What's your job title and role?

[kennysarmy]

I was employed back in 1999 as a Network Manager for a single school.

 

We're now a Trust.

 

What's the difference between a Network Manager and an IT Manager?

 

What's your job title and has it changed throughout your employment if you've stayed in the same post?

 

...and I know it's just a name

[Mako]

I'm a Network Manager.

 

It might sound facetious but the difference will lie in the job description. I've encountered job adverts for Network Managers who had the job description as an IT Manager and vice versa, in some cases it is purely semantics.

 

But in actual experience I find that Network Managers are hands-on, and do a lot of everything, but usually on an individual school level. From day-to-day oversight of the network to implementation of new technologies and infrastructure. IT Managers tend to be purely strategic and sit above a Network Manager, dealing with the budgeting, planning and oversight of one or more schools and one or more IT personnel, delegating such things to Network Managers. IT Managers usually have to deal with the stakeholders and attend a lot of meetings to discuss The Big Picture. If you're in a single school, chances are a Network Manager will also do that, so I find that IT Manager as a role appears when you're dealing with Trusts, multiple schools or a significantly large single school.

 

Just my 2p.

[Cat_Jam148]

What's your job title and has it changed throughout your employment if you've stayed in the same post?

 

 

Started in 2013 as an IT apprentice fresh from Sixth Form, working with an ICT Network manager at one site (full time on apprentice minimum wage working 37 hours)

 

In 2015 I finished the apprenticeship and was made permanent (term time + 2 weeks)

 

2017 came along and the ICT Network Manager was made redundant, they kept me on. Didn't get a new title or a bump in pay

 

By 2019 I'd had enough and told them I was chucking in the towel as I was doing the job of two people for an IT tech wage. They quickly righted that. Got the ICT Network Manager title and a considerable bump in pay.

 

Even though we had different titles, I carried out the exact same work and roles as the Network Manager while I was a tech - probably what let the old network manager being made redundant as I'd carry out most of the work anyway + how many 2-form primary schools have two permanent IT staff?!? Even as an apprentice I was surprised

 

Been ticking along ever since, few things have changed about my role. Can sum it up to everything which has a plug is my responsibility....

Edited December 2, 2022 by Cat_Jam148

[3s-gtech]

Network Manager is my 'official' title, but not my contract - partly because of pay scales. I get called everything from The Technician through to the ICT Manager - by my email sig says Network Manager.

[Oaktech]

I jumped ship from a 'senior tech, stepped up to Network Manager' position when they refused to give me the NM title and the 10k a year pay hike citing 'lack of experience' despite having performed exactly the same function as the NM for 18 months... I went to NM post in a single primary, I then acquired a technician and a second school and was made 'ICT Systems Manager' and then was rented out to another school so I now look after 3 schools with 1 technician.

 

The difference for me between Senior Tech, NM and Systems Manager roles has been personnel management, strategy requirements and the number of IT based based but curriculum-side systems I've had to get involved with. As a Senior Tech or NM things like MIS, Safeguarding software, assessment systems etc, would have been someone else's responsibility. I've had budget responsibility the whole time.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Oaktech
Can't type

[tangotech]

I'm known as IT Manager, but my contract title is IT Network Manager.

 

I tell you what would interest me.... with all these different titles comes different pay and within education the pay for all these differently named managers is all over the shop.

[localzuk]

I'm Trust IT Manager I believe officially. Main difference between this role and when I was Network Manager? Managing people, and strategy/budget management.

 

In my experience, budget and strategy was generally managed by the Bursar when I was Network Manager, and any other technicians officially were line managed by the same person who line managed me. Now, I'm the line manager for all IT related staff, and set the budget for IT across all schools, and decide/implement strategy. I spend a lot more time working with the CEO and headteachers now, vs nearly everything going through the Bursar when I was Network Manager.

 

In a larger Trust, my role would likely end up being split in 2 again on top - there would be a "director level" or "C suite level" IT director, that handled strategy and overall budget, then back to an IT Manager who did implementation with delegated portions of budgets etc...

[PotNoodleTech]

Basically the words before/after your name don't really mean anything. What really means something is the pay grade your on and how much scope for leadership and people managerment that pay grade allows. I've seen technician titled people on manager money, manager titled people on technician money and everything inbetween.

 

IT Manager Here though the pay grade I'm stuck on is rapidly approaching technician level given the massive payrises lower grades have recieved over the last 15 years.

[Jaan]

Not IT related, But my first job was as a ceramic restoration technician in the very school i was a student at. Even did my work experience there!

[TechMonkey]

Head of IT Services. It was Head of IT but I kept being mistaken for a teacher, so I got Services added. Role is to manage team, set strategy, implement policy, tender systems, run projects and everything down to resetting passwords, just because.

[dmj]

Network manager in schools is a bit of a misnomer IMO and IT manager would be a better description.

 

My reasoning is that a Network manager should really manage network engineers - ie those that deal with Switches/Wifi/routers/cabling/firewalls/DNS/DHCP.

An Infrastructure/Operations manager would deal engineers with server cloud/infrastructure and managing clients.

Service desk manager would manage the first line support techs

 

Clearly schools don't have the resources for all those teams so IT Manger / head of IT services etc is a better description for those that manage all the areas IMO.

 

When I was in schools I was a 'network manager' and when I was working in a Uni I was a 'systems administrator' in an infrastructure/ops team but now I'm a lowly 'Site Reliability Engineer'.

Seems the less 'management' I do the more I get paid

[chaplic]

Just to buck the trend a little, Modern Workplace Architect or Infrastructure Architect depending on who I'm speaking to. If teachers in school, probably 'the it guy'

[Oaktech]

Network manager in schools is a bit of a misnomer IMO and IT manager would be a better description.

 

My reasoning is that a Network manager should really manage network engineers - ie those that deal with Switches/Wifi/routers/cabling/firewalls/DNS/DHCP.

An Infrastructure/Operations manager would deal engineers with server cloud/infrastructure and managing clients.

Service desk manager would manage the first line support techs

 

Clearly schools don't have the resources for all those teams so IT Manger / head of IT services etc is a better description for those that manage all the areas IMO.

 

When I was in schools I was a 'network manager' and when I was working in a Uni I was a 'systems administrator' in an infrastructure/ops team but now I'm a lowly 'Site Reliability Engineer'.

Seems the less 'management' I do the more I get paid

 

 

That wasn't far wrong for me though... When I was NM i only managed servers, switches and client devices - I didn't get involved in other computer based stuff. as soon as 'Systems Manager' arrived as a title I got lumbered with oversight of practically everything that involved a computer.

[dhicks]

What's your job title and has it changed throughout your employment if you've stayed in the same post?

 

According to the job advert, "ICT Technician / Developer":

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/educational-jobs/57638-ict-technician-developer-knightsbridge-school-london.html

 

At some point, my email signature changed to read "Network Manager" - if I remember correctly, mainly because Apple Support refused to speak to anyone without "Manager" in their job title.

 

I only work at the school 3 days a week, the other 2 days I guess I'm CEO of my own business (also support department, marketing department, bottle-washing department, etc).

[chris11256]

Contractually I'm Senior IT Technician. It's a hangover from when the school had an MSP and as a result just recruited the same job title they'd paid the MSP for. However, internally everyone refers to me as the IT Manager. I don't mind mainly because I'm paid appropriately. Responsibility wise is generally infrastructure, strategy, budgets and staffing except for terms & conditions.

 

Am currently going through a JD/title redo to make me officially IT Manager, as the JD is literally what I'd consider an entry level technician.

Edited December 2, 2022 by chris11256

[thimon]

ICT Operations Manager. Network Manager as a job title wouldn’t apply at our school, as our network is centrally managed.

[mrbios]

IT Manager is my official title. Went from IT Technician to Senior IT Technician to IT Manager all in the same school.

 

Though my door actually says "Systems Administrator" on it.

 

It might as well say: Network Administrator, Wireless Engineer, VoIP Engineer, CCTV Operator, Cloud Services Manager.... among other things, such is the joy of working in a school and being a "jack of all trades"

[Jamman960]

I was the Network Manager for a while then pushed for a change to IT Infrastructure Manager which is essentially the same but with more strategy/projects involvement.

[Zoom7000]

2004 - First Role:

Network Technician - Reporting to Network Manager, helping to support single Secondary School, 1350 pupils, 250 staff

 

2009 - TUPE to RM:

Customer Service Engineer - As above, Network Manager was "repurposed" elsewhere, now reporting to RM Operations Manager (I had 21 line managers in the space of 4 years!)

 

2014 - Left RM, joined Prrimary School:

ICT Learning Manager - I thought I was joining to be a Network Manager looking after the school's network, the school wanted me to teach the new computing curriculum. Was an rough couple of years.

 

2016 - Promotion as part of formation of Trust:

Trust IT Manager - Trust was formed in May 2016 when we took over a local failing school. I negotiated a Network Manager position for the Trust and was promoted in September 2016. This was pretty much the beginning of my IT Strategy and Digital Transformation journey.

 

2019 (to Present) - Promotion:

IT Director - Following on from the success of transforming the digital infrastructure of the Trust, the CEO promoted me to IT Director for the Trust. This is my current position. We merged with a 4 secondary school Trust in September 2022. Currently still responsible for just the primaries, but starting to work on Trust wide projects slowly but surely.

[FN-GM]

I always found it a little strange why the title Network Manager is used. Technically with a title like that you manage the network and nothing else. Every NM I have met look after much more.

[hardtailstar]

Every job I've had my job title has been IT Technician.

 

Current job title is Helpdesk Engineer. Exactly same job but in current work place I don't do any networking as there is network engineers

 

So currently I do less work than my last role for more money. [emoji846]

[michael2k6]

Director of IT and Data Services.

Director because it fits with the trust model and org structure for this post, IT and Data in that order as certainly at the moment the greatest need for progress and attention is in IT and not Data (specifically for this trust in our circumstances) and Services because we wanted to emphasise this is a service and not just a thing we do.

 

Trust of 15 schools, 9 of which are secondaries / secondary 6th. One college on the FE framework and the rest are primary.