Kid becomes Network Admin at 11

[SYNACK]

Pretty much all of the stuff which has been done is half smart home user grade stuff. This kid may look like a genious to the reporters and staff of the school but I think it has far more to do with the people measuring his actual skill level.

 

I commend the kid for using some of his time to learn some extra skills. I agree that he should get some other interests as well but what he is doing now does not prevent that unless he chooses to let it do so.

[Guest Guest]

^ Yep. Theres plenty of kids who can install software, i mean hell its not hard on windows nowadays. I was using Basic when i was 2yr old ffs

[cookie_monster]

Wait, how do you know he didnt smash the window then unlock it?

 

Ahem it's not the first time i've forgot to lock it :-) the GF berates me about it quite often, i remember thinking back and i'd popped out to get something and didn't have a spare hand to lock it and 'was' going to pop back out but it must of slipped my mind.

[Jackd]

Stupid Media!, everyone will be praising that kid when he hasnt even done much, installed a few old os's and a gateway. If he was really good he would of made the gateway himself using a Linux OS or something which would of saved them money..

 

I get paid by my school for creating web based applications using php and mysql and i dont get put on the news or anything...Grrr!

[binky]

Hmm, same here, i was in charge of a small school network by 11, by 15 I was actually employed and in charge of budget, and by 17 i was running a software company.

[torledo]

Stupid Media!, everyone will be praising that kid when he hasnt even done much, installed a few old os's and a gateway. If he was really good he would of made the gateway himself using a Linux OS or something which would of saved them money..

 

I get paid by my school for creating web based applications using php and mysql and i dont get put on the news or anything...Grrr!

 

You get paid doncha ? That's the bottom line... what more do yo want,

a brass plaque and employee of the month medal for getting paid to do something.

[Joedetic]

Between the ages of 11 and 15 I helped out with setting up PA equipment for mass and the lighting at school productions and with staffs that couldn't work projectors and things in lessons.

 

At the age of 16 I was asked to help out with wiring up all the speaker systems in the new eLearning centre and was then asked to help out with ICT Services department. That department saw a regeim change where I was the only person left in there helping out in my own time and spare periods etc. So both myself and the Head of ICT took on network administration. Network maintenance was outsourced to a company who were in one day a week and a new technician was employed.

 

I retained network administration activities through VI Form and now two years later I'm going back for my industrial placement year from Uni as "ICT Network Technician."

 

If I /hadn't/ had the oppertunities I've had to get into networks and the experience I gained, then I wouldn't be doing a Network Engineering degree and going into IT and the Education sector. I think that more students should be encouraged into this kind of role because it helps with giving them some kind of direction for what they want to do with their life as opposed to leaving school and ending up not knowing what they want to do and stacking shelves in sainsburys for the rest of their life (and yes...I do know someone has to do it...i just think it's a shame when people do it because they didn't have the oppertunity to do anything else).

 

@ JackD......paid..... well you're a lucky kid! I didn't get paid. My contribution was purely voluntary, but as cliche as it sounds, the experience I recieved was payment enough!

Edited March 31, 2008 by Joedetic

[Oops_my_bad]

Oh christ - just the excuse our place needs

 

"well, if a kid can run the network, why the hell are we paying you?"

[el8linuxel8]

I hate to say it but all these stories sound brilliant, just one question, what the hell are you all doing in schools?! ;-)

[Joanne]

slowly rotting away is what i'm doing!

 

Dunno 'bout anyone else!

[el8linuxel8]

Yeah, i dont understand how people could do this job for a 3years+. Surely theres enough jobs for us all to go around? jobs with better pay and where you have a chance of progression and get some respect. meh, just my thoughts, seems like alot of bright careers have got stuck in working in education.

[Joanne]

yeah i'm in my 4th year and I can't stand it... but nobody wants me!!

 

Dunno if i'm applying for the wrong jobs.

 

I did apply for a worker in a coffee house but they haven't got back to me... am I over qualified?!

 

Damn people judging me from that piece of paper I printed on nice paper.

[el8linuxel8]

Iv just turned 20 and have been doing this for a year now, gets old quick so im off to university

 

Compsci should be much more fun than fixing printers. :-)

[Joanne]

yeah... started when I was 18 with a mod app.... almost couldn't get on the NVQ boat because I allready had A-levels... I convinced them though!

 

I've applied for a technician job in a local company today... just sent off a cover letter and CV. Hopefully I'll get an interview out of it!

[Joedetic]

I got offered a post at an IT consultancy recently at the same time I was offered a place in a school.

 

The school network is much more impressive, the pay's better, it's far more interesting work and I enjoy the environment. That's why I'm going back to work in a school

[el8linuxel8]

After college i applied to alot of schools (holidays do appeal ) but never got an interview. Then i got lucky and a job came up at my old school (nothin like havin your old form tutor as your referee )

 

I just figured it would be good for my C.V when i finish uni, we'll see though as iv learn't school network tech's arn't really valued anywhere...in the world lol.

[Joanne]

The main reason I want out of the school thing is because of the kids... I just can't stands em.... even the good ones!

 

and for a few other reasons which shall remain disclosed... (is that the word?)

[el8linuxel8]

well, its the right word if you already told us about when did you 'disclose' the info?

 

Its just the boring tasks for me (printers, whiteboards, dumb teachers) - id prefer a software job really.

[Guest Guest]

^ Undisclosed. And you wont make a very good wife!

[Joanne]

^ Undisclosed. And you wont make a very good wife!

 

hahah... indeed...

 

I like cooking though... whether that makes up for it or not...

 

wondered why my fella hasn't asked me yet hehe

[torledo]

Iv just turned 20 and have been doing this for a year now, gets old quick so im off to university

 

Compsci should be much more fun than fixing printers. :-)

 

I wouldn't bet on it. Computer science degrees are fine if they have a good element of practical real world skills incorporated into the course i.e CCNA academy , Microsoft Academy elements. But too many don't seem to have that, i'd advocate doing a degree for career enhancement, but unless you know the IT marketplace you're back to square one at the end of the course. If you're unfortunate you'll get a job as a software tester if you're fortunate you'll be taken on and fast tracked as a consultant in a particular discipline.

 

Working in a school IT dept. is a good foundation up to a point. But there's so much going on industry that schools don't even get a whiff of. So you can end up being a wee bit of ignorant about what's out there and what systems companies are deploying.

[Joedetic]

My degree runs CCNA and CCNP along side it aswell as other Cisco modules such as IP Telephony and Fundamentals of Network Security. I get to do WLAN too at some point.

[torledo]

My degree runs CCNA and CCNP along side it aswell as other Cisco modules such as IP Telephony and Fundamentals of Network Security. I get to do WLAN too at some point.

 

Yeah, almost makes me want to go back and to a BSc or Msc, some of the modules they're doing now....

 

Good job i've got most of the ccnp, voip, wlan kit and then some to have a play with. Don't have an atlas 550 mind....but then there are other ways to do pstn simulation.

[mattstevenson2005]

Hi all

 

When i started my high school in 2000 i started to get involved in the IT department and helping with the network, the head of IT was really friendly and encouraged me to help out and learn how the network works.

 

i was at the school until 2005 when i did my GCSE's and i left for college over the 2 years i was at college i was offered a part time job to assist with the network, after i finished my college cource i was offered a full time job as IT Technician and after 1 year fully employed i have a 55K budget and i am only 18!! (30k for major projects, 20k for contracts and about 5k for every day stuff)

 

People that say school technicians dont see enterprise class hardware are totaly wrong at the moment we are investing in a 7k tape library for backups a 40K+ SAN soloution, the latest quad core HP prolient servers and top end HP procurve fibre switches!! technology in school has moved away from the typewriter!!. school networks experisence higher network load in one day then a medium sized business may experience in a week!! (you have 4-6 technicians for 100 computers in a business, in school we have 230+ computers 900+ users with only 2 of us, soon to be just 1 - me!)

 

Over the last few months the techies were we are located joined together and formed a technical forum and we have been invited by the head of sophos education to visit there head offices in oxford and tour the sophos virus labs with there head of virus research. the education team travaled over 3 hours to give us a 10 minute presentation they are that impressed with our techical forum. will update you all when we get back we are going on the 22nd april so will let you know whats its like.

 

just going back to the thread i total belive that if i had not been encouraged to work on the network at the age of 11 i would not be in the great job im in now so good luck to that eleven year old - good on ya!!

[Joedetic]

Something I've noticed amongst my own peers is that they seem quite descriminate of the education sector because all they've ever seen are naff networks with poorly utilised RM CC stuff and things like that with old hardware. They don't seem to understand just how much funding technology college status brings in etc and how much enterprise class hardware educational techs actually see.

 

Blind to the world they don't know I suppose...