New Job as an IT Technician!

[mmoseley]

Hiya guys, im very new to Edugeek and must admit seems like a great site!

Im currently 19 and for the past 1 1/2 years to 2 years been looking for an it technicians job, all with no luck due to no experience (i can do the job but with no experience nobody wants to know)!

Im now about to be employed in a school as an it technician finally! and i really cant wait to start!!

im really just posting to ask you guys for any advice/tips on how to go about things and just general advice!

They *seem* to be running win2k server's, but they dont seem to be running imaging, they seem to whenever a machine goes wrong the technicians go out and repair the machine locally, i'd love to implement workstation imaging if i can!.

Any tips/advice/tools would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks Mart!

[john]

RIS / WDS is the quickest and cheapest solution, but you need Server 2003 really as 2000 was a bit pants

[googlemad]

Well done! I'm in the same situation as you minus the 'getting a job' bit - Like you say I could do the job all day long but I have no experience so they offer the job to someone with more experience! Argh...

Where are you in the UK?

Norton Ghost etc are the usual suspects in my book for imaging, but it all depends on how many different configuration of computers are used around the school.

[Joedetic]

As a recommendation from someone who worked in ICT Services when i was 16 and 17 (urgh, yes I was mature for my age), dont let the staff take advantage of you cause you're younger than they are.

It always happens (not just during term time when i was a student...out of term time when my legs were only just visable from underneath the server cabinet etc etc). It's just something that you have to show the maturity you've no doubt gained and judge what is a favour and what you're actually getting paid to do (or werent getting paid to do in my case ).

[localzuk]

I will support Joedetic with his statement! I'm 22 and one of the youngest members of staff in our school. The initial impression I got when I joined was one of 'he's very young' - but I soon showed that I am not 'young' - as I know what I'm doing.

One of my old school friends became an IT Technician (and then the Network Manager) at a high school and he had that problem. He didn't stop it and it drove him out of the job in the end.

Assert yourself! Make enemies! That's the only way! (Not really!)

Oh, one of those things you have to remember is 'don't do things instantly when asked by someone in the corridor'. It raises the expectations from you straight away, so later on when your work load gets higher (which it will do) they think you are unreliable due to this sudden drop in response times. (NOTE: Don't push it though).

Finally, make sure you can prioritise things. Become friends with your boss and their boss and treat the head like royalty (and if you have a boss like mine, them too). Oh! And your site manager is your friend! Make friends with them too! They are invaluable for helping you out when you are holding a wall mounted cabinet above your head and don't have 8' long arms to tighten the bolts.

[gwendes]

Oh, one of those things you have to remember is 'don't do things instantly when asked by someone in the corridor'. It raises the expectations from you straight away, so later on when your work load gets higher (which it will do) they think you are unreliable due to this sudden drop in response times. (NOTE: Don't push it though).

I partially support this. It happens all the time, members of staff will come up to you at lunch, in the corridor, knocking on your door etc and you should do things that you can do easily there and then. If something is urgent try to make an assesment straight away - it makes keeping a track of things so much easier. Explain if something is going to be simple (replacing a monitor for example) and why it is being done quickly and explain why the FFR they need urgently has to be put on a back burner.

Communication is key.

Implement a helpdesk system if possible because paper tickets are horrible.

[crc-ict]

Implement a helpdesk system if possible because paper tickets are horrible.

Been there, done that! Can I get anybody to use it? Can I heck-as-like! They all still use the book! (which I'm not allowed to get rid of)

[Joedetic]

You could try getting the book "stolen."

When I implemented liberum where i was (cause OTRS fails at what it does), the Head of ICT wanted to keep it in testing stages. As in, only open it up to a very limited number of users. At first only the people within ICT.

When we opened it up to heads of department for them to log requests that way it just didnt happen. So you find yourself getting calls on the phone and logging them yourself! It just turns into a departmental management tool in the end for use soley within ICT Services if you cant get people to co-operate.

[GrumbleDook]

Allow them to call or email ... as long as you use the ticket system then that is fine ... if you also have accounts for them on there and they can track their call then you will find that they will get used to using it.

Don't give up hope.

[strawberry]

remember that teaching staff are slightly condesending at the best of times, but when they're faced with a person who provides them with a service and who could be considered student age they might well develop somewhat of an uneasy attitude. Best thing to do is remember who pays your wages, settle in, change their attitude slowly and surely by impressing them with your technical skills, your attitude and your work ethic.

the best advice given to me was stay proffessional untill you know better!.

[Gatt]

Ive got the exact same problem here at MHS - implemented the One||Zero waay back in september - so far only a handful of staff use it and i DO mean a handful!

[Joedetic]

One thing else that i'll say about it all is that the other technicians / non-teaching staff can get to be good friends quite quickly. Science techs are always willing to use the helpdesk system i found.

Another thing that was found was that technician-types always seem to stick together in the ongoing battle against unrealistic support requests from staff.

Something that was asked of (or rather told to) one of the techies at my school was that "You MUST put more RAM in the CMIS server before the end of the week 'cause i've got work to do." When he showed her the RAM usage on the server being very low indeed she still wouldnt believe that it was fine how it was! You've got to love admin staff.

[gwendes]

I'm quite lucky because my girlfriend worked at the school for about year before I applied so I had met some of the the staff before actually starting work. Look at how things are done and think about how you can improve the school but don't jump straight in and start changing things or you'll tred on peoples feet.

Communicate is the really important thing - let people know what you've done and are doing, keep records for appraisals and 'What Worked Well...' and 'Would Be Better If...' and try to learn as much as you can, there's always a learning curve in a new job - in IT it can be very steep.

Enjoy!

[mmoseley]

Hiya guys, thanks for your kind words of advice, its very much appreciated!

Im in the west midlands, and i am buzzing ready to start the job, dont worry googlemad your time will come very soon, just be patient.

With regards to staff thinking im young i think this is gunna be a little bit of a problem but i can handle that, the headmaster when i had the interview said Do you think you would be underminded by "older" staff members.

Cant Wait!!!! :P :P :P :P :P

[sqdge]

I am 21 and landed the job as School Network Manager despite having no experience. My technician, however, has been at the school for over 6 years. She still tries to get me to trip up, so I have to be very careful about what I do. However, I found that completely overhauling the main ICT Suite within the first month of my arrival helped matters!

I guess I would advise that you try and make friends with everyone you can - especially the caretaker/site manager, headteacher, and office staff. Also, I've found that if you explain what you are doing without using jargon then many of the other staff will know how to fix problems without needing to call you out (this, however, does not always work).