First ICT tech Job

[RjMaJay]

Hi all, I hope you guys can help, I'm about to start my first ICT tech job at a secondary school, I was hoping you could give me some info on what to expect and what its going to be like. Thanks in advance

[SimpleSi]

Welcome

All jobs in different places are different

Best advice is to turn up, try and do your best at whatever's asked of you even if its way below your abilitiy or way above you ability.

 

Some techs at some schools are treated like outside contractors and some techs at some schools are treated like close famiily.

 

Remember that the teachers are in a high pressure job and just want/need things doing at very little notice - try to do it (at least in 1st week)

 

Simon

PS Good Luck- we are here (nearly 24/7)

[witch]

Hi @RiMaJay

Well done on getting a tech job. Are you part of a team? As @SimpleSi says, the most important thing is to do your best. Be positive, helpful, smile and don't forget to ask questions if you are not sure what you are doing.

All jobs are different so we can't tell you what to expect -but we are here if you need us!

[RjMaJay]

Thanks for the replies, there's me, another tech and a manger covering about 1500 users. My previous job was first line support for about 50 users in an office environment, so its a large jump.

[vikpaw]

It's going to be extremely challenging and extremely rewarding.

You'll learn to do things on a budget and be innovative.

You'll probably get addicted to coffee if you're not already, and you'll become accustomed to bribes in the form of donuts, cookies, sweets and all things nice in order to boost jobs up the queue.

If they have an IT helpdesk system, be sure to use it, and don't let people pick on the newbie and collar you in the corridors to do extra things that the team doesn't normally do.

[laserblazer]

Three of you covering 1500 users.You'll be too busy to worry about what your supposed to be doing. Best of luck, enjoy your new job.

[elsiegee40]

Hello, welcome and congratulations

 

I have two bits of advice:

1. Don't change anything to start with. Document, observe and work out what will break if you touch something! There is probably a reason for the peculiar way of doing things!

2. Teaching and Learning is the priority in a school, not the person who shouts loudest or tries to pull rank. If a problem means a class cannot be taught, it's a priority. Don't be afraid to refer the shouter up your management chain if you are justified in putting them further down the queue!

[markwilfan]

Hello, welcome and congratulations

 

I have two bits of advice:

1. Don't change anything to start with. Document, observe and work out what will break if you touch something! There is probably a reason for the peculiar way of doing things!

2. Teaching and Learning is the priority in a school, not the person who shouts loudest or tries to pull rank. If a problem means a class cannot be taught, it's a priority. Don't be afraid to refer the shouter up your management chain if you are justified in putting them further down the queue!

 

All of the above. We have lots of shouters.

 

Also you will learn to hate printers. Why oh why in 2013 do we need so many printers and why is a printer that isn't working an URGENT

Priority. Gets me every time

Edited March 17, 2013 by markwilfan

[Ephelyon]

The first rule to bear in mind is that IT roles do not necessarily equate between sectors. You are moving from business to education (no?), which necessitates a shift in your ethos. IT roles between business and education do not equate directly; in education there is far more aggregation of what business would call specialisms into a single role. That can be frustrating at times but it's also an exciting challenge, as long as the school supports its IT department well (support works both ways in the help-us-to-help-you sense).

 

A school's primary mission is to keep the education of children "always forward". You do need to pay attention to back-end infrastructure and administrative services as well though; in some instances T&L will grind to a near halt if they're not in place.

[kingoranks]

CONGRATS MATE. I WILL SAY JUST ENJOY AND BE POSITIVE

[twin--turbo]

Three of you covering 1500 users.You'll be too busy to worry about what your supposed to be doing. Best of luck, enjoy your new job.

 

3.5 of us cover 1900, 2 sites, citrix, vMware, Bladecenter, sans, NAS, cisco, voip, vdi, cashless, door entry, follow me print, meru, iwb, inteligent (cough) rfid laptop locker, etc....

 

The fact our helpdesk open ticket count is fairly constant says we are coping ( mostly due to thin clients and VDI reducing equipment failure), if HP would admit liability on a 60% sudden failure on laptop batteries ( 60% of 460 ) then we could half our open tickets in a day!!

 

Good Luck!

 

Rob

[Koldov]

Take back-ups... Then take back-ups of your back-ups!

 

Seriously, congratulations and good luck!

 

Some wise words above mine, heed them well. My school is smaller, more on the 'part of the family' side of things, this can have some great advantages. But when it goes wrong it can be taken very personally! I still have a teacher who doesn't talk to me because I wiped all her work (and personal stuff) off her laptop when I deleted what I thought was an 'unknown' profile. That was when I started.

 

So before you push that button, make sure you know what you are doing!

 

Can be nice though, when all the kids (and the teacher) think you're the hero of the day/genius because you know where that button is... (it's called the 'on' button, sometimes more technically 'the power switch'...)

 

Regards,

 

Kol

[Gibson335]

One of the things I say to techs is that our job relies on accuracy. Follow the policies and procedures already in place and hopefully you won't go far wrong, but whenever you do any support work that is out of the ordinary always think about the consequences of your actions, the affect it will or may have further down the line, and don't try and do jobs that are beyond your current limitations (understanding what they are and admitting to them are key). It is better to ask and be sure than to guess and do something wrong. Initiative is a good thing, but limit to suggestions rather than actions to begin with.

[Ephelyon]

On the back of that, one area to familiarise yourself with ASAP is the school's Safeguarding procedures. Mainly that's in relation to what you do and whom you tell if you discover inappropriate material, but it also applies in a general sense because all adults in a school, both teaching and support, can be said to have a responsibility for the safety of young people, which has no particular parallel in business that I'm aware of.

[paulellam]

I made the jump from business to education and its great that people say thank you for the smallest of jobs!!

 

Good luck and enjoy being an Edugeek!!!

[sonofsanta]

For your first few weeks: any time anyone asks if they can have $newEquipment or access to $thisSystem, your response is "I'll talk to my manager for you." There will be lingering issues where people have asked for things, been rebuffed for whatever sensible reason, and they will see you as another crack at getting what they want because you won't know the history. Just smile, nod, and commit to nothing.

 

Forever: get used to talking simply. There are still teachers that are not, shall we say, technically inclined, which is fair enough; some of them have been at this longer than you'll have been alive. Even without them, you will have to deal with a range of users from 11 - 70, so get used to talking simply. You'll soon learn who you can go into detail with.

 

And good luck, soldier, it's a warzone out there (that should really be a smiley on here all the time)

[andrew_91090]

First of all, congrats on the new job,

 

Second of all, it may take a couple of weeks to really get into the swing of things and you may not be able to be on your own until your CRB clears (assuming you don't have one already) so until it starts picking up, make sure you shadow your colleagues and pick up on things that will soon become your norm.

 

After a couple of weeks, you will find it will pick up pace, you will get some teachers who will not know anything about IT and will call up for any job going and then you will get people that know how to do it but don't have the time to, key thing I found, was to be patient, as I say, you will get the odd one that will annoy you every time they ring.

 

Normally I find that exam times and beginning of a new term are the busiest times for us, with end of terms being very calm (as normally everyone's watching DVD's) haha

 

This is just what I have found in my job, but as everyone is saying, it maybe different for you.

 

Don't worry, if at any time you don't know what to do/stuck on something, post up on here, there will always be someone that can help with anything you need.

[paulellam]

Another tip, I get staff to sign for memory sticks, new email address sheets etc. The reason is some will later say, Ive never been given an email address or stick and so out comes the signed list to prove otherwise.

[Gibson335]

Another tip, I get staff to sign for memory sticks, new email address sheets etc. The reason is some will later say, Ive never been given an email address or stick and so out comes the signed list to prove otherwise.

 

Hopefully the existing team will already have such a thing in place - we don't allow anything out or changed without them completing a form.

[happymeal]

Congratulations! And welcome to the Dark Side!

 

Mwhaa haaaaa haaaaaaaaaar!

[RjMaJay]

Hi all, thanks for all the advice been in today to hand all the forms in crb etc start on Monday

[RjMaJay]

So first couple of weeks out the way, Really enjoying it:) Nothing to troubling thrown at me. I can see it been a good place to learn a variety of bits which is good.