivalent to a degree from a U.S. program, and you may not need to obtain a credential evaluation. However, individual state licensing boards have the final authority on whether or not a particular degree meets their specific requirements for licensure. MRAs are not legally binding, and some states may choose not to recognize credentials covered under an MRA.
- In addition to the U.S., the jurisdictions that have signed to the Seoul Accord are: Australia; Canada; Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China; Japan; Korea; Mexico; Taiwan, Republic of China; and United Kingdom.
Contact us with any questions you might have.