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Free Tier-1 IT and Technical Support training scholarship in Nigeria
Run a real help desk queue for US companies. This self-paced career track is worth ₦260,000 at regular prices and is free for scholars. You start any day, there are no live classes, you get coach feedback online, and you keep access for 12 months.
You will not be asked to pay anything at any point, including for course materials, practice exams or certificates.
What you will learn
A ten-week certificate course in Tier-1 IT support: ticket anatomy, core networking fundamentals, remote-session security, and the exact judgment for knowing when to escalate, taught the way it's actually done on a working support desk today.
- Ticket triage & the isolate-the-variable method
- Zendesk / Freshdesk / ServiceNow workflows
- IP, DNS, DHCP & VPN fundamentals
- Remote-session security (TeamViewer / AnyDesk)
- Password reset & identity verification
- Escalation judgment (Tier 1 vs. Tier 2/3)
- Security-incident first response
- De-escalating a non-technical, frustrated user
- Closing-note & handoff documentation
- Real mock-ticket assessment
Eight weeks at a glance
- Week 1: Foundations. What Tier 1 actually is, the core vocabulary (ticket, SLA, escalation, remote session), ticket anatomy, IP/DNS/DHCP/VPN fundamentals, isolate-the-variable, remote-session security, and knowing exactly when to escalate.
- Week 2: Ticketing Tools & Real Workflows. Hands-on with Zendesk, Freshdesk, and ServiceNow: queue management, tagging, SLA tracking, and the specific click paths behind the concepts from Week 1.
- Week 3: Common Fixes I. The high-volume categories that make up most of a real queue: account access, software installs, printer and peripheral connectivity, and application errors: with real runbooks.
- Week 4: SaaS, MSP & Internal IT Specialization. Working across the three employer types: a single-product SaaS desk, a multi-client MSP rotation, and overnight internal IT coverage: each with its own quirks and expectations.
- Week 5: Security Incidents & The Furious Non-Technical User. Recognizing and responding to a real suspected compromise under time pressure, plus de-escalating a genuinely angry, non-technical user without ever sounding dismissive or scripted.
- Week 6: Ticketing-Tool & Reporting Mastery. Writing closing notes and escalations a manager or a future agent can read cold, reading your own performance metrics, and using tagging and reporting to spot recurring patterns.
- Week 7: Full Simulation. Sustaining a realistic shift's ticket-and-chat volume at once, remote-work discipline, and working a queue end to end under real time pressure.
- Week 8: Final assessment. Written exam, three graded mock tickets across chat and remote session, and a practical escalation-writing task: pass all three to certify.
- Week 9: Practicum, part one. Three timed shifts on Harborline Helpdesk, a fictional company with a real ticket queue. Items arrive the way they do in a real shift; every action is graded against the rules of the job.
- Week 10: Practicum, part two. Three more shifts including a downtime drill, a peer review of another student's work, and a tutor-marked final. Passing needs zero critical errors.
Who this track suits
- You can follow a structured troubleshooting process even when you're pretty sure you already know the fix: because guessing right sometimes and wrong other times is worse than a repeatable method, and this track trains the method first.
- You want a remote income stream where you're not selling or cold-calling anyone: Tier 1 support is reactive by design: a ticket lands, you triage it, you solve it or you hand it off correctly.
- You're comfortable being the one who says 'I don't know yet, let me look into it and come back with a real answer' rather than inventing a confident-sounding guess: this track teaches that honesty is what actually builds trust with a frustrated user.
- You don't need a computer science background or a networking certification to start: the plain-language versions of IP addresses, DNS, DHCP, and VPNs taught here are genuinely sufficient for the vast majority of what lands in a real Tier 1 queue.
How to apply
- 1Apply
Fill in the form. It takes about two minutes. One application per email address, for one pool.
- 2Get accepted
Acceptance emails go out in batches. Watch your inbox.
- 3Start learning
Open your first course or your track the same day. You have six weeks to finish your first course or Week 1.
Questions people ask
Do I need an existing IT certification like CompTIA A+ to start this track?
No. This track is built as the on-ramp itself: Week 1 starts from what Tier 1 support actually is and builds the vocabulary, process, and networking fundamentals from zero, assuming no prior certification of any kind.
What does 'Tier 1' actually mean, and is it a lesser job than Tier 2 or Tier 3?
Tier 1 is the front door of a support desk: fast triage and known, documented fixes, roughly 70-80% of all tickets. Tier 2 and 3 exist for issues outside that scope, deeper system access, application bugs, security incidents. It's a difference in scope and access, not a difference in skill or worth, and this track teaches that distinction explicitly in Week 1.
Do I need to know how to code to do this job?
No. Nothing in this track touches programming. The technical foundation is IP addresses, DNS, DHCP, and VPNs explained in plain language, plus the isolate-the-variable method for diagnosing problems: all genuinely sufficient for the overwhelming majority of what lands in a real Tier 1 queue.
Is the Tier-1 IT and Technical Support scholarship really free?
You will not be asked to pay anything at any point, including for course materials, practice exams or certificates.
What do I have to do in return?
Complete the first module of your track, Week 1, within six weeks of being accepted to keep your place. Then share your certificate and leave a short review.
More about the scholarship
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