Junior Tech

[russdev]

Right there is possibility that going to get me a junior tech (this role is going to suite someone fresh out of school/college type person). Due to low wage to type of duties being carried out.

 

I putting together list of duties that this person will do along the lines of change toners, ordering, basic troubleshooting, admin work, adding users, keyboard is not working so they will be crawling under the desk to see if keyboard has been pulled out, basic guidance to staff and so on. Then as time goes on they will be trained up on harder jobs etc.

 

You get the idea anyway need your ideas on basic duties and that going to look over the becta stuff this weekend and got my own ideas but just want your input to see if anything that I am missing etc..

[SteveB_NI]

I worked in a school during my work placement year as a basic ICT technician & my jobs included the following:

 

• Toner replacement + ordering
  
• Workstation maintenance - checking keyboards + mice etc
  
• Fixing printers (including re-networking the printer as appropriate / new installations)
  
• Producing an inventory of the school computer equipment - including workstations, projectors, peripherals etc)
  
• Producing documentation to support teaching staff / pupils
  
• Setting up equipment for presentations - e.g. laptop required + data projector
  
• Re-imaging machines as required
  
• Producing network cables (yawn!)
  

 

I took it upon myself to re-condition old computers, produce working workstations & increase the network capacity in a certain run-down department. I also taught myself programming etc when I got a spare moment.

 

Following the completion of my degree I now work as a slightly more senior technician - the basic jobs I done before in placement really did help & I'm sure a junior technician starting out would be grateful of your help & guidance Russ.

 

I had a placement student in for 3 months or so just recently - they preferred the hardware side of things & didn't concern themselves much with the software side which as we all know is an even greater part of our work. Without sounding disrespectful I found the student didn't seem to go find the work, it had to be brought to their attention - which took up my time continually assigning them jobs to do. If I had someone totally pro-active and willing to work pretty much without constant direction it would be a God-send!

 

The main thing is tho - I never asked the student to do jobs that I would not do myself - I stressed that to them right at the beginning and all the way through.

 

Sorry for going on!!

[russdev]

@Steve

 

That is great don't expect this person to have great technical knowledge a keen interest in computers and willing to learn is all we need.

 

But at moment this is early stages but getting list together so can justify it etc..

 

Russ

[torledo]

changing backup tapes and basic operation of Backup Exec (or whatever).....

 

i was doing this within 3 weeks of starting as a junior tech with no experience....so you can't tell me it's technically challenging for a novice.

[GrumbleDook]

A routine of checking machines and logs is a good way off the 'junior' staff funding work.

 

I'll ask my present placement student to write out a list of tasks on Monday.

[davyboi]

making tea/coffee

doing the sandwich run,

carrying machines around,

 

lol im a trainee techinican my self however i have been working in IT for nearly 3 years so my ability/responsablilties are a little higher than a junior, ill try and find a job discription out company has for trainees.

[Guest kerrymoralee9280]

Without sounding disrespectful I found the student didn't seem to go find the work, it had to be brought to their attention - which took up my time continually assigning them jobs to do. If I had someone totally pro-active and willing to work pretty much without constant direction it would be a God-send!

 

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys...

 

I started as an apprentice and I can truly say I had the best NM going. What he didn't know, wasn't worth knowing. I started on a low wage, but I wasn't doing all the crappy jobs. My NM had me looking over his shoulder constantly to show me how the technical stuff was done.

 

It's ok saying you wouldn't assign jobs that you wouldn't do yourself, but did you actually lead by example? When we got a batch of 210 PC's at once (3 summers ago) did my NM turn to me and say, I'll see you in 4 weeks when you've set them all up. No, he pulled in the term time tech as well and the three of us worked as a team to get it done.

 

I'm sorry to have a rant and possibly hi-jack this thread but I had to get that out.

[jcollings]

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys...

 

I started as an apprentice and I can truly say I had the best NM going. What he didn't know, wasn't worth knowing. I started on a low wage, but I wasn't doing all the crappy jobs. My NM had me looking over his shoulder constantly to show me how the technical stuff was done.

 

It's ok saying you wouldn't assign jobs that you wouldn't do yourself, but did you actually lead by example? When we got a batch of 210 PC's at once (3 summers ago) did my NM turn to me and say, I'll see you in 4 weeks when you've set them all up. No, he pulled in the term time tech as well and the three of us worked as a team to get it done.

 

I'm sorry to have a rant and possibly hi-jack this thread but I had to get that out.

 

I fully agree with you. Fully fledged techies don't happen by chance. As IT Manager it is my job to train them up and this means being part of a team. I don't leave my guys to do all the dirty jobs. My aim is to let them experience all aspects of the job from box shifting to building servers, networks etc. Some of this they do on real kit, some on virtual but they must have the time and support to develop all the skills. I am proud to say we usually keep a trainee tech for about 2 years by which time they have the skills, knowledge and experience to move up the ladder significantly (usually to another organisation as they pay better!). I love the bit of my job that lets me move others along their career path.