What do employer's mean when they talk about "desktop experience"?

[Theminecraftaddict555]

I'm planning to go onto a new IT job and currently applying for that job. But I'm kind of stumped a bit on a question they ask, "How many years of experience do you have with desktops?". Are they asking about the OS GUI and knowing where things are? or are they talking about something else? I really don't want to end up saying the wrong thing. 

[kirashi]

Just now, Theminecraftaddict555 said:

I'm planning to go onto a new IT job and currently applying for that job. But I'm kind of stumped a bit on a question they ask, "How many years of experience do you have with desktops?". Are they asking about the OS GUI and knowing where things are? or are they talking about something else? I really don't want to end up saying the wrong thing. 

You could always ask them - part of interviewing involves you asking just as many questions as they ask you. I'm going to guess they're asking for any general experience you have supporting people with their Desktop PC's - could be configuring software, working with PC hardware, or even just dreaming up better ways to implement a small office's PC setup, such as recommending a central file server for storage.

[Acid Panda]

desktops are often a term for doing a training exercise, for something.

 

however this could literally mean pc expereince

[Slottr]

Sounds like the company is pretty dated, I'd just assume experience using computers in general. 

[wasab]

23 minutes ago, Theminecraftaddict555 said:

I'm planning to go onto a new IT job and currently applying for that job. But I'm kind of stumped a bit on a question they ask, "How many years of experience do you have with desktops?". Are they asking about the OS GUI and knowing where things are? or are they talking about something else? I really don't want to end up saying the wrong thing. 

It means how much PC gaming experiences you have. Can you own all the noobs on call of duty multiplayer servers for instances? 

[aisle9]

41 minutes ago, Theminecraftaddict555 said:

I'm planning to go onto a new IT job and currently applying for that job. But I'm kind of stumped a bit on a question they ask, "How many years of experience do you have with desktops?". Are they asking about the OS GUI and knowing where things are? or are they talking about something else? I really don't want to end up saying the wrong thing. 

Ask for more information. That's a very broad, vague question. They want to see if you seek to thoroughly understand the question before answering it, or if you just say, "I have been using a desktop computer since I was 3 years old."

[Theminecraftaddict555]

5 hours ago, aisle9 said:

Ask for more information. That's a very broad, vague question. They want to see if you seek to thoroughly understand the question before answering it, or if you just say, "I have been using a desktop computer since I was 3 years old."

Unfortunately, it is a pick-n-choose question 

[Gareque]

If it's an IT role, then they probably mean Windows Desktop (such as the M$oft course of the same name), which is essentially troubleshooting various OS and desktop issues etc.

 

It would involve generic Windows/PC maintenance and troubleshooting.

[straight_stewie]

If it's not an IT role, then it probably means "If you're on the LTT forum, you meet that qualification".

[Yoinkerman]

I had to install dos from floppy before installing win95 does that count

[LogicalDrm]

I assume they mean dealing with general office PCs, installing, troubleshooting, other maintenance. Instead of server/network administrators work.

[Nebari]

17 hours ago, Gareque said:

If it's an IT role, then they probably mean Windows Desktop (such as the M$oft course of the same name), which is essentially troubleshooting various OS and desktop issues etc. 

 

It would involve generic Windows/PC maintenance and troubleshooting.

 

Most likely this. For a better idea of context, what's the job position?

[Theminecraftaddict555]

7 minutes ago, Nebari said:

 

Most likely this. For a better idea of context, what's the job position?

IT desk job position/help desk

[Nebari]

Yeah, they'll want to know what your experience is with Desktop support and what size of a user-base you've supported.

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

I think its much simple than that..

usually the HR have minimal knowledge of what specific task required,  in most case they just mean MS office

[NineEyeRon]

5 hours ago, dgsddfgdfhgs said:

I think its much simple than that..

usually the HR have minimal knowledge of what specific task required,  in most case they just mean MS office

I’ve yet to have HR ask those questions in an IT interview, always tech people who know their stuff.

 

If you don’t understand the question ask them to rephrase it, sometimes companies or industries have their own lingo.

 

Alwsys best to ask them to rephrase, repeat or clarify the question... ALWAYS

[Gareque]

5 hours ago, dgsddfgdfhgs said:

I think its much simple than that..

usually the HR have minimal knowledge of what specific task required,  in most case they just mean MS office

No they don't.  As someone who currently works in the same role, they want to know your years of experience in desktop support, as mentioned by Nebari as well.

 

From what I read earlier in the post, this isn't an interview question, but more of an application type question, you can't just ask them to rephrase it as you fill it in and send it to them.  If you rang them up and had them clarify what they mean by years of experience in desktops, you are telling them already that the answer is zero.

 

Just to make it so this is 100% clear:

 

They want to know your experience in support of desktops in an IT role.  That's it.

 

This can include windows troubleshooting, networking, hardware or just about anything else related, depending on the tier you're looking at.

[chiller15]

5 hours ago, dgsddfgdfhgs said:

I think its much simple than that..

usually the HR have minimal knowledge of what specific task required,  in most case they just mean MS office

Usually it's not just HR who conduct the interview, a direct line manager is normally involved. It's that person you're trying to impress the most, not HR.

 

"An IT job" is an extremely broad/vague statement these days. If the position is for a helpdesk/technician type of roles, then they're probably expecting what sort of experience you have not only using desktop PCs (may include various OSs), but also your experience in troubleshooting and repairing desktop issues, both hardware and software.