So You Wanna Be An Admin, Part 2: Eight Skills Every Entry-Level Admin Must Have (Plus Five Extra-Awesome Bonus Skills)

I asked this question a long time ago on the snDevs slack:

What are the top skills you’d want to see in an entry level admin?

This question sparked a huge discussion. I gathered together these informal survey responses, which I now present below.

Each point is followed by my own elaboration on what an actual administrator job description should likely say/include (and what may not be on the JD but you probably need to do to keep your SN environment from imploding).

Entry level admin must-haves:

The willingness to learn and dive in.

You must be able to do initial research on your own and ask for clarification if something doesn’t make sense.

It is my opinion that a good 80% of things you will encounter at an admin level will have been asked about or done before. You can typically find the answer to any question by typing "ServiceNow " + “thing you gotta do” into google.com. You’ve just gotta help yourself get those answers.

If you can’t find it on Google, come over to the #general slack channel and provide:

• the business requirement

• what you have done so far

• what you have googled and why that didn’t work

We can help you find better search terms to google at the very least.

The ability to do self-research and google is such an important skill. No one knows all things at the same time. You must be able to quickly identify what you need to learn, learn it, and then come back and execute it.

The ability to troubleshoot

Seriously. Troubleshooting involves critical thinking, getting your elbows dirty, getting in there, and figuring things out.

I’m not gonna go into troubleshooting 101 right now, but this is the BARE MINIMUM:

• Replicate exactly what happened. Try to get the same thing to happen by asking the customer exactly what they did.

• Try it out yourself. Don’t just start asking questions until you understand exactly what the problem is, when it happened, how it happened, and where it happened. You don’t have to know how to fix it, or the technical answer to why it happened; just do your homework.

Soft skills

(This was the part that survey responses actually hit on the most.)

Soft skills are essential in any kind of support role. They are likely the most important part for landing jobs and for surviving in the workplace.

You need to be able to:

• Actively listen in meetings and provide succinct responses.

• Accurately convey meaning and thoughts with your words. Don’t just blab on for thirteen minutes and reach no point or be too verbose and lose people halfway through.

• Question things you don’t understand or don’t make sense without coming off rude or making people feel bad.

Good interaction/customer service with end users

Even as a developer, architect, project manager, product owner, or business analyst, you will always need to be able to interact with your customer without pissing them off or looking bad. As an admin, your coworkers/company are your customers.

If you work from a queue:

• You should be able to monitor a queue without supervision.

• Respond to any incidents/issues/etc. with patience, respect, and empathy.

Know how to write a good email and provide concise, descriptive information and updates for people.

• If you’re thinking about scheduling a meeting, ask yourself - can the purpose of this meeting be addressed via email?

  • If Yes: SEND AN EMAIL.

  • If No: Think about it and then ask the question again.

• Keep meeting invites to a minimum. Only invite the people who need to be there.

Approachability

No one needs to know that you know everything. Be open and listen to others even if you know exactly what they are going to say three minutes before they are done saying it.

Openness to collaboration and feedback

There is no shame in saying you were wrong. You should be ashamed if you are unable to accept “defeat” or are combative when provided any sort of advice.

Punctuality

Don’t be late yo.

(Seriously, it’s incredibly disrespectful to your coworkers to waste their time. Avoid at all costs.)

Ability to deal with difficult situations

Be able to navigate through negative conversations without letting it visibly affect your demeanor or responses. Everyone deserves respect in the workplace, even if your views vary or you may disagree on some things.

For example, I am a very emotional individual. But I can keep a poker face, end the meeting on as good a note as possible, and disconnect. Once I am in private, away from anyone, I rant and let it all out and once that’s done, I can go back to being a professional and collaborating with my peers.

Entry level admin nice-to-haves:

ServiceNow Certified System Administrator certification

Any SN cert really, or anything you can show to convey “Hey I’m really interested in ServiceNow and here’s the work I have done to prepare myself for it.” If you can’t afford the certification, at least tell me what steps you’ve taken with the free training available out there to prepare yourself for this role.

Any knowledge of ITIL processes

Since ITIL is what ServiceNow ITSM is basically based on. Getting the cert costs money, but if you can describe to me the process and how you familiarized yourself with it (bonus points if self taught) then I would give you a pass.

Any JavaScript experience

This can just be college courses, or anything to demonstrate that you have some JavaScript familiarity. Even though you’re an admin, you will very likely have to touch some form of conditional statements, or at the very least read someone else’s code to see why something is broken. (w3Schools is a REALLY GOOD FREE SITE FOR THIS. USE IT.)

Other good languages to be familiar with:

• HTML

• CSS

Honestly, any amount of familiarity with any programming language is a benefit. If you can show any competency with object oriented programming, your ability to deconstruct a problem and find a solution, or your process when you get stuck on something, it tells the interviewer a lot.

A sense of responsibility

During a job interview, have a good answer for questions related to your choice of career. Prepare yourself ahead of your interview by brainstorming responses to stuff like:

• Why IT?

• Why ServiceNow?

• Why do you want to be an Administrator?

  • (“I like money” is not a good answer; trust me I’ve tried.)

• Why do you want to work for our company?

Show you are invested in trying to get this position. Try to work towards learning any required material you don’t know yet to show you want to improve yourself and prove your dedication. Demonstrate a sense of responsibility, a good work ethic, and a desire to learn.

It’s 100% ok to say, “I want to be a ServiceNow Developer, and becoming an Administrator is the first step I have set out for myself towards that goal.”

I’ve also said in interviews that the reason I’ve wanted a job was “So I can learn more about [relevant facet of job]” - and that’s what landed me my literal first IT job.

And last, but not least….

Basic online conferencing etiquette/general technological knowledge

Don’t be the person who says stuff like, “Sorry I was on mute” or “What’s a spreadsheet?” And in my opinion, don’t put “Familiar with Microsoft Suite” on your resume. By this point it’s kind of assumed…but you should still 10000% know all of this.

~

And there you have it: the results of my totally non-scientific survey of random people from our slack server. I guarantee that keeping these thirteen points in mind when preparing for an entry-level admin job interview will give you a step up on the competition. 

(Disclaimer: I make no legally binding guarantee, don’t sue me if you still can’t get a job.)