All language subtitles for 2_what is it

Welcome to course one,
technical support fundamentals.

My name is Kevin Limehouse and
I work as a support specialist for

platforms building Doubleclick at Google.

Looking back I can trace
from my passion for

IT began to an actual moment
when I was eight years old.

And my parents were about to throw
their old busted computer but

I managed to convince my
mom to let me keep it.

I remember the moment when I
slowly started disassembling it,

kept digging deeper and deeper, unscrewing
every little piece I can get my hands on,

and I was hooked.

By the time I was 12 or 13 years old
I became the de facto IT support for

my entire family, and

that's no small feat considering I have
11 aunts and uncles and over 35 cousins.

My parents both grew up in very
small rural towns in South Carolina.

Growing up in the Jim Crow South
through the mid 1950's and

1960's, they were taught
at an early age that one of

the better methods to get
ahead was through education.

This lesson was instilled in me and
my sister and

I ended up going to university
to study computer science.

I graduated school right at the end
of the 2007 and 2009 recession, but

thankfully I secured a job at Google and
IT support where I work with users solving

their issues and
supporting the IT inventory.

And now I've been working in IT for
seven years.

And my current role is to support
specialists, I provide technical and

building support to Google sales teams,
which involves everything from

troubleshooting to creating forms or
editing automation scripts.

And now you know a little bit about me,
let's start from the beginning.

What is Information Technology?

Information technology has completely
transformed your life in ways that you may

not even realize.

Thanks to IT we can communicate massive
amounts of information to people and

organizations across the world
in the blink of an eye.

Computers power everything from
calculators, to medical equipment,

to complex satellite systems, and
the trading desk of Wall Street.

They're powerful and invaluable tools
that help people get their work done and

enable us to connect with one another.

So what exactly is information technology?

IT is essentially the use of digital
technology like computers on the Internet

to store and
process data into useful information.

The IT industry refers to the entire
scope of all the jobs and

resources that are related to
computing technologies within society.

And there are a lot of different
types of jobs in this field.

From network engineers who ensure
computers can communicate with each other,

to hardware technicians who replace and
repair components, to desktop support

personnel who make sure that end users
can use their software properly.

But IT isn't just about building
computers and using the Internet,

it's really about the people.

That's the heart and
soul of IT support work.

What good is technology or information
if people can't use technology or

make sense of the information?

IT helps people solve meaningful problems
by using technology which is why you'll

see its influences in education,
medicine, journalism, construction,

transportation, entertainment, or
really any industry on the planet.

IT is about changing the world through
the ways we collaborate, share, and

create together.

IT has become such a vital tool
in modern society that people and

organizations who don't have access
to IT are at a disadvantage.

IT skills are becoming necessary for
day to day living.

Like finding a job, getting an education,
and looking up your health information.

Maybe you're from a community where there
wasn't any Internet or you couldn't afford

a super fast computer and had to use
one at your school or library instead.

There are many social and economic reasons
why some people have digital literacy

skills and other people do not.

This growing skills gap is
known as the digital divide.

People without digital literacy
skills are falling behind.

But people like you are the real solution
to bridging that digital divide.

Overcoming the digital divide,
not only involves confronting and

understanding the combination of
socio-economic factors that shape our

experience, but also helping others
confront and understand those experiences.

By getting into IT you'll help serve those
in your communities, organizations, and

maybe even inspire a new
generation of IT pioneers.

When I think about solving
the digital divide, I can't help but

think of all the opportunities and
breakthroughs that folks from

diverse backgrounds and
perspectives in the industry can bring.