AshF

The College is looking to appoint an IT Technician to join a team of enthusiastic and highly skilled technicians in supporting and maintaining the College network and equipment. Reigate College has a network of about 1800 Windows 7 Computers, 200 systems running Mac OS X and an assortment of tablets and portable devices. We have about 2500 users. The main network runs as a single Active Directory Domain, built on Microsoft Windows 2008-2012 and a VMWare Infrastructure. Email is hosted on Microsoft Office 365, with external iCritical Mail filtering. Antivirus protection is provided by Sophos. The core network operates over fibre and uses largely HP Procurve switches, with Cat5 to desktop. Wireless connectivity is provided by a Ruckus system. External connectivity is a 1GB link, with security provided by Watchguard firewalls. Students and staff have remote access to their files, email and other learning resources. Training will be available for a candidate who has the relevant aptitude and experience, although experience working with Apple Macs (particularly networking with Active Directory integration) is highly desirable. Some early starts or evening work may be required on occasions. The post is full-time, 52 weeks per year. The hours of work are from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm, Monday to Friday and the salary is from £19,461 - £22,335 per annum, including Reigate College Allowance. Candidates are asked to complete the Support Staff application form and return it to the Personnel Officer as soon as possible, but no later than 9.00 a.m. on Monday 13th November 2017. In completing their supporting statement, candidates are asked to indicate the particular strengths and experiences they would bring to the post. IT Technician | reigate college --- Please feel free to contact me here with any questions.

The College is looking to appoint a suitably qualified person to manage the network systems across multiple campuses and to lead a team of enthusiastic and highly skilled technicians who support over 3,500 end users. You will be responsible for procurement and will plan the development of the network infrastructure. You will be able to deploy new technology at server, network and desktop levels and be responsible for license agreements. The post is full-time, 52 weeks per year. The hours of work are from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm, Monday to Friday and the salary is from £39,682 to £49,313 per annum, including the Reigate College Allowance. Candidates are asked to complete the Support Staff application form and return it to the Personnel Officer as soon as possible, but no later than 9.00 a.m. on Monday 13th November 2017. In completing their supporting statement, candidates are asked to indicate the particular strengths and experiences they would bring to the post. Associate Director of IT Systems | reigate college -- This is my job, I'm leaving education after 14 long years in the saddle. Please feel free to contact/DM me here with any additional questions.

We're looking to expand our team! Full details and application form can be found at the website below: IT Technician | reigate college Ash Farbrother, Associate Director of IT Services Reigate College

One of my team has defected to database development, therefore I'm looking for fresh blood! Full details of the job are here. Closing date is the 21st of October. Don't forget to mention in the application that you saw the job on EduGeek, as it means I have an idea of how effective posting this was. Good luck!

Been playing around with the online demo of this and have been quite impressed, especially for the price point you're selling at. One thing that interests me is the custom fields. Is there a way a custom field could be defined as either a drop-down list or a radio button? The main reason I ask is that our current (elderly, homemade, abandonware) Ticketing system has a drop down list of locations, and also request sub-type (Software, Hardware, etc). Is the ability to define custom fields in that way something that's in the pipeline or easily doable? Or even a way to tie the location into the Asset tracking side? Many thanks in advance, definitely interested in this product but obviously want to see if some of the existing features we're used to can be replicated in your system.

I've got 10 Invites for Spotify cached. Anyone wants one, drop me a PM with an e-mail address. Like the meerkat says... 'Simples!'

Unable to connect here, unless i'm doing something particularly muppet-headed. Which, y'know, isn't beyond the realms of possibility...

Build quality is a case of 'cheap and cheerful', It's solid, but neither it nor the remote are going to win any major design awards, but y'know, they work. It has one LED on it. It's Red in Standby and Green when on. It was absolutely diamond over christmas, combining it with 720p MP4 files aquired via Get iPlayer Automator... Christmas TV Never looked so good!

I picked one of these up: Buy a Hisense 1080p HD TV Media Player (LAN UPnP, HDMI, Optical Audio Output, USB Port), #MP800H_Blue - eXpansys UK I'm sure there are slightly more graceful solutions out there but at the end of the day this costs £60 and plays damn near everything you can throw at it. Even plays VIDEO_TS folders from DVDs with proper menu support. HDMI output and optical output. I regularly use it to play back 720/1080 video files. Supports multiple audio tracks and subtitles. I usually run all my media off a memory stick or a nice portable 320GB drive I picked up. It does support DLNA/etc via its built in ethernet port but I've just never got round to trying that. El Reg review is here: Hisense 1080p Media Player ? Register Hardware

Definitely up for it. May even try to drag the Senior Tech with me, if the powers that be think they can survive with two techs. Chorley eh? That's somewhere up north...

Or indeed, Aberdeen.

Can't remember if I ever posted this before but i'm Greebo T Cat on XBL. Currently I can be found running around FarCry2 being an ass with a sniper rifle.

Second this, I have wonderful things about Gower, keep meaning to visit there. Of course, if you're retiring to Wales you want to be careful you don't end up here. Plenty of coastline, true... but some pesky weather balloons.

So I mentioned this advert to numerous people at the Edugeek stand on friday. I was reminded to post about it here as everyone would have forgotten about it by then. BUT NO! If i'm not allowed to forget it, neither will any of you be. Behold the horror, the utter drudgery that is Microsoft Songsmith! And for Added pleasure, what happens when you feet it some vocals from a real song.

Highlight of the BETT show this year is a toss up between time spent chatting on the Edugeek stand with Dos_Box, Zerohour and others, and the time spent on Lenovos stand blagging some of their A4 'notebooks'. Easily the coolest freebie I've encountered in my few years going to the BETT show. Was mildly disturbed at ZeroHours ability to apply every new technological breakthrough to the further development of porn...

Got in on release date after bombing through all previous GH games... Love the guitar play, drums I'm still getting the hang of, and my wife rocks the vocals (She started on medium which she constantly hit 98-100%'s on, now on hard she's still hitting mid to high 90s.) I've got mixed feels on GHIV. Does it feel like they're trying to catch up with the original dev team who now make Rock Band? Yes. Are they learning from someones elses mistakes? Definitely. Will it make it a better game? No. The last GH game (first without the creators behind the code) was the least satisfying for me to play overall. They got too tied up in gimmickery and... It just felt flat. Rock Band felt awesome from the first moment. My main concern with GH4 is they're trying to do too much. Loading your own tracks off your HDD sounds great... until you realize you've got to program your own note tracks, and that it'll never sound quite as good as the official tracks because you won't be creating this bit of gameplay from a nice set of master tracks but a standard stereo mix. So if you fail to play guitar the notes will still be heard, you will just lose points. If I get proven wrong... I get proven wrong. Maybe it will be made of incredible awesomeness. But Rock Band and it's continual release of fresh Downloadables has won me over. Even if I don't want everything they've released I still get stuff that comes out and surprises me. I've read and seen many complaints about the instrument build quality... I can see *how* people have broken their drums, but i'm not sure I could do it. And I have gone into full on flailing arms mode in 'Won't Get Fooled Again'. The Guitar to me feels miles better than my old PS2 GH guitars... but many people prefer the GH controllers. The Mic... It's a mic. My wife does vocals so I rarely go near it (apart from croaking out 'Creep') but she's had no problems. If anyone wants to play online with XBLive, throw me a friend invite. Greebo T Cat is my live tag.

When I was first put in charge of the art macintosh computers I had no access to the mac server that was in charge of the macs in Performing Arts (there was a dirty (un)civil war between the two support areas), and at that point my main concern was integrating them into the AD. At the time the AD plugin was, to be fair, pants (it's much better now), however the following software was of great help for me and now, I believe includes tools to help you better manage the mac environment without a server. Depending on how many macs you're looking at to start with this may prove cost effective. Link here: http://www.thursby.com/products/admitmac-eval.html

I'm a good geek, terrible at the manager part. I fell upwards into the network manager role, but mostly out of the fact that the previous network manager suddenly found the door, and someone needed to step into the shoes. Part of my JD was to deputize for the NM in his/her absence. Only difference was this absence eventually just turned into me being the network manager. There is still an overall ICT Manager above me, but I work in the office, with the technicians (my Snr Tech, + 2 Jnrs), and they frequently default to me for answers to questions they don't know. Doesn't mean they always listen to the answer tho... I think there are a lot of different interpretations of the word 'Network Manager'. For me it's still a very technical role, and indeed has made my job more technical as now I'm in charge and usually implement all server migrations/rollouts. As for the job sucking the will to live... I have dreams about retiring to the country and growing begonias. I'm 26. P.S. Aging Rockers? I was at Live8, and Pink Floyd was *IT* for me. The event I never thought I would see happen. I did go on to see The Who the next year and enjoyed the concert huge amounts. Even have it on DVD sat on a shelf near me. Roger Waters solo concerts however... Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear. Very poor. A man of his age should be above lip-syncing. And should be the one actually playing bass. What he was doing... it was air-bass. P.P.S. First post of 08. Everything changed! This is how mad my job gets. I disappear off t'net for months at a time.

I am far too idle on these boards. Something I need to rectify. I always say "I'll spend more time on here when things calm down". I've been saying that since May.... anyone, point to the post: So today my pay review (finally) went through. It was.... not horrible. Slightly better than I expected. About an hour after I found this out I'm chased down by our personnel officer and my line manager with a slight proviso. My notice period. For my entire time there, it has been 1 month. Now, as a condition of this pay rise, it will go up to 2 months. This is assuming, of course, I accept the pay rise. I wasn't planning on leaving right now, but If I do... I forsee 2 months notice as perhaps being a bit of an albatross around my neck. My line manager is fighting for me on this one, but the PTB want to see proof that a) 2 months may be unreasonable (I don't know, is it?), and b) It may effect my ability to get a job elsewhere. If I can prove either of those points, then I might get somewhere and still get the extra money, will which will result in a couple of decent curries a month, and maybe a slightly less stressed me. So, guys and gals... how long is yours? And have you been down the same road I'm treading right now? Many thanks. I promise to be good and be more active.

Age is a weird one in Education... as I've now been here 4 years I'm thankfully no longer the youngest member of staff as others have come in after me. Although I am the youngest member of staff in the IT support team, and also the most senior... and boy that can be fun at times. Before I worked here (6th Form College), I worked in a Secondary School with incl. 6th Form. The differences are sometimes extreme, sometimes not. Different students behave different ways. There are some who'll say hello, ask how things are, remark on X, Y, Z, they've had problems with, or even have a friendly conversation with whilst waiting for the train... These are the ones that have grasped that being at a college means acting responsibly. Then there are the mouse-ball stealing, rubbish-throwing, screen-drawing knuckle draggers (of both genders). And my attitude with them will be different. I'm good for a joke, good for some humour, and will often verbally spar with both students and staff alike. Its who I am. But if crossed... I know exactly who I am, and what my level of power is. When I was first put into position of Network Manager a few tried to leapfrog over me thinking 'oh he's only doing this until they can find someone better...' unaware i'd been running the show for quite a while. It stopped and now I guess i'm given as much respect as one can expect for a slightly overweight, long haired, army-boot stomping hippy. To deal with the young'uns... master the confident walk... get to know the campus well. So you don't need to stop and look around. The more confident you seem, the less grief you will likely recieve. And if you think you are going to be griefed... work out in your head what your response is ahead of time. A gobby over agressive student can usually be cut down with a good response, and if there's an entire class of them, turn the class onto your side. Most importantly, don't give in, and don't forget, you're paid to be there. Which is one up on them.

iirc, Lenovo bought IBMs Desktop/Laptop division a little while ago.

You know sometimes i forget that I have access to this site. Nothing to do with the site, more with the 300 other things whizzing around here atm. Between Work, DJ'ing, eating & sleeping... I forget things. But anyway, to the subject at hand. We put out to tend over the past month or so, and now have all our bids on the table. We are left with the following four choices. All are for the same spec: Intel Core2Duo 2.13Ghz (E6400) Intel Mobo 1GB DDR2 533Mhz 80GB HDD CD/DVD RW Combo Small form factor 3yr On-Site Stone were very keen. They sent out a Sample PC at that Spec thats been kicking around the office and has stood up well. Sinktested well, nice solid case. Was quite happy with it, although I have read a few odd reports here. Untested for us, but they've been very helpful and quick to respond. Of course there's a fair chunk of money involved in this (160 PCs for now). RM... Had dealings with before. Kinda Indifferent on them. Dell... We've bought Dell Laptops and Servers before, but not their desktops in any real quantity. Lenovo... Now here's the wildcard. Whilst all the other quotes are relatively the same price (with RM being the most expensive, and Dell/Stone within a few quid of each other), Lenovo is a lot cheaper. But I really know nothing about them, and can only find any reliable reviews of their notebooks and one review of a small headless desktop unit from the middle of last year. The Spec is the same, but this is a 3rd party company acting as a reseller. The entire thing is due to go before The Powers that Be shortly, and our selection right now is Stone. Based on seeing their machine and recommendations from other colleges in the area. However they will want to know why we havn't gone for the much cheaper Lenovo. At the moment the simple answer is 'We know bugger all about them and can't find any desktop/small form factor reviews', plus we're not overly fond of dealing with resellers... bad prior experience and whatnot. Help me EduGeek, you're my only hope? well, not true, as the pub is looking mighty tempting right now, but i think i need to remain sober the rest of the day.

Lee, Oh I wasn't directly responding to your response... it was just a general vent, as that news article has been rattling around the techies I know for the past 24 hours. Apples advertising campaign is misguided it's true. But it doesn't annoy me nearly half as much as the Vista Wow campaign.

That Guardian article is as bad as any pro mac/anti PC article you will find, and there are plenty of those too. I'm sick of the bleating on both sides. Use what you want to use. If you don't want to use it. Don't use it. It's as simple as that. I'm typing this on a PC running Vista Business/Firefox, with a Powerbook G4 sat next to me (that travels the world with me), and a Mac G5 down the desk that i'm setting up as a backup OD server. The Powerbook G4 is my constant companion, and was last rebooted on Sunday the 10th of December 2006. And that was a deliberate reboot. Why do I use more than one platform? Because I can, because it's my choice. I havn't had to restart this Vista PC since I installed it a week or so ago, and it's still pretty damned stable. I've a lot of issues with Vista, but likewise there's a lot I like. I didn't like the amount of futzing around I had to do to get automatic updates and the AD tools working properly. Also there's a lot of features that MS have liberally borrowed from elsewhere. But none of that is new and it's happened all over the OS world since someone first decided a blinking white cursor was a really neat idea. I use what I use to do what I do. as a mac user i'm annoyed at the attitude taken towards us by the MS fanboys, as a PC user i'm annoyed at the rep the pro-apple lobby brings up. It's worse than Snes Vs. Megadrive when I was at school. The lot of them should just sodding well grow up. Neither side is perfect, nor will it ever be.

dependant on time/travel/etc, sounds good to me.