A new ICT technician? For me?

[cheredenine]

So our business manager has managed to squeeze in a bit of money for an ICT technician in her recent budget, no mean feat considering the drop in cash coming from the LEA. She has asked me to consider a job description and a pattern of working as we can only afford 7 (or 7.5) hours a week.

 

So - people in a similar situation: what pattern of working do you have your technician work? One day a week, two days, etc? What sort of use do you put them too? I'm mindful that 7 hours a week isn't much to fit in significant amounts of training nor get stuck in to anything meaty, but i want to make best use of the time..

 

Thanks!

[Sunnyknight]

7.5 hours... No offence, that's..... STUPED! STUPED I SAY!

[plexer]

7.5 hours... No offence, that's..... STUPED! STUPED I SAY!

 

Yes that's your opinion however it's of no help to the OP who has stated they realise it's not a lot of hours but with shrinking budgets in schools at least some extra help is better than nothing.

 

Ben

[CAM]

Do you have any pinch time during the week? Ideally helping over your lunch break but that would mean only an hour a day and not worth their time.

[hardtailstar]

7.5 hours... No offence, that's..... STUPED! STUPED I SAY!

 

NOT NEEDED! NOT NEEDED I SAY!

 

I work a 5 hour contract at one school doing 2.5 hours on two days in the week.

 

I sort out any IWB, laptop problems and and anything associated. I generally just fix problems and advise on improvements to be made. Any stuff that is more than that then support companies come in and do it under instructions from me.

 

The time im there is just usually spent fixing the issues that have arisen during the week.

[witch]

When I worked 10 hours a week it was 2 hours every day but then I was the only tech so visibility was all. It depends what you want. If you want the tech to handle the day-to-day "my computer won't switch on"-type issues then I would split it into three days. If you want help with longer/bigger tasks, then maybe 2 days of 4 and 3.5 hours

[pcstru]

It will depend on the school. We currently do support for some of our feeder primaries and they tend to opt for 1/2 day a week at most. Most secondary schools I know of have full time techs.

[Sunnyknight]

Yes that's your opinion however it's of no help to the OP who has stated they realise it's not a lot of hours but with shrinking budgets in schools at least some extra help is better than nothing.

 

Ben

 

Well, i dunno. I think offering a appentership would be beneficial instead of a actual post. Plus, you may get someone who would be keen after 3 years to stay, and they might have the funds. Either way, 'tis my opinion as you stated

 

NOT NEEDED! NOT NEEDED I SAY!

 

You take that back! Back i say!

 

It will depend on the school. We currently do support for some of our feeder primaries and they tend to opt for 1/2 day a week at most. Most secondary schools I know of have full time techs.

 

Yeah they do, but i know quite a few secondary who only have 1 tech for the whole IT department (about 600 - 700 machines). Madness! Madness i say!

[sted]

would it be worth getting in a support company. (this is what i do) whereby you pay for x hours a week of time from them (the tech can then do other schools so its not such a small / part time job.

[Modey]

7.5hours ... Make sure they don't go for a long toilet break.

[cheredenine]

I will be the first to say - 7 hours a week is not ideal, but as Ben said, some help is better than none. Especially as its just been me here, in a school of 600 kids, doing all the IT. And covering large chunks of a sick data manager's job. And getting to do the tricky bits of the timetable

 

I'm thinking 2 or 3 days a week and the hours divided equally is probably going to be best. Ideally i'd have someone on site every day, but i don't think it reasonable to expect someone to work just an hour and a half at a time. Also some jobs are inevitably going to take a while to complete and aren't conducive to dropping tools part way through.

 

Job role i'm thinking is going to be mainly the 'can't print' and 'projector don't work' jobs, but i also want someone who will patrol the ICT rooms and proactively sort problems. we have trouble with ICT rooms being neglected as they're bookable resources and don't 'belong' to anyone.

 

We did think about apprentiships, but it wasn't a good match. If we were to do t, it'd have to be done properly and i just haven't the time to train someone up from first principles. The external support company is an interesting idea, but i suspect we'll want to keep it in-house. There has been a history here on relying on external bodies (the LEA) and its become clear that the services levels offered aren't amazing...

[pete]

I'd either go for one full day or two mornings and utilise them either as someone who can go to location X and get job Y done or as an interruption shield for me (all calls go to their phone, all walk-ins are handled by them).

 

That way you get an mostly uninterrupted day / two mornings to concentrate.

[Sunnyknight]

That way you get an mostly uninterrupted day / two mornings to sleep.

 

Changed so that the truth be told!

[sidewinder]

I'd happily take a tech for 7 hours a week to cover whiteboard and printer issues!

[featured_spectre]

7.5 hours a week, could do 2.5 hours a day for 3 days, or 1 day a week with the day alternating (Monday week 1, Tuesday week 2, Wed week 3 etc). Also allows them to experience different days of the week.

 

I had someone unpaid for an entire year, and when he came to being paid, he was given a full contract because they saw the value in him, so it may be worth that.

 

Add in, if your establishment has any training schemes (MS Cert provider or any GNVQs etc, might be worth seeing if he/she could be squeezed on there)

[36Degrees]

We did think about apprentiships, but it wasn't a good match. If we were to do t, it'd have to be done properly and i just haven't the time to train someone up from first principles.

 

Could that be short term pain, long term gain though? I've wanted an extra Tech for I don't know how long and could never get one but we will soon be getting an apprentice. Initially it may be more work for me but hopefully I'll soon see the benefits especially as they will be full time, all year round the same as me and the existing Tech.

[RuAware]

Great news....

 

If it's 7.5 hours at the price of getting in a tech company maybe you can say you'll get almost double that by actually employing someone.

 

If not one day a week is much better then spreading it out.

 

When I worked 2 x 3.5 hours at a school all i was doing was finding out what had gone wrong and fixing them, always had to stay a little late which really wasn't ideal. I now do another school and its 1 full day. I get to fix the problems if there are any, and then look at moving the school forward. This is the bit that normally gets left, technology breaks we all know that but their use becomes stagnant with in the school. If you get a good tech, they'll also be able to help with improving the staffs confidence and using the technology in other ways rather then just buy and replace. (My opinion)

 

Also have a look at other local schools, I'm employed full time by one but as I am wanted by a couple the head "pimps" me out. It's a bargain rate for the other school. Saves my current school money in tough times and I get to not always be in one place. It may be you employ a cluster technician and then if an emergency happens at yours they can juggle some hours around to get it fixed.

[sippo]

7.5 hours per week on what salary/hourly rate?

 

There are companies out there that can offer apprentice rates at a silly rate and the school also receive a £1500 rebate. The company pays the candidate and the school contributes to the training at approx £3-5k per year for two years. They work 37 hours a week full time all year. They have to be between 16-18.

 

It really is cheap as chips.

[dany2010]

We have just got a new 15hour a week tech. I know its a bit more that 7.5 but its still hard to manage.

 

He does 3 days a week. THe problem you get is you cant save jobs for them as users would be waiting days to get anything fixed.

 

At the moment we got him on a maintenance schedule that once a month he goes round all the machines, switches them on and checks mice/keyboards etc are working, does the projector filtes, and general stuff like that. You do need to make sure they arrive early enough to do bit and pieces before staff get it. Our temp techy started getting in at 9-9:30 which was useless.

 

It does tend to turn into a more maintenance job rather than actually helping you with fixes.

 

As people have said though, there are plans to increase his hours in the future depending if our idea gets the go ahead..

Edited May 10, 2013 by dany2010

[Dos_Box]

Even 2 afternoons a week could be good. You can save up all of the unimportant yet time consuming tickets for them to do. There are plenty of people willing to work part time, especially those with small children who put them in nursery for half a day at a time (we used to do that).

[elsiegee40]

Even 2 afternoons a week could be good. You can save up all of the unimportant yet time consuming tickets for them to do. There are plenty of people willing to work part time, especially those with small children who put them in nursery for half a day at a time (we used to do that).

 

Most working Mums prefer a slot in school hours though. Hours straddling lunch time so you get to eat could be good!

[BTCC_Fan]

When I worked in education IT I was working at my school part time after the teaching day had finished. I generally did two hours at the most each day.

 

I felt I got quite a bit done in the short time because most of computers were free and the staff had time to explain the problem and show it to me if needs be. Most of the time I was dealing with the small bits such as changing toners, plugging things in (yes really!), cleaning projectors, and other such tasks. Generally I just looked at our help desk database and did the tasks that I knew I could do given the time and my skills.

 

So my point is, I think it would be beneficial if the tech had hours outside of teaching time to maximise productivity otherwise they may spend half the time trying to do things but staff/computers not being free.

[Sylv3r]

I think to be fair to the person applying for the job, you need to look at two half days. To come in to school for an hour or two each day would cost quite a bit in petrol if they had to drive some distance. Good luck.

[Gongalong]

So - people in a similar situation: what pattern of working do you have your technician work? One day a week, two days, etc?

I would think either one day a week or split across two days. Beyond that and I think it would be a case of diminishing returns. You might find it a struggle to recruit someone suitable for those hours though.

What sort of use do you put them too? I'm mindful that 7 hours a week isn't much to fit in significant amounts of training nor get stuck in to anything meaty, but i want to make best use of the time..

Look at the tasks you're doing/need help with and factor in with their job description. I would imagine that things they can do will drop out of that. Do you have a helpdesk? You could use that to assign suitable things when the person is in.

[Leeoakley]

Apprentice is seriously worth considering.

 

Great value for the kind of jobs you are looking to fill.