Students will learn what a NOC is, how it functions and what are the core skills needed to get in and be successful at the NOC. They will learn about the tools and techniques needed on a daily basis to maintain the NOC environment. They will also learn what kind of background they need to have in order to get hired and once hired what are the things that they can learn to make themselves more marketable for their future roles.

I will go through the daily activities of the NOC performed during all three shifts. In particular I will focus on the monitoring and troubleshooting aspect along with the escalation issues and process of how to initiate the escalation process.

What do you need in order to gain the most from this course:

• Desire to make a carrier in IT
• Have to know basic systems administration, Windows, Linux and Networking
• Familiarity with monitoring tools like Nagios, HP Openview, Cacti, etc.

Actionable items:

• Go to job sites like Indeed, Dice and Carrierbuilder and read up on NOC job descriptions to get an idea
• Go to youtune and watch some videos on what a NOC looks like
• Talk to anyone you know who is already working at a NOC.

During the course you students will also get tips on:

• How to prepare for the NOC job interview?
• What does a typical NOC role job description looks like?
• What kind of software tools you should be aware of in order to be ready for the interview?
• Where to move your career after you have spent some time at the NOC?