I hope you admins agree that this sneaks under the wire of Educational IT Jobs. I'm taking the first steps on the Ultraversity e-learning course, and I need to ask some questions.
What concerns me at the moment is,
1. does what you do now bear any resemblance to your original job description?
2. has your work level increased
3. decreased
4. is there any large project you've been handed, say, designing a VLE, since you started
5. if so, were you offered training
I'd really appreciate you taking the time to answer these points. Thanks.
1. Considering the vagueness of my job desc, you could probably argue that it does, but in reality nothing like it.
2. no, i walked into a s**tstorm of 95/98 machines that didnt work, so it was a huge regen task with lots of work from the word go
3. it's starting to a bit, now that most of the new gear is in.
4. "get everything working"
5. HAHAHAHAHHA! .... sorry were you being serious?
1. As with Midget, my job description is vague and it's basically assumed that I do anything that involves a PC - this is something I want to get sorted soon
2. The number of systems being managed has doubled in the past 2 years but I have also reduced my workload somewhat by making things work better... hence I have manipulated my workload to make it roughly the same
3. Well some people say that I do nothing but sit in my office drinking coffee and playing on the Internet
4. erm... single-handed implementation of a thin client network migrating from RM Connect 2.4 - is that big enough?
5. What's training? I have been on one course but I started that before moving jobs - how lucky was I to get away with that?
Next question?
It does depend on the school;
First school I worked in;
1. Job description was so vague and badly written I could have practically got away with doing nothing except ring support lines when it all went wrong. (in reality I did an awful lot for that school a lot of which went un-recognised which was the reason I left)
2. Over 2 years my work level inceased dramatically, a lot of it was my own doing in writing silly proposals for improvements which all got taken on, but with no extra help for me, and minimal money available, it lead to me working long hours and doing jobs I would normally like to contract out (like install projectors and cat5 cabling)
3. It didn't decrease at all while I was there, but I understand they now have 2 technicians as the guy who took over from me couldn't cope on his own.
4. Was never handed a large project, as all the large projects were my proposals, I was never directly asked to do any of it. In 2 years we had a brand new curriculum network (proposed by me, installed by viglen), new admin network servers and workstations, the first lot of interactive boards (all installed by me, 6 of them in total) and every classroom got a network point, which again was ALL done my me almost single handedly (34 classrooms in 3 seperate buildings)
5. No training for a lot of it, all self taught on the job (had very limited experience before starting there) I did get 3 days training from Viglen when we had the new curriculum servers installed although it didn't teach me a great deal.
In my current job thou;
1. Matches very well as I was involved in writing my current job description and based a lot of it on the BECTA framework. Job description before current one was a bit vague thou.
2. Not really, we have busy times and quiet times like anywhere else.
3. Since installing the new network in august, after an initial rush of troubleshooting in the first few weeks, the workload is less than it was before August '06 where our old network was failing in spectacular fashion.
4. We get handed projects all the time from SLT, latest one is the idea to give all students laptops which we are reseaching the costs of at the moment, but other projectos we've completed recently include completely rebuilding the network in august 2006, installed a new wireless system, had nemerous installs of projectors and IWB's and £15,000 of sound equipment in the hall, which isn't I.T but landed on our lap anyway!
5. No formal training, but all of us in the school have vastly different experiences, so we all train each other at times. If we felt the need thou, we could probably request training. A lot of it is self taught again.
Job one - Up until the day I left my job title was assistant IT technician ...Originally Posted by beeswax
Job two - I told them what the job description should be and where they needed to tighten it up ...
Job three - I wrote my own job description but it has a number of holes where I can be given anything to do ... but they are pretty much the same clauses that other Asst Heads have too ... so it is more to do with the position rather than the job ... the basic job description could be "making sure the school runs"
Job one - Does a bear ... erm ... ok, yes it increased. I started of as pretty much a mouse cleaner but I learnt that with a bit of effort and application I could do more ...2. has your work level increased
Job two - I was working silly amounts as soon as I started to play catchup. I was lucky that where the previous NM had been seriously restricted by a few of the SLT I was able to get more money to get things moving ... but it meant more work.
Job three - I am doing more work now than I have ever done ... and still feel like I need another 4 hours in the day.
Ok ... some bits decreased in each job, but mainly as things where done more efficiently ... I refer the honourable comunity to the idea the nearly half of what we do is actually looking at making the time it takes to do the other half even smaller ...3. decreased
Yes ... in each job ... and this was mainly because I had spare time in the evenings to research stuff whilst my good lady was marking work or planning.4. is there any large project you've been handed, say, designing a VLE, since you started
Some ... this varied depending on how important manglement thought it was rather than how important I thought it was ... as I have progressed up the ladder I have been able to have more control over whether training occurs ...5. if so, were you offered training
Each project has always started with me going and doing a certain amount of self-training and preparation ... followed by varying levels of training or assistance.
HTH
Only in the sense that the word "Computer" appears in both several times.
Tough to call. I spend less time running around doing calls and more time going to meetings, talking to people about requirements and designing new network upgrades. I do also get to solve the problems that no one else can solve.2. has your work level increased
3. decreased
It's not more work in the sense that I now do less running around the place like an idiot and working up a sweat. I still come home worn out on some days though because sitting around thinking is still damn hard work.
Projects, "Development", "Planning", etc. are a large part of my job. And yes, while my employer is not any more perfect than anyone else, it has been very good at trying to schedule training when required.4. is there any large project you've been handed, say, designing a VLE, since you started
5. if so, were you offered training
Everyone in the IT team does an average of two courses a year. That's "A week out at an Apple, Microsoft or Whatever type course, with residential if needed" courses. In addition to the usual on-site CPD. More than two courses if you really need them to get a job done.
So far in 2007 I've done
SharePoint 2007 admin, design and deployment (Combined Knowledge run a great set of courses on MOSS 2007)
Apple Server (I can't recommend Solutions Inc in general and their trainer, Mark, enough for apple training). Fantastic site, wonderful instruction.
Got two more courses lined up in April, both the SQL 2005 ones (InterQuad in Milton Keynes, not the legend the other two suppliers are, but we've used them for years and are quite happy).
(slightly off topic rant begins) Nothing to do with your post but I do despair of the attitudes shown to training by some employers.
Training isn't some favour, it isn't a vacation, it isn't part of your 'Total Compensation Package' as some places seem to treat it, it's an essential part of delivering a quality service. One way or another, an organisation gets the quality of service it's willing to pay for.
Not really. That was very poorly written - demands the earth but then doen't cover the basics.
Increased - I always take on more all the time. Since my current Head tho' - she want's us to do the menial stuff above the important stuff. I became a 'we' to get it all done.2. has your work level increased
3. decreasedI've done it all in my spare time... learned how to build a Citrix system from scratch, planned big upgrades, that's all tho'.4. is there any large project you've been handed, say, designing a VLE, since you started
Never5. if so, were you offered training
Depends who puts the description together, some one with a techie knowledge/background then you may get on half decent (lets face it this type would be few and far between but i do think they do exist)
Or someone with now idea about IT Supprt at all and then your description could be a right sham.
thanks for the replies so far. I think I need to ^BUMP^ this one more time
1. It never did from the moment I started, unless a Network Managers job involves dealing with Fire Alarms, and Escorting intruders of site and others.
2. One of the draw backs of priding ourselves on not out sourcing any jobs is that everything is expected now. So we have a never decreasing list of work.
3. MWHAHAHA
4. Moodle Based VLE, which none of the teachers want to contribute anything of quality to
5. See answer 3
When I left my last school the job description was along the lines of look after the peer to peer network, rooms of acorn machines and loads of outdated stuff like that. By the time I left there where no acorns it was a server based network and I took on lots of jobs like the website, backups e.c.t. I pretty much didnt do anything on the job description.
A good year before I left I did bring up my job description was total wrong but nothing was done.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
