// Opening this costs 3 min of ticket time. Real techs look things up; it just takes time.

400 Bad Request; malformed request, often corrupt cookies. Incognito test isolates it.

401 Unauthorised; no valid credentials. "Who are you?" Expired sessions, expired passwords.

403 Forbidden; authenticated but not permitted. "I know you, still no." Group and role problem.

404 Not Found; resource missing at that URL. Typos, moved pages, dead links.

408 Request Timeout; server gave up waiting for the client. Slow or flaky connections.

429 Too Many Requests; rate limit hit. Scripts and APIs mostly.

500 Internal Server Error; the application failed. Never the user's fault.

502 Bad Gateway; proxy or load balancer can't get a good response from the backend.

503 Service Unavailable; temporarily down. Check for a maintenance window first.

504 Gateway Timeout; proxy gave up waiting on a slow backend.

DNS Name won't resolve to an IP; the browser can't even try. Test on another network.

// IT Vocational Training • Module 01

Help Desk Ticket Simulator

Real users don't quote error codes. They describe symptoms. Your job: diagnose, act, document.

// How it works

Each ticket has a 60-minute SLA clock (simulated, not real time). Everything you do consumes minutes.

Ask diagnostic questions (5 min each). Some are useful, some are dead ends. Efficient techs ask fewer, better questions.

Diagnose the error, then choose the right action. Wrong calls cost time and points.

Write the ticket note. The next tech has to pick up where you left off. Good notes are scored.

The Knowledge Base (side tab) is always available; peeking costs 3 minutes, just like real life.

Leftover SLA time converts to an efficiency bonus. Breach the SLA and you lose points.