SOQ guide · ITS I
Information Technology Specialist I: writing the SOQ
The state's journey-level IT classification, spanning six domains (business technology management, IT project management, security, software engineering, client services, and system engineering). The posting's duty statement tells you which domain — and your SOQ should live in it.
What the work typically involves
- Analyzing business requirements and translating them into technical work
- Developing, configuring, or maintaining systems and applications
- Troubleshooting escalated technical issues
- Writing technical documentation and briefing non-technical stakeholders
- Coordinating vendors, releases, or security practices depending on domain
What the SOQ prompts usually probe
Prompts vary by posting — always answer the actual questions — but for this classification they tend to test the same ground:
- Match the domain: a security posting wants security stories, not your full stack history
- Requirements work: a time requirements were missing or wrong, and how you resolved it
- Translating between technical and non-technical audiences
- Concrete stack and scale details — systems, users affected, uptime, tickets cleared
Prompt patterns to be ready for
“Describe a technology project where you identified missing or unclear requirements after work had started.”
“Describe a time you had to quickly learn a new technology to meet a business need.”
“Describe your experience supporting or maintaining a production system.”
The tip that matters most
ITS I prompts often ask what you would do differently in hindsight — answer it honestly and specifically; self-assessment is being scored, not confessed.
Not sure how to structure the responses themselves? Start with How to Write a Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) and the annotated example structure.