Top 12 Computer Support Technician Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's fast-paced technological landscape, a sharp computer support technician blends calm troubleshooting with crisp technical range and human-friendly communication. A resume that stands out shows breadth across systems, networks, security, and automation—plus the judgment to fix things fast without breaking what already works.

Computer Support Technician Skills

1. Troubleshooting
2. Networking
3. Windows 10/11
4. Linux
5. macOS
6. Active Directory
7. Microsoft 365
8. VMware
9. PowerShell
10. Python
11. Hardware Repair
12. Cybersecurity

1. Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting is the disciplined hunt for the root cause of a fault—observe, define, isolate, test, and fix—then verify the result and capture the lesson so it sticks.

Why It's Important

It’s the heartbeat of support. Without reliable troubleshooting, issues linger, users stall, and small glitches snowball into outages.

How to Improve Troubleshooting Skills

Build speed, accuracy, and calm under pressure with deliberate practice:

1. Expand your mental map: Track common failure patterns across OS, apps, drivers, networks, and identity. Keep a personal runbook of symptoms and fixes.

2. Think methodically: Reproduce the problem. Change one variable at a time. Roll back when results drift.

3. Interview like a pro: Ask precise questions. Time of onset, scope, last known good, recent changes. Listen for clues, not just complaints.

4. Use the right tools: Event Viewer, Sysinternals tools, hardware diagnostics, bootable toolkits, packet capture, baseline monitors.

5. Document fiercely: Capture steps, commands, screenshots, and outcomes. Tag entries for quick retrieval.

6. Post-mortem small wins: After a fix, ask why it failed, why it wasn’t caught sooner, and how to prevent a replay.

How to Display Troubleshooting Skills on Your Resume

2. Networking

Networking connects devices so they can talk—securely—moving packets across switches, routers, firewalls, and access points to share services, files, and applications.

Why It's Important

When the network hiccups, everything wobbles. Solid networking chops mean faster fixes, cleaner deployments, and fewer mystery slowdowns.

How to Improve Networking Skills

Blend study with hands-on work:

1. Strengthen fundamentals: IP addressing, subnetting, VLANs, routing, DHCP, DNS, NAT, IPv6, QoS, wireless basics.

2. Practice in labs: Build home or virtual labs. Simulate topologies. Break them on purpose. Fix them faster.

3. Pursue certifications: CompTIA Network+, CCNA, or equivalent to validate knowledge.

4. Instrument everything: Use ping, traceroute, ipconfig/ifconfig, nslookup, netstat, packet capture, and controller dashboards.

5. Collaborate: Share configs and postmortems with peers. Compare approaches and tune your playbook.

How to Display Networking Skills on Your Resume

3. Windows 10/11

Windows 10 and Windows 11 power most enterprise desktops. They bring modern security controls, management hooks, and broad application compatibility.

Why It's Important

Support lives where users live. Knowing Windows inside out means faster triage, smoother updates, and resilient endpoints. Note: Windows 10 reaches end of support for most editions in October 2025—plan upgrades or extended lifecycle options accordingly.

How to Improve Windows 10/11 Skills

Practical steps that pay off:

1. Stay current: Apply OS and driver updates on a schedule. Track release notes and known issues.

2. Trim startup clutter: Use Task Manager’s Startup tab to cut dead weight and improve boot time.

3. Reclaim storage: Turn on Storage Sense or use Disk Cleanup. Purge temp files and old updates.

4. Defrag HDDs: Optimize Drives for spinning disks; leave SSDs to the OS.

5. Tune visuals: Performance Options can trade animations for snappier response on low-spec devices.

6. Scan and repair: Use Windows Security, SFC (sfc /scannow), and DISM (/RestoreHealth) when corruption creeps in.

7. Power profiles: Pick Balanced for laptops, Performance for plugged-in workstations as needed.

8. Driver hygiene: Source from OEM or Windows Update. Avoid random driver packs.

9. Remove bloat: Uninstall unused apps and features. Standardize images to keep noise low.

How to Display Windows 10 Skills on Your Resume

4. Linux

Linux is the open-source backbone behind countless servers, appliances, and developer workstations—flexible, scriptable, and sturdy under pressure.

Why It's Important

It’s everywhere in infrastructure. Knowing Linux widens your reach: logs, services, permissions, networking, automation.

How to Improve Linux Skills

Sharpen by doing:

1. Update routinely: Use your distro’s package manager (apt, dnf, yum, zypper) to patch and stabilize.

2. Watch the system: htop/top, journalctl, df/du, iostat, vmstat—measure before you guess.

3. Lock it down: UFW/iptables, fail2ban, SSH hardening, SELinux or AppArmor policies.

4. Automate: Bash and shell scripting. Cron and timers for backups, checks, rotations.

5. Monitor and alert: Use monitoring stacks to catch trouble early and trend capacity.

6. Back up like you mean it: rsync, snapshots, images. Test restores regularly.

7. Network troubleshoot: ip, ss, tcpdump, nmap—trace flows and verify paths.

How to Display Linux Skills on Your Resume

5. macOS

macOS powers Apple’s Macs with a consistent, secure, and polished environment that pairs tightly with Apple hardware and services.

Why It's Important

Mixed fleets are normal. Supporting macOS means smoother onboarding, fewer escalations, and happier users who expect things to “just work.”

How to Improve macOS Skills

Dial in performance and safety:

1. Keep it updated: Major releases yearly, minor updates often. Test, then deploy.

2. Manage startup items: Trim login items and background agents that slow boot.

3. Optimize storage: Use built-in storage management. Archive or remove bulky leftovers.

4. Watch resources: Activity Monitor to spot runaway processes. Console for logs.

5. Encrypt everything: Enable FileVault. Secure recovery keys.

6. Back up: Time Machine or image-based backups. Verify restores.

7. Network hardening: Configure firewall and stealth mode. Use strong Wi‑Fi profiles.

8. Terminal skills: brew, systemsetup, profiles, log, and basic shell to speed tough fixes.

How to Display MacOS Skills on Your Resume

6. Active Directory

Active Directory centralizes identity and policy for Windows domains—authenticating users and devices, applying Group Policy, and securing access to resources. Often paired with cloud identity (Microsoft Entra ID) in hybrid setups.

Why It's Important

AD touches logon, permissions, and policy. If it’s misconfigured, everything hurts; when it’s healthy, the environment feels effortless.

How to Improve Active Directory Skills

Focus on resilience and least privilege:

1. Patch domain controllers: Keep OS and AD components current. Monitor replication health.

2. Tighten credentials: Strong password policies, MFA for admins, tiered admin accounts, protected groups.

3. Group Policy discipline: Minimize GPO sprawl, document scope, and test in staging. Prefer computer-side controls for consistency.

4. Audit relentlessly: Track privileged changes, failed logons, and lateral movement indicators.

5. Back up and practice recovery: System state and forest recovery plans. Test restores so you’re not guessing under fire.

6. Principle of least privilege: Grant just‑enough access. Review stale accounts and lingering permissions.

7. Secure transport: Enforce modern protocols and signing. Retire legacy auth where possible.

How to Display Active Directory Skills on Your Resume

7. Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 is the cloud suite for productivity and collaboration—Exchange, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, Office apps, security, and compliance—managed centrally through the admin center and PowerShell.

Why It's Important

It’s where email, chat, meetings, and documents live. Strong M365 skills reduce tickets, unlock features, and harden the tenant against threats.

How to Improve Microsoft 365 Skills

Make the tenant calm, fast, and safe:

1. Keep services current: Track roadmap changes. Test feature rollouts with pilot groups.

2. Train users: Short, focused guides on Teams etiquette, OneDrive sync, sharing, and file lifecycle.

3. Use the Admin Center: Standardize policies, mail hygiene, sharing defaults, retention, and labels.

4. Secure by default: MFA, conditional access, baseline policies, Defender for Office 365, safe links/attachments.

5. Watch health: Service health dashboard, message center, and alerting for outages or tenant issues.

6. Automate: PowerShell for bulk changes and reporting. Scripts for licensing, mailbox rules, and Teams governance.

7. Network tuning: Favor direct internet egress for M365 traffic and verify latency paths.

How to Display Office 365 Skills on Your Resume

8. VMware

VMware’s virtualization platform runs multiple operating systems on shared hardware with isolation, snapshots, and live migration—wringing more value from the same metal.

Why It's Important

Virtualization shrinks costs, speeds deployments, and simplifies recovery. Support techs who understand it solve problems before they ripple.

How to Improve VMware Skills

Keep hosts tidy and VMs quick:

1. Right-size resources: Balance CPU, memory, and storage allocations based on real workload metrics.

2. Update VMware Tools: Better drivers, smoother shutdowns, improved performance.

3. Mind storage: Enable Storage I/O Control where available. Watch latency and queue depths.

4. Stay current: Update hypervisors and management stacks to supported builds.

5. Tame snapshots: Use briefly. Consolidate and delete stale ones before they bite.

6. Monitor aggressively: Performance charts, logs, and alerts. Baselines prevent guessing.

7. Use DRS and HA: Balance loads and survive host failures with minimal disruption.

8. Fast networking: Prefer VMXNET3, tune queues, and segment traffic with VLANs/port groups.

9. Harden hosts: Apply security baselines. Limit management access and audit changes.

10. Keep learning: Lab builds, official training, and certifications sharpen instincts.

How to Display VMware Skills on Your Resume

9. PowerShell

PowerShell is a shell and scripting language for automation and configuration—Windows-focused by birth, now cross‑platform with PowerShell 7.

Why It's Important

Automation turns repetitive toil into one-liners. Swift, consistent changes. Better audits. Fewer mistakes.

How to Improve PowerShell Skills

Build muscle memory and structure:

1. Master the basics: Cmdlets, objects, the pipeline, modules, profiles, help, and Get-Member.

2. Script daily: Automate small tasks—log collection, inventory, local user fixes, registry tweaks.

3. Adopt standards: Use functions, parameters, comments, and error handling (Try/Catch/Finally).

4. Remote like a pro: WinRM and SSH remoting, Just Enough Administration, secure credential handling.

5. Test and lint: Pester for unit tests; code formatting for readability.

6. Explore key modules: ActiveDirectory, Microsoft.Graph, ExchangeOnline, PSWindowsUpdate, PackageManagement.

How to Display PowerShell Skills on Your Resume

10. Python

Python is a clear, batteries-included language used for automation, data wrangling, web services, and glue code across platforms.

Why It's Important

It speeds up scripting beyond the shell—APIs, file operations, data parsing, and cross‑OS tools are straightforward and readable.

How to Improve Python Skills

Practical and project-driven:

1. Automate real work: Build scripts for inventory, log parsing, bulk file ops, ticket exports, and API calls.

2. Structure code: Functions, virtual environments, requirements files, and logging.

3. Use the right libraries: requests, paramiko, pywin32, pandas for quick reports, rich for pretty CLI output.

4. Test and package: Add pytest, docstrings, and simple CLI interfaces for reuse.

5. Readability first: Follow PEP 8; name things well. Future you will thank present you.

How to Display Python Skills on Your Resume

11. Hardware Repair

Hardware repair means diagnosing and fixing physical components—RAM, storage, power supplies, motherboards, cooling, and peripherals—safely and precisely.

Why It's Important

Not every problem is software. Quick, safe hardware fixes cut downtime and save budgets from needless replacements.

How to Improve Hardware Repair Skills

Hands, tools, and habits:

1. Practice teardown/rebuild: Old systems are perfect training grounds. Cable discipline matters.

2. Respect ESD: Mats, straps, anti‑static handling, and proper storage for components.

3. Diagnose methodically: Known-good swaps, POST codes, beep codes, SMART data, PSU testers, memtests.

4. Keep a toolkit: Precision drivers, spudgers, thermal paste, isopropyl alcohol, compressed air, spare cables.

5. Update firmware: BIOS/UEFI, SSD firmware, device firmware—stability and fixes often hide there.

6. Document models and parts: Service manuals, FRU part numbers, and compatibility notes save hours.

How to Display Hardware Repair Skills on Your Resume

12. Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity protects systems and data from theft, tampering, and downtime—through layered controls, smart defaults, and relentless patching.

Why It's Important

Breaches are expensive and personal. Good security preserves trust, uptime, and compliance while keeping attackers bored and elsewhere.

How to Improve Cybersecurity Skills

Make security everyone’s habit:

1. Harden identity: MFA everywhere possible. Conditional access. Unique admin accounts with elevated protections.

2. Patch quickly: OS, apps, drivers, firmware. Maintain an approved baseline and measure drift.

3. Reduce attack surface: Least privilege, application allowlists, disable legacy protocols, and prune stale accounts.

4. Defend endpoints: EDR, disk encryption, firewall policies, and controlled USB usage.

5. Secure the network: Segment critical services, encrypt in transit, monitor east‑west traffic.

6. Back up with intent: 3‑2‑1 strategy, offline or immutable copies, regular restore tests.

7. Plan for incidents: Runbooks, contacts, decision trees, and tabletop exercises. Log centrally and alert on the unusual.

8. Teach constantly: Short phishing drills, quick tips, and visible wins. People are the strongest control when informed.

How to Display Cybersecurity Skills on Your Resume