Positives regarding working in IT Support

[Joanne]

Have you had the pressure of a non-education environment?

[Ephelyon]

Yes. In my experience the added weight of (potential) money lost per hour etc is offset by the fact that teams are larger / it's not just you and maybe one other (again, depends where you are) and there is generally more room for specialism in a Medium Business (though not in a Small one). You're not generally responsible for "anything and everything IT or IT-related or plugs into IT".

[dwhyte85]

I've worked in a startup, large companies and for 2 years education as a network manager - the expectation in a school of you is a lot less but so was the salary, it was alot of firefighting and it is a little community which can be a nice place when everyone works together, but often from experience ICT was made to be the scapegoat for teachers not planning lessons properly and as with other support staff you can be quickly out of the little community.

 

Positive points:

 

- Stress is less, but it has moments... setting up machines for tests or assembly projectors dying can be a little less fun.

- Hours - In my case I was able to work 07:30 > 15:30 with 30 minutes lunch, that was good.

- Relatively safe, but as others have said management changes and budget changes can quickly change that, but I feel less secure in the large company, to be honest!

- Great place to get experience of the 'hands-on' side of ICT.

 

Negative points:

 

- No real interest in progressing you, if you can do the job that's enough - exception may be if trainee/apprentice

- Sometimes politics with teachers vs support staff can mean a lot of tongue biting.

- Salaries aren't great, no real benefits and little room for progression

- Alot of frontline/firefighting

 

That was my experience, but to be honest, I do miss working in a school - I liked my colleagues and I had a good relationship with teachers [most of the time]. Great stepping stone.

[Joanne]

Yeah I was part of a small business which provided IT support for larger businesses. It was not a pleasant experience... which is why I find educational IT to be a breeze!

[witch]

Yeah I was part of a small business which provided IT support for larger businesses. It was not a pleasant experience... which is why I find educational IT to be a breeze!

 

I think you are very lucky but also naturally laid back - and I admire you for not thinking about work outside working hours. I can't help but google issues I am facing whilst sitting with my laptop in the evening.

Corporate is definitely more stress from a time perspective but I also think that schools do suffer a particular problem with people not understanding IT, especially if you are on your own.

[superatticman]

I've worked in a startup, large companies and for 2 years education as a network manager - the expectation in a school of you is a lot less but so was the salary, it was alot of firefighting and it is a little community which can be a nice place when everyone works together, but often from experience ICT was made to be the scapegoat for teachers not planning lessons properly and as with other support staff you can be quickly out of the little community.

 

 

.

 

Interesting. The general consensus from those I know who have left Edu-IT for the corporate World seem insistent that its actually less stressful with a lesser sense of expectation. Although all have gone to larger companies such as TFL, BUPA and not your classic City of London Finance giants of whom probably are pretty demanding places to work.

 

Then again I guess it depends on what your EDU-IT experience has been, whether the School is Private or State run etc.

[jamesb]

Interesting. The general consensus from those I know who have left Edu-IT for the corporate World seem insistent that its actually less stressful with a lesser sense of expectation. Although all have gone to larger companies such as TFL, BUPA and not your classic City of London Finance giants of whom probably are pretty demanding places to work.

 

Then again I guess it depends on what your EDU-IT experience has been, whether the School is Private or State run etc.

 

I left educational IT some time ago, but I'd say that it's different forms of stress. Working in schools when problems arose or new things needed doing I could just sit down and do them. In the private world I've found there's much more often various blockers, politics or ignorance where I have to sit down and explain myself half a dozen times - and then only am allowed to do things on rare occasions. So educational IT was more stressful in terms of expectations, but also involved more empowerment to actually do those things.

 

Of course that's my own personal experience and I'm sure it varies for others.

[elsiegee40]

Interesting. The general consensus from those I know who have left Edu-IT for the corporate World seem insistent that its actually less stressful with a lesser sense of expectation. Although all have gone to larger companies such as TFL, BUPA and not your classic City of London Finance giants of whom probably are pretty demanding places to work.

 

Then again I guess it depends on what your EDU-IT experience has been, whether the School is Private or State run etc.

 

Corporate IT for me was a different type of stress. Having a bad night on call knowing that everything HAD to be up and running for start of play next morning was very stressful, but we were paid accordingly.

 

The big independent schools undoubtedly have a different mindset to the little ones. I worked in a little one... can't say it was any different to state school really.

 

At the end of the day it is down to management competencies. If the management is good, even disasters become less stressful. In a corporate world, it seems more likely that poor managers will be weeded out. It's not guaranteed though.

[dwhyte85]

Interesting. The general consensus from those I know who have left Edu-IT for the corporate World seem insistent that its actually less stressful with a lesser sense of expectation. Although all have gone to larger companies such as TFL, BUPA and not your classic City of London Finance giants of whom probably are pretty demanding places to work.

 

I work now at a large software company in enterprise technical support and you're right to an extent - they are happy for bods who just turn up and make up the numbers and coast - liable to lose jobs in the frequent waves of reductions in forces, but some people work really hard and they get rewarded with stock, bonuses & promotion - that's the side I sit and I've done OK out of it - I guess it comes down to your character and whether you just want a job or a career.

[mthomas08]

Working in schools when problems arose or new things needed doing I could just sit down and do them. In the private world I've found there's much more often various blockers, politics or ignorance where I have to sit down and explain myself half a dozen times - and then only am allowed to do things on rare occasions. So educational IT was more stressful in terms of expectations, but also involved more empowerment to actually do those things.

 

Of course that's my own personal experience and I'm sure it varies for others.

 

Think your last line sums it up, what you describe for Private is what I would call Education. As mentioned in another post of mine and yours, it really is situational. For Schools it boils down to who the LM is, what kind of power they have and SLT. If they are open minded and willing to listen I find that's a good start. If they are quick to panic, blame IT instead of looking at the problems and how to fix them.. well.. enough said?

[superatticman]

Another possible factor regarding why IT support in a School can feel unrewarding is that the majority of staff (teaching especially) have little idea of the the scope of work that an IT Helpdesk will undertake. Its nothing malicious, just blissful ignorance of what we do. They know that in general we:

 

Respond to calls, are there to help them, respond to calls, are there to help them, respond to calls, are there to help them. Repeat!

 

Probably little appreciation or understanding of the bigger picture. For example a member of staff came in screaming that her laptop wouldn't connect to the internet and that one of us needed to rush downstairs to help her NOW. She was not taking a lesson. She was quite put out when I told her that someone would be along "within 10-15 mins" as our team was very busy but would prioritise her call to ensure she could carry on working. It was also pointed out that she could use one of the spare PC's in the staff workroom to carry on her duties.

 

The fact is the team members were:

 

NM: Looking into a site wide problem with SIMS not functioning correctly

Tech: Putting a phone order in for Toner Carts that needed be ordered before 3pm

Me: Putting together a stage plan for a project with an outside company on telephone hold.

 

I'd say 10-15 minutes was a pretty reasonable response time. However, the teacher concerned probably had little idea of what other duties we're involved with hence her feeling that we were not doing our utmost to help her. Plus there's a chance that those who could influence ICT salaries at Schools have the same level of ignorance too.

 

Still wouldn't swap being in IT for much else though.....

Edited May 5, 2015 by superatticman

[HappyAdmin]

Very interesting to hear people's varied experiences. I've worked in a small IT support company (working for schools and businesses) and as a teacher (both secondary and primary at different times) and I'm LOVING being in school IT. I feel I have enough interest and autonomy to keep me stimulated, but expectations are that I will do my best with what is available, rather than that I will work every hour God sends. And I'm appreciated as teachers know I do work hard for them, and that they couldn't do what I do (just as I wasn't great at what they do...) As George of the Jungle puts it, "Just lucky I guess!"

[Iain.Faulkner]

I've worked in a startup, large companies and for 2 years education as a network manager - the expectation in a school of you is a lot less but so was the salary, it was alot of firefighting and it is a little community which can be a nice place when everyone works together, but often from experience ICT was made to be the scapegoat for teachers not planning lessons properly and as with other support staff you can be quickly out of the little community.

 

Positive points:

 

- Stress is less, but it has moments... setting up machines for tests or assembly projectors dying can be a little less fun.

- Hours - In my case I was able to work 07:30 > 15:30 with 30 minutes lunch, that was good.

- Relatively safe, but as others have said management changes and budget changes can quickly change that, but I feel less secure in the large company, to be honest!

- Great place to get experience of the 'hands-on' side of ICT.

 

Negative points:

 

- No real interest in progressing you, if you can do the job that's enough - exception may be if trainee/apprentice

- Sometimes politics with teachers vs support staff can mean a lot of tongue biting.

- Salaries aren't great, no real benefits and little room for progression

- Alot of frontline/firefighting

 

That was my experience, but to be honest, I do miss working in a school - I liked my colleagues and I had a good relationship with teachers [most of the time]. Great stepping stone.

 

In my experience, @dwhyte85 has summed this up well. This is pretty much how I've found working in education and in industry (only did 12 months in industry and hated it, it was insanely pressured compared to how I've found working in a school - although it does have its moments). I think the only other thing I would add, in my experience, in the negatives is that there is the expectation to deliver the world on no budget.

[Pete10141748]

Threads like this one make me realise, yet again, that I very much lucked out with a) the school I'm in, and b) the people I work with, as my take on the Pro's and Con's of my role is very different to a lot of what's posted above!

 

Pro's;

I've gotten a very decent budget per financial year for projects and the furthering of ICT for Educational purposes, quite often topped up further for improvements to things like CCTV at the request of Head/SLT.

 

I run my department, and I don't have anyone over my shoulder asking for reports, proof of work, etc.

 

My 2 techie's work well and we get along great (1-2 times a week we get together outside of work).

 

The entire SLT is very appreciative of the work we do, understands it's importance and that filters down to the other staff too.

 

Jobs we do get "thank you"'s and that usually comes with cards and gifts at the end of each term!

 

Hardly ever do I feel stressed, and if I do it's usually because of something out of our control.

 

School trips, events, discos, the after-school ICT clubs I run... so much to keep the day interesting and never boring.

 

 

 

Con's;

There is too much of a separation of IT skills between teaching staff which leads to the minority of staff taking the majority of time for "little" problems and leaving less time for the "real" problems.

 

Since taking on more additional non-ICT related roles I don't get into lessons or help with other activities as much as I used to be able to, which I sometimes miss.

 

Low salary compared to other opportunities - yes, there's no getting away from that one, we all feel it working in the education support sector.