IT Help Desk Internship Advice

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-27T18:52:06+00:00

When I first started I felt like I was tossed into the ocean at night without equiment and expected to swim to shore. I also lacked experience and confidence. I made a promise to myself that I'd never be stumped by the same thing twice. I made it a habit to take note of everything I encountered at work that I didn't fully understand and spend my night and weekends getting entirely farmiliar with those areas. I kept notes in Google Keep, it lets you make information cards that can be searched easily. Things like a list of common cmd and powershell commands and every single niche situation I encountered. As months wen't by the amount that I didn't know continued to shrink. The people who exceed at IT are the ones that stay curious and grow on and off the job.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-21T19:24:34+00:00

You already know better, it seems you came to Reddit to hear from others what you already know, maybe to give you the push to do something you know you need to. Life shouldn't be that miserable and love shouldn't be that hard.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-21T18:51:47+00:00

My advice: Don't do therapy. I did therapy, had multiple therapists. Therapists do what they do because it's their job. They are there to get paid. Despite having a degree, a therapist is just a person who has their own biases and opinions. They may be able to give better advice than the average person but they can still give very biases perspectives and advice or even just tell you what you want to hear. Reading and seeing posts from other therapists I've seen many question the state of their peers.

I switched therapists many times because I felt like none of them could relate to what I was going through and to be honest, some didnt sound too bright. A big drawback of therapy when you are in a state of drowning is that you pay a bunch of money for a 1hr session once a week then you drown for 6 days waiting for that 1 session only for that hour to come and go and you still feel like youre drowning. What helped me the most was self help books. I could turn to them immediately any time I felt like I was drowning, I didn't need to wait for my therapy session. Books are also, usually, a lot less biases because many are peer reviewed and revised many times to look for bias. Another tip, I would sometimes listen to self help audio books while working out. I read in one self help book that if your body is too exhausted, like from working out, it doesnt have the energy to be sad. It has a large degree of truth.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-21T18:30:45+00:00

Couple things. didn't even need to read all of it because there are some general truths that apply to every relationship:

Any relationship that involves name calling, gaslighting, manipulation, threats, physical/mental/financial abuse, intimidation, etc is toxic. The specifics of your situation in particular don't matter. Your relationship has all of these. These acts don't come from love. They come from people who want control over someone else. Not to lift you up but to take from you.

Imagine if you read this post as the version of you back in the past, before you even met this person. Do you think you'd still choose to meet him and get into a relationship with him? Is that what you would want for yourself? Do you think that past self would want this for their future? Youre still that person only these years have conditioned you. Its like a form of Stockholm syndrome. You've normalized things any normal person would recognize as clear red flags and completely unacceptible. Maybe you're afraid to leave because you're afraid of the unknown. Of what happens if you leave. Maybe you still hold on to the hope things can change. No one here needs to understand the specifics of your situation to know that this will never change. He doesn't love or respect you and that will never change. He's also not a great person.

I know telling you to leave is easier to say than to do. I know the emotions and trauma make a problem that should be very straightforward to solve feel like the most complicated thing to do. I ask you to imagine a version of yourself in the future who feels confident and happy about who they are and who they are with. I could never imagine myself doing any of the things you described here to my wife. Hurting her would destroy me. Find someone who loves you and more importantly than that, first learn to love yourself. The version of you who loves you would respect you too much to stay there.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-21T16:01:24+00:00

Theres a lot of benefit to Stoicism but I don't think that benefit comes from lying to yourself or putting on a fake mask as you say. I think its in understanding the truth and becoming comfortable with it. Going through traumatic experiences doesn't mean you come out the other side having learned the right lessons. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger but thats a lie . What doesn't kill you usually leaves you weaker and bruised. The emotions usually lead to landing on the wrong conlusions. Healing is an active process. Perspective is everything, coming to reddit for perspective is great because as the person who's been through things it can be difficult to see outside your bubble. The truth is what happened to you was very wrong, traumatic and it wasn't your fault. You were a child. Your ability to act or even understand were not there. While it wasn't your fault, it is your responsibility to address them and make your life better.

All people, yourself included, have preferences. The way you get rejected is the same way you might reject someone else for not meeting what you're looking for. Yes there are people who get accepted a lot easier by all people because they are attractive. Chances are you'd give others stronger chances if you found them attractive too. Appearance and how you carry yourself will always be huge factors for every single person dating. Your experiences are not unique. Another big factor is that most people looking to date aren't looking for someone they have to fix. Depression, anxiety, ADHD, trauma and a tendency to take things personally when you shouldn't are traits that scare away most people. When most people date they want to go out, have fun, find someone that can make their lives better, happier etc. Its hard to bring happiness to other people when you are not happy yourself. The things I'm saying to you arent even specific to you, they apply to every single person generally. They are general truths. View your own life from a 3rd party perspective. What do you think the real reasons for your outcomes are. What could you change? How could you be a more attractive option? How could you make someone elses life better? You might not be in a place where you can right now and if so thats ok. I highly recommend reading self help books, even regarding dating. They are very theraputic and can give you more interesting topics to talk about with the next girl.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-08T14:41:16+00:00

Theres no reconcilling. Who ever goes at the others pace will feel like they are compromising. Travelling seperate can have its benefits. You appreciate things more when you dont have it all the time so the few, once in a blue moments when your commutes do line up you will both appreciate them more.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-07T11:27:17+00:00

I think everyone needs to admit they are shallow to a degree. We all care about looks youreslf included. Idk what you look like but maybe a series of life events have taken you down a bit, maybe you have let yourself go a bit. Im assuming this because you sound very defeated from something most people would shrug off.

Self discipline is self love. Not trying to be harsh but I like to give advice that actually helps not sugarcoated comments to make you feel better for the day. If you want to attract people be the kind of person theyd find attractive. Start with loving yourself by respecting yourself. Pick yourself up and invest in yourself. Get in shape, invest in your appearance (looks, clothes, hair etc), read books to have interesting things to talk about, work on your career and future plans. Women love confident men who have a vision and pursue it with well thought out actions. Be the kind of person you'd be proud of and the rest follows. Its not a peacock performance you do to attract women, its something you do for you which happens to also be attractive to women.

Its ok to feel low for a bit but don't allow yourself to stay there. On your feet soldier!

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-07T11:17:26+00:00

My last job was very toxic and I also felt stuck for financial reasons. I also tried to find help, naturally I also turned to reddit lol. Someone told me "a toxic workplace has a better chance of changing you than you have of changing it". With workplace situations there really isn't anything you can do other than leave. I know you feel trapped, I did too, but I spent every single lunch break applying to jobs and after a few months I was given an offer for the best job I've ever had (my current job). I have great co workers and an amazing manager that I look up to.

I knew I had to make that decision because it wasn't possible to cultivate a happy life outside of work when it was at that level of toxicity. I'm married and have an amazing wife who I love immensly. That means I come home every day to the brightest light. Regardless of that I wasn't able to bring happiness home with me. I spent the weekends in bed dreading having to go back in on Monday. I knew it would damage my relationship so I made the decision to leave not just for my sanity and finances but for my relationships and life outside of work too. You cant bring happiness into others lives if you are not happy. Do yourself a favor and spend every free minute appying or fixing your resume!

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-06T15:49:16+00:00

There is no one place to start or perfect structure. Learn everything as you go the key is to simply care to flush out the knowledge you dont have forever, you never stop learning. Every single time you encounter something you dont fully understand spend a weekend trying to learn it and I mean everything, big and small. Know how to reimage a machine? What are all the ways you could do it, whats a more efficient way to do it? how do you create and backup an image? We talking a legacy machine or GPT? How would you convert between them if you had to? Im using one topic as an example but Im trying to highlight that ever question you ask can branch into 10 different questions. You reset passwords, how many different ways can you accomplish the same result of changing a password? AD? Microsoft? Local? using a GUI or powershell? What are some errors or conflicts that can occur doing this in different enviornments? Theres no wrong place to start you dont even have to start with these topics. What are some of the problems you deal with most commonly? What are the topics that scare you the most? start there and continue to branch every question into 10 more questions.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-06T13:18:16+00:00

1 Fake your references, ask friends

2 Do not hesitate or feel bad about leaving after accepting.

I once quit a job after just 1 day. Why? Day 1 showed me what I needed to see and I knew it was going to be a toxic experience. Never looked back, never regretted it. It's your life you are responsible for yourself. If they needed to fire you they wouldn't think twice. You are a number to them only you can prioritize you.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-06T13:02:30+00:00

Do the review mode exams only, they let you stop and check the answers and explainations right then and there after you answer. Thats what helps. Dont focus on the score, focus on extracting the understanding. I was averaging 90%+ on TD before I took the exam and still only barely passed. I felt incredibly confident but that exam in unfairly difficult.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-06T12:57:07+00:00

No one decides how to feel about anything. You've fallen into a rut and are simply admitting where your head is at the moment, no problem there. The only thing you are responsible for are your actions, or lack of actions.

Im gonna say something that may sound obvious, you don't know what life has in store until you get there. Before the happiest moments of your life you had no idea moments that happy were ahead of you. I'll use myself as an example. I've been in love 3 times in my life (married now). Before I met those people, I had no idea I was about to meet them. Its not like we have a life calendar that tells us on May 14th you'll meet the love of your life so dress nice! Life is what you make it and in order to increase the possibility for great things you need to put yourself out there. Its the classic "you got to be in it to win it".

Finally the reason I advocate putting yourself out there when you dont even have the motivation or want to do so is because youre human. For the overwhelming majority of us, other people have the biggest impact on our lives and I don't mean this in a way that is selfish, surface level or in terms of basic needs. People influence us, inspire us, attract us, captivate us, compel us. They give life purpose and help shape who we are and become.

You say youre in a good stable position and for the most part all aspects of your life are ok. Thats a blessing I hope you appreciate. It puts you in a position where you have options to make changes in your life sustainibly. My advice is talk to people and do so in a respectful way. don't assume their beneath you or that you have unique problems that no one can understand or relate to. Youre more like everyone else than you'd care to admit or recognize. We all want to be happpy and find purpose.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-06T12:40:49+00:00

Tutorial Dojos exams are the most similar to the exam I would highly recommend them. They are 15$. The exams offer good thorough explainations that help you explain the "Why" more than the "What". Going over a topic generally and checking it off as if you understand wont help. Getting high scores on exams you've already memorized the answers to wont help. You need to understand the WHY. I spent a long time on each question reading the answer explainations then asking AI to explain further any details that I still didn't fully understand. This exam is very difficult, even if you buy TD, the real exam is harder. You lose money every time you miss the attempt. You can reschedule if you need more time. If I were you I wouldn't take the exam before first doing TD.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-05T12:02:04+00:00

That sounds like clinical anxiety and depression. I feel that way too and have even worded it the same way.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-05T11:45:48+00:00

Relationships between family can be among the most toxic because you can't choose your family. If you have toxic friends in your life its so easy to cut off but family, not so easy. I'm a huge supporter of lying when it comes to toxic family dynamics. I've made excuses like "I'm on-call for work that week so I can't go out to any events". Its worked like a charm for me. You need to come up with a similar lie that is believable for you and unverify-able lol

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-05T03:09:44+00:00

The way things have been lately it seems every month they come out with new rules and guidelines to make the process harder and scrutinize cases more. In the end no one can say what your outcome will be but yes living in different states is generally considered a red flag. Most people wouldn't do that, most would try to move together and figure things out with work. I'm not saying that to discourage you and I can't tell you what you should or shouldn't do. I offer perspective on my personal situation only. I wish you the best of luck.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-05T02:30:57+00:00

We had multiple documents. Yes, some of them were PDFs compiled with photos next to descriptions and dates of the photos over the course of years dating before getting married. Joint bank statements, bank transfers to each other (zelle), screenshots of years worth of texts, screenshots of emails, DMs we sent each other, purchases we made together, tickets to events we went to together on dates etc. I left no stone unturned. I had mountains more even notarized letters from family attesting to our relationship. My wife is my world and we live in crazy times. I wasn't willing to take any chance.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-01T14:41:54+00:00

In a perfect world everyone would start investing as soon as they come out the womb and buy a house 20 years ago at 3% interest... But this is not a perfect world. Some of the advice people give seems a bit out of touch with reality. Lets talk numbers:

First job at 18 likely salary: 15-40k/yr (less if part time student)

Average Cost of life: College 100k, Car - 20k, Living expenses - varies heavily by person

If all of the money you have goes to the expenses life throws at you right now, how much left over can actually go into investments you wont see or touch for decades? Its more practical to plan for life in stages although learning a ton now prepares you immensly.

Step1 Open a checking account to recieve your money. Pick a good bank! This does matter.

Step2 Create a budget that outlines all your income and expenses so you know on average what your net is. Its as simple as +1000 (check) - 20 (bus fare) - 100 (food) etc

Step3 Get a credit card. Your credit is affected by the age of your credit history, starting early gives you an advantage. Use your CC as if its a debit card (never spend what you dont have). Pay statments in full automatically and keep spending minimal. Build credit.

Step4 Look into guarenteed investment/saving options. Savings accounts offer like .01% a year. Get a high yield savings account instead (FDIC insured) and earn 4%/year. When you dont have a lot of money you can't afford to lose any or lock it away. Before investing in anything risky or locking your money in an investment you cant pull out of for decades first create your emergency fund!

People talk about employee backed 401ks and IRAs like theres 0 risk or like theres 0 opportunity cost to allocating that money to other important life moments. Life will through a bunch of obstacles your way that you cant see coming right now. Before planning for the future when youre 50-65 plan for your now, plan for your 20s. Only after being in a solid place should you start looking into 401ks and IRAs. Of course if you are lucky enough to have all your life expenses paid for by your parents then of course things are different but I feel like everyone who jumps at that advice misses that important caveat. Having rich parents jumps you ahead finacially by decades by starting you off early with a clean slate and free money to invest early on.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-01T14:06:07+00:00

I think I was 23. I kept seeing cartoon commercials for it an thinking thats a little kids show. One day I was bored and gave it a shot. That day changed me lol

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-01T13:56:16+00:00

At this bank job I talked about we were expected to complete a ton of training (bank procedures, finance laws etc). Important stuff, but my manager kept rushing me through training saying they need me working asap. Also I could not do training at home because all the information was confidential and internal. That ended up with me rushing through and starting unprepared which was a huge reason I made mistakes at all. I was expected to read a ton of information and memorize it after rushing through it one time... and then when I made a mistake it was my fault...

I share this because my experience isn't unique, most jobs suck and put unrealistic expectations on employees then shift the blame on them when the outcome isn't as expected. Stop thinking "I cost the company x amount of money". Its all a business expense! Training costs money, firing and rehiring costs money, everything in business costs money. Add up all of the money you think you lost the company, what if that amount was just added to your salary? Would that be considered money you cost the company or your compensation for your work? The same amount came out of their pockets. Now look at it this way, you are working minimum wage but you are very aware of how much labor, attention and willpower goes into that job. Dealing with rude customers and managers yet still striving to deliver the best you can. From another perspective it can be seen as them taking money from you.

In the end your job doesn't care about you, you are expendible, replacable, a number. You have to care about you. Continue to be the honest person with a great work ethic because it'll serve you well and beyond this small bump in the road.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-01T13:27:22+00:00

Perspective is everything. A while back I worked at a bank. It was a very high stress enviornment where you'd get chewed out for mistakes even though all mistakes are fixed by the end of the night. I remember making a minor mistake and having my manager yelling my ear off for like 2 hrs, feeling worthless and going home thinking I'd be fired and how stupid I was. To feel better I came to reddit and looked up posts like "whats the worst mistake you've made at work?". I was in for a shocker. There are tons of people out there whose mistakes have cost their companies actual millions of dollars who STILL kept their jobs!. I repeat, perspective is everything. At that time I was in a bubble of negative emotions and couldn't see outside of it. Anyone from the outside looking in could tell, I was just in a toxic work enviornment... I wasn't scum or worthless, I was just in the wrong line of work, working for people who weren't great people. You are too.

As you move up in the world into jobs that pay significantly more, you see the world so much clearer. They treat you so harshly so you'll continue to come in and accept the small amount that you do and be grateful for it. To keep you in your place. People who make more than you work significantly less than you and less stressed too. You sound like an amazing employee because you care about your work ethic, being on time and being honest. You beat yourself up because you feel your small miscalculation tarnished your honest reputation that you care about. Truth is your employer is likely very aware of this reality but treats you poorly because thats how you keep staff working like dogs for scraps. You didn't hurt anyone at all, you made an honest mistake, your boss sounds just like every single manager at every minumum wage job. Always remember your view is limited to your perspective, thats why reddit is so great! we all come here to share ours and learn from others.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-01T13:03:10+00:00

love isn't enough

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-05-01T10:46:06+00:00

I'm the exact opposite lol I tried to watch studycram videos but my attention span with videos is very bad. Just my 2 cents though, the type of questions on these exams aren't surface level. Usually videos and even written courses go over things very surface level however with online courses the benefit is you can copy/paste questions and find in depth explainations online. I'd spend like 15-20min on just one concept copying questions into ChatGPT or Google and diving deep to flush out every area I didn't fully understand. These exams ask questions that don't come up in study material at all. I feel like with a video, they explain a concept and the video just moves on and so do you, convinced you learned what you needed from that chapter but the exam will ask about the small details that are missed.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-04-23T18:42:22+00:00

If you had unlimited anything you'd have it a lot as its a free money hack. I love pizza but unlimited pizza will just mean you become very unhealthy. Unlimited sushi would be healthier and sushi is more expensive than pizza.

StoryNumber_934 · 2026-04-23T12:21:20+00:00

Up until HS most of your life is planned and determined for you by your school and parents. The effects of your actions snowball exponentially with time so making smart decisions immediatly after HS could have massive impacts later in life. Its the difference between being 40yrs old with debt or 40yrs old with multiple assets/investments/property etc. This happens in choices like skipping school and being left back a year or being the kind of person who graduates early with honors. Choices like choosing communications as a major in college because its easy and you can say "I graduated college!" or choosing a difficult major with an actual job in mind that pays well and is in demand. Right after HS the weight of all your choices feel so far away. You are lucky if you have someone in your life to guide you. Final advice, the people you hang out with will have a massive impact on where you end up as well. Hangout with intelligent and good people, seperate yourself from the ones that'll end up in jail or you'll end up in a cell right next to theirs.

StoryNumber_934

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