Advice please network manager - technician struggle

[Joedetic]

That sounds EXACTLY like the guy we had. He joined the school with the head of ICT from his old school and started work on the network rebuild...we'd just become a technology college and had the funds for a whole new e-learning centre and a big network rebuild etc.

He rebuilt the network and it ran fine...then it started getting worse...and worse and worse.

Problems with incorrectly setup roaming profiles amongst other things lead to severe instabilities.

He started coming into work on a less frequent basis (when he was meant to be full time!).

So in the end he quit before he could be sacked. There were a lot of issues with him and he was the type with the documentation all in his head...when he'd had plenty of chance to put it to paper/electronic form.

Anyway, so two-three years after him joining the school, he left. And then we had a full rebuild of the servers etc and since he's left we've had tonnes more stuff happen.

At the time he left so did the ICT technician (for a better paid job more to his suiting) and that left me...the VI form techie and the head of ICT.

In that month or so when there were no technicians, just us, we got more done than they had in three months!

All the persisting tickets in the fault log got cleared and even completed a couple of new projects.

It's amazing what can get done when you're not relying on a useless network "manager" for guidance.

Seriously though...this guy couldnt "manage" to script a batch file properly!

[alonebfg]

just as a word on this i have just joined a union i have never been in one befor but working in the enviroment we are in someone i know was in the same postion he said that it was the best thin he did. When he explaned what was happening to his rep they helped him out.
I also know someone who got accused of assult of a student as well because he told her not to bash the keyboard with the mouse. He ws supported and case dropped as she was caught on camera bashing herself befor reporting it. They seem to help in many ways might be able to help you here if it gets too bad.

[GrumbleDook]

I've had the same situation where I am for two years. It's horrible. THis year I got promoted *over* my NM to Senior Systems Manager- I think in the hope that he would calm down and think carefully about his position. Not. He is worse! He still tells me what to do, works part-time, and SIMS (traditonally his baby) has become a complete nightmare and I have to support it now woth no training, passwords and many access rights for my account just not there. Try that.

Paul, if you need any of the training materials give me a shout. I have spares of most of them now and will get spares of the new stuff as I get them from .ICT ... and if you are short of access right then give Anne or June a call to take control or help you create a new super-user.

So now my workload has quadrupled and my pay only risen by a small amount- for all the stress, sleepless nights, and hassle I get during the week!!

I feel for ya.

The network doesn't belong to any of us- if it is the possession of any one entity that would be the school. If IT wasn't hard enough already in schools it's made harder by paranoid technicians and NMs who worry more about whether they look *geekier* than the next technician over in "that other place". You see it in some schools too- "we're the technical people here- so bow" and it's crap. Because if people have to act like that they aren't who they say they are anyway.

You? Geekier than me? oh ... you mean the **other** place ..

Me.Close()

Sorry for the rant. This topic rubs me up the wrong way :-(

Don't worry mate ... next friday, 4.30 ... Spread Eagle ... I'll give Andrew a ring and drag Stephen down too. My round.

[john]

When I did this at my last place and everything went "tits up" within 2 days of me giving the info and passwords over I gave over caring and let it smoulder. But its not fair on your and your colleague to be like this.

Incremental training from the NM to the Techs, as you are training them make sure they document how to do things, then question them on it to make sure they understand, then if they balls it up don't fix it immediately but sit with the person who ballsed it up and work through resolving the problem with them. Make the think/sweat earn there money.

Then hopefully the same mistake will not happen again, sometimes this can feel like swimming through treacle, but you are gaining management skills along with a more competent group of staff.

The person in question was the IT co-ordinator / assistant head, he said he only had 1hr to spend as he "knew what he was doing" with compuer and how hard can it be to run a server (this from the person that kept logging off the NT server, and everytime a kids accoutn didnt work, instead of a password reset which was the obvious answer to the problem of logging on, he would just make a new account (one kid had 14 accounts when I started!) So if he didn't want to learn then what could I do, and I mentioned the issues that were starting to manifest, and he was oh its probably your fault, despit the logs showing it being restarted, logged off and on etc lots when I was not even on site, let alone in the area! So I just gave up, it wasnt a nice place to work so I am glad that I left. From the frying pan and into the fire comes to mind now though

[alan-d]

Don't worry mate ... next friday, 4.30 ... Spread Eagle ... I'll give Andrew a ring and drag Stephen down too. My round.

Is that the same Spread Eagle up the road from what was Simpson Bks? Now a housing estate I believe

Aaaaahhh - memories

[Dos_Box]

You guys wern't chunks were you?

[NetworkGeezer]

This thread has strayed a bit. At least no one has mentioned ironing I suppose

[alan-d]

You guys wern't chunks were you?

and proud of it - even when forced to join the AG crap - I mean corps :?

[Dos_Box]

I worked with Defence Coy at 1 (BR) Corps for 4 years. Excellent guys.

[alan-d]

I worked with Defence Coy at 1 (BR) Corps for 4 years. Excellent guys.

Other than the odd Ex I never did BAOR - except for 3 years at SHAPE Most are gone now swallowed up by RLC

Progress?? - nah!

[Uraken]

I just wanted to add my two penneth worth to this converstion, in my experience someone who is unsafe with his/her own knowledge base is one that won't share any info about there setup (there worried you'll make them look bad) you should accept this as a compliment to your own skills and knowledge and keep proving your worth sooner or later they will learn to work with you and accept your obvious value for the good and benefit of the entire establishment.
i know thats easier said than done when your in the the thick of it but keep plugging away it'll work out.

[ChrisJ]

Can anyone advice me of a route to take to rectify problesmd of this nature sensitvly?

Anything involving a large pointy stick.