Looking at becoming an IT Manager

[churchy112]

Hi all,

 

I am looking to move forward in my career, I currently work for my local authority in a very small team. I fully manage/support IT in a dozen primary schools across the borough. My role covers every aspect of IT support from commissioning, maintaining and troubleshooting all school systems, servers, MIS (SIMS) and networks. I also support some of the authority's children centres and conference centres. I have also taken the lead in many projects such as windows deployment, Apple MDMs, software deployment and office 365. I manage my own time and deal with schools direct.

 

My previous role was for a large established team for a county council supporting 500 schools but as a technician performing adhoc/tech on call type issues & service desk.

 

I like to think I am a well rounded technician which loads of experience in education. I will be relocating to the West Midlands soon and I'm hoping to take on an IT manager role in a secondary school or a senior role somewhere. I'd like to hear from some IT managers as to whether the above experience would be enough, what type of networks the secondarys use and any tips or areas I should look into now before I start looking for work :-)

 

Any help would be great!

 

Thanks

[Gardinho]

You have more than enough experience to take on an IT Manager role.

 

Just brush up the cv and start applying!

[witch]

I agree

Can help with the CV if you would like

[kevin_lane]

Sounds good what are your skills like in terms managing people.

[Ephelyon]

Just one caveat - and I'm only playing Devil's Advocate here - when you say "a very small team", how small?

 

Some secondaries have "teams" of only two people, others have a larger IT workforce of some half dozen... it would depend on where you were applying to. Then again, there's a reasonable amount of choice in the West Midlands!

 

On the technical and motivational side, it sounds like you have more than enough pazzazz to excel at such a role...

[pcstru]

I am looking to move forward in my career, I currently work for my local authority in a very small team. I fully manage/support IT in a dozen primary schools across the borough. My role covers every aspect of IT support from commissioning, maintaining and troubleshooting all school systems, servers, MIS (SIMS) and networks. I also support some of the authority's children centres and conference centres. I have also taken the lead in many projects such as windows deployment, Apple MDMs, software deployment and office 365. I manage my own time and deal with schools direct.

I think that sounds like good experience which should stand you in good stead applying for IT management roles. On an application I'd like to see you express it in terms of what you have achieved, so something like "took a lead in deploying office 365" might read "Successfully migrated 2 schools to O365, reducing maintenance and infrastructure costs by 40% while increasing availability and improving ability for staff to collaborate on documents". @witch does that stuff better than anyone so take her up on any offer of help!

 

If you have been managing a team, how big and what have you led them to achieve.

 

Things you should look into : ITIL or FITS, familiarity with employment issues, the Ofsted report for the school you are applying to.

[mthomas08]

Good experience, as others have said @witch is good on the CV side of things and I would add more details.

 

I like to see what's been accomplished through you being the manager. I would also like to see more details in your IT knowledge and what kind of systems you have developed.

 

It's one thing I have been complimented a lot on my CV which even the technical side of things is worded in a way that non IT literate people can understand.

 

Come to think of it, I should review my own - its been about 18 months.

[churchy112]

Thank you all for the advice. Witch if your offer still stands in the next few months i would really appreciate it