SkillBridge Training Program - Tier 1 Support Specialist

About SkillBridge

The DOW SkillBridge program is an opportunity for service members to gain valuable civilian work experience through specific industry training, apprenticeships, or internships during the last 180 days of service (or as DOW determines). DOW SkillBridge connects transitioning service members with industry partners in real-world job experiences.

For service members, DOW SkillBridge provides an invaluable chance to work and learn in civilian, private-sector career areas. For industry partners, DOW SkillBridge is an opportunity to access and leverage the world's most highly trained and motivated workforce at no direct cost. Service members participating in DOW SkillBridge programs continue receiving their military compensation and benefits, while industry partners provide industry exposure, civilian training, and work experience.

Installation and unit commanders who have members about to transition from active duty, bridge the gap between their service members' end of service and the beginning of their civilian careers with the DOW SkillBridge participation. Commanders ease this military-to-civilian transition period for their members when they permit SkillBridge participation with trusted employers.

Service members can be granted up to 180 days of permissive duty to focus solely on training full-time with approved industry partners after their chain of command, field grade commander, provides written authorization and approval. These industry partners offer real-world training and in-demand work experience while having the opportunity to evaluate the service member's suitability for future employment.

Position Overview 

The SkillBridge participant will become part of the Customer Support team by assisting with Tier 1 support activities in ServiceNow and Zendesk, learning light AWS concepts relevant to troubleshooting, and helping ensure issues are accurately documented, triaged, and routed. This role provides hands-on exposure to enterprise support operations, escalation of workflows, and customer communication standards.

Training Objectives

By the end of the program, the participant will: 

• Understand our products at a Tier 1 support level 

• Be able to intake, document, and triage support requests in ServiceNow and Zendesk 

• Learn how and when to escalate issues to Tier 2/engineering 

• Become comfortable with light AWS concepts used in support (e.g., basic console navigation, checking service health, understanding environments) 

• Contribute to support documentation, checklists, and knowledge base content

Key Responsibilities / Activities

• Shadow Tier 1 support staff to learn end‑to‑end workflows in ServiceNow and Zendesk 

• Assist with ticket intake, categorization, and status updates in both systems 

• Follow documented runbooks and SOPs for common issues 

• Prepare clean escalations to Tier 2 (with required details and artifacts) 

• Help maintain and improve templates, checklists, and documentation under supervision 

• Use AWS tasks as directed (e.g., checking dashboards, confirming environment status, pulling basic information needed for troubleshooting)

Training Timeline

Phase 1: Onboarding & Foundations (Weeks 1–3) 

• Introduction to the company, products, and customer types 

• Overview of support team structure, roles, and expectations 

• Training on ServiceNow and Zendesk basics: 

• Logging in, navigation, searching, and viewing tickets 

• Ticket fields, priorities, and standard statuses 

• Overview of environments and light AWS usage for Support: 

• High‑level view of environments (e.g., prod vs non‑prod) 

• Where Support may reference AWS data (dashboards/status) 

• Shadowing Tier 1 support during live work to see processes in action 

Phase 2: Guided Hands-On Support (Weeks 4–12) 

• Handle guided Tier 1 tickets in ServiceNow and Zendesk 

• Work on low‑risk tickets with a mentor’s oversight 

• Practice full ticket lifecycle: intake → triage → update → closure 

• Apply proper categorization, priority, and tagging in each system 

• Apply standard troubleshooting and workflows with light AWS context 

• Use runbooks, SOPs, and KB articles to resolve common issues 

• When directed, perform light AWS checks (e.g., confirm service/instance status, review basic logs or dashboards) 

• Document all steps taken, including any AWS checks or observations 

• Learn escalation and handoff practices 

• Identify when issues must be escalated to Tier 2/engineering 

• Prepare complete, well‑structured handoffs: 

• Reproduction steps 

• Screenshots/logs or relevant details  

• Customer impact and urgency 

• Use appropriate queues and assignment groups in ServiceNow/Zendesk for escalations 

Phase 3: Increased Ownership & Process Contribution (Weeks 12+) 

• Own a subset of Tier 1 ticket workload 

• Independently work defined ticket types in ServiceNow and Zendesk 

• Maintain quality standards for documentation, accuracy, and responsiveness 

• Use light AWS checks appropriately and only within documented procedures 

• Contribute to support documentation and training materials 

• Update or draft checklists, SOPs, and FAQs with mentor review 

• Help improve internal documentation on: 

• Common ServiceNow/Zendesk workflows 

• Where and how Support uses light AWS information 

• Suggest improvements to templates and ticket fields based on real use 

• Support team operations and coordination 

• Participate in team meetings, standups, and retrospective discussions 

• Assist with small internal projects (e.g., organizing ServiceNow/Zendesk views, ensuring documentation is linked in tickets) 

• Provide feedback on onboarding materials from the SkillBridge perspective

Mentorship & Support

• Assigned mentor within the Support team 

• Regular 1:1 check‑ins and progress reviews 

• Access to onboarding materials, SOPs, and knowledge base content 

• Ongoing feedback on ServiceNow/Zendesk usage and AWS‑related tasks

Expected Outcomes

By the conclusion of the SkillBridge program, the participant will be able to: 

• Independently handle Tier 1 support tasks in ServiceNow and Zendesk within the agreed upon scope 

• Correctly document and triage issues, using appropriate fields, priorities, and statuses in both systems 

• Follow established workflows for troubleshooting, escalation, and communication, including the use of light AWS checks where documented 

• Contribute to improving documentation, checklists, and internal training resources related to ServiceNow, Zendesk, and basic AWS‑aware troubleshooting 

 Tools & Systems

Tool / Platform	Purpose
ServiceNow	Customer support contact and ticketing system
Zendesk	Customer support contact and ticketing system
Jira	Product support ticketing system
Confluence	Collaboration and knowledge management system
Splunk	Central repository for logs, metrics, and data from apps, servers, and devices (data/log manipulation)
Purebred	Secure mobile derivedcredentials (troubleshooting)
MobileConnect	Secure identity key solution (troubleshooting)
AWS (light)	Cloud computing platform