Fix the laptop, reset the password, get the office printing again. The fastest way into a tech career, and the ladder everyone else climbed.
Click through it
Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$65,000
Help desk, year 1
$43,000
Senior or team lead
$102,000
Job Bank's national median is $31.47 an hour, about $65,000 a year full time. The bottom is a first help desk job at a call centre or small company. The top is a senior desktop support specialist or support team lead at a hospital, university or bank.
$43,000 to $50,000
Tier 1 help desk, first year
Managed service providers, which run IT for many small companies, hire the most juniors and pay the least, but you learn fast because every client is different. Hospitals, school boards and governments pay more and move slower.
$75,000 to $114,000
Systems or network administrator after 2 to 4 years on the desk
Most people do not stay in support. It is the on-ramp to systems administration, networking, security and cloud roles, all of which pay more. Staying in support and moving into team lead also reaches the top of the range.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is real: some people land a first help desk job on certifications and a customer service background alone, so the figure is the two CompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association) A+ exams at a few hundred US dollars each, plus free online support certificates from Microsoft or Google. The high end is a two year college diploma at the top of the Ontario tuition range with those certifications on top. Employers supply the equipment beyond a screwdriver set. This is one of the cheapest ways into technology work, which also means plenty of competition for that first job.
This is one of the cheapest routes into tech. Some people get a first help desk job with only a certification and a customer-service background.
Public-sector pensions
Hospitals, school boards and governments employ thousands of support technicians with defined-benefit pensions and union contracts.
Health and dental
Standard at most employers.
Shift premiums
24-hour service desks pay extra for nights and weekends.
Paid certifications
Common, because employers want you to move up the ladder inside the company.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
One or two years of college, or a certification and a good attitude. Then learn on the job.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Computer science, any technology course, and English. Be the person friends and family ask to fix their computers.
Certificate or diploma
1 to 3 years
A 1-year college certificate or 2-year diploma in computer systems, IT support or network administration. A 3-year advanced diploma opens more doors later.
Certify
During college
CompTIA A+ is the entry credential most job ads name: two exams covering hardware, operating systems, networking and troubleshooting. Some students pass it before graduating.
Tier 1 help desk
1 to 2 years
Phone and chat support: password resets, software installs, printer problems. You escalate what you cannot fix.
Tier 2 or desktop support
Year 2 to 4
Harder problems, hands-on hardware, user accounts and devices. From here, most people specialize into systems, networking or security.
Computer science or computer engineering technology
How computers work and basic scripting.
English
Writing clear ticket notes and explaining problems calmly to stressed people.
Math
Basic networking involves binary and logic.
Any customer-facing job
Retail or restaurant work counts. Support is customer service with a screwdriver.
No licence and no professional body. Employers rely on vendor certifications instead. CompTIA A+ is the recognized starting point; Microsoft, Google and Cisco have entry-level credentials too. None are legally required, and a candidate who can calmly walk a frustrated caller through a fix will often beat one with more certificates. Nothing is provincial, so you can work anywhere in Canada.
Ontario
Seneca Computer Systems Technology (3-year advanced diploma) and Computer Systems Technician programs at Algonquin, Conestoga, Fanshawe, Mohawk and most public colleges.
Alberta
NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology) Computer Network Administrator certificate and SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) IT diplomas.
BC
BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology) and the regional colleges.
Atlantic Canada
NSCC (Nova Scotia Community College) and NBCC (New Brunswick Community College) IT support programs.
Things you don't need, but that help.
CompTIA Network+ and Security+
The next two rungs. Network+ leads to network jobs, Security+ to security operations.
Microsoft 365 and Azure fundamentals
Most offices run on Microsoft. Cheap exams that prove you can manage accounts and devices.
Apple and mobile device management
Schools, hospitals and design firms need people who can manage fleets of Macs, iPads and phones.
ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) Foundation
The standard framework for running a service desk. Large employers and governments like to see it.
Patience and a calm voice
Half of every call is calming someone down.
A home lab
Old computers to take apart, a couple of virtual machines to break and rebuild.
Scripting basics
PowerShell or Python to automate the boring fixes. This is what gets you promoted off the desk.
Driver's licence
Field support and managed service providers send you to client sites.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Log in, check the ticket queue. A locked-out account, a laptop that will not connect to Wi-Fi, a printer everyone is angry at, a new hire who needs a computer set up by 9am. Phone calls and chats all morning, walking people through fixes while writing notes in each ticket. Afternoon: a walk to the third floor to swap a dead monitor, then imaging six laptops for next week's starts. The problems you cannot fix get escalated to the systems team, and you learn something from each one.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Restarting fixes a large share of computer problems because it clears whatever state the software got stuck in. Support technicians joke about it, and then they ask you to do it anyway.
A large share of Canada's systems administrators, network engineers and security analysts started on a help desk. Support is where you learn how real organizations use technology, and what breaks.
CompTIA A+ requires passing two separate exams, Core 1 and Core 2, from the same version. Together they cover hardware, operating systems, networking, security basics and troubleshooting, and they are the most-requested entry credential in Canadian IT support ads.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.