IT work experience for student

[ron]

Hi, I was looking for sugestions of the sort of work that could be provided to a present student for work expeirence.

 

Obviously we wouldn't want them doing certain admin task that could put the netwok at risk as this information may be passed onto their friends and also we wouldn't want them accessing things like bios so what interesting jobs could we get them to help us on that will give them an insight into IT within a school and something that they will enjoy other than task such as cleaning monitors.

[Dom_]

Assetting.

[ron]

Assetting.

 

That's done and up to date. I wouldn't really see that as a task that could benifit someone looking to get into the IT field. Thanks for the suggestion though.

[jamiess]

Hi ron,

 

How about getting him to build a machine from the ground up, just the main components. Should keep him busy for a little while.

[ron]

Hi ron,

 

How about getting him to build a machine from the ground up, just the main components. Should keep him busy for a little while.

 

Yeah he's done that, he completed it very well - sorry!

[Guest TheLibrarian]

How to guides. Are there any common calls that could be addressed by users having access to how to guides?

[ron]

How to guides. Are there any common calls that could be addressed by users having access to how to guides?

 

Yeah good idea. Cheers.

[alan-d]

Web technology and graphic work - maybe build a knowledgebase from all the scraps of paper you have

[pete]

Testing for physical network issues? Speed tests, end-to-end cable tests? Even if you don't have any, it's worthwhile him learning how to check.

 

(Assumes you have spanning tree turned on in case he brainfarts).

 

Send him with a pen and notepad on a walking tour of depts at lunch/breaktime to see if they have any niggling unreported issues?

[Mako]

Speaking of cable tests... get him to make up some Cat5 cables of various length with connectors at both ends, and then test them. Get him to make crossover and straight through cables, so he remembers the colour order of each. Making up cables and using the tools was one of the first things I learnt, and it's a very handy piece of knowledge to have.

 

Plus... spare cables are always handy. If he already knows how to do this, then I'll keep thinking. If not... it would occupy him for some time, getting it perfect and doing it quickly and neatly takes a while.

[ricki]

Cleaning monitors and keyboards or labeling machines

 

Richard

[MatthewL]

Unboxing any new kit that comes in, imaging machines that you may have in bits in the office one but back together, drawing floor plans of where all the machines are in rooms for the bigger ones, just a few

[morganw]

Pick a program or technology that you know nothing about, get them to research it costs, pros, cons, features, and then get them to present it to you as a powerpoint presentation. They learn something, you learn something.

[mchambers]

May fall under asset I guess but I got mine to do a complete licence audit and check it against all the software installed on the network. Threw up some surprises and kept him busy!

[leon999uk]

Maybe get him answering the telephone a bit when staff call for help, get him to get as much information as possible, and then report the issues to you.

 

This will then give him some helpdesk experience, and also make him think on what questions he needs to ask to get to the root of the problem.

[mjs_mjs]

we get ours on 2 week placements to make cables, build machines, move stuff about and become the first port of call for help kinda stuff. normally we go with them around the school so their never unsupervised. when i was doing my work experiance over sixth form i build a 2008 RC 1 domain up from scratch, testing it kinda thing. made, or attepted to make some packages, for cubase and some other things.... loads of stuff i guess they can do but you should stick by them in case they come accross anything that u need to hide quickly (the old head teachers body behind some switches in a cab)

[maniac]

When we had people for work experience in the past, we just got them to shadow one or other of us around the school when we responded to support calls, and talked them through a little about what we were doing (if we could) when we were there.

 

Also got to help out with the usual tidy office, tidy storeroom, sort out stuff that's been boxed up since 1993 - that sort of thing.

 

Mike.

[p858snake]

Hi, I was looking for sugestions of the sort of work that could be provided to a present student for work expeirence.

 

Obviously we wouldn't want them doing certain admin task that could put the netwok at risk as this information may be passed onto their friends and also we wouldn't want them accessing things like bios so what interesting jobs could we get them to help us on that will give them an insight into IT within a school and something that they will enjoy other than task such as cleaning monitors.

May I ask why you have the work experience kid because it kinda of sounds like in your post that all you want the kid to do is push pieces of paper around because your scared of event X will occur which most likely will never happen?

 

It's like someone never letting a student teacher to actually teach because they might not be able to control a class properly or they might accident teach them something their not meant to in science which can go Boom!.

Edited November 20, 2009 by p858snake
Spelling & Grammar

[jsnetman]

Just to dull their enthusiasm a bit of PC cleaning is required. Give em a duster and some Mr Muscle.

[pete]

May I ask why you have the work experience kid because it kinda of sounds like in your post that all you want the kid to do is push pieces of paper around because your scared of event X will occur which most likely will never happen?

 

It's like someone never letting a student teacher to actually teach because they might not be able to control a class properly or they might accident teach them something their not meant to in science which can go Boom!.

 

Here, if a kid's doing their work experience in-school it's often because they're too bone-idle, unpleasant or idiotic for an external company to want them.

[mossj]

Hmm you could...

 

Have him answer the phones, and take the details of helpdesk calls.

 

He then passes these on to a technician and then shadows the technician whilst he does the job.

 

After that if he is feeling confident and you tihnk he is capable. You could let him the jobs that don't require superuser privledges by himself, for example projecter goes t*ts up in classroom x or battries run out of wireless keyboard.

 

 

Walking into a classroom and only having a rough idea about the problem is a big part of being a school techy. You have to display confidence to both the teacher and the class of 30 kids all looking at you for the answer. This is something your kid will proberly find very hard, but blind confidence is a essential life skill used in everyday life.

Edited November 20, 2009 by mossj

[Mako]

May i ask why you have the work experience kid because it kinda of sounds like in your post that all you want to kid to push pieces of paper around because your scared of event X which most likely will never happen?

 

It's like someone never letting a student teacher to actually teach because they might not be able to control a class properly or they might accident teach them something their not meant to in science which can go Boom!.

 

Security of our networks is paramount. I work in the school in which I originally did work experience, however I came from a different school. Therefore when I came for my work exp. I was allowed access to admin passwords, as they would obviously differ in my own school, however I was given them under a very stern warning what would happen if I were to distribute them to students.

 

If you have a work experience student who is a present student at your school, there's a very real risk to the network. Their hundreds of friends would be eager to know admin and bios passwords, catastrophe could quite easily follow. For the sake of 2 weeks it's far easier to keep them occupied with tasks that are relevant, and give them experience such as cable making and stripping/repairing PCs, but equally "safe" in terms of security.

 

At the end of the day it's a matter of trust. I personally would not place upmost trust in a person who is here for 10 days, and would occupy them with tasks detailed in this thread and call upon what it was like when I did work experience.

 

Back to the original topic - You could do a whistlestop tour of the Server environment and show him about Group Policy Objects, and how software etc is deployed over a network. Get him to make notes then present back to you how you would deploy a new piece of software?

Or, requiring more effort on your part, fashion or replicate an error or problem and get them to troubleshoot it. E.g User cannot save files (Quota limit reached), User cannot logon (diagnose network problems, check cables etc), Open up a case and dislodge a stick of RAM and get them to troubleshoot. That list is endless... but takes up some of your time too.

 

Just throwing around ideas here. At least make it a worthwhile experience. Theres a lot of suggestions for cleaning of monitors and computers etc... while not totally unreasonable, it's not very fair when there are things you could teach them, especially if it's going to be their chosen career path.

[nielpeel]

Walking into a classroom and only having a rough idea about the problem is a big part of being a school techy. You have to display confidence to both the teacher and the class of 30 kids all looking at you for the answer. This is something your kid will proberly find very hard, but blind confidence is a essential life skill used in everyday life.

 

Excellent description of a scenario that us ICT techs face on a daily basis!

 

Usually I am alerted to a problem via a chinese-whisper-type message that is relayed to me via a student (or two students, why does it take two students to tell me one message?) that has lost all detail and purpose by the time it reaches me...

 

So then you have to walk into the classroom and all eyes are on you, perhaps the lesson has halted altogether because of said technical hitch, the students jeer/cheer, the teacher looks relieved/frustrated - basically you are on the spot, and I love it, because usually the issue is solved with a simple plugging in of an errant cable or a few deft clicks of the mouse!

 

I wouldn't change my job for the world, though (only for a better one, like network manager).