What makes a Good Technician?

[KWestos]

predictive ability of Nostradamus

Good one!

[Westfield_Techie]

I believe a good technician has the ability to :

• CHANGE A PRINT CARTRIDGE!!! in a business inkjet 1200 as soon as a member of staff says "i don't know how" (anyone with one knows what I mean)
• Keep a realistic smile going all day, every day!!
• Fix tape recorders!!
• Fix Cameras (the ones where the lens cover doesn't open)!! (try it, I dare you)
• Fix the telephone system (when phones in school stop ringing!!)
• Deal with all the computers in school and have spare desktops and cameras and printers and monitors and laptops with no space to store then and your office is a broom cupboard
• Deal calmly and politely when a member of staff phones you up @ 9am wanting a piece of software installed on all 18 machines in the ICT suite by 9:30 that doesn't come with a network installer!!
• keep the smile going when they get to a classroom and a member of staff says "oh, while you're here ...."

ARGHHHH

[round2it]

I believe a good technician has the ability to :

• CHANGE A PRINT CARTRIDGE!!! in a business inkjet 1200 as soon as a member of staff says "i don't know how" (anyone with one knows what I mean)
• Keep a realistic smile going all day, every day!!
• Fix tape recorders!!
• Fix Cameras (the ones where the lens cover doesn't open)!! (try it, I dare you)
• Fix the telephone system (when phones in school stop ringing!!)
• Deal with all the computers in school and have spare desktops and cameras and printers and monitors and laptops with no space to store then and your office is a broom cupboard
• Deal calmly and politely when a member of staff phones you up @ 9am wanting a piece of software installed on all 18 machines in the ICT suite by 9:30 that doesn't come with a network installer!!
• keep the smile going when they get to a classroom and a member of staff says "oh, while you're here ...."

ARGHHHH

dont forget laminators

[AWicher]

The ability to be qualified in whatever subject the teacher has a degree in as well as the our own subject (IT)

I would agree, I have a degree in computer networking but other members of staff pop into the office asking for help on other matters other then computing and more then not we are able to answer. It’s just who we are, knowing one thing just seems..... lazy. Apart from learning to spell, I never had time for that! Or learning their names!

That, or "MIND BULLETS"

[mossj]

Ability to think outside the space where a box would exist, if we could afford one

There is no box!

Ability to walk into any situation and instantly master it.

[nslc]

Masochism.

[russdev]

Serious answer:

I would say someone who can relate to the users
Talk to them on level they can understand (but with out making it sound patronizing
Someone who understands the business they work in aka if work in education you are education focused and not technical.

Russ

[srochford]

Just picked up on this thread and saw the bit about rushing off to Google without letting the user know.

Using Google (or other resources such as Edugeek and other web sites) is absolutely not something we should hide - if everyone knew how to use this kind of resource then there might be fewer of the "easy" questions asked.

There's something of an air of mystery for many people about IT and there doesn't need to be - the internet has made it so easy to find the answers to lots of questions.

Of course, the big thing is knowing the question to ask and that's one of the things which marks out a good technician.

[mb2k01]

What makes a Good Technician?

Answer: Excellent Line Management - Seriously!
Give them enough support and guidence when needed, but enough trust and control to grow.

[Domino]

being able to say 'I don't know'

One thing i absolutely hate is people guessing or blagging through answers - there's no shame in not knowing something, you can always look it up, IT is a huge area and no one can be expected to know everything

[sidewinder]

Just picked up on this thread and saw the bit about rushing off to Google without letting the user know.

Using Google (or other resources such as Edugeek and other web sites) is absolutely not something we should hide - if everyone knew how to use this kind of resource then there might be fewer of the "easy" questions asked.

There's something of an air of mystery for many people about IT and there doesn't need to be - the internet has made it so easy to find the answers to lots of questions.

Of course, the big thing is knowing the question to ask and that's one of the things which marks out a good technician.

Exactly. I've got no shame in looking up things I dont know, have done it at times with members of staff looking over my shoulder (usually how to do something in office that I dont know) and normally find the answer in 30 seconds. They dont mind at all, hopefully it'll prompt them to do the same next time

[RabbieBurns]

russ domino and srochford have got it nail on the head.

When I left my last job they said they hoped my repleacement replacement was as good as making complex issues seem clear and understandable (one even suggested I would make an excellent teacher hehe).

And I find staff really appreciate it that if you dont know how to do something, even if I can find a workaround to resolve their problem, I still always try to find the exact answer to what they were trying to do. Sometimes to a fault! (in fact, at interviews when asked what my faults are, thats whay I say and always gets a good response)

[Dos_Box]

If it's serious points we are on now then I would suggest the ability to read, understand and perform complex tasks from written sources a must. This may seem obvoius and easy to most of us, but there are a large chunk of the population that cannot do this, even with cookery books!